An Open Letter to Vick11 – It is time for you to step down

January 26, 2013 by ljsevern

This is a post he made on Navyfield.com on this thread. His responses are in bold here, and between ** in the thread.

http://www.navyfield.com/Community/Forum/View.aspx?num=13233&searchtype=0&pagecount=0&searchvalue=&sort=5&category=C01&page1=2

Is it expecting too much for HA to have been worked on in 7 years?

When it is set against competing priorities at a higher level then perhaps Yes.

Is it expecting too much for the crashing issues to be fixed in 7 years?

Significant improvements made on that

Is it expecting too much to either create a new fleet leader forum or put in the old one that has been gone for 2 months?

Yes, a portion of the Fleet Leaders ruined the old one and SDE drew a very hard line under it. I have spent a lot of time convincing them to return any form of Fleet Leader area. They have agreed, but it is not as high a priority as the Amazon piece. We have advised this more than a couple of times now.

Is it expecting too much to have the event clarified beforehand?

The NFNA plan was for the event to start later with more of a gap between the Newsletter and the event start date. This was changed above NFNA. It happens

Is it expecting too much for the achievement system to be put in place when it was announced at the start of 2012?

Yes it is too much to expect as we have already answered it is not happening in this current game engine

Is it expecting too much to have TNF/SDE communicate?

We have been but as the above answers show you simply then try asking again in a different way

Is it expecting too much to have TNF/SDE listen to the community?

Numerous changes have been implemented through player suggestions and there is no reason why that will not continue

Is it expecting too much to have a TNF written guide to TNF policy posted on the website that has already been approved by SDE?

It will appear with the New Fleet Leader area as we have already said

Is it expecting too much to have serial cheats banned and stay banned?

In the right circumstances and when SDE believe the lesson has been properly learnt such that a second chance is appropriate then it might well be too much to expect that.

Is it expecting too much to have a public review on forum rules and server rules?

We said we will discuss this in the new Fleet Leader area and we will – again already answered.

Is it expecting too much to have community known updates when a rule is changed (unlike the ninja 3rd party forum rule?)

That rule has existed since I have been a Moderator so 6 years at least

Is it expecting too much to have moderators online ingame and on the forums? (Credit though, they are recruiting)

I am here and generally available in-game between 80 and 100 hours a month. The other Moderators are checked monthly for activity levels and appropriate action taken when the required standard is not being met. Other Moderators also answer in the forums as and when required. There is also the support ticket system for those times when a member of TeamNF is not instantly available.

Is it expecting too much to have TNF/SDE answering questions in threads like these, rather than ignoring them/leaving them to fester? Maybe a post saying “I don’t know the answers so I’ve passed these on to the dev’s” if they don’t know. If they do know and can’t say, say that. If they do know and can say, answer the damned questions.

Randy answers questions and provides updates when he has them.

Is it expecting too much for the dev’s to answer questions rather than the usual “We have passed this on to the dev’s” and then we hear nothing for years?

Yes it is too much to expect

Is it expecting too much to have proper support ticket answers and competant GM’s? I had one GM completely flat out deny to a fleetmate of mine that his account had been archived for inactivity; as soon as another GM looked at it – Randy – it was sorted ASAP, and turns out the other one had been wrong. This is just one incident from many.

GMs suffer from the human condition the same as the rest of us.

Is it expecting too much for SDE to have at least one GM online 24 hours a day? (as long as a competant GM is online with a direct line to the dev’s, obviously doesn’t have to be the same person 24 hours a day)

Yes that is way too much to expect

Is it expecting too much for SDE to have a dev available 24 hours a day; as above?

Yes too much

Is it expecting too much for SDE to be able to react to server crashes within the hour?

Depends when it happens, but certainly too much to expect that 24 hrs a day.

Is it expecting too much for there to be a clear avenue for appeals against Mod/GM decisions? There have been players that have been permabanned having not broken a rule or done anything wrong.

There is a clear appeals process.

Is it expecting too much for development on help for new players (missions/guides/better starter packs/better rolling system)? All of which have been asked for YEARS.

New Fleet Leader area as agreed at the meeting

Is it expecting too much for TNF to represent the community and keep the flow of communication between the GM’s/Dev’s and the community?

There is a lot already, but it is too much to expect TNF to blindly pass on inappropriate input or represent things that make little or no sense, or have been answered previously. Ie it is incumbent on TeamNF to apply a level of filter so that the ‘sensible/achievable/reasonable input does not get lost in the noise. As I am pretty sure you cannot see my inbox then really you are accusing a lack of internal comms from a pretty weak perspective.

Is it expecting too much for SDE to implement an export of rankings/HOF data, that a player has created on a 3rd party website in a small amount of time (but at expense to himself)?

We have already answered this

Is it expecting too much for old bugs to be fixed that have been broken for years?

Quite a lot of patch notes include bug fixes. Yes we would like every single one of those fixed this week please, but that is expecting too much

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Now, the thread was immediately locked after Vick11’s answers so there couldn’t be a response. Luckily for us, I can post it here:-

1) 7 years for work on HA is not good enough, I’m sure you will agree Randy.

2) Significant improvements haven’t actually been made. The Windows 7 patch didn’t change anything, and if anything, it has got worse over the years. I’m sure if you play the game, you will see the amount of players crashing.

