Lol talking to smedly about sandbox games , the man that oversaw the destruction of the best sandbox game ever made (SWG) , i guess he should know what not to do............ narrr its smedly he never learns
TheMittani: You’ve mentioned a desire for more sandbox MMOs in your Reddit AMA, and sandboxes are obviously a major draw for EVE players. Do you have plans for adding sandbox elements to PS2, and if so, would you like to discuss them? If there really is an untapped market for sandbox MMOs, why haven’t we seen more of them, besides Eve and SWG?
Smedley: Sandbox elements - SOE is redefining itself as a creator of emergent gameplay experiences. That's our future. You can call it sandbox but it's so much more than that. A good example is Player owned bases in Planetside 2. That's coming. We're going to make huge continents that are empty and have vast resources on them and players can fight it out and put down their own bases there and other players can come and obliterate them. Sound familiar EVE Players? Actually we had something like this in Star Wars Galaxies too. THAT is content. At some point as an industry we need to realize that we have already lost the race to outpace players in making content. I personally thought SWTOR was a great game. I loved Diablo III. The problem is you get to the endgame and as game makers it's not just expensive. it's impossible to stay ahead of the curve.
Think about this statement - If WoW had come out yesterday.. at what point would people be "done" with the content. We need to focus on game systems that are perpetual and give players a lot more control over what they can do rather than JUST putting yet another dragon in front of them with scripted content. We need to be doing both in order to be successful. And that's our plan.
Been saying that for YEARS, yet constantly shot down by people who have only experienced linear static Themeparks. I'm surprised Smedley was absolutely so spot on with this. It seems like he understands where thae market needs to go, but not necesarrily how to get there.
Been in Planetside 2 beta for months now, but the core issue with that product is that it is built around PayToWin. That and their graphics department has no idea how to NOT use over-blooming effects to make the game NOT look like crap.
That, and PS2 players nothing like Planetside, and the "Team" element isn't there.
We'll see how Planetside 2 does at launch to see if Smedley REALLY understands how to do a Sandbox game. Although, I DO like his redefinition of "emergent gameplay".
The Theory of Conservative Conservation of Ignorant Stupidity: Having a different opinion must mean you're a troll.
TheMittani: You’ve mentioned a desire for more sandbox MMOs in your Reddit AMA, and sandboxes are obviously a major draw for EVE players. Do you have plans for adding sandbox elements to PS2, and if so, would you like to discuss them? If there really is an untapped market for sandbox MMOs, why haven’t we seen more of them, besides Eve and SWG?
Smedley: Sandbox elements - SOE is redefining itself as a creator of emergent gameplay experiences. That's our future. You can call it sandbox but it's so much more than that. A good example is Player owned bases in Planetside 2. That's coming. We're going to make huge continents that are empty and have vast resources on them and players can fight it out and put down their own bases there and other players can come and obliterate them. Sound familiar EVE Players? Actually we had something like this in Star Wars Galaxies too. THAT is content. At some point as an industry we need to realize that we have already lost the race to outpace players in making content. I personally thought SWTOR was a great game. I loved Diablo III. The problem is you get to the endgame and as game makers it's not just expensive. it's impossible to stay ahead of the curve.
Think about this statement - If WoW had come out yesterday.. at what point would people be "done" with the content. We need to focus on game systems that are perpetual and give players a lot more control over what they can do rather than JUST putting yet another dragon in front of them with scripted content. We need to be doing both in order to be successful. And that's our plan.
Finally, one of the suites wakes up and realizes where the real profit is to be made in the MMo space.
If you knew Smed and his history of gaming destruction, lies, and completely mismanaging any level of corporate-consumer relations, then you would realise that he's never "gotten" it. He is very good about putting a glossy sheen on any interview he does, but his truths are so thin and fragile that the multitudes of current and former SOE customers cut right through his tripe immediately.
Smed thinks purely about his narcissistic needs and little for his paying customers, the players of SOE games. He hasn't woken up. He's realized nothing. Are you aware of what he's done to thousands of his European playerbase? How he's mismanaged EQ2's development over the last 3 years?
I beleive nothing that he says. His track record is very, very poor.
Originally posted by zethcarn Again talk is cheap. You can't trust Smed any further than you can throw him.
Nevertheless it is illuminating that he has been playing EVE for some years, and not just grinding missions but out here in 0.0 space. At the very least it means that he's been thoroughly exposed to a working model of an MMO experience other than Yet Another Orks And Elves Themepark.
