So I'm going to go through and provide some analysis on the data as I see it, at least for some of the questions (that are relevant). This will be a long post, but if I can, I'll try to summarize each section in like, tweet length or something.
What is your age? (AKA: Younger people act like younger people. Duh)
We got a lot of younger members, they're the second largest age demographic in the site. Sorry younger folk, but most of you aren't going to act/be as mature as say an 18 year old, or a 24 year old. Unsurprisingly, with a lot of younger members, we're going to be seeing issues in chat and on the forums with behaviour. We have seen this, and as many have noticed, we kind of cracked down on it a bit more than we have in the past. This is not to say we're un-welcoming of younger members, but it's just the natural part of a growing community. There will be growing pains and we will adjust things as needed.
What region of the World are you from. (AKA: We're culturally diverse. Keep an open mind when arguing)
I asked this question for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted to know. Two, it helps us figure out best timezones for testing (Which the answer is basically any time). Thirdly, it kind of helps us, from an administrative standpoint determine the cultural differences in chat. We've had a lot of arguments about various topics ranging from politics to social rights to the best candy. Each region of the world, culturally, is going to look at different things differently. Despite having 50% of the community come from North America, follow by ~33% from Europe, we're still VERY culturally diverse. This is something that I think everyone should keep in mind, especially when dealing with the hot-topic arguements. This is diversity I think we should be happy with, and I think people should learn from it. Keep a bit more of an open mind the next time you're having an argument.
How long have you been a member of TF2M. (AKA: We're young again. Older folks, help the new members)
This goes back to the first question about age, in a way. 63% of those who polled, have been a member of this community for less than 2 years. THATS A LOT OF PEOPLE. We've gotten a LOT of new people over the past year alone, and that is FANTASTIC! But with this, like I said before, comes growing pains. Of the remaining people, who have been here for 3+ years, I say "Hey, you're a veteran. Congratulations. Use what you've learned in your time here and help out the newbies. Help them fit in, figure out how to give feedback, show them how act in playtests, teach them what you know about making maps. Be the role model."
How long have you been mapping for TF2/How many hours do you spend playing/How many hours do you spend mapping? (AKA, it's about what we thought... but we don't map as much)
Combining a bunch of these together since they're all kind of relevant. Just about 50% of the community has been mapping for 2 or less years. Again, we're young again. I'm going to say that over and over because I want to make sure everyone knows it. That all being said, it's interesting to see that most people spend more time playing TF2, than actually mapping for it. I'm not too sure why this is, I expected it to be the other way around. I think though that seeing a majority of people play TF2 for 0-15 hours a week really is a strong testimate to just how good the game is. High amount of people who spend 0 to 10 hours mapping each week could be a variety of things. Based on the age demographic, I'm going to guess it's partially an age thing and partially just that everyone's still in school. So you can't spend a whole lot of hours mapping, you might do it for 1-2 hours a day, a few times a week. Thats fine! It's good to know.
How'd you learn about TF2Maps.net (We're getting a lot of people from 'other' sources. I think it's google).
I wish I had put in a 'google' option for this pool, since I think it would've changed a this response a bit. Not much else to say about it. Other thing to note is that we still have a lot of people from the artpass contest. Also, Crash is popular guy.
Where do you feel you are most active: (Chat is popular, not surprising since it's a hang-out spot. Forums probably best for engagement though.)
Steam Chat. Not a surprise there. It's a place to hang out, chill, talk about stuff. Forums a bit more to-business. Impromptu's being second most active spot is also great. We've had a lot of impromptu hosts pop up in the past few months, and we're starting to get new gamedays each week. I'm very happy about this and I love to see that it's popular. Forums being the least popular is understandable, though I feel they are the best place for proper discussion and engagement.
Feedback questions: (AKA: We're pretty good on offering viable places to get feedback... but we could be better at it. If you feel you're good at giving feedback, help others learn what to look for and how to give it).
I'm not going to touch on it too much. worMatty had a good write up about feedback (which I've read and will eventually respond to). The feedback question is a HUGE topic in itself. Many people think it's 'eh' ... I think we can improve on the quality of feedback we provide, but it'll be hard because of the inexperience and young-age of the community. It's not impossible though. If you feel like you give good feedback, then keep doing it and help those who might not be giving as-good feedback. To be honest, I would literally get a piece of paper, and write down notes while you play, then post them on the maps thread on the forums. This allows for solid discussion between everyone.
Steam Chat bot (AKA: Surprisingly people are okay with it).
Despite the initial uproar about the chat bots, people are overwhelmingly okay with them. Maybe it was a vocal minority?
Do you feel like TF2Maps.net should use Social Media more often? (AKA: Probably not.)
It's something that we can do. This poll didn't really help move me on a decision for it though. So, we'll see.
Thats it for now. I'll come back with some other stuff later if I feel like it. I think the big things to take back from the poll are this:
TL;DR:
- We're a young community. We're a culturally diverse community. This will cause disagreements and disruptions every-now-and-then. Just keep an open mind and remember that there are many young members and people from all over the world.
- Be a role model. If you feel like you're good at something, or other people say you're one of the best at something, be a good role model! Be helpful, be respectful, be constructive. You'll be rewarded.
- We can do better at giving better feedback. It's a hard problem, but not impossible. We'll always see the "!gf bad" feedback, but we can do more to help existing, regular members get better.
