Alpha is generally barely playable. That's why alphas aren't released to the public most of the time (this being a rare exception). Even betas used to be pretty buggy, but they've slowly morphed into demos.
Well then if the product is unfit,they are NOT suppose to be selling it but by selling packs ,they are in essence selling the game.
Nobody should be forking money over for an unfit product,it sets a very bad precendence.VERY naive to think a developer can make an excuse by saying you are paying to be part of the development team.You are in no way what so ever part of the development team weather you think you are or not.
A TEAM means everyone has an equal share/say,this is not the case,this game is not yours,it is SOE's 100% SOE's,nothing you say or want can be met unless SOE says so.Soe is simply being very lame,trying to make gamer's feel more important by giving them money,they are simply taking advantage of you an d your money.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I think these companies know who they can trust by now. They don't need to charge $100 to filter out the riff raff. So I'm not buying into they need to charge more to make sure they get quality alpha testers concept.
Eqnext at the reveal looked interesting, this alpha is making me sell my stock real fast. Time will tell, but I would encourage many of you to steer clear for a while.
To those of you seriously alpha testing, thank you. I think it's awful you had to pay them for a service you're providing, but I think there is value in alpha and beta testing. Unfortunately they are creating monetized value and informative vale for themselves, rather than respectfully summoning you service.
Yeah I was fortunate enough to download an hour long video from YouTube showcasing Landmark, but it got placed to private rather quickly. Good thing I had enough time to download it! It does look choppy and quite rough on some parts, but it also looks like fun.
I am very thankful that Twitch exists... This NDA lock and key stuff and then selling $100 packs is insane to me. With Twitch being around I can at least watch other people play for awhile before pulling the trigger on anything.
SOE can call it Alpha product but with a 1 month schedulded Alpha and one month shedulded beta in reality its not an Alpha and not even a beta product its more like an open beta product as release is just around the corner.
Using the word Alpha is just marking and is no way an appropriate word for a game that will release in 2 months. It is just another excuse to say that the game is unfinished. I hope EQL succeeds but do not be fooled by SOEs choice of words and marketing. I hope Landmark is wonderful fun and successful. But the game is what it is and that is a product about to release not a product in early development.
I completely agree. I think the industry is in for a huge paradigm shift in this direction and it's for the better, I think. We just have to reeducate ourselves on the true purpose of alpha and beta testing, that it's not supposed to be a demo experience and sales tool.
For once i'll have to agree with you, after watching some of the streams i'm getting a very strong SWG vibe and the crossover between this and EQN should be interesting and I can now definitely see the potential. I was worried this game was mostly going to be small and/or instanced but the world seems large and open.
I completely agree. I think the industry is in for a huge paradigm shift in this direction and it's for the better, I think. We just have to reeducate ourselves on the true purpose of alpha and beta testing, that it's not supposed to be a demo experience and sales tool.
I was worried this game was mostly going to be small and/or instanced but the world seems large and open.
There's still different instances of the game world. Not sure how many but there's dozens. They are different though.
Originally posted by SBFord Alpha, as we were told earlier this week at the press event, is a vertical slice of the game with -some- features, and even those aren't fully fleshed out. In addition, animations and whatnot are only 60% complete. If people are expecting even beta quality during alpha testing, they're going to be disappointed. This test is designed to get feedback from players and to work with the dev teams at a point where changes to the fundamental gameplay can still happen.
Of course - this is the future of game development - get players in as early as possible and get immediate feedback.
You can build a much better game this way, I see all MMO dev studios embracing this model, some already are (Trion with Trove for example).
I completely agree. I think the industry is in for a huge paradigm shift in this direction and it's for the better, I think. We just have to reeducate ourselves on the true purpose of alpha and beta testing, that it's not supposed to be a demo experience and sales tool.
I completely disagree. This is not early development. This is a marketing open beta and release product not an Alpha and not a beta. It is a money grab not a beta. With a 1 month Alpha and 1 month beta there will be little change to the product. This is late development. SOE can call it what they want but in reality its not an Alpha or even beta product. Only naive fanboys or non-educated players will call it such a thing.