And there are lots of things EVE does really well that would translate well into other games - the EVE economy, the PLEX system (the success of PLEX will surely have stirred Smedley's greedy black heart), tiered security status areas and so on - these could all translate quite well into any MMO genre.
He also plays WoW, and he likes that game quite a bit as well. Unfortunately, his M.O. is to grab bits of this, and bits of that, and try to apply other games concepts into his own and it never works out well. He speaks well and gushes that whatever they are working on is going to transform the genre, but his vision, organizational management, and ability to connect and communicate with the players falls vastly short of the desired target.
To all you people putting any hope on Smed doing anything "Sandbox" with EQNext, this was from a thread at another site, from a poster who has a source/friend that is/was an employee at SOE. This poster's "inside information" about SOE had been accurate before. The thread was from last year...
Everquest Next had two pre-production builds proposed.
one build was extensive with a large budget of 100 million dollars. It was Everquest on steroids, thats its nickname around the water cooler.
the other build proposal is extremely casual. Its known around the cooler as everquest invades farmville. its budget is very small, 20 million dollars.
the farmville version was approved.
in addition, more cuts are coming within SOE. Several hundred subcontract workers have 6 month contracts expire december 31st. They will not be renewed
basically the team that was working on the Everquest on Steroids build lost the contest and is being let go
yes, it was kinda considered a contest. the better build got the money, the loser build employees got fired essentially. quite an incentive program by SOE.
If you are an Everquest fan, dont expect a true sequel. the farmville version is going to be designed for the young 19-24 facebook / hip / young san francisco up and coming executives type of people.
quite a bit of dissension over this target market as many dont believe they exist in enough numbers to support this project after launch. some thought is that by the time the game is launched, the economy will have rebounded so its foolish to design around a free to play model and a particular target market thats unproven and outside the mmo norm
So, what we have is more talk/hype from Smed/SOE, while their actions indicate something different, entirely.
Edit: and more from the same poster in a follow-up post:
Smed (he) thinks DCU failed because of the economy, not bad design. yes he is that delusional.
the free to play model he advocates has to do with the economy. and it was argued by others that the economy will pick up eventually. given a 4 yr development time frame, by the time an mmo is launched sub fees would be more viable again
I havent heard anything about planetside 2.
the info i got was centered around a staff meeting and a memo announcement about the build they were going with.
one interesting note...the more hardcore build team always felt the game was rigged (the contest). they were sure smed championed the casual cheap build and would never choose their vision for EQ Next. the money had already been allocated so essentially it was just busy work for them.
and thats how soe runs. they wasted millions on a pre-production design build they had zero intention of ever using.
I remember an article about how Google optimizes search results that applies here.
Big companies are REALLY, REALLY good at pushing toward local maxima. But they are total failures and moving back and saying, even if we reach the local maximum here, if we just shifted over this way we would be at nearly the same point now with a maximum twice as high to work towards. When Blizzard made WoW they found a higher local maximum to climb by moving far to the right.
Personally I think if they moved to the left much farther than original games on the sandbox scale, and farther along the z axis, the social graph, they would find a maxima that was even better. For some people. Eve went really left but they hit a wall of nicheness. Perhaps it was the setting, perhaps it was something else, we don't know.
But they didn't move along the 4th dimension. Cooperation. I think a game where all the players are on the same side could create the highest local maximum and I proposed such a system when I laid out my personal vision of an MMO. I work on RTS games, with a similar level of radical change now, mostly due to time and money constraints but I think if someone with the proper funds went for a single side, player wise, MMO they could get some serious money. And you could study some interesting social and ecnomic issues that are normally obscured by obsessive griefing.
That article came out a long time ago. It didn't have any backup then and it doesn't now. With a tight as the info has been on EQN I highly doubt such information as models and sales figures would come out. It does give SoE haters something to gnash at though which is why it got so much attention.
To all you people putting any hope on Smed doing anything "Sandbox" with EQNext, this was from a thread at another site, from a poster who has a source/friend that is/was an employee at SOE. This poster's "inside information" about SOE had been accurate before. The thread was from last year...
Where is the source of proof of your source, not saying it aint true, just wondering that if some forum guy tells people he has a source/friend within the company how to proof that?
I ask this because I have seen some pretty accurate predictions about games even when people did not have inside source/friends, but where mainly lucky with their predictions.
So how can we be sure that it aint just geussing on his part, in short where is the proof/source that he truly knows someone at SOE.
