Life is too short to hold a grudge for very long. I can't say that there is any company that I absolutely won't buy a game from. Just like there is no company that I'll buy everything they put out. Games are entertainment and I'll judge each one based on it's own merit.
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
I don't really have a black list. I am a bit mad on the larger publishers like EA and Activision since I feel that they are smothering the creativety of the genre.
I also have Cryptic on a my suspect list, games from them need to prove themselves more than other games.
But I will start playing any game fun enough. I won't start playing any more P2P games with item shops however since I feel that is high way robbery, it is fine for B2P and F2P games to have that but I don't see the point of paying a monthly fee for a cash shop game, the reason I play P2P is to be rid of cash shops.
Cryptic, Square Enix, Mythic, SOE, Funcom, PWI, gPotato, Frogster, NCSoft and Turbine. These companies just don't make the kinds of games I like. Some behave antagonistic towards their player bases. Some are so greedy, they forget they're making games and not money sinks, where fun is suppose to sell the product, not cheesy physcological addiction techniques. Some just don't have a clue on how to balance a game or how to make combat smooth and responsive or how to make classes more than just one dimensional cogs in a group. Some started off with fairly cool, if outdated and imperfect games, but have gone downhill over time to the point of wondering what the hell happened to them.
Bioware, King's Isle and Arena.Net ae the only companies for which I have great respect and to a lesser degree, Trion and Blizzard.
I honestly don't judge a game by what company produced it. I judge it by the game itself. If I enjoy the game, I play it. If I don't I I stop. For some games I may wait for a free trial, but once again it doesn't really have anything to do with the company (although it may play a small part), but whether I percieve the game to be one I really want to play now and risk it or whether its one that looks ok and am willing to wait.
This philosophy has served me relatively well in the past. Sometimes I win....Sometimes I lose.
Never say never but SOE sure seems to go out of their way to make their customers angry, or make odd changes that nobody understands.
Pretty much same as this. Otherwise, maybe a bit leery of Cryptic.
With SOE, it seems they have developed a pattern of doing things that I generally disagree with and as such, my expectations of their future choices make it hard to get into their products.
Cryptic on the other hand, I think they are a bit more predictable and I'm just not a fan of what they've been putting out. Personal tastes and all, but based on that, I don't generally get too hyped about any projects they have going at any given time.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers. Do something wrong, no one forgets" -from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
As much as I dislike Blizzard and SOE, I would be willing to try other titles they put out. The only company I will never spend a cent on in the future is Cryptic Studios.
IMO they are far and away the absolute worst company in terms of greed, lackluster customer service (if any at all), quality products and general poor attitude toward paying customers.
Im not a big fan of EA and thats a downer because they are parteners with one of my favorite game developers, Bioware... sad face. Atari is also another company that has terrible business ethics, so I wont encourage or endorse them by buying their games. And obviously there SOE, damn you SOE... But I read Smedley saying, P2P is over. So it seems they are going to be getting into the F2P model with their games and maybe they can redeem themselves by not implementing an outrageous item mall... maybe.
I will play any game that I enjoy. I will pay for any game I enjoy. I do a terrible job of keep up with who owns what, who fired who and what they ate for breakfast.
SOE - Officially incompetent MMO developer. Even if they launch a decent game they'll find a way to ruin it later.
CCP - Over the last two years or so went from one of my favorite developers to black list. They've turned their only MMO on the market into a testing ground for their upcoming MMOs. Only approximately 6% of their current developers even work on space-based content for EVE. Releasing DUST 514 on the PS3 alone will be a disaster.
Any Asian Free to play MMO - I just stay away from these period.
Cryptic is my only one. I have been gaming for way to long to list:) And that really is the first company that i could not get to someone to handle a problem. Was not even a hard problem either, they just did not care.
Finaly gave up and moved on. But it would take a miracle to get me to give them anymore business.
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
Wow so many jaded gamers. I have been around from the beginning and tried or played games made by them all and would still not hesitate to try a new mmo from any of them. After all these are only games and the money I gave them would have been wasted on numerous other frivolous things anyways.