3) Now Vick11 blames the fleet leaders for ruining the area. The fleet leaders were calling for moderation for the area, but it was largely ignored by Vick11. Blaming the fleet leaders is not only insulting but poor leadership. This does not change the fact that it was removed when fleet leaders asked for a change in the head mod position. Funny that people don’t believe that statement.

4) “It happens”. So our Head Mod is unconcerned about this and doesn’t care? Another insult to the community

5) Yet there is an achievement system during events on the website. Why not an achievement system on the website?

6) Vick11 clearly thinks the current communication is adequate; The community clearly disagree’s. Another sign that he has lost the trust and the connection to the community that the head mod job needs.

7) Answer as above.

8) Why on earth is the new TNF Public Guide not posted when it has been approved by SDE? We’ll be waiting until our graves if we are waiting for Vick11’s hated fleet leader area.

9) Make a thread stating that you believe that serial cheats should be unbanned. See how the community reacts.

10) Why wait until the mythical fleet leader area? Why not do it now? Why the constant delays?

11) That has not been a rule for 6 years. That clearly shows how much touch you have with the community. And no, I will not be closing the public part of the Jediforums on your whim.

12) So often there are moderators online in the /mod function that are AFK or flat out don’t respond. Or there is just no-one online. This is something the whole community has noticed. If you was ingame (which apparently you are), you would see this.

13) What about you? You yourself said that you are watching, just don’t respond most of the time. You are meant to be the head mod of NFNA. Yet you rarely answer questions, or you just give delayed answers. Or is answering the questions of your “lesser” community beneath you? The community doesn’t trust you anymore. We’ve had enough of the lies.

14) This is you saying it is too much to expect the dev’s to answer the communities questions. It is quite frank insulting that you feel the community should be ignored.

15) The human condition. Copy pasted answers or flat out wrong answers is “the human condition”? I’m glad you hold people to such high standards of customer service. Yet again, dismissing a huge issue as something that isn’t important. This is why you have lost the trust of the community.

16) You think it is too much to expect for SDE to have a paid employee (a GM) available 24 hours a day? I actually can’t believe you said that. Absolutely shocking.

17) As above. Just shocking that you are so dismissive to the needs of the game and community.

18) Completely incorrect answer again. If there is a server crash, it should be dealt with WITHIN the hour. That is what is needed for SDE to comply to the industry standard of 99.9% uptime. But clearly, you know better, right? Dismissive until the end.

19) No, there is not a clear appeals process. You permabanned a player for breaking a rule which was impossible to break, and not only that, he hadn’t even broken it. There was no way for him to appeal. You demanded a list from him, he sent it, then you ignored him for months. It took him writing a personal letter to SDE to a RL address of an employee to get the ball rolling on his unbanning; this was even when a GM said that he broke no rule but could not overturn your decision. After months, he was unbanned, with no sanction onto yourself. I think it is quite frankly disgusting that a mod would get away with this, let alone a head moderator. This is another reason why the community doesn’t trust you; many people fear a banning for speaking out with FACTS against your tyranny of this game. I’ll probably get banned for this blog post with your invented 3rd party forum rule, but it will only serve to prove the communities point further.

Maybe this appeals process is in the Public Mod manual that has been written and approved by SDE, but as you are delaying it until the mythical Fleet Leaders area we have been waiting for over 3 months for, we wouldn’t know would we?

20) No, it wasn’t “agreed” at the meeting. You delayed it until the fleet leaders area, which at that point, you promised would come before Christmas. 1 month on, and its been delayed to mid feb. Not good enough. The discussion needs to happen here and now. The fact that you are so intent on delaying important issues shows you aren’t up for the job.

21) And here is where the problem lies. You claim to be acting as a filter between the community and SDE, yet clearly nothing is getting through to them. You yourself admit here that you are the problem. Thank you for admitting that. The community has been unhappy with this for years, and you have chosen to stick to your line. Out of touch as always.

22) No, you haven’t answered this at all. You said it is on the to do list. It was done by a player in a small amount of time. Why haven’t the SDE professionals done this? Unless you are delaying things again.

23) 7 years of countless bugs. But i’m sure as you got your monster ship, your mod premium, your modded crews, your new nations, your new game modes that no-one plays etc etc, you don’t care that we have to put up with the same old bugs as we actually play the game. COD bugs. Client side hacks. Crew disappearing bugs. Zoom Bug. Planes going underwater. Infinite fuel planes. Border Humping planes/ships.

It is high time you was replaced as head mod. You do not represent the community, you do not help the community, you only subjugate them for your own benefit.

I am calling for the community to post their opinions in this status update by Randy:-

http://www.navyfield.com/Community/Forum/View.aspx?num=14602&searchtype=0&pagecount=0&searchvalue=&sort=5&category=C01&page1=1

It is time for a change. This constant refusal to put effort in to help new players and better the game is killing the game. I know there are those that don’t like me, but now is the time to ignore grudges and unite for the games sake. Lets work together for a better tomorrow. Lets show SDE that the community is what makes Navyfield. If needs be, we WILL protest ingame. Lets hope SDE see’s sense before this happens again:-

EDIT:-

Some responses from Vick11

I have been banned for posting this blog. Apparently that is against the rules. I guess I was expecting it from Vick11