And yeah I rather read speculations then the "I know a friend of a friend that has a friend who knows a friend that knows a friend that is working at" type of thing.
BurntVet, we get it - you don't like Smed. The thing is that when presented with information that you don't want to hear, you resort to the ridiculous to support your position. Yes, saying "you're wrong because I read that a guy on a forum has a friend that told him..." is ridiculous.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
You know what cracks me up SO much. 90% of the smed hatred is regurgitated bullshit from people who never even played SWG (or UO for that matter) but like to think they're hardcore sandboxer's super l33t mmo gamers.
The best part is it was shown LONG ago that Lucasarts was the ones behind the NGE not Smed. Yet still to this day people LOVE to act like Smed is some amalgamation of satan, adolf hitler, and pol pot.
Know how i know this? At its height SWG had around 400k subs, at its height. That was also 8 years ago. Considering the current MMO playerbase is at a rough estimate in the 15-20 million players range, thats less than 3% of the current mmo playerbase who (even assuming they were idiots and still thought it was smeds fault) have a justifiable actionable reason to hate smed.
CLEARLY more than 3% of forum posters on any MMO forums hate smed, so, conclusion is the majority of smed haters are in fact morons.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
Originally posted by Loktofeit BurntVet, we get it - you don't like Smed. The thing is that when presented with information that you don't want to hear, you resort to the ridiculous to support your position. Yes, saying "you're wrong because I read that a guy on a forum has a friend that told him..." is ridiculous.
Well, the poster had a memo and notes from a meeting, so that is about anything anyone can ask for. Or saw them. Or both.
And the poster has/had a history of accurate inside info from SOE, so those two things together are enough to give it a certain amount of credence, at least.
Plus, with how bad SOE has been doing financially, I have no trouble believing Smed took the cheaper route.
To all you people putting any hope on Smed doing anything "Sandbox" with EQNext, this was from a thread at another site, from a poster who has a source/friend that is/was an employee at SOE. This poster's "inside information" about SOE had been accurate before. The thread was from last year...
Where is the source of proof of your source, not saying it aint true, just wondering that if some forum guy tells people he has a source/friend within the company how to proof that?
I ask this because I have seen some pretty accurate predictions about games even when people did not have inside source/friends, but where mainly lucky with their predictions.
So how can we be sure that it aint just geussing on his part, in short where is the proof/source that he truly knows someone at SOE.
And yeah I rather read speculations then the "I know a friend of a friend that has a friend who knows a friend that knows a friend that is working at" type of thing.
The poster was very accurate with SOE info over the years, and I have no reason to doubt him based on his record. ANd it has not just been once or twice.
That the guy does not want to out his source and get the guy fired is probably a good reason for not naming him.
At the end of the day, who the source actually is, is not important, the guy's info has been spot on for a while.
That article came out a long time ago. It didn't have any backup then and it doesn't now. With a tight as the info has been on EQN I highly doubt such information as models and sales figures would come out. It does give SoE haters something to gnash at though which is why it got so much attention.
What sales figures?
The guy got info from the "pitch meeting" for what the projected costs of each project option were.
I have personally sat through a couple dozen different pitch meetings for different projects (not in the game industry) and projected costs are always part of it.
And again, with how terrible SOE has been doing financially, it would not surprise me in the least that Smed chose the much cheaper option, at the cost of making a much "slimmed down" versioin of an EQ game.
And again, the poster has been very accurate with SOE information over the years, and thus the source he cites has been on the money as well.
I'll believe it when I see it. Can you link forum predictions that have come true after the fact from this friend of a SoE employee? All that had been presented is something I could have written myself if I took the time. Without proof or even reasonable association it means nothing.
You know what cracks me up SO much. 90% of the smed hatred is regurgitated bullshit from people who never even played SWG (or UO for that matter) but like to think they're hardcore sandboxer's super l33t mmo gamers.
I was there for the entire ride of SWG, pre-NGE, and if people hate the Smed, they have their reasons.
I was there for Smed's "The game isn't fun, give it 6 months" annoucement." And the "CU is here to stay" annoucement.
And many, many of the other big "FUs" SOE gave to their paying customers, until they became not paying un-customers.
Smed was at the head of company when all of that bad stuff was going on, and when a company does well and the customers are happy, the CEO gets the credit.
And when a company treats its customers poorly (and SOE clearly has over the years, they now have fewer paying subs across all their games than CCP has with just EvE), the CEO gets the blame.