SoE. Might not wont touch another one of their games ever. Although I may try out Planetside 2, but I can't stand f2p garbage games, so probably wont stay long.
EA. I am generally staying away from all things EA as of late. Just can't take their crap anymore. I will probably be trying SWTOR just to say I played it, but I sure as hell ain't paying 60 bucks for it. Same with BF3. I really don't like paying 60 bucks for games, not that I can't afford it, just not worth it to me. I've got like 75 orginal games on Steam and I don't think I paid more than 30 bucks for a single one. Most of them were 15 dollars or less on sale. Ok, maybe I am a cheap bastard, but I like getting my money's worth
Ubisoft games in general.
Anything Activision. Just like EA tbh. Huge corporate greed, could care less about making decent games, it's all about money.
Hmm, I guess basically any of the big name developers/publishers really. Most of them really don't care about making gamers happy, and really only care about lining their pockets with the green. I am usually an underground or 'the little guy' type of person in all aspects of life anyways.
Are there any companies you wouldnt by a mmo off and your reason why
Funcom.
Main reasons: From launching an MMO without the announced features ( dx10 etc ) to the nazi forum moderation without any respect whatsoever for their costumers ( with a gm even using a finger in a mouth telling the costumers to shutup as avatar ), passing by the marketing schemes to sell an unfinnished game providing a starting experience that did not reflect at all the game after the first shown levels, for the constant changing of rules after the game was released etc etc.. all Age of Conan related issues.
Never will this soul buy any game from them.. ever.
Hmmm, since my start in MMO's back with Meridian 59 I have blacklisted a few and ended up going back because like it or not, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Sometimes they still put out a good game and I just have to buy it. I have blacklisted SOE about a half dozen times now, only to keep going back. In realizing this, the list is considerably shorter, but there are a few who I absolutely stick to my guns and refuse to play.
#1 Cryptic. So many decent examples in this thread, no need to say more.
#2 Any F2P Asian MMO. Clicky-clicky grind fest, ad nauseum.
#3 Browser based games, any and all of them. Uninspiring wait-fests.
Blizzard - very close to being blacklisted. I actually liked WoW and most of the titles prior to it. The direction they are going with D3 I consider to be absolutely horrendous. Just waiting to see if Titan confirms that they have indeed sold their souls before passing final judgment.
SOE - No personal experience as a customer but their recent antics have shown me these are not people I ever want to be involved with in any way.
EA - I find it hard to write off every developer that has the misfortune of finding itself in the stable of this digital parasite of a publisher, but even so, I now avoid anything that is linked to this company in any way. The number of developers and franchises they've absolutely ruined deserves a reckoning.
Cryptic didn't ruin anything, or do anything wrong really. What mistakes they did make they have put forth effort to repair. People just hate them because they didn't make what THEY wanted.
I love these threads because if you read all the posts you will see pretty much every MMO company named. It just goes to show that no company is immune from hate, and I guarantee that after TOR comes out Bioware will have its share too =P
Wow so many jaded gamers. I have been around from the beginning and tried or played games made by them all and would still not hesitate to try a new mmo from any of them. After all these are only games and the money I gave them would have been wasted on numerous other frivolous things anyways.
Not trying to single you out, bud, but your leniency is exactly why some publishers and developers continue to do the shitty things that they do. When gamers, they very people that they are screwing over, refuse to take them to task, why should their behaviour ever improve? We promote it but accepting it.
I have no illusions that my shunning of certain companies makes a whit of difference to them, but there remain many others out there who operate in a way that I find reasonable and acceptable. I'll give them my support instead.
Comments
Life is too short to hold a grudge for very long. I can't say that there is any company that I absolutely won't buy a game from. Just like there is no company that I'll buy everything they put out. Games are entertainment and I'll judge each one based on it's own merit.
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
I don't really have a black list. I am a bit mad on the larger publishers like EA and Activision since I feel that they are smothering the creativety of the genre.
