Pretty hard to defend nrs right now. For a company that is so active on social media, and attempts to engage the community, well they just seem to be really bad at it.
I really want to ask them why they think people watch these streams. I am not going out on a limb to suggest that your average poster here on tym would mop Tyler and derrick. So, no one tuned in to see high level gameplay. Not to mention, anyone interested purely in the gameplay can watch any of the dozen or so top players stream for hours on end.
They sort of teased this idea that the purpose of the stream this time was for 16 bit to talk meta, and to help more casual players to level up and get more familiar with the lingo of the game. Had they truly seen that through, I think that would've been really cool. However, it just wasn't very good, and appeared to be just completely shoehorned. Did anyone else get the sense that that whole concept of 16bit helping the casuals level up was something they came up with in a meeting last minute when they were at a loss for what the stream would actually be about this week? Just pure execution of an idea that could've been really cool, and just reeked of desperation.
People watch these streams to garner info about the game, see character reveals and see how their mechanics work within the game. This stream didn't accomplish any of that.
They honestly should have just not done a stream this week, and waited until next week when they were prepared to actually divulge some information that people are craving.
The formula of "answering" community questions on stream with essentially the same answer each time (we can't talk about that right now, but there's some really cool news regarding that topic just around the corner) is just a fucking joke. How about this. Don't address questions you aren't prepared to answer.
I do appreciate the truthfulness regarding the nature of the beta and the scarcity of codes. That was the first time they came out and said the beta would remain closed and that not everyone would receive a code. Had they said as much day one, there would be a lot less ire and disappointment.
All they need to do with these streams is this: reveal a trailer for a yet to be announced character. Do a character breakdown and gameplay demo of a previously revealed character for a majority of the stream, announce that that character will be playable in the next update, reveal a stage and show off the transitions and interactables and announce it'll be playable next update, and finally announce that the next wave of codes will be sent immediately following the stream including a rough estimate of how many new codes will be sent, and finally, do a fun match between derick and Tyler for the belt.
They could alternate that style of stream with other concepts like 16bit helping casuals or picking a certain element of the game mechanics or fighting game fundamentals and diving into that. They say they care about growing the community, well paying a top player to help grow the casual audience into the next gen of serious players would be worthwhile.
Whatever, I could go on, and I know nrs has a lot on their plate and priorities above and beyond these streams and community interaction in general, but it's 2017, and these things are damn important. If you're going to employ people to manage community relations, run twitter handles, run giveaways, manage press releases and streams, we'll hold those folks accountable and do it all the way.
If you read this whole thing, you care about this as much as i do.
