Sorry for the delay this posted.
As always i will took any positive or negative criticism
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I’m glad you’re feeling better.
I think there are some misunderstandings about our dev priorities, and the reasons behind what gets focus vs what doesn’t. The idea that I’m only working on coding is very strange, because a good chunk of my time still goes to figuring out the game balance which has nothing to do with coding or technical work.
Both the recent Inactive Handling Updates and the current convo about addressing UA are goods example of things that are getting worked on that have nothing to do with code. The focus there is very much about the playing experience, not the technical implementation details.
I’m not sure why the idea is out there that I’m not aware of or concerned with the playing experience, when recent changes were prioritized specifically to address these kinds of problems.
Regardless, some great points were made here and it’s always useful to hear feedback.
Btw, the convo about inactives in chat wasn’t removed because it was about inactives, it was removed because it was becoming excessively hostile, including my own responses. Players have come to me in the past with complaints about how unfriendly our chat can be, which is a part of the wider toxicity problem you mentioned. We still have work to do there.
In terms of specific problems/features, the join process and the huge planet gaps between families are both things that are being looked at right now. I don’t have specifics to get into but it’s good to hear that the problems that feel most painful are also the things that are going to be directly effected by our current dev efforts.
This was a good listen. 
The only thing I would critique is the inference that I’m only working on code.
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Great listen!
Maybe community thinks you are working only on code, because if a problem concerns anything else, only solution you seem to accept is that players have to somehow settle it amongst themselves and everything has to be automatized. You will provide necessary code to make it possible, but there can not be any real involvement from you or anyone from staff.
In regard of UA, I get it that you do not have time to babysit the community, but if you are not doing it and you do not let any real authority to do it, then the most “politically powerful faction of players” (meaning: most connected and brutal bunch) will take advantage. Yeah, that is just my opinion and prediction and it already seems to be in progress, altho the group is only forming atm. MTG_Dad’s analysis is IMO part of this, because only small families do not use UA/IA to hit bigger families, but leading families will help smaller too to hit their competition in order to get easier war later on. Thus there is increase in planet gaps too.
I have silently accepted this in few rounds back, so I am not that innocent, but I regret that now.
I do not wish to play the game, where my personal actions make no difference and others with more combined power can nullify my actions and hard work by scheming in the background in unofficial (illegal in my mind still) alliances. I expect owner of the game to make game fair, where every player has the same base chance to play and win the game. Of course activity and skill vary, but if friendships interfere fair gameplay, authority has to even try to step in.
Only example comes to mind from Fortnite, which my son just started to play and I have played some too. Some people in there try to cheat, with somehow having extra powers or playing in pairs or teams when they should not and you can spectate other players and even can then report a player. They even seem to be enforcing the rules with bans and harshly. Ok, they can, because they have so many players anyway. But they can check the accusations too (maybe not all, but they could have some system to rate players with more reports and start to check from there, they seem to be quite efficient tho, because cheating seems rather rare too), despite having so many players.
Pretty much same goes with toxicity of the community. If there is no other control, the toxic players will overpower polite and nice players.
Killing market helps a bit, but toxicity and other forms of IA would still be there.
There is some foundation to that “only coding” critique there IMO.
Thanks for the sort of PvC to MTG_Dad!
Things would be so much easier if there were any foundation to that critique. IC has some big issues but trust me, if code was the only thing I was spending time on, we’d have far more urgent concerns than UA.
The UA issue doesn’t describe “only coding” at all; it describes my preference that we fix IC’s problems without compromising player autonomy and freedom.
If I was only coding I would not be talking with you and others on how to address the game’s underlying imbalances. I would not be discussing game design with the players, I would literally be only coding.
A disagreement over game design is one thing, but if I’m telling you guys “Hey I spend time on other things besides code.” and you guys are saying “No, you don’t. You only code.” then that’s just absurd.
This isn’t new; it’s as old as IC itself.
This was a problem in the Betas and in IC’s peak as well. Our mistake (well, Stefan and MM’s mistake) was that they tried to “fix” this with the IA rule instead of actually fixing the game mechanics that make IA so painful in the first place.
By applying that band-aid, they forever trained the players that the game can only operate with staff oversight. We’re still paying for that mistake.
The biggest misconception about IA is that the problem is actually IA. It’s not: IC is inherently imbalanced and needs to be fixed properly. Throwing band-aids back onto the problem is just a waste of our already limited dev and admin resources.
Your thread is a great example of the type of player-developer collaboration needed to solve the underlying issue. If only our original owners listened years ago.
Good thing the current owner is also involved in these things, and isn’t only coding. 
So, first off thanks everyone for the feedback. My goal is to start improving these through this next coming year.
@I_like_pie its interesting to me that the first thing you latched onto was the thought that you were coding. Now I know I mentioned it a few times, but it was never meant to be a negative. And I will use the old axiom here “Perception is reality”. You have more than 1 person with this perception, and there may be many more.
For me it is an easy fix, do weekly/monthly updates of what you are working on. I know you have done this in the past, but it would probably help that perception. And yes I know it takes time, but it may be time that is worth it.
And as i said, yes you have improved the player experience in regards to issues, but in my own opinion there are still issues. While the new system/systems are better, they are still not flawless.
I do find it kind of concerning when I offer information from recent players on why they have left, and what would bring them back, and you make no mention of that, nor mention of wanting the full information, which I would gladly share with you, and which may be helpful.
But I am still hopeful and positive about the recent changes and I hope they continue
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The coding thing was the first thing I latched onto because it’s so grossly inaccurate. I like what you’re doing with these podcasts but there is a level of responsibility involved in fairly representing the state of affairs in the community, which includes my involvement as the owner. You’re doing a good job for the most part, but you asked for critique and that’s an example of something that can be improved.
Take it as an objective criticism to research a bit more before speaking on a topic. It’s not a bad thing. I am here to talk to you guys if you want to know where my time goes. There is no need to speculate.
On that note though, your comment about perception is very much on point. Ultimately it reflects a communication shortcoming on my end, which ironically is yet another “non-coding” thing that requires time, effort, planning, etc.
Speaking of that:
Yes, for you it is an easy fix, because you’re not the one who has to do it. Have you considered why I stopped doing these types of updates?
Put it this way: what would you say if I told you that your podcast would get more listeners if you just released it weekly? Is that an easy fix?
This is the same as most things with IC: it’s not that we don’t know what to do, it’s that it’s incredibly difficult to find the time and resources to do it. Trust me, if the dev updates I used to do were as easy as you describe, they would still be happening.
Whether or not they are “worth it” depends on what is not being done in their place. There is an opportunity cost to everything, which is what we’re constantly struggling with.
The good news is, your podcast is a great example of players helping to address this problem. If we can find a decent harmony our communication it will go a long way with improving transparency, perception, and general community health. That will take improvements from all parties involved, and I am happy that you seem interested in a collaborative approach.
As for the concern about me not mentioning the survey results, I responded to the larger points here:
If that’s insufficient response to feedback to the point that it is concerning, I would question whether your expectations are reasonable. Have you considered that I may also have been taking a break during the holidays when this was posted?
As for the survey results, why not just post the full information publicly? The responses were anonymous, and we all know I read the forums anyway.
To the point @You_Fool has been making lately, the game will benefit if we reduce dependencies on me personally. Is there any reason this needs to be something that I have to explicitly mention or ask you about?
You have the data, why not not share it with the community for a public discussion?
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I also feel the coding issue (minor that it is) is an issue of perception of what coding actually is…and that to an actual developer it means different things than to non-developers
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