This is a late development project that will release in 2 months. It is what it is and that is a product about to release. The "true purpose" of this product at this stage of development is not to shape the game prior to release but to bring in as much money to SOE as possible. It is a demo wrapped in the forgiving misleading wordings of Alpha and Beta.
If this was truly an Alpha we would have another year + of development left. For example Rift's beta (called Alpha) lasted 7 months. Tor's beta pver a year. GW2 quite a long time. Wildsatr is at 10 months of beta now and counting not to mention well over a year pf pre-testing before that.
Charging people to testg a game 2 months before release is not an early development product. Only a fool or someone with a biased interest would argue such a point.
All that being said I hope Landmark is fun, addicting and plays well. I like the building concepts. But one should not go into this expecting an Alpha or early beta product. Little will change prior to release. This is a demo designed to take your money. Either you are happy with it and willing to give your money or you are not.
The date for closed beta is still March 30th, I'd say a lot can happen in two months of development but the truth is neither of us know that, right?
What you call a cash grab others would call SoE looking for players that are invested in making Landmark. Honestly it's probably both and that doesn't bother me a bit. SoE spent a lot of money backing out of a tired idea to make something fresh. Of course they'd like to make some money back now as they don't have to let anyone in alpha right now. Plus, they already said they'd refund anyone not satisfied with their experience.
Your opinions are your own but I disagree, I don't think they are trying to trick anyone regarding where they are in the developemnt process or why they want player's feedback in alpha.
The date for closed beta is still March 30th, I'd say a lot can happen in two months of development but the truth is neither of us know that, right?
The date for the Alpha was orginally 2-28. It got moved up a month. The CB and the Alpha were scheduled to each last a month. Maybe they plan to make the Alpha 2 months or maybe the CB gets moved up. But regardless of whether it is 2 or 3 months of testing it is pretty trivial. That short a time is late game development not early development and certainly not an Alpha nor early game development as advertised. Although if you go with the idea that the game will release a year early and that first year of release will be a beta then maybe you can argue yes it is early development. But the reality is this a close to a finished release product right now. Not an Alpha and not a game in early development. It is a Demo product that SOE is using to generate cash not early development. The words Alpha and early development are simply used to protect themselves and insulate the game against criticism of it being unfinished/Buggy this close to release and to help generate sales by trying to change peoples perceptions and expectations of what a game this late in development should look like.
I completely agree. I think the industry is in for a huge paradigm shift in this direction and it's for the better, I think. We just have to reeducate ourselves on the true purpose of alpha and beta testing, that it's not supposed to be a demo experience and sales tool.
The problem is, as long as companies continue to treat alpha and beta testing as a sales tool, customers will continue to treat these as demos. And rightly so.
And the more gamers scream to be let into an unfinished product the more the devs will listen and take advantage of that fact.
Ppl are not listening to what they are being told, what they are reading when it comes to entering Alpha's, they wrongly believe the hard work is all done, and that they have a lovely polished product on their hands, that isn't so and it will never change, no software/hardware product can jump from conception to finished without all the crap inbetween.
I'm still amazed at the stupidity of ppl who will willingly hand over their cash for access to an unfinished product that they damn well know is unfinished and then have the brass balls to complain "It's not finished, where are my features, why are there bugs, why am I crashing, why is there terrible latency problems".
I had my eyes wide open when I paid for my Alpha slot, I read everything there is to Landmark before entering, I test, I play and I discuss with like minded players about how to make the game better, how to squash those bugs, how to solve the many issues others are having, if I was going to start complaining at this stage of development I would only have myself to blame for not understanding what it means to enter a game at the Alpha stage.
Of course those that are complaining will not listen to reason, they will feel cheated, that the game isn't worth playing when it does eventually get released, and that they have been lied to and that they deserved something better. I'm better off without those ppl who won't listen, who won't take the time to understand why they are there in the first place.
