We’re very pleased to announce the LOTRO Player Council!

[Lothirieth]

You might be surprised to hear there have already been a number of those types of applications. Sadly.

Sadly it's not surprising. I suppose some view this as a chance to push forward certain agendas. I too am hoping the council will be made up of people who value all playstyles and players.

[Raven-EU]

There are many types of players, even non-raiders can spend many hours in game helping the others or just chatting with friends. And a specific type of players are leaders and officers of big kinships that need a lot of time for discussing, typing and thinking.

Fifty people probably really can't cover everything, unless Turbine is extraordinary lucky. Even if there are, in theory, only 25 types of players, everyone still has own specific style and thoughts. So it would require more than one player of each type to get at least some objectivity. Something like that is beyond real possibilities and there's no-one who could say, how many types of players exist, that's uncountable I believe. So we should be happy, if the Council consists of several types of players, that (hopefuly) can understand the others as well. How to find them, that's another question.

I'm pretty sure that one player usually represents several play-styles. A player who raids regularly may also do a lot of PvMP as well as a bit of on-the-side solo play. That player probably also has a lot of crafters and most of us do play the Epic story line (because it's epic ). That's five areas from one single player. My play style does not have to match yours in order for me to be able to give relevant feedback but I do have to respect that you do not play the game the same way as I do.

The council needs players who are able to look outside of their own box and appreciate different classes (competing classes) as well as content that they may or may not enjoy. I usually don't do the festivals because the rewards they offer does not tempt me. That doesn't mean that I cannot have valid opinions on how a festival works or looks. In fact, I might actually bring in important information on how to get more players to do the festivals simply because I don't do them today.

So while 30 or 50 players cannot possibly represent the entire community they should be able to adequately represent the majority of it. Finding those players will be an extremely difficult task and I don't envy the people at Turbine who have to shift through all the good (and all the bad) applications. Having been part of that selection process at the place I work I know that the span of applications is wider than you even thought possible. You search for the gold nugget but will accept anything that isn't directly poisonous...

[Warth]

Give applicants a questionaire and see how they answer, could be a way of whittling them down. No matter how they identify - RPer, Casual, PvPer etc - let them talk about the other sides.

If all they do is spew vitriol - "I feel raiders dominate everything", "I feel casuals whine until they get all the good stuff", "I feel PvP has no place in LOTRO" - then you know they're ont gonna be objective about it. If they give answers that show they can appreciate the other players views, sorted.

I also wish the application would've given a little bit more direction in terms of a "why should we pick you" question. I think I touched on other playstyles briefly but it was such a free form area and I didn't want to write a book. In the end, I went with a single paragraph in the interest of being concise since I'm sure there will be tons of apps. Was that enough? Would I have a better shot if I wrote a full page with more detail about why I'd be a good choice? I have no idea. Specific questions with 1-2 sentence answers would provide a clearer view of player's mindsets and allow for better selection IMHO.

[BiteMarks]

Hmmmm... got a reply this morning regarding my application and it reads..................



'Your message was deleted without being read on Saturday, March 23, 2013 6:02:56 PM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).'


I put a 'Read' receipt on it to make sure it was read and looked at, it wasn't!!!

The name of the recipient will stay nameless for now but to simply delete without opening and actually reading it shows no respect

[Armitas]

^ Wow, whats going on there?

[Darmokk]

Hmmmm... got a reply this morning regarding my application and it reads..................



'Your message was deleted without being read on Saturday, March 23, 2013 6:02:56 PM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).'


I put a 'Read' receipt on it to make sure it was read and looked at, it wasn't!!!

The name of the recipient will stay nameless for now but to simply delete without opening and actually reading it shows no respect

That read status bit isn't universally supported. No company worth their salt would allow this information to "leak". Most likely some form of internal transport caused this interpretation.

[EdwardFerret]

I have some report of people having delivery issues.

I've tested myself and got this from gmail.

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

     PLAYERCOUNCIL@turbine.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the server for the recipient domain [...]
550 No such user (PLAYERCOUNCIL@turbine.com)

Where is the problem, I don't know.

[Fexalicious]

Would there be a way to check if our applications were received then? I didn't send in any read receipt or such, but now wondering if it went through.

[critager]

Anything that will bring about constructive changes to game is a big plus, but if you want to see what is really going on in the game listen and watch glff and you can see the game dieing. I have watched the last three changes to game kill pug raiding. We play to have fun and when you remove the fun we dont play its a real simple concept. The biggest percentage of players that continue to play the game year after year are raiders casual or hardcore after max lvl. QUIT messing with store related items and get back to fixing this abomination of an expansion. The game is filled with memmory leaks and rubberbanding from cosmetics and yet you keep adding them. It seems the game has turned from providing a game for us to enjoy to Lotro's store, oh and there are critters to kill also. Just please do something, anything that will make what we have work, you nerfed the bosses up to last boss for loot, then alot of the last bosses can glitch and go braindead leaving no loot for the whole run. In short quit trying to add or change the game FIX what is there.

