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September Announcement


RAZBAM_ELMO

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Good afternoon everyone. I’d like to take this moment to introduce myself. My name is Zack and I am the new Community Manger for RAZBAM. I’m married, expecting my first child in December, and serve full time in my countries Armed Forces. I have been part of the DCS community for almost 7 years now, its fair to say I’ve been around the block once or twice and have seen how things have drastically changed over the last few years as a community member. As I’m not great with FPS games like ARMA or COD I really grew to the simulator world which mixed the fidelity of an airplane with combat and it’s all I tend to play. I’ve met some great friends and talked with many people on things from Pit-Building to real world tactics. It’s been a blast and now that we have great addons like SRS and great MP mission servers, interacting with people from across the globe, combat simulation has never been better and will continue to reach new heights.

 

Now to get into the real meat and potatoes of this announcement. We are all too aware of the global situation that is before us regarding COVID 19. First off RAZABAM would like to keep everyone who may be affected by this pandemic in our thoughts as we all move through these uncertain times. A lot of us are stressed, work or family is affected, and it can be hard to talk about these concerns when everyone is worried about what the future will hold, myself included.

 

I like to be an optimist and look at both sides of the situation before making an opinion regarding any matter. During the last few months, some misinterpretation and confusion between RAZBAM and its awesome community were brought to a head. Words were exchanged, tempers flared, and relationships strained. This, coupled with everyone being on extra edge, lead to the situation I am sure you have all bore witness to.

 

I believe that integrity is a key aspect to having an honest and trustworthy relationship. I intend to try and help rectify these issues over the next few months. As the Community Manager, I would like to extend my apologies for the issues that occurred over the past few months. As this is a global community, some things can be lost in translation and others misinterpreted, it seems that this was one of the underlying factors that created heated discussions and lead to problems.

 

I have outlined a new approach with Ron (aka Prowler) and the team on how RAZBAM will be conducting itself with the community. Here is a brief overview:

 

- For now; any questions regarding modules, upcoming releases, or requests for statements regarding the team/ statuses will be posted in the associated forum sections or asked to me directly in the forums or on the Discord. This will help alleviate the pressure on Ron and the team, allowing more focus on module bugs/ releases, thereby increasing productivity.

 

- The decision to block commenting in the forums and removing individuals from the Discord was a band aid on a gapping wound. As of further notice, all chat will be reinstated and those blocked/ banned from the Discord will be granted access again. The forums and Discord will however be more stringently moderated. Harassment or any form of abuse towards team members will not be tolerated. I think people should have a voice and express it freely, but that is no excuse to start harassing the dev team, making their jobs more difficult, and distracting them from making excellent modules.

 

- Should you have a suggestion, a concern, or issue, I implore that you reach out to me as soon as you can. Moving forward we will be adopting a more structured approach: bringing problems to the dev team via one source, dispersing the issues to certain team members, and releasing answers back to you from one source. Streamlining our procedures and responses via a singular source will prevent the confusion generated by multiple individual sources and, as such, prevent contradictory information being provided. I will be your voice and your concerns; I will also be as forthcoming and as honest as I can be limited only by NDAs or decisions pending Ron’s final say.

 

- Early access, release and finished. These descriptors on a module has long since been debated and I would like to better clarify how RAZBAM classifies them. Note that RAZBAM uses these definitions as “milestones” rather than direct definitions to denote the stage of an aircraft in the development timeline, as ED does with their internal versions, and with the various beta and stable versions. They are purely stage markers.:

 

In Open-Beta, or Early Access (EA), is when a module is out of closed beta and is being put through the rigors by the user. This is usually after closed beta tests by the team or external beta testers and is thought to or believed to be ready to fly. I could delv into more detail which I would gladly do should you request it but generally this means that the initial FM, exterior model, interior and basic systems that do not require extensive coding or testing can be added and released with the module. Usually this comes with some issues that the dev team missed or did not know existed. This is where the community plays a huge part in assisting the dev team by making us aware of these “bugs” which are then listed and worked on until we get to the next module phase.

 

Released, release, or out of beta (OOB) is when the dev team feels that most issues have been sorted or are close to finalization. At this point, more and more detail systems that needed a more polished base can be added and implemented although they too need to go through various tests before they can be considered “finished”. While the modules can theoretically be used in missions or in MP this is by no means an indication that the module is finished. It may be” feature complete” (meaning that most of the features required to hit the milestone have been implemented without game breakage) but not considered a FINISHED product. The systems may be IN the module and while it may contain many complete “features”, it is by no means truly FINISHED. RAZBAM will, in the future, better describe a modules status to prevent confusion.

