The Player Council is a new thing for LOTRO. To me, as an outsider to the Council, much of the Player Council of 2013 was a learning experience. And I think the Player's Council of 2014 can learn some valuable lessons!
For something new and unprecedented in LOTRO, I think the Player Council of 2013 actually didn't do that bad at all. It's impossible for us as 'outsiders' to fully evaluate what they did or didn't do. Player members are bound by a NDA, so many of their actions are veiled to us. What has been revealed to us has been filtered by Turbine. But still there's quite some goodies they've done for us:
- getting Turbine to indeed listen to their feedback and do something with it;
- forum restructuring from the player perspective;
- helpful, responsible presence on this forum;
- suggesting features to Turbine;
- visiting Turbine and having valuable face to face meetings with key (to us) Turbine staff;
- lastly: trying to gasp some of what the whole playerbase thinks/feels/wants most particular lately here:
https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthr...gs-Online-quot
A possible future goodie could be their feedback on the housing updates. They certainly made Turbine reevaluate them but how that pans out is yet unknown to us. It's Turbine's credit that they do indeed take the Council serious.
There is also some things in which I think they have crossed the line some.
In particular recommending or suggesting pricing levels to Turbine for features is something I think the Player Council of 2014 should not do. Remember as a Player Council member that you are still a paying customer. Never ever let the shopkeeper look into your wallet like that. In particular when you have been appointed as a representative of all other customers. Besides the whole principal wrong of this, you also set yourselves up to be used as 'scapegoats'.
Also, be careful with attempting to compensate for Turbine's sometimes less than optimal communication. You are not spokespersons of Turbine. You are OUR spokespersons. You should be telling Turbine what you think they should (also) be telling us and how. Turbine already has their own spokespersons.
Finally there is a thing that needs to change:
If in 2014 there is one thing the Player Council should take to heart it is to make it more clear you are indeed [u]our/[u] Council. You may very well have been this in 2013 as well, but I saw too little of that - was it out of my sight? I would also recommend to put some pressure on the way the Player Council's actions are made public. Let the Council speak for itself in a way that is agreed upon with Turbine, rather than letting Turbine speak for the Council.
Many thanks to the Player Council of 2013. You braved a new thing and barring the mentioned mistakes, you indeed deserve gratitude.
Courage to the Player Council of 2014. You'll not granted the mercy of being new at this.