Final Results – Moderation and Development Survey | Basic Hater Diary
Dear Community,
Not even a Discord ban will silence us. Today, I am sharing the final results of our recent community survey (https://app.warera.io/article/6a25f824b4b436fd07ea408d) with all of you.
What you will find in this article:
Complete results of the survey
A summary of the data and my personal interpretation
Concrete suggestions for the WarEra administration
A total of 249 people participated in the survey, with a completion rate of 58.2%. The average time taken to submit was 136 seconds.
A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to voice their opinion, and especially to those who shared this within their respective communities. Your participation shows you truly care about the future of this game.
Reliability of the Survey
The results send a loud and clear message. However, before the moderators attempt to undermine this survey by claiming it isn't "representative enough," let’s look at the numbers.
The participation in this survey represents roughly 3.3% of the active community, using the views on vatou's last undeleted patch log as a benchmark. In traditional polling, a 3.3% sample size is considered highly representative. Furthermore, if we compare this poll to polls promoted by the content mods as "official," we aren't far behind. The first survey posted by https://app.warera.io/user/697558ff244a51dff0749db6 received 468 responses, and his second survey's results were never even published for some reason. If we look at standard Discord polls organized by management, they usually gather 150 votes.
Another predictable attack will be that the players are simply "biased" or providing false information. The entire point of a survey is to capture community opinion. The ultimate goal of any game development team should be to maintain a satisfied player base. A game without players—no matter how mechanically good it might be—loses its purpose. The community deserves to be heard and respected.
Key Results
While I could write for hours about why the community is unsatisfied, let let's look at the four most damning metrics:
75% of respondents believe that PUNISHMENTS FOR CHEATING SHOULD BE MORE STRICT.
73% of respondents believe that PLAYERS SHOULD RECEIVE A TRANSCRIPT OF THEIR TICKETS.
71% of respondents believe that ADMINS & MODS SHOULDN'T HOLD GOV ROLES IN THE GAME.
70% of respondents believe that THE PUNISHED PLAYERS SHOULD SEE THE NAME OF THE MODERATOR WHO ISSUED THE PUNISHMENT.
These four demands are directly tied to moderation transparency — a topic that has been debated for months. It was one of the most debated topics of the rules revision forum (more than 2 months ago), which is currently buried somewhere in a hidden Discord channel. Players have lost access to the discussion forums, and no changes have been implemented. Unfortunately, the administration seems to look for excuses rather than finding ways to satisfy the community and promote fair play. https://app.warera.io/article/69d048f4dac70ef4ed712b28
Game Development & The Council
The second most voted topic is transparency regarding game updates.
56% of respondents answered that THE COUNCIL CHAT SHOULD BE ACCESSIBLE TO PLAYERS IN A READ-ONLY MODE. (This number could be up to 95% if we adjust for the 41% of respondents who stated they don't even know what the Council is).This highlights a big issue in the current state of WarEra: casual players have almost zero say in the future of the game. The polls organized in Discord are usually vague, lack context, and carry no real weight. Currently, the only way to contribute to development is to join the Council. Members were usually handpicked based on vatou’s preferences, but many quickly realized why it’s also known as the "Circle Jerking Club." Unless you approve the propositions made by the most influential active players in that chat, your opinion is discarded. If you criticize it too heavily, you are eventually silenced. You can read some of the leaked Council member opinions here in https://app.warera.io/article/69c988b19c301c51c4c35ada
Furthermore, 54% of respondents believe that UPDATES SHOULD ALWAYS BE DISCUSSED WITH THE WHOLE COMMUNITY BEFORE THEY GO LIVE. The failure of the last update made it obvious that many game-breaking bugs could have been caught early if administration actually cared about players feedback.
A community can be incredibly helpful if it is actively listened to and permitted to participate. Instead, we get AI-generated patch logs, meaningless polls, and less than 24 hours to read upcoming changes before they are forced live. It is disrespectful to the player base and needs to stop. No one wants vatou to have a breakdown when his updates get downvoted (https://app.warera.io/article/6a2ac9677f0384adadd13909), but the community has a right to express dissatisfaction and suggest changes. Instead of hiding and running away, they should offer open communication and actual effort.
The Dev Server Potential
Surprisingly, 25% of respondents stated that they check the dev server at least once a week. This suggests there is a potential for update testing. However, from my experience, those players usually just use it to play around rather than providing structured feedback.
The players recognize the issue and only 38% said they simply aren't interested in testing, 29% stated they would be more active on the dev server if communication from the developer improved, and 7% noted that rewards on the live server would motivate them to test.
This topic has been floating around for over a year. I remember presenting it directly to vatou back when I was an active member of the moderation team, yet no progress has been made.
I am patiently waiting for the next update, hoping for better communication. So far, however, it seems history is repeating itself. New feature is already sitting on the dev server without public announcement. It remains unclear whether they will drop in their current state, but it looks like the game will again receive a new set of issues and bugs from the new traveling mechanic, while the other long-standing issues that needs fix remain ignored (e.g., anti-proxy measures, the election rework, and the temporarily disabled foreign revolt mechanic).
Voice your opinion
Finally, I want to invite all of you to the WarEra Ombudsman Discord. Here, you can share your opinions on the game completely free of censorship. We also provide community support for ticket appeals and related moderation issues.
I extend the invitation to everyone who care about the future of WarEra to speak up and share the community concerns. My own ability to do so has been heavily limited following my unexplained ban from the official WarEra Discord server after the last update incident, and it cannot be sure that they won't ban me from the game itself next.
Thank you for your effort and support,
Yours,
Kysely