What is the Issue Council? It is a tool that allows the community to report and prioritize in-game issues. Users create reports when they encounter issues while playing the game. Their peers can then attempt to replicate the issue and, if enough users agree that the issue is valid, it becomes “Community Confirmed”. The issue must be reproduced by ten (10) people within 30 days of being reported or it will expire.
The report then enters a triage phase. Users will prioritize the valid issues by upvoting and downvoting each of them and, based on these rankings, CIG developers will examine which issues they will tackle next.
Can everyone contribute to the Issue Council? No, at this point you must have access to the game to contribute to the Issue Council. This is because you cannot test something you cannot play.
What does it mean when an issue is “Confirmed”? An issue becomes “Confirmed” once at least ten (10) users report that they have been able to replicate it. This saves the issue from expiration and keeps it in the system until it is either fixed or overturned by a Moderator, Developer, or Admin. Users vote on Confirmed issues so that they can have a better chance at being recognized by the CIG developers.
What does it mean when an issue is “Acknowledged”? The “Acknowledged” status means that the issue has been imported into CIG’s internal JIRA issue tracking application as a ticket.
Do the CIG developers really look at the tickets that are created? While only a small amount of CIG developers will be using the Issue Council on a daily basis, the issues that are Acknowledged are tracked in the same flow as the issues that are being reported internally.
Do I get rewarded for my creations and contributions? Star Citizen is a pioneer in the world of gaming for their open development approach and the Issue Council is another way that players can get closer to the game production process. While having a issue-free game is a pretty great reward, we understand that receiving gifts for reported valid issue would be fun too. Our priority to to make sure that this system works effectively and that players cannot use it to gain an unfair advantage. However, we may choose to implement a reward system in the future.
What is a Computer Profile? How do I change it? The Computer Profile contains information about your computer and may explain why you encountered an issue that another user is unable to replicate. The simplified form could indicate if an issue is performance-based but, by uploading a DXDiag file, you can help developers pinpoint issues more easily.
Once you have created your first report, you can always edit the Computer Profile by creating a new report and clicking Edit Profile.
I use more than one computer to play Star Citizen. Can I save more than one Computer Profile? At this stage of the Issue Council, we are still examining how users interact with the system which means keeping some features simple.
What are some tips for creating the best issue reports? The best issue reports contain: Every step, in detail, needed to experience the issue. Even steps that do not seem relevant are sometimes important to the overall issue. Attempt to replicate the issue a few times yourself before entering it in the system. Make sure you have a clear understanding of the process it takes to experience it.
As much information about the computer setup as possible. Were you playing on two monitors? Were you using a gamepad? Did you have video-capturing software running?
A clear “Expected Result” which details clearly how it differs from the “Actual Result”.
Media, whenever possible. Don’t be afraid to open up your screenshots in an image editing software and draw some red rectangles and arrows around the areas that show the issue. A picture is worth a thousand words!
Most important, when reporting an issue, be patient and detail oriented!
Why can’t I submit feature requests? This is something that we’d like to explore in the future but, for now, we are focused on creating a high quality game so issue are the priority.
My issue is similar to another open report but not quite the same. How can I be sure whether it’s a duplicate or not? If you cannot decide whether an issue is a duplicate or not, ask yourself “If this other issue is fixed, what are the chances it will fix my issue as well?”. If you’re still not sure, submit it anyways and let the community figure it out!
I created a valid issue but no-one has replicated it. This issue significantly hinders my gameplay experience. What can I do to boost awareness? The Issue Council was conceived so that all valid issues would have a fair chance to be recognized and eventually examined by CIG developers. That being said, you can always ask your peers and Org members to pitch in or post a link to your issue in the forums to encourage others to take a look at your report.