A prime example of a way a community has a voice in a game is PlanetSide 2. The way Sony Online Entertainment has their “Roadmap” for PlanetSide 2 basically says hey, these are the features and updates we have planned for a certain month. Comment on what you think about it, how it could be changed, or to not have it patched in at all. Then give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down to express your opinion on it. The great thing is it's not just a platform for people to ramble and think they're being heard; developers are consistently responding and coordinating with the community.
The Ball is in Your Court, Trion
As mentioned before, there are many features XLGAMES haven't added to ArcheAge despite promising them in the past. Now that Trion Worlds has purchased the publishing rights to bring the MMO to North America, you'd imagine they'd make sure some of the more important features at least make it into the game. Maybe that Trion Worlds would at least be listening to their player base, but regrettably this isn't the case. Fans of ArcheAge have reached out to developers from Reddit, forums, fan sites, and even livestreams without any luck. What makes it worse is that even some developers have responded to those fans by promising further updates and communication with nothing to back it up down the road.
It's to the point that fans of what ArcheAge once was barely know what to think of it anymore. A well known YouTuber in the Korean ArcheAge community has stepped down from doing his videos since 1.0. Some of the fans I've spoken with in the sub-reddit believe Trion Worlds might be trying to pull a fast one and not support ArcheAge. (There's no reason to believe this, mind you, but folks are worried.)
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At this point, one thing is for sure: the developers of ArcheAge aren't listening to the community and are only providing content players don't want. It's still early, and as we know ArcheAge only just entered Trion's family alpha for North America, but let's hope the San Francisco-base company makes sure the community has a voice. At the current time, all we're seeing is that players are being steered toward traditional themepark PvE instead of the hardcore elements of PvP they enjoyed which made ArcheAge unique. The fate of Korean ArcheAge may be in the air, but here's hoping Trion Worlds can bring it back down to the ground.