 

Finished. With ED always improving and evolving DCS into a better and better flight sim, some things can and will break requiring a recode or start from scratch completely. Understanding that this will be a constant issue even for modules in EA or OOB means that timelines can, do and will get pushed back depending on the severity of the issue. So, to say a module is “Finished” is a broad stroke open to interpretation. It could mean that all features are in, but they may not all work as described in a NATOPS. The restrictions in place by militaries and governments means that issues like IIF or classified systems still in use need to be either left out completely or made into a more simplified form that does not risk man or machine IRL. If further detailed answers regarding definitions are needed, then I’ll be glad to work on an extended post dedicated to that entirely

 

Again, these definitions are purely descriptor titles for use by RZABAM to define a modules status internally and is in no way a representation of the modules ACTUAL status.

 

I, as RAZBAM’s Community Manager, will do my best to better bridge the gap between you, our amazing community, and the devs hard at work to bring you some of the most exciting modules to fly. As I work with you and do as much for you as I can, I expect to be treated as I treat you. I will do what I can, where I can. Understand things take time, as DCS is ever evolving, and I only ask for patience until solutions are found.

 

I would also like to let you know that I have open lines of communication between leading ED team members to help further prevent contradictory statements in the future. It is my hope that this turns a new page in RAZBAM’s books and paves the way for how we interact with you in the future. I sincerely look forward to talking with all of you and being a part of the RAZBAM team.

 

Lalalala Lalalala,

Zack (aka Elmo)

Know and use all the capabilities in your airplane. If you don't, sooner or later, some guy who does use them all will kick your ass.

 

— Dave 'Preacher' Pace, USN.

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Welcome on board!

 

Should you have a suggestion, a concern, or issue, I implore that you reach out to me as soon as you can.

 

What is the preferred way of contacting you?

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

 

Commodore 64 | MOS6510 | VIC-II | SID6581 | DD 1541 | KCS Power Cartridge | 64Kb | 32Kb external | Arcade Turbo

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... It is my hope that this turns a new page in RAZBAM’s books and paves the way for how we interact with you in the future. I sincerely look forward to talking with all of you and being a part of the RAZBAM team.

 

Welcome Zack,

 

I have purchased all of Razbam DCS modules and tough the Mirage is the one I've enjoyed the most, the aircraft I wanted to fly the most was the MiG-19. I had every intention of writing missions for it, as the Cold War is one of my favorite historic periods.

 

Unfortunately, the keybindings shortcomings that this particular model has to this day, dissipated my initial enthusiasm to the point that I haven't flown this bird in almost a year (but I do try her whenever it appears on the patch log, to check if the problems still remain or not).

 

I wish you all the best, and hope that Razbam will manage to finish the Mig sometime soon, now that you will be taking up this community management role. Good luck :thumbup:

 

 

Eduardo

 

For work: iMac mid-2010 of 27" - Core i7 870 - 6 GB DDR3 1333 MHz - ATI HD5670 - SSD 256 GB - HDD 2 TB - macOS High Sierra

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Welcome on board!

 

 

 

What is the preferred way of contacting you?

 

Here, there, everywhere. Discord is usually faster, if its detailed or lengthy then here.

Know and use all the capabilities in your airplane. If you don't, sooner or later, some guy who does use them all will kick your ass.

 

— Dave 'Preacher' Pace, USN.

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I appreciate the definitions of what Razbam considers beta, release, finished, etc. Seems a bit off from the software definitions I've been familiar with, but I know this is typical of DCS in general.

 

 

 

Normally, software implemented with barebones features and having constant feature additions would be considered alpha. Feature-complete but buggy or all features added but some not fully complete would be beta. Finally a product with no missing functionality at all and only an acceptable level of bugs and no "show-stopper" bugs would be considered released. Razbam's definitions appear to label alpha as beta, beta as release, and release as "finished". But whatever, now there won't be miscommunication based on clashing definitions anymore.

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I hope the M-2000C will continue to be improved ! It's still my favorite module despite the fact it's a bit overwhelmed by quite all others... oh ! And welcome!

 

 

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All the best with your new role Zach.

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Congratulations on the new role! This is great news. I like what you have posted and it seems like you will do a great job for us. If I may though, I'd like to pick up on one important thing - and that's the definition of "feature complete".

