https://www.ddo.com/news/ddo-players-council?locale=en_US

The DDO Players Council - Introduction and Application

What is the DDO Players Council?

The DDO Players Council is a focus group consisting of active players from the Dungeons & Dragons Online community that allows the development team to gather feedback on ideas and potential changes earlier in the development process than we are typically able to share with the general public. 

Council members have access to a special section of the DDO Forums where developers will post proposal threads looking for feedback, and a Discord where we can engage in further conversation. Players Council members are legally obligated to accept and agree to a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) in order to participate. Violating the NDA can have serious consequences, including having your game account permanently banned.

One thing we like to make sure people understand is that the DDO Players Council is not a voting body, and members are expected to provide feedback based on their own personal experience rather than speak on behalf of the wider community. We do our best to gather diverse feedback that considers as many voices as possible, and we want players of all styles and skill levels to participate. 

There is no pre-set “term” for membership. You can choose to leave the council at any time, and you are welcome to stay for as long as we and you are interested, for the most part. Periodically we refresh membership to give more people an opportunity to be a part of it. We keep the council structure flexible to best suit the needs of the development team.

Finally, a word of caution: While the DDO Players Council is interesting and rewarding, it isn’t suited for everyone. Seeing how video games get made can take patience and long-term thinking. Not every idea we bring to the council is a good one! Sometimes, bringing early ideas to the council is the point, as we’ll get feedback we hadn’t considered. If you read something on Lamannia that you don’t like, for example, and you feel like you need to warn others about it, this program probably isn’t for you. You will see things that never happen! As previous Council members will tell you, that's part of the process. For the right person with a good ability to provide quality feedback and a high level of interest in Dungeons & Dragons Online, the DDO Players Council can be extremely rewarding. If that is you, please apply!
How to Apply:

If you would like to apply, please fill out the following application:
DDO Players Council Application. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3WXJFNL

Current application status: OPEN through February 28th, 2024

We will have application opportunities at various times moving forward, but any applications sent in when we are not actively seeking applicants will be ignored.
Who is Eligible:

Anyone that plays DDO can apply; this includes people who have been a part of the Players Council in previous years or even people that have only just started playing recently!

"Not every idea we bring to the council is a good one!"

Then why bring them?  People in real world businesses don't purposely bring up bad ideas in meetings.  They at least attempt to use their time productively.

No wonder we think SSG/Turdbine is a bunch of morons.

Hey, we have good music nowadays.

Why bother? We had a free questing coupon, and, for the first time ever, the population is trending down before the coupon even expires.

Put a fork in it. There aren't enough players left. It's done.

ddocruncher wrote on Feb 13^th, 2024 at 10:30pm:


Yeah, I made 3 new ones because I could.

Notanarc wrote on Feb 13^th, 2024 at 6:50pm:



Because they have no clue and needs help to find bad ideas to implement. finding good ideas is soooo easy.

been there done that still in PTSD about it. the PC is just a puppet to give them good feeling we showed the idea to the PC
( parse that as : we made a post in the PC forum, got flamed because it was just stupid, but since it was already coded we just went with it despite the massive amount of negative feedback from the PC )

Snu Snu wrote on Feb 14^th, 2024 at 8:30am:

For a LONG time the Vault did have someone on the inside.

It was clear numerous details about what the DDO Devs were doing or considering doing were leaked to people here from someone on the PC.

This was some time (a few years maybe?) ago, so I'm guessing that source is no longer on the PC.

Notanarc wrote on Feb 13^th, 2024 at 6:50pm:

Depends on the industry. Most people I know in creative work, writers and musicians for example, iterate a lot. Play with ideas, bit like children do. Sometimes what look like mistakes lead on to better things.

I've found a few applicants. Now I just have to drag them over to the dark side.