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Do you ever reach out to developers to thank them?

Nymphae

Banned
Hooray my first thread! Please be kind :p

In light of the Flappy Bird bullshit, I started thinking about why people seem to have no problem sending hate and complaints about anything that comes to mind, and wondered how disproportional the good vs bad comments are (it certainly feels like there is more hate circling the net most days). I wish I could find the tweet I saw that was directed at the FB dev, it was along the lines of "Die you piece of shit, put Flappy Bird back on the app store!" So this person played the game, liked it enough to send this shit to the dev "asking" for it to be put back up, but I'm guessing sending a word of thanks was out of the question for this individual.

Not to pat myself on the back, but I recently emailed the developer of Olli Olli for Vita, to thank them and tell them how awesome their game is. They replied saying thanks and included a link to a song called "You're so good", it was really funny and made me smile. We need more positivity in this industry. It only takes a few minutes and obviously people really appreciate it.

How many of you have ever actually taken the time to thank people for the work they put into making games that you enjoy? Maybe it was just a tweet, or a comment on FB, or perhaps a lengthy email to the staff. I like to think this stuff can go a long way towards making people feel like they are doing something worthwhile, and I try to do this as often as I can when I feel like it is deserved. Maybe if more people sent words of praise instead of hate, we wouldn't have stuff like the FB dev pulling out, or Phil Fish's twitter meltdown.
 

Zeppeli

Banned
Ever since the one GAF user got the free shit from Superbot I'm pretty sure every member here sends a letter of appreciation to a dev monthly.
 

Xander51

Member
I do all the time! Mostly over twitter. If it had been so easy to do this when I was growing up I would have done it all the time as a kid too.
 

Nibel

Member
There are a few who appreciate it; I think a positive tweet can put a smile on every dev's face. I've created a DKCTF review image with some of the better scores on it and a Retro employee was happy about it.

Also, Kamiya seems to be happy to receive feedback from fans of his games (The amount of people who make him angry is waaaay too high though :lol)
 

JDSN

Banned
I thank with my money. Except for Feep, he gave me free shit and has earned my gratitude and cash for whatever future gaming endeavor he makes.
 

L~A

Member
Yeah, I do that every once in a while, though only for dev I follow on Twitter (like Kamiya). I've never went to rant at a dev, though.
 

Cragvis

Member
If there was an easy way to do it, and I KNEW FOR SURE they would read what I had to say...sure

Like we know Gaben reads his emails, but thats about it. Try to send an complementary message to any other dev, and at best you get a contact email to PR on some games website and no one will read it.

I have played many games where I was just like. wow this is so great. If there was a simple easy way for me to know that I could say thanks to a dev team and know that they read it, I would.
 

Zeppeli

Banned
There are a few who appreciate it; I think a positive tweet can put a smile on every dev's face. I've created a DKCTF review image with some of the better scores on it and a Retro employee was happy about it.

Also, Kamiya seems to be happy to receive feedback from fans of his games (The amount of people who make him angry is waaaay too high though :lol)

qx9vjuy.jpg

I love Kamiya.
 

LiK

Member
I send them positive tweets or emails. They appreciate them. Trust me, they probably get shit as much as praise. So if you like their games, let them know.
 

Mozendo

Member
I haven't. I don't think I ever have.
I always thanked the people who gifted me a game, I'll start right now.

Kinda feel bad I never have before ;_;
 
I buy most games day one, sometimes twice like TR: DE. So yeah, I do thank them with my hard earned money, even though most of their games fail to keep my interest till the end.
 

Sorcerer

Member
I remember being so impressed with Golgo 13 on the Nes that I wrote a letter of thanks to Vic Tokai.

I was impressed by how mature the content was for a Nes game. (Cigarettes, the implication of sex). The James Bond feel of the game.

I still wonder how this game got by Nintendo Censors.

I wrote them to thank them and ask about a game in their catalog that never seemed to come out.

I can't remember if I ever sent that letter.

I know the game gets a lot of hate but I loved it and mastered it. Could do the entire game in one sitting without dying.
 

angrygnat

Member
I did actually. On Neogaf there was a gentleman that said he had been involved with making the Multiplayer for ME3. I told him good job and thanks!
 
I wanted to email ns2 developers Uwe to thank them for releasing a mod support enabled, low input lag competitive multiplayer game with server browser, community ran dedicated servers and no dlc (just good old fashioned content patches with new maps n stuff)


But I bought the game and convinced like 10 people on my steam list to get it too so that should be thanks enough

I hope they make all the money and never sell out or get corrupted, they also deserve to live a long and healthy life for being decent human beings
 

ryanofcall

Member
Yeah GAF get your shit together. We should really focus all of our hate towards EA and thank every dev who's not with EA.
 
On occasions yes. Most recently it was thanking the Scribblenauts team for making a game my wife was able to get into (something which happens really rarely).
 
When I'm a tradeshow or something, definitely. It's typically much more applicable with indie devs, who will be there, at their booth and ready to talk. It's nice to be able to shake hands with someone and thank them, learn a bit about what they've got cooking, find out how I can support future projects and so forth.

I had a really good experience last year at PAX East doing this. Say what you will about Penny Arcade, the indie area they had was pretty big.
 
I might hit them up on twitter and say thanks.

Japanese devs and producers seem to especially take kindly to it.
I remember tweeting both MAQL and Shu Yoshida about how much I loved Soul Sacrifice when I got the import, and both responded in like 30 seconds.
 

El Phenicks

Neo Member
I did on few occasions.

The one I remember the most is rushing to CDProjekt's forums after completing the original Witcher to tell them I felt I hadn't played a rpg as good since Fallout 2.
 
I remember my first job making iOS games. We made a quick game based on the Stroop Test (The world blue is spelled red but you had to select blue squares).

A year after I left the company my friend got me on Skype with an e-mail from a man from Germany. The app was taken down from the App Store as the company closed and the man could no longer access it. His wife was disabled and it was the only game she liked playing and could play. He said thanks for the game anyhow as it made her smile whilst playing it.

My friend opened up a private iOS account and re-upped the game. It was quite heart warming.

Never felt the need to do it myself though.
 

Struct09

Member
I do over Twitter from time to time and actually get responses some of those times. I do my part to fight internet negativity.
 
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