Hi Adino,
Great feedback and suggestions. Firstly let me address a few things. One is that, as a whole, the game's population has been growing over time. Compared to the high of TGS videos spike days, yeah sure, there is a decline, but that sorta to be expected. With more improvements that we do, we'll hopefully do better and better at keeping players and getting more and more people to enjoy the game.
Secondly, a Kick feature we are deciding not to offer at the moment. We are thinking about moderated and custom matches, but for now, we are not implementing a kick system after careful consideration. We want to do more to encourage teamwork, and over the last 2-3 months, we have added commendations, party, crew formation, beginner matches, scripted tutorials, citizenship achievements, etc. to facilitate team play. In the coming updates, we'll be working on different ways to facilitate team play and communications in matches. Kick, in my humble opinion, does not facilitate team play, and can more likely lead to more trolling and encouragement of negative behavior in game. As a creator of a moderated match though, I do think that Kick is what makes more sense there, and for that we are designing and spec'ing.
Lastly, this is our 7th month of release, and so far we have been improving every step of the way. And we haven't died yet. Hopefully we can keep it going.
And please don't take my reply the wrong way. I absolutely appreciate your support Adino. It's an honor to have everyone playing the game. And while we have a different notion about Kick and about how to encourage team play (we opt for a more approach of encouragement rather than a a punitive one), I do fundamentally agree with you. Improving team play and new player experience is the most important thing for us. And we will do more.
Thanks a lot, Howard
Having experienced DotA2 and games where retardation is redefined on a daily basis, I'm telling you that kicking is aq MUST HAVE. Because without kicking, people, especially the captains, have no means of power over their team. And while admittedly, most crewmembers in GoIO have been great so far; there are also some kick or even ban-worthy occasions in my experience.
When the means of power are required, but not available, frustration kicks in. And it kicks in hard, it will not just be shouting and flaming, it will lead to some serious verbal violence that the DotA2 and HoN communities are well known for. And implementing a mute system will not only anger just about every player playing your game, it will not stop the frustration caused by dicks fucking the crew over.
Everyone knows that the flipside of kicking is that some will try to abuse it, but some games have already proven that this is a really minor issue. In Alliance of Variant Arms, people complained about being kicked almost every game they're in; their developers adjusted the kick system so people could call less kickvotes. Those same players still got kicked even though the callers were severely hampered in their abilities. Often there, kicking is a team effort where people will spend their calling abilities to help out those that don't. Not because the majority of AVA players are trolls, but because it's for the benefit of the team. The same applies to other FPSes like Call of Duty and Quake, it's the civilized and mature way of dealing with dicks.