[EdwardFerret]

I have some report of people having delivery issues.

I've tested myself and got this from gmail.

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

     PLAYERCOUNCIL@turbine.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the server for the recipient domain [...]
550 No such user (PLAYERCOUNCIL@turbine.com)

Where is the problem, I don't know.

I think I got the problem. On the french page for the Player Council the mail adress is PLAYERCOUNCIL@turbine.com. But on the english, and deutsch pages the mail is LOTROCOUNCIL@turbine.com

Is it a way to prevent us always complaining french to join you ?

Please quickly put the right address on the french page. Simple advice if you want the Player Council have a good image to the french community.

[Runesi_EU]

Hmmmm... got a reply this morning regarding my application and it reads..................



'Your message was deleted without being read on Saturday, March 23, 2013 6:02:56 PM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).'


I put a 'Read' receipt on it to make sure it was read and looked at, it wasn't!!!

The name of the recipient will stay nameless for now but to simply delete without opening and actually reading it shows no respect

As Darmokk said, I wouldn't read too much into this. Simply moving the e-mail to another folder may cause this in some e-mail clients.

[Gandolf_TheOld]

I have some report of people having delivery issues.

I've tested myself and got this from gmail.

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

     PLAYERCOUNCIL@turbine.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the server for the recipient domain [...]
550 No such user (PLAYERCOUNCIL@turbine.com)

Where is the problem, I don't know.

The correct email address is LOTROCOUNCIL@TURBINE.COM

Good luck

[Darmokk]

Anything that will bring about constructive changes to game is a big plus, but if you want to see what is really going on in the game listen and watch glff and you can see the game dieing. I have watched the last three changes to game kill pug raiding. We play to have fun and when you remove the fun we dont play its a real simple concept.

Well the idea is to do something about it, no?

It seems pretty obvious that some decision made by Turbine in the past have been a result of mis-estimating player reactions. Since the forums are kind of useless for it there needs to be a way to feed information in a more coherent manner.

The game is filled with memmory leaks and rubberbanding from cosmetics and yet you keep adding them. It seems the game has turned from providing a game for us to enjoy to Lotro's store, oh and there are critters to kill also. Just please do something, anything that will make what we have work, you nerfed the bosses up to last boss for loot, then alot of the last bosses can glitch and go braindead leaving no loot for the whole run. In short quit trying to add or change the game FIX what is there.

Now you jumped from bad decision making about moneytizing to plain bugs. Unfortunately the council won't be able to do much about bugs other than to point out how important they are to the player base. What you are talking about probably takes some of the best programmers in the company to fix, and those are not easily reassigned without delaying something else that's player visible.

[MrWarg]

I too am hoping the council will be made up of people who value all playstyles and players.

I think that is the key. Of course the Council needs to be made up of different types of players, each valuing a certain play style above others. However, at the same time they do need to be able to appreciate that even though PvMP, Solo, Role-playing, etc is what they have the most fun doing other people enjoy different things. As such the Council members need to be able to take an objective and balanced look at the game overall, especially when it is outside their own area of interest.

[Zaddoc]

Two questions Sapience if you would be as so kind to indulge me.


Firstly, I'm quite interested in this. I've never done anything like this before outside of a couple of beta's but the whole idea intrigues me and I think I'd like to see how it all works out. My main question is how much time would be needed weekly/monthly.etc? How often are you planning to have the council. I ask because my time is quite limited and I'd need to really know if I'd be able to work around it before signing up.

And secondly, I do review games for a non-profit website called thexbutton.co.uk, (non-profit in the sense that we are seldom if ever sent any games and buy them ourselves, and we make no money from the website - it's more of a love of games and leisure that we have the site, not for journalism purposes). I would be approaching the desire to be in the council from a purely player point of view. But reading the terms I feel this will sadly make me ineligible? Can you please confirm before I waste my time with the application?

Thanks for your time.

[swattz101]

Hmmmm... got a reply this morning regarding my application and it reads..................



'Your message was deleted without being read on Saturday, March 23, 2013 6:02:56 PM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada).'


I put a 'Read' receipt on it to make sure it was read and looked at, it wasn't!!!

The name of the recipient will stay nameless for now but to simply delete without opening and actually reading it shows no respect

This could be a similar issue to the "mailbox full" issue some saw during the Bullroarer Took Screen cap contest. I expect the lotrocouncil@turbine.com email address goes to multiple mailboxes. Maybe they added a person who is not involved in the selection, but just oversees things, who cleaned out their mailbox. I wouldn't read to much into the auto reply, as I'm sure they are not the only one who receives the email.

