Reddit must have the worst out of touch takes ever about forza horizon 5

[TheWarmWind76]

This is actually a really good question, and one that requires a lot of thought even from me, the consumer, before answering. First of all, I’m going to quote a post I made in another thread:

@TheWarmWind76

I’ve been going to official forums for a long time (I stay away from Reddit because that is a hole from which I will never reappear), and I have only once actually interacted with a dev (MLB the Show) and only once (for sure I may have influenced other decisions) had my input actually make it to the game (Overwatch).

Direct dev interaction, in my experience, never really works well. As soon as a dev jumps into a forum, they get absolutely flooded. People you have never seen on the forum before suddenly come crawling out of the woodwork to ask some of the stupidest, most mundane, unimportant, or already answered questions (that last one happens A LOT).

In my eyes having the community manager as the go between and the filter for the devs is a better solution. Issue here is that something in that chain is clearly broken. I have no idea what part, but based on the effort Max puts into improving these forums I’m guessing it’s something above him, but I have no way of knowing for sure.

The occasional locked thread post just to say “Hey, we actually do read the forums on occasion” from a dev would go a long way though. I mean, as long as it wasn’t a lie. Of course there is kind of a catch-22 there. Because even if they have been reading the forums, there is no way I’d believe them based on their actions.

Now I want to quote another post I made in a different thread.

@TheWarmWind76

I’d also love a stream where they address both bugs and gameplay design issues, but based on their recent history that’s never going to happen. Everything is amazing and always will be, for they are the Stepford Devs.

I don’t want direct dev interaction. I’ve been around long enough and seen it go sideways too many times. It’ll most likely end up a waste of our own and the devs time.

What I do want to see is for the devs to mature from being shameless self ego inflators to people willing to tackle tough questions and issues. I want to see evidence that the chain from us, to you, to them is intact. I want hard hitting questions and gameplay design criticisms to be addressed in an open manner, and I mean for the world to see, not for the devs to get flooded with whatever inane nonsense the internet howls at them in a particular moment.

The forums are a good source for some ideas, it wont take much looking around. It’s also a source of that wild howling I mentioned. I want to see that filtered and distilled, then addressed.

To put it in as few words as possible, I want to see you work with them, for us.

Edit: I should mention that by you I mean the community management team, not necessarily you the individual. I have no idea what your job entails, how much you get paid, or what kind of mental health support you get. For all I know you’re getting paid part time wages to act as both site manager and community manager with no benefits. That is one of many potential failures in this clearly broken chain.