Why is communicating during an outage important?

Because silence makes players assume the worst, that the game is abandoned, that it's their connection, and floods your channels with duplicate 'is it down?' messages. A fast public acknowledgment tells players the problem is on your end and you're aware, which calms the situation and deflects the flood. Players are far more patient through an outage you've acknowledged and are visibly working on than one met with silence.

What should I say during a game outage?

Start with a fast acknowledgment ('we're aware of an issue affecting [service] and investigating'), post brief updates as the situation evolves ('identified the cause', 'deploying a fix'), and clearly confirm resolution ('services are back to normal'). Keep it honest and steady. For significant outages, a brief follow-up acknowledging the disruption maintains goodwill. The key is players always knowing you're aware and working.

How Do I Communicate During an Outage?

Quick answer: Acknowledge the outage fast and publicly so players know it's on your end and you're aware, post updates as you work, and confirm when it's resolved.

During an outage, silence makes players assume the worst and floods your channels. Good communication calms the situation and buys patience while you fix the problem. Here's how to communicate during an outage so it does less damage.

Acknowledge It Fast and Publicly

The most important communication during an outage is a fast public acknowledgment: 'we're aware of an issue and investigating.' This tells players the problem is on your end, not theirs, and that you know, which immediately calms the panic and the wave of 'is it just me?' messages.

Bugnet's public pages let you post an acknowledgment players can see, so you communicate to everyone at once. Acknowledging fast is what defuses an outage's chaos, players are far more patient when they know you're aware and on it than when they're met with silence.

Post Updates as You Work

An outage isn't a single message, it's an evolving situation. Posting brief updates as you work, 'identified the cause', 'deploying a fix', keeps players informed and reassured that progress is happening, rather than leaving them wondering whether anyone's still working on it.

Bugnet's status and public pages let you keep players updated through an incident. Posting updates as you work maintains trust through the outage, a steady trickle of progress notes is far better than silence followed by an eventual 'it's fixed.'

Confirm Resolution and Follow Up

When the outage is resolved, say so clearly, 'services are back to normal', so players know they can return. A brief follow-up, especially for a significant outage, acknowledging the disruption maintains goodwill and shows you take reliability seriously.

Bugnet lets you post the resolution and, via a changelog, document what happened. Communicating during an outage is acknowledging fast, posting updates as you work, and confirming resolution, the sequence that turns a frustrating outage into a demonstration that you handle problems openly and well.

Acknowledge the outage fast and publicly so players know you're aware, post updates as you work, and confirm resolution. A quick acknowledgment calms players and deflects the is-it-just-me flood.