As for more companies doing this sort of thing, well Kickstarter has been pushing out Alpha access for quite some time now for those willing to pledge enough money, why should SoE be any different when it comes to creating a revenue stream to push along development even faster.
You keep using words like "is" and "they are" like you have inside knowledge of its development. I'm not saying you could be wrong but you really don't know what aspects they've finished or completed inside/outside the released alpha. Is bet maybe 10 people at SoE know what you claim to.
You want to believe they are doing something wrong go for it but it's just a guess on your part. Besides, say you are correct... what's the point? It's their game and they can do what they please. They aren't trapping anyone due to an open refund policy. They are also putting a lot of effort in communicating with players.
You keep using words like "is" and "they are" like you have inside knowledge of its development. I'm not saying you could be wrong but you really don't know what aspects they've finished or completed inside/outside the released alpha. Is bet maybe 10 people at SoE know what you claim to.
You want to believe they are doing something wrong go for it but it's just a guess on your part. Besides, say you are correct... what's the point? It's their game and they can do what they please. They aren't trapping anyone due to an open refund policy. They are also putting a lot of effort in communicating with players.
I am not sure what this it is your talking about, You cannot refute what I have to say and you have no valid argument so you talk in generalities. Just complete illogical fanboy gibberish.
What I said before is common sense and not disputeable. A game 2-3 months from release is not an Alpha and not early development product. What is in dispute here? It takes no insider knowledge to understand that any claims by SOE that is a game in early development is complete rubbish and marketing nonsense. What your getting here is simply a game that is very close to the release finished product. Not much will change in 2-3 months.
That being said I hope the game suceeds and is well done. I don't mean you or the game any ill will. We need more good MMOs not less. I truly hope the game amazes people, is revolutionary and the first time playing the game is greatest moment in every player's lifetime. Living up to massive SOE hype and more. But to accept SOE's marketing scam that this is an Alpha and early development game is beyond any reasonable logic. If it was a proper Alpha it would be over a year from release. SOE wants peoples money and they want to lower player expectations and con people into thinking their product is in early development when in reality its very close to their finished release product.
What is exactly in dispute here? You go around making wild accusations and talk in generalities making accusations but you seem incapable of actually making an argument. What is in dispute? Do you seriously believe a product 2-3 months from release is early development. If that is the case there is no point in trying to help you. Just write SOE a check and ask them to fill in the numbers. Do you truly believe this is a real Alpha as SOE claims? Are you that naive? I just do not see what you are disputing? Part of that reason is because you have not articulated any argument other than "you are wrong, go away." My answer to you is if your capable, at least attempt to make an argument rather than just making troll posts. I might find it amusing.
Promising a closed beta by date really makes it hard to convince people that Alpha is anything but a paid early access program. If they really cared about player feedback and wanted our involvement in the development process they would have waited until they got that feedback before setting a hard stop to Alpha.
Isn't it just a way to get testers in that they know are interested in being involved with the game? I don't know what the packs give you for joining so I can't judge value of the stuff that they give you with the release. I have my doubts about the value of the packs myself. What exactly can this game do that Minecraft cant do, but only much better
What your getting here is simply a game that is very close to the release finished product. Not much will change in 2-3 months.
As they said, roughly 60% of systems are in place. That means 40% aren't in place.
What kind of thing might not be in place? I suspect nearly all the coding is done at this point, with the exception of bug fixes.
However this is a new kind of game and certain aspects of tuning are likely still in flux such as the dimensions of claims, gaps between claims, claim upkeep, and minimum voxel size. These are things that hardcore players will really care about, and they have to make decisions before people start generating permanent content. They even brought these things up in the dev videos.
Originally posted by SBFord Alpha, as we were told earlier this week at the press event, is a vertical slice of the game with -some- features, and even those aren't fully fleshed out. In addition, animations and whatnot are only 60% complete. If people are expecting even beta quality during alpha testing, they're going to be disappointed. This test is designed to get feedback from players and to work with the dev teams at a point where changes to the fundamental gameplay can still happen.
