(ooh, hold on a minute, I have to add a little more chocolate sauce to my fry pan ... gotta carmelize the salmon a little more ... OK!)
I can understand why developers do not participate on chat boards or other public forums. It is definitely a double-edged sword, and I think the etiquette has changed a lot since the late 90's. John Winski was pretty vocal about the futility of posting on the BioWare boards, but yet many other staff members posted regularly and I believe some threads did actually result in game improvements and new features (and NPC characters!). I really appreciated the ability to correspond directly with the BioWare creators, and to know that they heard my ideas. It was fun, and I definitely felt like a human community member. I think keeping that community spirit alive was a driving motivation for Neverwinter Nights.
As I have said before, there is a difference between a bunch of game developers trying to form a business, versus a business trying to develop a game. Part of the magic of Baldur's Gate was that the community was right there on the ground level with the developers. And that is where I want to be with Larian, too! So if Larian employees cannot post openly, so be it, I will assume they are still lurking in the background, and I will talk about the same things I would have said if they were posting officially. For example, the City of Brass adventure still needs some attention ...
