2 replies to this topic

[rickinator9]

What's the job of a community liason? We only have one of them and that guy is AFK(ponpat).I don't really see that we would need them if we can do without them.

[AndY]

Hey Rick,

Excellent question. CLs actually have many different functions.

When a community is active, it can be quite difficult for a small team of developers to keep track of everything that's going on. Since community involvement is very important to us during dev, CLs can help keep us informed. Similarly (like double agents *hint*), they can keep the community up-to-date with what's happening behind the scenes.

For example, with Overwatch:

• WAXT kept track of all the suggestions posted on the community forums and relayed the popular ones to us
  
• He took care of the Ask the Devs! threads
  
• He updated the schedule for the playtime events based on community feedback
  
• He (and Ranma) also attended most playtime events and informed us of any bugs/issues, which maps were played, how many people were there, what feedback was posted in chat, etc..

And so on.


With the upcoming announcement, CLs will be a key part of our strategy yet again.

I added Ponpat to the group a bit early, but that's fine; he's the first of many that we're planning to "recruit". His roles are simple but important: he moderates the German Community section of the forums and keeps an eye on the #Overwatch channel.


It's worth noting that while CLs are invaluable to our operation, we (as developers) still want to have a tight-knit relationship with our community. You'll still see us on the forums and on game servers, and we can always be reached directly through PM, email or WebChat.


I hope that answers your question!

[AndY]

I should also add that CLs aren't exactly a part of the development team. They're trusted (and usually longtime) members of the community with specific roles and responsibilities. They're equally valuable to both developers and community members, but they are first and foremost community members themselves: their primary role is to ensure that your voices are heard and that we offer you the best experience possible.