Hopefully we can get a verification from Sapience or Celestrata, or another Blue Name.

[swattz101]

I noticed on the Application/Nomination page that a number of fields such as Real Name, Email Address, Country Age over 18 and Twitter/Facebook/Google use appear to be required but in the case of a Nomination most of that information would probably be unknown. In fact, many players worthy of a nomination may only be known in game and then only by their character name, server and kinship/tribe. Are all fields required in order to nominate someone or could you specify which fields are required? It seems that given a forum name and/or a Character and Server that Turbine should be able to find the account information to contact nominees to verify the other information but that isn't specified in the form. Could you please indicate whether all fields are required even for nominations and if not, which fields are required.

I expect if someone was nominated, and Turbine thought they would make a good fit, they would send them an invite and request they fill out the application so they have all the info before they let them join.

[Thrabath]

You might be surprised to hear there have already been a number of those types of applications. Sadly.

Does it really surprise you? I think that a lot of people with 1 preferred playstyle think the other playstyles get too much attention and their playstyle deserves more

Can/will you tell us how many applications you have gotten when you announce the players? I'm curious if there will be thousands willing to join you and gave you an enormous amount of work, or if there were only 100 applications.

A couple of questions, is playing weekly for an hour active? And is the council also promoted ingame? I think a large portion of the players isn't active on the forums but does have an opinion about the game, especially the more casual player who plays a couple of hours a week at most.

Do you have an estimate about the time required from council members?

[EdwardFerret]

As above, I suggest you promote the Council on the launcher and on a loading screen. Otherwise you will only get people from the forum.

[Ferthcott]

As above, I suggest you promote the Council on the launcher and on a loading screen. Otherwise you will only get people from the forum.

*Cough* In-game mail.

Start random Festival, replace Festival Invitation message with something else, end random Festival 5 seconds later?

[cossieuk]

I would like to post a note of caution on the council, since they will be involved in content that hasnt reached Palantir yet it may be a while before we see the effects of the council and I urge players to be patient with those that get elected to the council.

[mjk47]

Give applicants a questionaire and see how they answer, could be a way of whittling them down. No matter how they identify - RPer, Casual, PvPer etc - let them talk about the other sides.

If all they do is spew vitriol - "I feel raiders dominate everything", "I feel casuals whine until they get all the good stuff", "I feel PvP has no place in LOTRO" - then you know they're ont gonna be objective about it. If they give answers that show they can appreciate the other players views, sorted.

At the least a request for a mini-manifesto would probably be appropriate. That also goes some way toward seeing if candidates meet the requirements for a certain measure of literacy in English.

[Felgo]

I would like to post a note of caution on the council, since they will be involved in content that hasnt reached Palantir yet it may be a while before we see the effects of the council and I urge players to be patient with those that get elected to the council.

Not only that. The first Council will have, for sure, a pretty rough time together with Turbine. I'm sure there are expectations from both sides which will collide. And those edges have to be flatened at first. That is normal and a good opportunitiy to get the "White Tree Council" (my name suggestion) run smooth.

[mjk47]

I think turbine will be able to tell the difference via the infraction log.

I submitted a nomination list that included people I disagree with fervently, and repeatedly because they represent a counter view, as well as some people that others feel are vitriolic because their smart, speak their mind fully and clearly, and represent a side I see as valuable to the council.

Ideally what we want is a system of diversity and checks and balances. The more disagreement we could insert the better, and let the better ideas win from their own merit. So long as the "person" you mention does not embarrass the council he could be valuable if his "flaws?" were overlooked.

____
If you really want the council to be representative nominate your self and then your antitype. If your a casual nominate a raider, if your a raider nominate a casual, etc.

+rep. I would like to see as wide a range of opinions as possible. The one requirement is that they should be expressed and argued for in a civilised manner, and with due respect for those who hold different or conflicting views.

[XinaLotRO]

To everyone who has expressed concerns over representation of various player groups in LOTRO on the Council --

Please try not to worry. The most amazing thing I have learned playing LOTRO is that this game attracts a far more mature, friendly, intelligent, creative group of people than any game I have ever played. I would trust a random cross-section of LOTRO players more than a hand-picked group from another MMO. I have faith that most players realize the long-term success of LOTRO depends on attracting and maintaining a vibrant, diverse player base.

The staff of this game is far more responsive to player comments, questions and criticism than I have ever seen before. I know that many of you would like more communication and transparency. This player council is a bold move in that direction. Take it as a clear indication that Turbine wants to give you what you've asked for, even though it is a daunting, time-consuming, complicated... sometimes controversial... task.

The players council won't be perfect, but it is going to be amazing. After all, these folks are drawn from a group of people who love an epic story about friendship, loyalty, honor, service and dedication in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. They're going to be a Fellowship. Let's trust in them to get the job done.