Of course - this is the future of game development - get players in as early as possible and get immediate feedback.
You can build a much better game this way, I see all MMO dev studios embracing this model, some already are (Trion with Trove for example).
I completely agree. I think the industry is in for a huge paradigm shift in this direction and it's for the better, I think. We just have to reeducate ourselves on the true purpose of alpha and beta testing, that it's not supposed to be a demo experience and sales tool.
For once I actually am in agreement with you susie. I just made a huge post on the landmark forums about how it has become borderline criminal.
Alpha testers use to be strictly in-house employees, then they went to remote testers, but still compensated to test and bug report.
Next they removed the compensation, but were still very selective about the testers and often gave game incentives for testing or bug reporting.
Later we progressed to the removal of the incentives and a lesser selection process, generally a dxdiag submission.
That progressed to just random selection of testers, guilds, fans, or supporters.
Now we have moved into Alpha as a marketable product, charging premium prices and marketing it as some exclusive access, when in reality they have no limits on the numbers they sell.
As a result of the greed and unlimited sells we have what we have now an Alpha that is a hot mess, no stability, no real testing, or data being collected, and a TON of bad feelings and ill will being generated towards the devs.
I watched the live stream yesterday and the amount of patting each other on the back and congratulating each other on how great they were and how great the game is reminded me of some kinda hostage terrorist video where the hostage is saying how great the terrorist are but his eyes are saying help me please help me...
What your getting here is simply a game that is very close to the release finished product. Not much will change in 2-3 months.
As they said, roughly 60% of systems are in place. That means 40% aren't in place.
What kind of thing might not be in place? I suspect nearly all the coding is done at this point, with the exception of bug fixes.
However this is a new kind of game and certain aspects of tuning are likely still in flux such as the dimensions of claims, gaps between claims, claim upkeep, and minimum voxel size. These are things that hardcore players will really care about, and they have to make decisions before people start generating permanent content. They even brought these things up in the dev videos.
a game in development for years, is 60% completed and is going to be 'done' in a couple of more months?
i guess if a large chunk of that remaining 40% is the npc's, mobs, etc., that they already said wont be their, maybe...
Originally posted by SBFord Alpha, as we were told earlier this week at the press event, is a vertical slice of the game with -some- features, and even those aren't fully fleshed out. In addition, animations and whatnot are only 60% complete. If people are expecting even beta quality during alpha testing, they're going to be disappointed. This test is designed to get feedback from players and to work with the dev teams at a point where changes to the fundamental gameplay can still happen.
Of course - this is the future of game development - get players in as early as possible and get immediate feedback.
You can build a much better game this way, I see all MMO dev studios embracing this model, some already are (Trion with Trove for example).
I completely agree. I think the industry is in for a huge paradigm shift in this direction and it's for the better, I think. We just have to reeducate ourselves on the true purpose of alpha and beta testing, that it's not supposed to be a demo experience and sales tool.
For once I actually am in agreement with you susie. I just made a huge post on the landmark forums about how it has become borderline criminal.
Alpha testers use to be strictly in-house employees, then they went to remote testers, but still compensated to test and bug report.
Next they removed the compensation, but were still very selective about the testers and often gave game incentives for testing or bug reporting.
Later we progressed to the removal of the incentives and a lesser selection process, generally a dxdiag submission.
That progressed to just random selection of testers, guilds, fans, or supporters.
Now we have moved into Alpha as a marketable product, charging premium prices and marketing it as some exclusive access, when in reality they have no limits on the numbers they sell.
As a result of the greed and unlimited sells we have what we have now an Alpha that is a hot mess, no stability, no real testing, or data being collected, and a TON of bad feelings and ill will being generated towards the devs.
I watched the live stream yesterday and the amount of patting each other on the back and congratulating each other on how great they were and how great the game is reminded me of some kinda hostage terrorist video where the hostage is saying how great the terrorist are but his eyes are saying help me please help me...
