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The WotC Playtest Surveys Have A Flaw
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<blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 9104132" data-attributes="member: 18"><p>Sorry, responded in the other thread but yeah my experience is broadly similar. The other three D&D DMs I play with are all good DMs, all have "opinions" about 5E, both positive and negative, and a lot of the players do too, but absolutely none of them have engaged with the playtest, even though all of them are on D&D Beyond and have accounts. The most I got was convincing one DM to download one packet and try the survey, but he gave up on it.</p><p></p><p>These are probably more serious than average D&D players and DMs, and they're older and more likely to have the time and the nerdy interest to fill in those surveys - but they're still not doing it!</p><p></p><p>I don't blame them, I blame the process, and WotC for relying on that process.</p><p></p><p>Now, that might not be Crawford's fault, let's be clear - whilst he seems like the type to just stick to an existing process, that's me being judgemental. What I suspect is that case is that WotC simply has not provided resources for doing research into what the playerbase wants in a more proactive way that reaches a larger proportion of the playerbase.</p><p></p><p>And I think Crawford and his team are struggling even with the surveys. I work with surveys some of the time professionally, and certainly with the art of asking questions, and it is very much an art, constructing a good survey - I'm sure there's scientific approaches as well - but you've got to know what you want to get out of the survey, exactly why you're conducting it, and why you're asking questions.</p><p></p><p>I've seen the statistics from stuff I've worked with where one survey gets huge engagement in terms of people opening up, but hardly anyone finishes it, and I've seen others where virtually everyone who opened it, whether few or many, finished it. And the latter? They tend to be shorter, more focused, to ask real questions which need to asked, not to just rate thing after thing after thing. And talking to the people trying to derive information from them, the more focused surveys, with questions specifically there to determine where the issues are have proven much more useful than the rate this rate this rate this rate this surveys. The latter aren't without value, but they tend to be more box-checking exercises rather than things that really influence how the company operates - so it's interesting that WotC is basing so much decision-making on this.</p><p></p><p></p><p>That's interesting and I think definitely part of why people don't care. WotC have sort of tried to have their cake and eat it, but saying they're doing this new edition, and also they're not changing anything, don't be afraid, and what it seems like an awful lot of people have heard is "You have no reason to care". And this means no engagement.</p><p></p><p>And I wonder what that will means for sales of 2024. It's a bit early to doom-monger or whatever, but the fact that nobody seems to care but us very online types, to me, that doesn't bode well for the sales of 2024.</p><p></p><p>Whereas a new edition which might mean some real changes or improvements would probably have annoyed plenty of people (including [USER=50987]@CleverNickName[/USER]'s people who were saying "Not another bloody edition!"), but at least people would have been engaged.</p><p></p><p>Maybe WotC are already accounting for this, but all the "We're going to need soooooooooooo many physical copies!" stuff sounds more like they're expecting massive uptake. And hell, maybe there will be - we're still, what, 6-12 months out probably, maybe even longer - with a sufficiently good advertising campaign maybe they can turn that sentiment around. But I'm skeptical.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ruin Explorer, post: 9104132, member: 18"] Sorry, responded in the other thread but yeah my experience is broadly similar. The other three D&D DMs I play with are all good DMs, all have "opinions" about 5E, both positive and negative, and a lot of the players do too, but absolutely none of them have engaged with the playtest, even though all of them are on D&D Beyond and have accounts. The most I got was convincing one DM to download one packet and try the survey, but he gave up on it. These are probably more serious than average D&D players and DMs, and they're older and more likely to have the time and the nerdy interest to fill in those surveys - but they're still not doing it! I don't blame them, I blame the process, and WotC for relying on that process. Now, that might not be Crawford's fault, let's be clear - whilst he seems like the type to just stick to an existing process, that's me being judgemental. What I suspect is that case is that WotC simply has not provided resources for doing research into what the playerbase wants in a more proactive way that reaches a larger proportion of the playerbase. And I think Crawford and his team are struggling even with the surveys. I work with surveys some of the time professionally, and certainly with the art of asking questions, and it is very much an art, constructing a good survey - I'm sure there's scientific approaches as well - but you've got to know what you want to get out of the survey, exactly why you're conducting it, and why you're asking questions. I've seen the statistics from stuff I've worked with where one survey gets huge engagement in terms of people opening up, but hardly anyone finishes it, and I've seen others where virtually everyone who opened it, whether few or many, finished it. And the latter? They tend to be shorter, more focused, to ask real questions which need to asked, not to just rate thing after thing after thing. And talking to the people trying to derive information from them, the more focused surveys, with questions specifically there to determine where the issues are have proven much more useful than the rate this rate this rate this rate this surveys. The latter aren't without value, but they tend to be more box-checking exercises rather than things that really influence how the company operates - so it's interesting that WotC is basing so much decision-making on this. That's interesting and I think definitely part of why people don't care. WotC have sort of tried to have their cake and eat it, but saying they're doing this new edition, and also they're not changing anything, don't be afraid, and what it seems like an awful lot of people have heard is "You have no reason to care". And this means no engagement. And I wonder what that will means for sales of 2024. It's a bit early to doom-monger or whatever, but the fact that nobody seems to care but us very online types, to me, that doesn't bode well for the sales of 2024. Whereas a new edition which might mean some real changes or improvements would probably have annoyed plenty of people (including [USER=50987]@CleverNickName[/USER]'s people who were saying "Not another bloody edition!"), but at least people would have been engaged. Maybe WotC are already accounting for this, but all the "We're going to need soooooooooooo many physical copies!" stuff sounds more like they're expecting massive uptake. And hell, maybe there will be - we're still, what, 6-12 months out probably, maybe even longer - with a sufficiently good advertising campaign maybe they can turn that sentiment around. But I'm skeptical. [/QUOTE]
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