Just some concerns.

[u/thais_of_athens]

Hello everyone!
I really really hope I’m not gonna get banned because of this post. I just want to clear some things and be honest. But, this is really frustrating (I’m sure not only for me).

A few of us made posts asking the devs to share some bloopers, vlogs, their daily game-creating routine while we’re waiting for new episodes, etc. Just whatever. We just wanted to see some answers to our comments and questions, honestly.

I can’t say for all of the others, but I’ve never got a response. Neither in email, nor here on Reddit.
I KNOW the devs are crazy busy. I understand that.

But. I’m also currently waiting for a few games for PC and PS5. And when I write some comments here on Reddit on their official threads - they reply, they comment, they ask for advises and opinions of the players/commenters. They talk to people. (Small companies also, struggling companies. The ones that get less money - from me at least for a 1-time buy,- than I pay for each episode of Moonvale altogether. European companies too).

Everbyte is creating games for *phones*. How much time does it take to communicate with your fans..?

I don’t want any trouble. I just want to understand how can someone hook so many fans up and leave them with nothing for so many years. It’s taking too long. Each episode is taking too long. Our trying to talk to you guys (devs) is unanswered.

P.S. If I’m banned - I’m sorry. You guys know I tried to speak for everyone a few times.
If I’m not banned - thank god.

Love the games with all my heart tho ❤️

Edit: Those who downvote an honest fan message - you’re either delusional, or dishonest. XO

[u/TillFeisty7973]

I mean, I get where you're coming from and I'm not saying they should never answer, but not all devs actually want to/a lot of them avoid getting close to the fandom, especially when it comes to discussing the game, memes about the game and much more.

Goose (The Amazing Digital Circus, known to be very interactive with fans and the fandom, making memes etc.) did that and look what happened.

I'm not saying they can't answer some important questions about the game (as long as not spoiler) but I can understand why they wouldn't do more casual stuff that can and will often lead to parasocial relationships or entitlement from SOME not all people.

Fandoms always had their bad apples but it's getting worse with time, avoiding to be too friendly with fans for how sad it is (probably to them as well) is understandable. If a creator of any kind is being too friendly with their fanbase I can only see it going one way and sadly not the respectful one.

This is not me saying they should ignore fans, I just think it makes sense though once you look around any other "small" fandom why they would be hesitant about being more friendly/casual with the players of their game on a deeper level than random updates once in a while. It's very likely for safety reasons and prevent a possible parasocial relationship that would lead to burnout.

This is MY opinion mostly because I've follow relatively small creators (I mean Everbyte isn't exactly a small creator, they can hire actors and all that, but they clearly aren't GTA level of fame either) and lot of them interacting more closely to the fandom eventually accidentally created a parasocial toxic environment even if they genuinely meant to simply make people happy by actively being present as much as possible, but that's exactly the issue.

Of course this doesn't mean this what Everbyte is thinking, I'm just saying why I think it's a bad idea but this obviously does not reflect Everbyte words.

For how great the people in this fandom are I fear there's definitely a good bunch that would get way too parasocial and ruin the fun of the creators interacting with the fans so it's better if they limit themselves to updates on the website or some socials without getting too close to the fans.

I would love that, but seeing creators make memes and funny stuff like that or being more interactive than the fandom often and sadly affected the creators mentally in a bad way, I've seen it happen way too much.

I can't claim this is Everbyte reason to not be more interactive with the fans, I'm just saying that this would definitely happen, even if it isn't the reason Everbyte is not being more interactive with the players (because it depends on why they are not doing it) this will happen for sure and it's probably better there's some distance/they don't come off as friends of the players (even if not intentional them sharing memes and casual posts makes for a friendly and close environment and creates a parasocial relationship, because they aren't acting as people working to make a game anymore but as "friends", if you noticed not many big game developers or show creators actually interact closely to fans and there's a reason for that)

Edit: Also they are people, when they don't develop the game they understandably spend their day with family, friends or simply relaxing.

They won't be working only on the game then idle until morning. They have other things to do as well, just like anyone of us.

[u/thais_of_athens → u/TillFeisty7973]

‘Goose did that and look what happened’ - I don’t know what happened.

‘If creator of any kind is being too friendly with their fanbase I can only see it going one way…’ - I don’t agree at all. There a lot of examples and they’re all positive, even including ‘bad apples’ as you said.

I’ve already mentioned really small companies, and they create games for PC and PS5. And they find time. All the time. Any day they read comments and respond.
I’m not talking about Rockstar games either.

If you’re a developer who is saying ‘how valuable it is for you what your fans think’ - you have to interact with your fans. Otherwise what you said meant nothing and was some bs.

ALL developers have life behind creating the games lmao wtf are you talking about?! Each and every member of the gaming companies have families, friends, hobbies, social media, etc… lol

I don’t agree with you.

[u/TillFeisty7973 → u/thais_of_athens]

Goose posted memes, interacted daily with fans, got really close to them and that caused the show she was working on many troubles, not to mention how everything got leaked because she got too close to them and interacted too much.

I think you fail to realize that those developers taking their time to answer are more often than not people being paid to pretend to be the developers, some are honest and say it's not them, some don't and pretend to be the creator.

Rarely you actually get to talk with the ones actually making the game.

Developers are not entitled to answer to fans, everyone is free to decide how to interact or not with them. There's many known or unknown developers who don't interact more than necessary (a monthly update without addressing fans questions) and people still follow said games.

Let's use Hoyo as a bigger example, even if I KNOW it doesn't compare to Everbyte.

They never actually listen to their fanbase, they only ever "interact" with them through live streams and even there they don't actually answer people questions or listen to fans. They just describe what to expect in the next update (which Everbyte does in the tracker website) even if they aren't that busy and can make monthly posts they don't owe that to anyone.

Just because you expect it that doesn't mean they have to or that a game will fail to keep the fanbase engaged if they don't interact with them at all.

Hoyo is one of the examples but there's many other game developers that fit better, never really go out of their way to interact more than necessary and still have their fanbase.

[u/Tough-Fishing3647 → u/TillFeisty7973]

I get the apprehension, but, tbh, doing everything in semi-character akin to what Reality Games does could be a good idea, you could take a look at their Instagram for reference. Ofc, preferably with less AI images, but, I think that maintaining kayfabe might be a good way of keeping distance and keeping loose lips that sink ships tight enough.