SOE went from the most successful western company in the genre pre-WoW, to a joke in the industry. That was not an accident or from a single mistake.
And Smed was "the boss" for all of it.
Like many people, if I have contempt for Smed and how SOE has treated people, I am justified in doing so.
You know what cracks me up SO much. 90% of the smed hatred is regurgitated bullshit from people who never even played SWG (or UO for that matter) but like to think they're hardcore sandboxer's super l33t mmo gamers.
I was there for the entire ride of SWG, pre-NGE, and if people hate the Smed, they have their reasons.
I was there for Smed's "The game isn't fun, give it 6 months" annoucement." And the "CU is here to stay" annoucement.
And many, many of the other big "FUs" SOE gave to their paying customers, until they became not paying un-customers.
Smed was at the head of company when all of that bad stuff was going on, and when a company does well and the customers are happy, the CEO gets the credit.
And when a company treats its customers poorly (and SOE clearly has over the years, they now have fewer paying subs across all their games than CCP has with just EvE), the CEO gets the blame.
SOE went from the most successful western company in the genre pre-WoW, to a joke in the industry. That was not an accident or from a single mistake.
And Smed was "the boss" for all of it.
Like many people, if I have contempt for Smed and how SOE has treated people, I am justified in doing so.
I do find it highly amusing that you felt such a strong need to respond to a post that clearly wasn't referring to you, as you were there. Although, once again it wasnt SOE or Smed's fault what happened to SWG. So, once again, your hatred is entirely misplaced. But hey, whatever, irrational thought runs amock in internet forums so why bother trying to change it now.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
You know what cracks me up SO much. 90% of the smed hatred is regurgitated bullshit from people who never even played SWG (or UO for that matter) but like to think they're hardcore sandboxer's super l33t mmo gamers.
I was there for the entire ride of SWG, pre-NGE, and if people hate the Smed, they have their reasons.
I was there for Smed's "The game isn't fun, give it 6 months" annoucement." And the "CU is here to stay" annoucement.
And many, many of the other big "FUs" SOE gave to their paying customers, until they became not paying un-customers.
Smed was at the head of company when all of that bad stuff was going on, and when a company does well and the customers are happy, the CEO gets the credit.
And when a company treats its customers poorly (and SOE clearly has over the years, they now have fewer paying subs across all their games than CCP has with just EvE), the CEO gets the blame.
SOE went from the most successful western company in the genre pre-WoW, to a joke in the industry. That was not an accident or from a single mistake.
And Smed was "the boss" for all of it.
Like many people, if I have contempt for Smed and how SOE has treated people, I am justified in doing so.
I do find it highly amusing that you felt such a strong need to respond to a post that clearly wasn't referring to you, as you were there. Although, once again it wasnt SOE or Smed's fault what happened to SWG. So, once again, your hatred is entirely misplaced. But hey, whatever, irrational thought runs amock in internet forums so why bother trying to change it now.
I loved SWG from 2003, loved it a little less in CU, and then dropped it with NGE.
As for Smedley, it's pretty easy for people to bash the guy, but from what I understand, Lucas Arts is more responsible for the NGE than him.
Lucas Arts is of that same stock of bean-counters (rather than experience builders) as EA. Those companies are the types that come along to actual developers with 'analytics' and think that they equate to a good game when implemented.
Sorry, but the majority of players will appeal to their own interests if you actually try to solicit them for feedback.
Guy controlling the show: "What do you want?"
Player in the world: (thinks for a second of what he's been dreaming of) "A Ferrari".
Guy controlling the show: Here you go
Player in the world: (drives around 5 days) Ok I want to put this on ebay this blows.
For SWG, replace Ferrari with Jedi. That's why that game died. When you take away whatever is prestigious and hard, and make everything easy, the interest wanes. There is nothing on this earth worth having that doesn't require hard work, because in general, the harder the effort, the more exclusive (and prestigious) the reward. Is there really any health benefit to having shredded abs at 5% bodyfat? NO, it's unhealthy. But you can temporarily get down there for picture time at an event, and that picture will stand out.
The players will say time and time again "I have a job, I don't have the time, I have kids". Yeah? Well guess what, you're playing in games where you're not only against people with no lives who will play 15 hours a day and only sleep, but now you have to deal with the reality of guilds who get their guild masters account played around the clock by multiple players to be the first on the server to do this or that.