What i exactly criminal about it? People are interested in the game and want to mess around with it right now. There is nothing criminal about that, lots of games have early access and stuff now. There are going to be a lot of people on there testing the game out and filling out feedback. Even if its not everyone a lot of people being on will help test servers. People trying to break the game is half of what alpha/beta are all about anyways.
What people are congratulating themselves? Players? Devs? Maybe they are actually enjoying the stuff that they are doing. Is comparing that to hostage and terrorist exchange really what you equate it too? Come on.
Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard I think psiic didn't realize that SBFord is actually saying the complete opposite of what he's believing.
Well if you read what she says and agree with her the coin goes both ways if Alpha is not suppose to be a demo or marketing tool, then the developers need to stop marketing it and selling it that way.
They are the guilty party here.
In comparison they are taking an addictive product, cutting it with draino and other crap that is bad for us, and selling it to us for more than we would pay for the pure product at launch.
What we really need to admit here are that games are designed like drugs to generate chemical releases that create addiction and addictive behaviour.
What's more the game developers know it , have done studies into it, and use and abuse it.
Comments
Well then if the product is unfit,they are NOT suppose to be selling it but by selling packs ,they are in essence selling the game.
Nobody should be forking money over for an unfit product,it sets a very bad precendence.VERY naive to think a developer can make an excuse by saying you are paying to be part of the development team.You are in no way what so ever part of the development team weather you think you are or not.
A TEAM means everyone has an equal share/say,this is not the case,this game is not yours,it is SOE's 100% SOE's,nothing you say or want can be met unless SOE says so.Soe is simply being very lame,trying to make gamer's feel more important by giving them money,they are simply taking advantage of you an d your money.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Eqnext at the reveal looked interesting, this alpha is making me sell my stock real fast. Time will tell, but I would encourage many of you to steer clear for a while.
To those of you seriously alpha testing, thank you. I think it's awful you had to pay them for a service you're providing, but I think there is value in alpha and beta testing. Unfortunately they are creating monetized value and informative vale for themselves, rather than respectfully summoning you service.
It is an Alpha, stop complaining.
The question is why this game is still on Alpha when earlier last year Mr Smedley announced that the game would have launched in December 2013?
There are many things i have forgiven SOE and i'm "almost" hyped about Landmark.
But i guess i'll nver forgive that they don't make EQN and Landmark one game in first place.
SOE can call it Alpha product but with a 1 month schedulded Alpha and one month shedulded beta in reality its not an Alpha and not even a beta product its more like an open beta product as release is just around the corner.
Using the word Alpha is just marking and is no way an appropriate word for a game that will release in 2 months. It is just another excuse to say that the game is unfinished. I hope EQL succeeds but do not be fooled by SOEs choice of words and marketing. I hope Landmark is wonderful fun and successful. But the game is what it is and that is a product about to release not a product in early development.
For once i'll have to agree with you, after watching some of the streams i'm getting a very strong SWG vibe and the crossover between this and EQN should be interesting and I can now definitely see the potential. I was worried this game was mostly going to be small and/or instanced but the world seems large and open.
There's still different instances of the game world. Not sure how many but there's dozens. They are different though.
I completely disagree. This is not early development. This is a marketing open beta and release product not an Alpha and not a beta. It is a money grab not a beta. With a 1 month Alpha and 1 month beta there will be little change to the product. This is late development. SOE can call it what they want but in reality its not an Alpha or even beta product. Only naive fanboys or non-educated players will call it such a thing.
This is a late development project that will release in 2 months. It is what it is and that is a product about to release. The "true purpose" of this product at this stage of development is not to shape the game prior to release but to bring in as much money to SOE as possible. It is a demo wrapped in the forgiving misleading wordings of Alpha and Beta.
If this was truly an Alpha we would have another year + of development left. For example Rift's beta (called Alpha) lasted 7 months. Tor's beta pver a year. GW2 quite a long time. Wildsatr is at 10 months of beta now and counting not to mention well over a year pf pre-testing before that.