 

 

You said:

 

"It may be” feature complete” (meaning that most of the features required to hit the milestone have been implemented without game breakage)
The only legitimate interpretation of 'feature complete' in UK and international English is that all features are complete. If not, that would be 'Partially feature complete', 'Feature incomplete' or some similar wording that accurately describes that fact that some features are not yet implemented. To attain 'feature complete' state ALL features, not most features, must be implemented (bugs and emerging defects due to change aside). Varying from that is not accurate use of the English language.

PC specs:

 

 

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Hi Zack,

 

First off, thank you for finally saying this bit:

 

apologies for the issues that occurred over the past few months

 

I don't know why it took so long to get someone from Razbam to say sorry for how the whole thing was treated, but I guess better late than never.

Thanks for clarifying Razbam's definitions of EA vs released vs xyz. I still have some serious reservations about Razbam's conduct moving forward and how it will treat its customers.

 

I'm sure you read all the inflammatory comments Razbam employees made on their Discord during the week the Harrier was announced as "feature complete" (I have a link to the list of comments if you haven't seen them). Allowing Razbam members to make such comments, even on their own discord channel (because it will and does get out and shared across other platforms like here and Reddit) hurts Razbam's image as a whole, and makes it difficult for the community manager, which is now you, to properly do your job and manage public relations with your customers.

 

To be fair, I haven't seen anything really damaging since that week, but I also haven't seen any specific apologies for it either, besides the one you just offered which encompasses everything. Some people might not care about stuff like this, and only care about the state of the module they bought, but I believe in brand and company image, and if the company I bought from shows negative aspects, in my opinion that filters down to their products as well.

 

You landed a tough job, but from what I've read you're off to a good start. Good luck and I hope that this is a turning point for Razbam so they can rebuild the trust they've lost from me.

 

P.S.

Can you share anything on further development of the ARBS system for the Harrier?


Edited by Halcyon
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I like to be an optimist and look at both sides of the situation before making an opinion regarding any matter. During the last few months, some misinterpretation and confusion between RAZBAM and its awesome community were brought to a head. Words were exchanged, tempers flared, and relationships strained. This, coupled with everyone being on extra edge, lead to the situation I am sure you have all bore witness to. [...]

 

I believe that integrity is a key aspect to having an honest and trustworthy relationship. I intend to try and help rectify these issues over the next few months. As the Community Manager, I would like to extend my apologies for the issues that occurred over the past few months. As this is a global community, some things can be lost in translation and others misinterpreted, it seems that this was one of the underlying factors that created heated discussions and lead to problems. [...]

 

- The decision to block commenting in the forums and removing individuals from the Discord was a band aid on a gapping wound. As of further notice, all chat will be reinstated and those blocked/ banned from the Discord will be granted access again. The forums and Discord will however be more stringently moderated. Harassment or any form of abuse towards team members will not be tolerated. I think people should have a voice and express it freely, but that is no excuse to start harassing the dev team, making their jobs more difficult, and distracting them from making excellent modules.

 

ELMO, you have nothing to apologize for, as Community Manager or otherwise. You weren't even on the team when Razbam went beyond banning people and started publicly attacking the character of myself and members of ED's staff.

 

We're going to end up right back where we started if what you're considering "abuse of team members" extends to asking for the very honest clarification you're providing with this post, like it did with me.

 

I agree that integrity is important. I may be wrong here, but I don't think it's harassment to ask that Prowler have some and offer this apology himself.

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Congratulations on the new role! This is great news. I like what you have posted and it seems like you will do a great job for us. If I may though, I'd like to pick up on one important thing - and that's the definition of "feature complete".

 

 

You said:

 

The only legitimate interpretation of 'feature complete' in UK and international English is that all features are complete. If not, that would be 'Partially feature complete', 'Feature incomplete' or some similar wording that accurately describes that fact that some features are not yet implemented. To attain 'feature complete' state ALL features, not most features, must be implemented (bugs and emerging defects due to change aside). Varying from that is not accurate use of the English language.

 

 

I agree, however, the location of the company is in South America, where English is not the primary language. which means that the definitions given by razbam can not be scrutinized grammatically from an English perspective. Their definition would suggest that all of the features are completely in the module but may or may not all entirely work. Again, THESE ARE INTERNAL DESIGNATIONS FOR RAZBAM. They solely tell the team where a modules progress is at.

Know and use all the capabilities in your airplane. If you don't, sooner or later, some guy who does use them all will kick your ass.

 

— Dave 'Preacher' Pace, USN.

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ELMO, you have nothing to apologize for, as Community Manager or otherwise. You weren't even on the team when Razbam went beyond banning people and started publicly attacking the character of myself and members of ED's staff.

 

We're going to end up right back where we started if what you're considering "abuse of team members" extends to asking for the very honest clarification you're providing with this post, like it did with me.