What I'm saying is, a lot of people come to these games expecting the same equality the preach in the real world, but they know doesn't exist.
Responsible adults that are normal and healthy gamers just wouldn't care too much about the 'higher level' in a game. There is always a higher level they can make, another carrot for you to chase. If you really want to enjoy games as part of your leisure, you need to say "ok, I play at this level, this bracket where people invest this much time, and I want to try to dominate that bracket".
But, even if you do, you get to the next bracket and get wiped out.
And if you can't deal with that, find another hobby where those other advantageous factors aren't in play. Like... an FPS game (well, one without aimbots).
The poster was very accurate with SOE info over the years, and I have no reason to doubt him based on his record. ANd it has not just been once or twice.
That the guy does not want to out his source and get the guy fired is probably a good reason for not naming him.
At the end of the day, who the source actually is, is not important, the guy's info has been spot on for a while.
The humor here is that you feel the guy leaking info is honest enough to leak full, correct or even real info to a bunch of people he doesn't know. Why?
Because Mystery Source is telling you what you want to hear, BitterVet, and Smed - no matter what he says or does - will always be the evil, destroyer of virtual worlds in your mind. The former obviously doesn't have loyalty to the company and the latter has a vested interest in the company.
Question: If you found out your Mystery Source was some other industry professional you have disdain for, would you still hold his rumors as gospel truth or would you dismiss it as lies?
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
The poster was very accurate with SOE info over the years, and I have no reason to doubt him based on his record. ANd it has not just been once or twice.
That the guy does not want to out his source and get the guy fired is probably a good reason for not naming him.
At the end of the day, who the source actually is, is not important, the guy's info has been spot on for a while.
The humor here is that you feel the guy leaking info is honest enough to leak full, correct or even real info to a bunch of people he doesn't know. Why?
Because Mystery Source is telling you what you want to hear, BitterVet, and Smed - no matter what he says or does - will always be the evil, destroyer of virtual worlds in your mind. The former obviously doesn't have loyalty to the company and the latter has a vested interest in the company.
Question: If you found out your Mystery Source was some other industry professional you have disdain for, would you still hold his rumors as gospel truth or would you dismiss it as lies?
You seem to be a little too invested in arguing with anyone who has anything bad to say about Smed... interesting.
All I did was repost some info from a thread on another site, talking about EQNext and that it was not going down the raod some people in this thread think it is, and it rebutts some of the things Smed said or implied in the interview.
Want to talk about who the source is and all that stuff? Fine. Take it up with the original poster on the other site, it is that guy's friend.
All I know is that that other poster has posted reliable info in the past about SOE and cited that same friend.
If that is not good enough for you, too bad.
As for Smed, he is responsible for doing plenty of things his now former customers are unhappy with. Not what he said, what he did. And all the empty apologies don't change any of that for crap.
"All I know is that that other poster has posted reliable info in the past about SOE and cited that same friend."
If that's the case, link it. You have said that in this thread four or five times now without any proof. I don't care about your bias or anyone else's and it's more than aparent from that thread about EQN that even the admin was biased. The admin didn't even ask for proof, just took it at face value and started bashing it with the other people in the thread.
"It's because the poster had posted reliabl-"
Link it.
As a side note I find it ironic that for a game "built in a box" that they would have two seperate dev teams and let one side go. In the time since then 0 information has come out relating anything about any part of any iteration of the game.
You know what cracks me up SO much. 90% of the smed hatred is regurgitated bullshit from people who never even played SWG (or UO for that matter) but like to think they're hardcore sandboxer's super l33t mmo gamers.
I was there for the entire ride of SWG, pre-NGE, and if people hate the Smed, they have their reasons.
I was there for Smed's "The game isn't fun, give it 6 months" annoucement." And the "CU is here to stay" annoucement.
And many, many of the other big "FUs" SOE gave to their paying customers, until they became not paying un-customers.
Smed was at the head of company when all of that bad stuff was going on, and when a company does well and the customers are happy, the CEO gets the credit.
And when a company treats its customers poorly (and SOE clearly has over the years, they now have fewer paying subs across all their games than CCP has with just EvE), the CEO gets the blame.
SOE went from the most successful western company in the genre pre-WoW, to a joke in the industry. That was not an accident or from a single mistake.
And Smed was "the boss" for all of it.
Like many people, if I have contempt for Smed and how SOE has treated people, I am justified in doing so.
