Should an indie game offer an SLA for support?

Usually not a public one. A public SLA is a promise you're held to, and missing it, easy for a small team facing unpredictable bug volume, erodes trust more than the commitment built. Most indies are better served by best-effort support with internal targets: use private targets to drive your work (like addressing critical crashes within a day), but communicate that you're aware and working without binding yourself to public timelines you might miss.

Are internal targets better than a public SLA?

For most indie developers, yes. Internal targets (private goals like fast response to high-impact issues) give your support work structure and urgency without the risk of a public SLA you might miss. Public SLAs set expectations you'll be punished for failing, which is risky given unpredictable indie bug volume. So use internal targets to drive prioritization, and communicate acknowledgment and progress publicly without committing to hard timelines, capturing the benefits of targets without the downside of public promises.

SLA vs Best-Effort Support

Q: What's the difference between an SLA and best-effort support?

An SLA (service level agreement) commits to specific support targets, like responding within 24 hours or resolving within a week, setting clear expectations and accountability. Best-effort support means you help as fast as you reasonably can without binding commitments, offering flexibility to prioritize by impact rather than racing a clock. SLAs provide clarity at the cost of a promise you're held to; best-effort trades that clarity for flexibility.

Quick answer: An SLA commits to specific response or resolution times; best-effort support means you help as fast as you reasonably can, without binding commitments. SLAs set clear expectations but are risky to promise publicly; best-effort is flexible.

How you frame your support commitment, a formal SLA or best-effort, shapes both player expectations and your own pressure. The choice matters, especially for small teams. Here's the comparison.

What an SLA Is

An SLA (service level agreement) is a commitment to specific support targets, respond within 24 hours, resolve within a week. Its strength is clear expectations: players know exactly what to expect, and it creates accountability. SLAs are common in business and enterprise support where guaranteed response times are expected.

The risk is that an SLA is a promise you're held to, and missing it, easy for a small team facing unpredictable bug volume, becomes a stick players beat you with. A public SLA you can't reliably meet does more harm than good. SLAs offer clarity at the cost of binding commitment.

What Best-Effort Support Is

Best-effort support means you help as fast as you reasonably can, without committing to specific times. Its strength is flexibility: you're not bound to deadlines you might miss, and you can prioritize by impact rather than racing a clock. You communicate that you're aware and working, without promising a guaranteed timeline.

Best-effort suits the unpredictable reality of indie support, bug volume and complexity vary, so flexibility matters. Bugnet's impact ranking helps you apply best effort sensibly, fast response to high-impact issues, more relaxed for trivia. Best-effort trades the clarity of an SLA for the flexibility most indies need.

Which to Choose

For most indies, best-effort with internal targets beats a public SLA. Use internal targets to drive your work (address critical crashes within a day), but avoid binding public promises you might miss, since missed public SLAs erode trust more than they build it. Communicate that you're aware and working, without committing to hard public timelines.

Bugnet's public pages let you show acknowledgment and progress without promising dates. So lean toward best-effort support with internal targets rather than a public SLA, especially as a small team, you get the prioritization benefits of targets without the risk of public commitments you can't reliably keep. Reserve formal SLAs for contexts that genuinely require them.

An SLA commits to specific response/resolution times (clear but risky to promise publicly); best-effort support helps as fast as you reasonably can (flexible). Most indies use internal targets, not public SLAs.