Charging people to testg a game 2 months before release is not an early development product. Only a fool or someone with a biased interest would argue such a point.
All that being said I hope Landmark is fun, addicting and plays well. I like the building concepts. But one should not go into this expecting an Alpha or early beta product. Little will change prior to release. This is a demo designed to take your money. Either you are happy with it and willing to give your money or you are not.
The date for closed beta is still March 30th, I'd say a lot can happen in two months of development but the truth is neither of us know that, right?
What you call a cash grab others would call SoE looking for players that are invested in making Landmark. Honestly it's probably both and that doesn't bother me a bit. SoE spent a lot of money backing out of a tired idea to make something fresh. Of course they'd like to make some money back now as they don't have to let anyone in alpha right now. Plus, they already said they'd refund anyone not satisfied with their experience.
Your opinions are your own but I disagree, I don't think they are trying to trick anyone regarding where they are in the developemnt process or why they want player's feedback in alpha.
The date for the Alpha was orginally 2-28. It got moved up a month. The CB and the Alpha were scheduled to each last a month. Maybe they plan to make the Alpha 2 months or maybe the CB gets moved up. But regardless of whether it is 2 or 3 months of testing it is pretty trivial. That short a time is late game development not early development and certainly not an Alpha nor early game development as advertised. Although if you go with the idea that the game will release a year early and that first year of release will be a beta then maybe you can argue yes it is early development. But the reality is this a close to a finished release product right now. Not an Alpha and not a game in early development. It is a Demo product that SOE is using to generate cash not early development. The words Alpha and early development are simply used to protect themselves and insulate the game against criticism of it being unfinished/Buggy this close to release and to help generate sales by trying to change peoples perceptions and expectations of what a game this late in development should look like.
And the more gamers scream to be let into an unfinished product the more the devs will listen and take advantage of that fact.
Ppl are not listening to what they are being told, what they are reading when it comes to entering Alpha's, they wrongly believe the hard work is all done, and that they have a lovely polished product on their hands, that isn't so and it will never change, no software/hardware product can jump from conception to finished without all the crap inbetween.
I'm still amazed at the stupidity of ppl who will willingly hand over their cash for access to an unfinished product that they damn well know is unfinished and then have the brass balls to complain "It's not finished, where are my features, why are there bugs, why am I crashing, why is there terrible latency problems".
I had my eyes wide open when I paid for my Alpha slot, I read everything there is to Landmark before entering, I test, I play and I discuss with like minded players about how to make the game better, how to squash those bugs, how to solve the many issues others are having, if I was going to start complaining at this stage of development I would only have myself to blame for not understanding what it means to enter a game at the Alpha stage.
Of course those that are complaining will not listen to reason, they will feel cheated, that the game isn't worth playing when it does eventually get released, and that they have been lied to and that they deserved something better. I'm better off without those ppl who won't listen, who won't take the time to understand why they are there in the first place.
As for more companies doing this sort of thing, well Kickstarter has been pushing out Alpha access for quite some time now for those willing to pledge enough money, why should SoE be any different when it comes to creating a revenue stream to push along development even faster.
You keep using words like "is" and "they are" like you have inside knowledge of its development. I'm not saying you could be wrong but you really don't know what aspects they've finished or completed inside/outside the released alpha. Is bet maybe 10 people at SoE know what you claim to.
You want to believe they are doing something wrong go for it but it's just a guess on your part. Besides, say you are correct... what's the point? It's their game and they can do what they please. They aren't trapping anyone due to an open refund policy. They are also putting a lot of effort in communicating with players.
I am not sure what this it is your talking about, You cannot refute what I have to say and you have no valid argument so you talk in generalities. Just complete illogical fanboy gibberish.
What I said before is common sense and not disputeable. A game 2-3 months from release is not an Alpha and not early development product. What is in dispute here? It takes no insider knowledge to understand that any claims by SOE that is a game in early development is complete rubbish and marketing nonsense. What your getting here is simply a game that is very close to the release finished product. Not much will change in 2-3 months.