I do find it highly amusing that you felt such a strong need to respond to a post that clearly wasn't referring to you, as you were there. Although, once again it wasnt SOE or Smed's fault what happened to SWG. So, once again, your hatred is entirely misplaced. But hey, whatever, irrational thought runs amock in internet forums so why bother trying to change it now.
You keep saying it wasnt SOE or smedley but that doesnt make it true .
It's not as though Smed could come out and directly say it was LA's fault. I'm pretty sure they still have a contract with them (Star Wars: The Clone Wars) and it would be in bad form anyways.
He already apologized for NGE and not listening to the fans back in, what, '07?
Comments
Been saying that for YEARS, yet constantly shot down by people who have only experienced linear static Themeparks. I'm surprised Smedley was absolutely so spot on with this. It seems like he understands where thae market needs to go, but not necesarrily how to get there.
Been in Planetside 2 beta for months now, but the core issue with that product is that it is built around PayToWin. That and their graphics department has no idea how to NOT use over-blooming effects to make the game NOT look like crap.
That, and PS2 players nothing like Planetside, and the "Team" element isn't there.
We'll see how Planetside 2 does at launch to see if Smedley REALLY understands how to do a Sandbox game. Although, I DO like his redefinition of "emergent gameplay".
The Theory of Conservative Conservation of Ignorant Stupidity:
Having a different opinion must mean you're a troll.
If you knew Smed and his history of gaming destruction, lies, and completely mismanaging any level of corporate-consumer relations, then you would realise that he's never "gotten" it. He is very good about putting a glossy sheen on any interview he does, but his truths are so thin and fragile that the multitudes of current and former SOE customers cut right through his tripe immediately.
Smed thinks purely about his narcissistic needs and little for his paying customers, the players of SOE games. He hasn't woken up. He's realized nothing. Are you aware of what he's done to thousands of his European playerbase? How he's mismanaged EQ2's development over the last 3 years?
I beleive nothing that he says. His track record is very, very poor.
He also plays WoW, and he likes that game quite a bit as well. Unfortunately, his M.O. is to grab bits of this, and bits of that, and try to apply other games concepts into his own and it never works out well. He speaks well and gushes that whatever they are working on is going to transform the genre, but his vision, organizational management, and ability to connect and communicate with the players falls vastly short of the desired target.
To all you people putting any hope on Smed doing anything "Sandbox" with EQNext, this was from a thread at another site, from a poster who has a source/friend that is/was an employee at SOE. This poster's "inside information" about SOE had been accurate before. The thread was from last year...
http://www.mmofringe.com/forum/2-Section-8/17114-the-latest-on-SOE-and-Everquest-Next
Admirker444:
More changes coming from SOE.
Everquest Next had two pre-production builds proposed.
one build was extensive with a large budget of 100 million dollars. It was Everquest on steroids, thats its nickname around the water cooler.
the other build proposal is extremely casual. Its known around the cooler as everquest invades farmville. its budget is very small, 20 million dollars.
the farmville version was approved.
in addition, more cuts are coming within SOE. Several hundred subcontract workers have 6 month contracts expire december 31st. They will not be renewed
basically the team that was working on the Everquest on Steroids build lost the contest and is being let go
yes, it was kinda considered a contest. the better build got the money, the loser build employees got fired essentially. quite an incentive program by SOE.
If you are an Everquest fan, dont expect a true sequel. the farmville version is going to be designed for the young 19-24 facebook / hip / young san francisco up and coming executives type of people.
quite a bit of dissension over this target market as many dont believe they exist in enough numbers to support this project after launch. some thought is that by the time the game is launched, the economy will have rebounded so its foolish to design around a free to play model and a particular target market thats unproven and outside the mmo norm
So, what we have is more talk/hype from Smed/SOE, while their actions indicate something different, entirely.
Edit: and more from the same poster in a follow-up post:
Smed (he) thinks DCU failed because of the economy, not bad design. yes he is that delusional.
the free to play model he advocates has to do with the economy. and it was argued by others that the economy will pick up eventually. given a 4 yr development time frame, by the time an mmo is launched sub fees would be more viable again
I havent heard anything about planetside 2.
the info i got was centered around a staff meeting and a memo announcement about the build they were going with.
one interesting note...the more hardcore build team always felt the game was rigged (the contest). they were sure smed championed the casual cheap build and would never choose their vision for EQ Next. the money had already been allocated so essentially it was just busy work for them.
and thats how soe runs. they wasted millions on a pre-production design build they had zero intention of ever using.