 

I agree that integrity is important. I may be wrong here, but I don't think it's harassment to ask that Prowler have some and offer this apology himself.

 

As a person of integrity, if I accept a problem in my job, it becomes my problem and my responsibility. Volunteer or not, that's just the way I roll. Let my clarify on the "abuse". Yes there was some good questions being asked and some slight pestering, but when you have that many people launching slurs or offensive posts against individuals it becomes abuse. Intents to harm are abuse. Death threats are abuse. Verbal assault is abuse.

 

As the situation is my problem now it does not require the apology from team members. RAZBAM was simply acting under what they BELIEVED to be the correct method of action. Turned out it didn't work. Thats ok. Sometimes the best laid plans often dont survive first contact.

 

What should happen now however is forward movement. Not looking back and referencing what was. Obliviously the failure needs to be kept in mind but scrapping an old plan and starting a new one means that you cannot necessarily reference the old plan as its new and changed.

Know and use all the capabilities in your airplane. If you don't, sooner or later, some guy who does use them all will kick your ass.

 

— Dave 'Preacher' Pace, USN.

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So to make sure I have this straight...

 

You're saying that Prowler believed it was the best course of action to insult the community of volunteer contributors, you volunteered after the fact to represent the organization, and therefore that abrogates Razbam and Prowler from 1) directly addressing the wrong behavior itself and 2) taking responsibility at all?

 

Am I understanding that correctly?

 

It sounds an awful lot like nothing has actually changed then, although I appreciate that you'll at least answer community questions and may actually achieve your stated goal. Here's hoping honesty and transparency are part of it.

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So to make sure I have this straight...

 

 

 

You're saying that Prowler believed it was the best course of action to insult the community of volunteer contributors, you volunteered after the fact to represent the organization, and therefore that abrogates Razbam and Prowler from 1) directly addressing the wrong behavior itself and 2) taking responsibility at all?

 

 

 

Am I understanding that correctly?

 

 

 

It sounds an awful lot like nothing has actually changed then, although I appreciate that you'll at least answer community questions and may actually achieve your stated goal. Here's hoping honesty and transparency are part of it.

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

Know and use all the capabilities in your airplane. If you don't, sooner or later, some guy who does use them all will kick your ass.

 

— Dave 'Preacher' Pace, USN.

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So to make sure I have this straight...

 

 

 

You're saying that Prowler believed it was the best course of action to insult the community of volunteer contributors, you volunteered after the fact to represent the organization, and therefore that abrogates Razbam and Prowler from 1) directly addressing the wrong behavior itself and 2) taking responsibility at all?

 

 

 

Am I understanding that correctly?

 

 

 

It sounds an awful lot like nothing has actually changed then, although I appreciate that you'll at least answer community questions and may actually achieve your stated goal. Here's hoping honesty and transparency are part of it.

I took on the position voluntarily. As CM any and all interaction becomes and is my responsibility. Actions taken by RAZBAM as a whole was a decision by RAZBAM. Nothing should be considered as personalized or targeted. If RAZBAM believed it was taking the correct course of action to mitigate the situation with the community then that was what it was. As CM it is my responsibility to accept the decisions made and apologize for any mishaps regarding RAZBAM and the community. It is then my responsibility to apologize for what has happened on behalf of RAZBAM and work towards correctly assessing and realigning the situation to better support the communication between the RAZBAM team and the community. Like I said in my announcement, if anyone has any outstanding issues or problems regarding past events or situations, they need to PM me about it. I would encourage you to reach out to me personally either here or on Discord as, to me at least, this seems like you still have some words you would like to say on the matter and I'd be happy to try and address your situation personally. Digging up old dirt like this is not a positive way forward. I have acknowledged the issues that were present and have outlined a new approach to how they will be dealt with in the future with me being the point of contact for the incoming questions from the community and the outgoing representation for RAZBAM in the community.

 

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

Know and use all the capabilities in your airplane. If you don't, sooner or later, some guy who does use them all will kick your ass.

 

— Dave 'Preacher' Pace, USN.

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Considering Prowler saw fit to try and publicly smear me directly, while lotting plenty of other people into the same group, lied to the community about the nature of my ban (check sig), and then lied to Eagle Dynamics to try and get posts pulled here claiming I was under an NDA, yes, I do have some words left to say.

 

This isn't old dirt. This happened two weeks ago. Prowler already tried the trick of claiming the community was upset about something it wasn't, and now you are here saying that their own direct attacks were justified by a belief that it was the correct way to mitigate things, and to offer an insincere blanket apology for vague "issues" rather than the issue: Prowler's rampant dishonesty.