That being said I hope the game suceeds and is well done. I don't mean you or the game any ill will. We need more good MMOs not less. I truly hope the game amazes people, is revolutionary and the first time playing the game is greatest moment in every player's lifetime. Living up to massive SOE hype and more. But to accept SOE's marketing scam that this is an Alpha and early development game is beyond any reasonable logic. If it was a proper Alpha it would be over a year from release. SOE wants peoples money and they want to lower player expectations and con people into thinking their product is in early development when in reality its very close to their finished release product.
What is exactly in dispute here? You go around making wild accusations and talk in generalities making accusations but you seem incapable of actually making an argument. What is in dispute? Do you seriously believe a product 2-3 months from release is early development. If that is the case there is no point in trying to help you. Just write SOE a check and ask them to fill in the numbers. Do you truly believe this is a real Alpha as SOE claims? Are you that naive? I just do not see what you are disputing? Part of that reason is because you have not articulated any argument other than "you are wrong, go away." My answer to you is if your capable, at least attempt to make an argument rather than just making troll posts. I might find it amusing.
As they said, roughly 60% of systems are in place. That means 40% aren't in place.
What kind of thing might not be in place? I suspect nearly all the coding is done at this point, with the exception of bug fixes.
However this is a new kind of game and certain aspects of tuning are likely still in flux such as the dimensions of claims, gaps between claims, claim upkeep, and minimum voxel size. These are things that hardcore players will really care about, and they have to make decisions before people start generating permanent content. They even brought these things up in the dev videos.
For once I actually am in agreement with you susie. I just made a huge post on the landmark forums about how it has become borderline criminal.
Alpha testers use to be strictly in-house employees, then they went to remote testers, but still compensated to test and bug report.
Next they removed the compensation, but were still very selective about the testers and often gave game incentives for testing or bug reporting.
Later we progressed to the removal of the incentives and a lesser selection process, generally a dxdiag submission.
That progressed to just random selection of testers, guilds, fans, or supporters.
Now we have moved into Alpha as a marketable product, charging premium prices and marketing it as some exclusive access, when in reality they have no limits on the numbers they sell.
As a result of the greed and unlimited sells we have what we have now an Alpha that is a hot mess, no stability, no real testing, or data being collected, and a TON of bad feelings and ill will being generated towards the devs.
I watched the live stream yesterday and the amount of patting each other on the back and congratulating each other on how great they were and how great the game is reminded me of some kinda hostage terrorist video where the hostage is saying how great the terrorist are but his eyes are saying help me please help me...
a game in development for years, is 60% completed and is going to be 'done' in a couple of more months?
i guess if a large chunk of that remaining 40% is the npc's, mobs, etc., that they already said wont be their, maybe...
What i exactly criminal about it? People are interested in the game and want to mess around with it right now. There is nothing criminal about that, lots of games have early access and stuff now. There are going to be a lot of people on there testing the game out and filling out feedback. Even if its not everyone a lot of people being on will help test servers. People trying to break the game is half of what alpha/beta are all about anyways.
What people are congratulating themselves? Players? Devs? Maybe they are actually enjoying the stuff that they are doing. Is comparing that to hostage and terrorist exchange really what you equate it too? Come on.
So are we going to complain about the likes of DayZ or even Minecraft who also offered early access versions?
Or do those just get a free pass?
Well if you read what she says and agree with her the coin goes both ways if Alpha is not suppose to be a demo or marketing tool, then the developers need to stop marketing it and selling it that way.
They are the guilty party here.
In comparison they are taking an addictive product, cutting it with draino and other crap that is bad for us, and selling it to us for more than we would pay for the pure product at launch.
What we really need to admit here are that games are designed like drugs to generate chemical releases that create addiction and addictive behaviour.
What's more the game developers know it , have done studies into it, and use and abuse it.