I remember an article about how Google optimizes search results that applies here.
Big companies are REALLY, REALLY good at pushing toward local maxima. But they are total failures and moving back and saying, even if we reach the local maximum here, if we just shifted over this way we would be at nearly the same point now with a maximum twice as high to work towards. When Blizzard made WoW they found a higher local maximum to climb by moving far to the right.
Personally I think if they moved to the left much farther than original games on the sandbox scale, and farther along the z axis, the social graph, they would find a maxima that was even better. For some people. Eve went really left but they hit a wall of nicheness. Perhaps it was the setting, perhaps it was something else, we don't know.
But they didn't move along the 4th dimension. Cooperation. I think a game where all the players are on the same side could create the highest local maximum and I proposed such a system when I laid out my personal vision of an MMO. I work on RTS games, with a similar level of radical change now, mostly due to time and money constraints but I think if someone with the proper funds went for a single side, player wise, MMO they could get some serious money. And you could study some interesting social and ecnomic issues that are normally obscured by obsessive griefing.
That article came out a long time ago. It didn't have any backup then and it doesn't now. With a tight as the info has been on EQN I highly doubt such information as models and sales figures would come out. It does give SoE haters something to gnash at though which is why it got so much attention.
Where is the source of proof of your source, not saying it aint true, just wondering that if some forum guy tells people he has a source/friend within the company how to proof that?
I ask this because I have seen some pretty accurate predictions about games even when people did not have inside source/friends, but where mainly lucky with their predictions.
So how can we be sure that it aint just geussing on his part, in short where is the proof/source that he truly knows someone at SOE.
And yeah I rather read speculations then the "I know a friend of a friend that has a friend who knows a friend that knows a friend that is working at" type of thing.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
You know what cracks me up SO much. 90% of the smed hatred is regurgitated bullshit from people who never even played SWG (or UO for that matter) but like to think they're hardcore sandboxer's super l33t mmo gamers.
The best part is it was shown LONG ago that Lucasarts was the ones behind the NGE not Smed. Yet still to this day people LOVE to act like Smed is some amalgamation of satan, adolf hitler, and pol pot.
Know how i know this? At its height SWG had around 400k subs, at its height. That was also 8 years ago. Considering the current MMO playerbase is at a rough estimate in the 15-20 million players range, thats less than 3% of the current mmo playerbase who (even assuming they were idiots and still thought it was smeds fault) have a justifiable actionable reason to hate smed.
CLEARLY more than 3% of forum posters on any MMO forums hate smed, so, conclusion is the majority of smed haters are in fact morons.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Well, the poster had a memo and notes from a meeting, so that is about anything anyone can ask for. Or saw them. Or both.
And the poster has/had a history of accurate inside info from SOE, so those two things together are enough to give it a certain amount of credence, at least.
Plus, with how bad SOE has been doing financially, I have no trouble believing Smed took the cheaper route.
The poster was very accurate with SOE info over the years, and I have no reason to doubt him based on his record. ANd it has not just been once or twice.
That the guy does not want to out his source and get the guy fired is probably a good reason for not naming him.
At the end of the day, who the source actually is, is not important, the guy's info has been spot on for a while.
What sales figures?
The guy got info from the "pitch meeting" for what the projected costs of each project option were.
I have personally sat through a couple dozen different pitch meetings for different projects (not in the game industry) and projected costs are always part of it.
And again, with how terrible SOE has been doing financially, it would not surprise me in the least that Smed chose the much cheaper option, at the cost of making a much "slimmed down" versioin of an EQ game.
And again, the poster has been very accurate with SOE information over the years, and thus the source he cites has been on the money as well.
No reason to doubt he was right about this.
My gaming blog
I'll believe it when I see it. Can you link forum predictions that have come true after the fact from this friend of a SoE employee? All that had been presented is something I could have written myself if I took the time. Without proof or even reasonable association it means nothing.
I was there for the entire ride of SWG, pre-NGE, and if people hate the Smed, they have their reasons.
I was there for Smed's "The game isn't fun, give it 6 months" annoucement." And the "CU is here to stay" annoucement.
And many, many of the other big "FUs" SOE gave to their paying customers, until they became not paying un-customers.
Smed was at the head of company when all of that bad stuff was going on, and when a company does well and the customers are happy, the CEO gets the credit.
And when a company treats its customers poorly (and SOE clearly has over the years, they now have fewer paying subs across all their games than CCP has with just EvE), the CEO gets the blame.