 

So as CM, how are you planning on getting him to start telling the truth? I'm dying to know.


Edited by ChickenSim
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Considering Prowler saw fit to try and publicly smear me directly, while lotting plenty of other people into the same group, lied to the community about the nature of my ban (check sig), and then lied to Eagle Dynamics to try and get posts pulled here claiming I was under an NDA, yes, I do have some words left to say.

 

This isn't old dirt. This happened two weeks ago. Prowler already tried the trick of claiming the community was upset about something it wasn't, and now you are here saying that their own direct attacks were justified by a belief that it was the correct way to mitigate things, and to offer an insincere blanket apology for vague "issues" rather than the issue: Prowler's rampant dishonesty.

 

So as CM, how are you planning on getting him to start telling the truth? I'm dying to know.

 

While I understand your view in the matter, it seems that this has become quite personal to you. Again, I extend the apology for decisions that were made and that we are moving forward with a fresh viewpoint and looking to restructure how we proceed with similar situations in the future. Understand also that miscommunication and misinterpretation due to language barriers manifested into some of these larger issues during my initial investigation of the situation. I have already taken it upon myself to begin reaching out to those that have been affected in an attempt to reconcile.

 

I would also like to remind you that while I have unbanned and opened up forum chats again, it is by no means an invitation to continue the belligerent harassment of the RAZBAM team with personal accusations. If you would like to know what I'm doing with the team, I'm simply helping to better streamline feedback from the community to the team in an effort to limit misinterpretations or miscommunication in the future in order to avoid the issues that presented themselves in the past.

 

Any and all further concerns I would like if you could direct them to me via PM so we can clear things up. Having a positive attitude towards change needs to happen on both sides in order for progress to be made.

Know and use all the capabilities in your airplane. If you don't, sooner or later, some guy who does use them all will kick your ass.

 

— Dave 'Preacher' Pace, USN.

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I agree, however, the location of the company is in South America, where English is not the primary language. which means that the definitions given by razbam can not be scrutinized grammatically from an English perspective. Their definition would suggest that all of the features are completely in the module but may or may not all entirely work. Again, THESE ARE INTERNAL DESIGNATIONS FOR RAZBAM. They solely tell the team where a modules progress is at.

 

:megalol: I'm blown away. "Feature complete" is not up for interpretation, it's a pretty point blank definition and if they had already been using the word "features" for years and years including their previous work for FSX you can't go and argue semantics. Welcome to the (blank) storm in a glass of water, Elmo. I wish you the best of luck. Please understand none of this backlash is aimed at you. I also would like to add that the patch today was a great step in the right direction however.


Edited by Jmontezuma
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- Early access, release and finished. These descriptors on a module has long since been debated and I would like to better clarify how RAZBAM classifies them. Note that RAZBAM uses these definitions as “milestones” rather than direct definitions to denote the stage of an aircraft in the development timeline, as ED does with their internal versions, and with the various beta and stable versions. They are purely stage markers

 

 

If "Early Access" and "Release" are RAZBAM internal definitions rather than direct descriptors of a modules development status...how would I, as an external customer know WHEN to purchase a module and be confident it was in a completed & fully functional state?

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Gentlemen moving forward if we continue to be negative towards each other, we will not progress. I encourage criticism and discussion. However, when we start hurling insults and begin talking each other down, it serves no purpose but puts us back where we started. Lets constructively work together to better our relationship.

Know and use all the capabilities in your airplane. If you don't, sooner or later, some guy who does use them all will kick your ass.

 

— Dave 'Preacher' Pace, USN.

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Which country?

 

In Ecuador my friend. However the team is made up from various nationalities. I myself am from Canada.

Know and use all the capabilities in your airplane. If you don't, sooner or later, some guy who does use them all will kick your ass.

 

— Dave 'Preacher' Pace, USN.

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Great to have you as the new CM..

 

Good afternoon everyone. I’d like to take this moment to introduce myself. My name is Zack, and I am the new Community Manager for RAZBAM. I’m married, expecting my first child in December, and serve full time in my countries Armed Forces.

Lalalala Lalalala,

Zack (aka Elmo)

 

Hi, Zack, aka Elmo - That was a HUGE Open Beta update today from RAZBAM. Wow.

 

I did not catch that you serve in our Canadian Armed Forces until the last message in this thread!

I appreciated your message in the September Announcement and am looking forward to future RAZBAM updates and new product releases.

 

Thanks for your service and stay safe.

 

Cheers

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