I also have Cryptic on a my suspect list, games from them need to prove themselves more than other games.
But I will start playing any game fun enough. I won't start playing any more P2P games with item shops however since I feel that is high way robbery, it is fine for B2P and F2P games to have that but I don't see the point of paying a monthly fee for a cash shop game, the reason I play P2P is to be rid of cash shops.
Cryptic, Square Enix, Mythic, SOE, Funcom, PWI, gPotato, Frogster, NCSoft and Turbine. These companies just don't make the kinds of games I like. Some behave antagonistic towards their player bases. Some are so greedy, they forget they're making games and not money sinks, where fun is suppose to sell the product, not cheesy physcological addiction techniques. Some just don't have a clue on how to balance a game or how to make combat smooth and responsive or how to make classes more than just one dimensional cogs in a group. Some started off with fairly cool, if outdated and imperfect games, but have gone downhill over time to the point of wondering what the hell happened to them.
Bioware, King's Isle and Arena.Net ae the only companies for which I have great respect and to a lesser degree, Trion and Blizzard.
SOE due to their constant lies and greed.
Funcom for their constant lies, general inepittude, and greed.
EA for killing Bullfrog (unforgivable).
NCSoft would be, for how they launched and treat Aion in the West, but they have CoH (which has an excellent team) and the GW franchise (likewise).
Oh, and any of the true F2P devs like PW etc.I wouldnt ever go close to any of them
I honestly don't judge a game by what company produced it. I judge it by the game itself. If I enjoy the game, I play it. If I don't I I stop. For some games I may wait for a free trial, but once again it doesn't really have anything to do with the company (although it may play a small part), but whether I percieve the game to be one I really want to play now and risk it or whether its one that looks ok and am willing to wait.
This philosophy has served me relatively well in the past. Sometimes I win....Sometimes I lose.
I self identify as a monkey.
Pretty much same as this. Otherwise, maybe a bit leery of Cryptic.
With SOE, it seems they have developed a pattern of doing things that I generally disagree with and as such, my expectations of their future choices make it hard to get into their products.
Cryptic on the other hand, I think they are a bit more predictable and I'm just not a fan of what they've been putting out. Personal tastes and all, but based on that, I don't generally get too hyped about any projects they have going at any given time.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
As much as I dislike Blizzard and SOE, I would be willing to try other titles they put out. The only company I will never spend a cent on in the future is Cryptic Studios.
IMO they are far and away the absolute worst company in terms of greed, lackluster customer service (if any at all), quality products and general poor attitude toward paying customers.
The way everyone is making MMO's I'm just going to say everyone and keep it short and sweet.
Im not a big fan of EA and thats a downer because they are parteners with one of my favorite game developers, Bioware... sad face. Atari is also another company that has terrible business ethics, so I wont encourage or endorse them by buying their games. And obviously there SOE, damn you SOE... But I read Smedley saying, P2P is over. So it seems they are going to be getting into the F2P model with their games and maybe they can redeem themselves by not implementing an outrageous item mall... maybe.
I will play any game that I enjoy. I will pay for any game I enjoy. I do a terrible job of keep up with who owns what, who fired who and what they ate for breakfast.
Life is Short, Read a Book.
EA-Generally screwing up most games and soon with origin kill off bioware.
Ubisoft-For perma internet DRM
Blizzard- Greedy dumbing down mmorpg genre and fucked up Diablo 3 with perma internet no mods and RMAH.
Im fed up with all inforce DRM.
Prolly soon dont buy any new games and stuck with old games that have no DRM.
SOE, those guys are a pack of mormons
... yeah you heard me
SOE - Officially incompetent MMO developer. Even if they launch a decent game they'll find a way to ruin it later.
CCP - Over the last two years or so went from one of my favorite developers to black list. They've turned their only MMO on the market into a testing ground for their upcoming MMOs. Only approximately 6% of their current developers even work on space-based content for EVE. Releasing DUST 514 on the PS3 alone will be a disaster.
Any Asian Free to play MMO - I just stay away from these period.
