View: https://www.reddit.com/r/Warthunder/comments/1qttwqr/br_changes_or_why_i_dont_understand_gaijins/
View: https://www.reddit.com/r/Warthunder/comments/13pqezr/a_small_reminder_to_the_western_community_from_a/
@Cryotron
This post is gonna be mostly political but in gaming, people complain about being banned in the forums of Russian games for complaining.
This is an issue I've never had; I know enough about authoritarian systems to complain without being banned.
I constantly troll on War Thunder forums without even being banned, spamming the most controversial viewpoints sometimes attracting 500s + of replies.
When you complain, you have to do it in a way that is subtle and does not concern the game developer. Think the developers as CPSU/CCP.
You can't say
"Why is this tank so overpowered? CEO of [Russian game dev] can't balance shit! All players boycott!"
You say
"Hello, congrats on adding the tank into the game. It is looking great, working great, but balance parameters could be adjusted according to my opinion to improve the game further"
Authoritarian systems care the most about image; they usually let the people complain about local issues with varying success of solving them, which means you can't critique the developer in a way that makes them look bad.
Also, follow the rules like posting in the correct places and don't challenge moderators/admins too much; they usually leave you alone.
Finally, sometimes if the thread gets too big with people being riled up, they lock the thread anyway but you are most of the times spared.
Another aspect is appeasement. Authoritatian systems rely a lot on metrics/KPI due to top down management; they only react when the complaints get too big + it starts eating into profit/gameplay.
The most effective way to change something is to have it affect a KPI (so they do something) + mass complaint (so they know)
For example: BMP-T tank of War Thunder balance was too bad that it began affecting matchmaking making so that no one plays other nations but USSR, and complaints on forums were widespread, so Gaijin tackled the issue.
Ironically, for all that talk, I sometimes find Russian moderated servers freer than Western ones. Western ones ban you forever for saying the negreo accidentally (literally had a server permamently ban my ass for linking this torpedo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neger_(torpedo)) while Russian ones don't if you don't "disrupt the harmony".
Western moderation is increasingly authoritatian (with same dynamics like no insulting the top), except without the perks like relative free speech (as long you don't critique the administration) seen in Eastern style servers.
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