SOE went from the most successful western company in the genre pre-WoW, to a joke in the industry. That was not an accident or from a single mistake.
And Smed was "the boss" for all of it.
Like many people, if I have contempt for Smed and how SOE has treated people, I am justified in doing so.
I do find it highly amusing that you felt such a strong need to respond to a post that clearly wasn't referring to you, as you were there. Although, once again it wasnt SOE or Smed's fault what happened to SWG. So, once again, your hatred is entirely misplaced. But hey, whatever, irrational thought runs amock in internet forums so why bother trying to change it now.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
That's called "reflection".
I loved SWG from 2003, loved it a little less in CU, and then dropped it with NGE.
As for Smedley, it's pretty easy for people to bash the guy, but from what I understand, Lucas Arts is more responsible for the NGE than him.
Lucas Arts is of that same stock of bean-counters (rather than experience builders) as EA. Those companies are the types that come along to actual developers with 'analytics' and think that they equate to a good game when implemented.
Sorry, but the majority of players will appeal to their own interests if you actually try to solicit them for feedback.
Guy controlling the show: "What do you want?"
Player in the world: (thinks for a second of what he's been dreaming of) "A Ferrari".
Guy controlling the show: Here you go
Player in the world: (drives around 5 days) Ok I want to put this on ebay this blows.
For SWG, replace Ferrari with Jedi. That's why that game died. When you take away whatever is prestigious and hard, and make everything easy, the interest wanes. There is nothing on this earth worth having that doesn't require hard work, because in general, the harder the effort, the more exclusive (and prestigious) the reward. Is there really any health benefit to having shredded abs at 5% bodyfat? NO, it's unhealthy. But you can temporarily get down there for picture time at an event, and that picture will stand out.
The players will say time and time again "I have a job, I don't have the time, I have kids". Yeah? Well guess what, you're playing in games where you're not only against people with no lives who will play 15 hours a day and only sleep, but now you have to deal with the reality of guilds who get their guild masters account played around the clock by multiple players to be the first on the server to do this or that.
What I'm saying is, a lot of people come to these games expecting the same equality the preach in the real world, but they know doesn't exist.
Responsible adults that are normal and healthy gamers just wouldn't care too much about the 'higher level' in a game. There is always a higher level they can make, another carrot for you to chase. If you really want to enjoy games as part of your leisure, you need to say "ok, I play at this level, this bracket where people invest this much time, and I want to try to dominate that bracket".
But, even if you do, you get to the next bracket and get wiped out.
And if you can't deal with that, find another hobby where those other advantageous factors aren't in play. Like... an FPS game (well, one without aimbots).
The humor here is that you feel the guy leaking info is honest enough to leak full, correct or even real info to a bunch of people he doesn't know. Why?
Because Mystery Source is telling you what you want to hear, BitterVet, and Smed - no matter what he says or does - will always be the evil, destroyer of virtual worlds in your mind. The former obviously doesn't have loyalty to the company and the latter has a vested interest in the company.
Question: If you found out your Mystery Source was some other industry professional you have disdain for, would you still hold his rumors as gospel truth or would you dismiss it as lies?
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
You seem to be a little too invested in arguing with anyone who has anything bad to say about Smed... interesting.
All I did was repost some info from a thread on another site, talking about EQNext and that it was not going down the raod some people in this thread think it is, and it rebutts some of the things Smed said or implied in the interview.
Want to talk about who the source is and all that stuff? Fine. Take it up with the original poster on the other site, it is that guy's friend.
All I know is that that other poster has posted reliable info in the past about SOE and cited that same friend.
If that is not good enough for you, too bad.
As for Smed, he is responsible for doing plenty of things his now former customers are unhappy with. Not what he said, what he did. And all the empty apologies don't change any of that for crap.
If that's the case, link it. You have said that in this thread four or five times now without any proof. I don't care about your bias or anyone else's and it's more than aparent from that thread about EQN that even the admin was biased. The admin didn't even ask for proof, just took it at face value and started bashing it with the other people in the thread.
"It's because the poster had posted reliabl-"
Link it.
As a side note I find it ironic that for a game "built in a box" that they would have two seperate dev teams and let one side go. In the time since then 0 information has come out relating anything about any part of any iteration of the game.
Hmmm....
You keep saying it wasnt SOE or smedley but that doesnt make it true .
He already apologized for NGE and not listening to the fans back in, what, '07?