Cryptic is my only one. I have been gaming for way to long to list:) And that really is the first company that i could not get to someone to handle a problem. Was not even a hard problem either, they just did not care.
Finaly gave up and moved on. But it would take a miracle to get me to give them anymore business.
I don't have a list.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
Wow so many jaded gamers. I have been around from the beginning and tried or played games made by them all and would still not hesitate to try a new mmo from any of them. After all these are only games and the money I gave them would have been wasted on numerous other frivolous things anyways.
No signature, I don't have a pen
SoE. Might not wont touch another one of their games ever. Although I may try out Planetside 2, but I can't stand f2p garbage games, so probably wont stay long.
EA. I am generally staying away from all things EA as of late. Just can't take their crap anymore. I will probably be trying SWTOR just to say I played it, but I sure as hell ain't paying 60 bucks for it. Same with BF3. I really don't like paying 60 bucks for games, not that I can't afford it, just not worth it to me. I've got like 75 orginal games on Steam and I don't think I paid more than 30 bucks for a single one. Most of them were 15 dollars or less on sale. Ok, maybe I am a cheap bastard, but I like getting my money's worth
Ubisoft games in general.
Anything Activision. Just like EA tbh. Huge corporate greed, could care less about making decent games, it's all about money.
Hmm, I guess basically any of the big name developers/publishers really. Most of them really don't care about making gamers happy, and really only care about lining their pockets with the green. I am usually an underground or 'the little guy' type of person in all aspects of life anyways.
No list here, either. If I had a blacklist of companies for every shady deal pulled or every half-assed game released I'd have no games left to play.
Funcom.
Main reasons: From launching an MMO without the announced features ( dx10 etc ) to the nazi forum moderation without any respect whatsoever for their costumers ( with a gm even using a finger in a mouth telling the costumers to shutup as avatar ), passing by the marketing schemes to sell an unfinnished game providing a starting experience that did not reflect at all the game after the first shown levels, for the constant changing of rules after the game was released etc etc.. all Age of Conan related issues.
Never will this soul buy any game from them.. ever.
SOE. That's not one I need to explain.
Hmmm, since my start in MMO's back with Meridian 59 I have blacklisted a few and ended up going back because like it or not, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Sometimes they still put out a good game and I just have to buy it. I have blacklisted SOE about a half dozen times now, only to keep going back. In realizing this, the list is considerably shorter, but there are a few who I absolutely stick to my guns and refuse to play.
#1 Cryptic. So many decent examples in this thread, no need to say more.
#2 Any F2P Asian MMO. Clicky-clicky grind fest, ad nauseum.
#3 Browser based games, any and all of them. Uninspiring wait-fests.
FunCom.
Blizzard - very close to being blacklisted. I actually liked WoW and most of the titles prior to it. The direction they are going with D3 I consider to be absolutely horrendous. Just waiting to see if Titan confirms that they have indeed sold their souls before passing final judgment.
SOE - No personal experience as a customer but their recent antics have shown me these are not people I ever want to be involved with in any way.
EA - I find it hard to write off every developer that has the misfortune of finding itself in the stable of this digital parasite of a publisher, but even so, I now avoid anything that is linked to this company in any way. The number of developers and franchises they've absolutely ruined deserves a reckoning.
Cryptic didn't ruin anything, or do anything wrong really. What mistakes they did make they have put forth effort to repair. People just hate them because they didn't make what THEY wanted.
I love these threads because if you read all the posts you will see pretty much every MMO company named. It just goes to show that no company is immune from hate, and I guarantee that after TOR comes out Bioware will have its share too =P
Not trying to single you out, bud, but your leniency is exactly why some publishers and developers continue to do the shitty things that they do. When gamers, they very people that they are screwing over, refuse to take them to task, why should their behaviour ever improve? We promote it but accepting it.
I have no illusions that my shunning of certain companies makes a whit of difference to them, but there remain many others out there who operate in a way that I find reasonable and acceptable. I'll give them my support instead.