We can all agree, I hope, that he made some bad business decisions in the past to include a nasty bait and switch with SWG and the Trials of Obiwan linking to the NGE. I think most of us who actually played SWG during that time have moved on of course but it still left a bitter taste in our mouths. The phrase "fool me once..." and all that jazz comes to mind.
I only hope he actually learned from those mistakes/missteps and understands why they were bad. That said I'm still curious on what Amazon is up too.
You stopped enjoying a freaking game. He lost his life work. Get over it.
Constantine, The Console Poster
"One of the most difficult tasks men can perform, however much others may despise it, is the invention of good games and it cannot be done by men out of touch with their instinctive selves." - Carl Jung
Its funny that you people crap all over Smed but in the gaming industry he is considered very reputable, then again I doubt any of you actually have worked in the industry. Amazon is successful for a reason. Bezos doesn't play around.
Sorry but the Everquest franchise DIED when smed left "theybreak" games. They need to sell it to amazon already so he can revive it.
As a SWG vet I'd like to know what is there to learn? I mean I already knew companies put profit above feelings, I already knew companies expect certain performance from high profile IPs. I already knew MMO's can drastically change. I knew all of this before ever touching SWG in 2003. I also know different work as well as budget conditions can have drastically different results. So who's to say anything will be the same with Smed in charge under Amazon?
Common sense, Occam's razor... you name it.
Micheal Bay is also a famous and known director... I'll just leave this here.
And when the South Park guys made Team America they were trying to make fun of the Michael Bay movies. Then they learned that there was a lot that went into them and a lot to know and that they were actually hard to pull off. They then said they had more respect for what he did.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
As a SWG vet I'd like to know what is there to learn? I mean I already knew companies put profit above feelings, I already knew companies expect certain performance from high profile IPs. I already knew MMO's can drastically change. I knew all of this before ever touching SWG in 2003. I also know different work as well as budget conditions can have drastically different results. So who's to say anything will be the same with Smed in charge under Amazon?
Occam's razor...
And there it is, assumptions, people tend to offer all kinds of assumptions about what went on behind closed doors at SOE.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
"Elements of the SWG team had this idea that maybe we should build a second Star Wars game that was focused on the "War" in Star Wars. It would be large scale battle game for planetary conquest. That way we could have more people in bigger battles (the character customization in SWG was far too detailed to have lots of players on the screen without significant performance issues). We could have a game where people fought over planets and they'd be dominated by either the Rebels or the Empire until they switched hands again in a galactic strategy game. We could build a real twitch combat system that was less turn based and more visceral. It was a very exciting idea.
[...]
Management was excited about this concept until the cost of this new game was clear and neither company (SOE or LucasArts) wanted to (or were able) make that investment. But the thought remained that a Star Wars game with more "Wars" in it could be huge.
A prototype of the combat and faction switching in a town had been built. That and the launch World of Warcraft game influenced the development of the Combat Upgrade (Apr 2005) and following New Game Experience (Nov 2005).
The context at that time was that World of Warcraft had launched in November 2004, and so had Everquest 2. Everquest 2 clearly didn't meet expectations as WOW took off, even with their early shortages of product. Almost every other MMO in the market got less play and less acquisition as WOW took market share. So there were noticeable financial stresses on SOE and all the other MMO companies.
[...]
It's OK to grieve a bit if appropriate for you. I don't want to see bashing of John Smedley or any of the other folks I know and respect at the former SOE. It's easy to demonize someone for doing something risky when the results turn out poorly. And we need risk takers to get innovation. What's more valuable is to figure out how to avoid making major mistakes in the first place, and coming up with more creative ways to solve these combination of game/community/business problems."
Its funny that you people crap all over Smed but in the gaming industry he is considered very reputable.
It always amazes me that a good reputation follows anyone who control the hiring process. Sins, errors, misjudgements and mistakes are the pinned to the carcasses of minions, while praise always filters up to the overseer. It has been that way since Egyptians built their first pyramid.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
All this hoopla about SWG.. The reason I don't trust Smed has nothing to do with that, and everything to do with H1Z1. He was at the helm both before and after they were SOE working on it, and it followed the same survival early access failures that every two-bit indie developer that could get greenlit on Steam suffered.
As such, I now associate his name with such, and would be weary to lay down cash on anything with his name on it short of it receiving universal critical acclaim.
That said, I don't know the guy personally, so I wouldn't wish hateful things on him out of spite. I just won't be considering giving Amazon any money for a project he's involved with until I see the finished product. Which, in today's perpetually early access environment, means I may not ever have to consider giving them any money.
SOE was basically a two product company and Smedley single handedly destroyed one of them, leaving them with EQ/EQ2. Instead of fixing Vanguard which was much better than EQ2 he put it on life support. None of his other brainfarts produced anything that was remotely successful.
This guy could turn a rose into stinkweed in no time.
I think it's a great move, actually. Since Smed is pretty much universally hated, if the game is shit, doesn't meet expectations, or anything else like that, then he's a great scapegoat. If things go well, then they simply bide their time and wait until something goes wrong and they have their scapegoat. Essentially, that's what Smed is now. A really expensive scapegoat. However, it could save the company if they release a shit couple games, even though his impact on those at this point should be minimal.
Comments
I only hope he actually learned from those mistakes/missteps and understands why they were bad. That said I'm still curious on what Amazon is up too.
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
Aerowyn's Video Compilation of ALL things Guild Wars 2
I have found in my lifetime, that the beauty of hating stupid people is, that it crosses all racial boundaries.
I'm not an IT Specialist, Game Developer, or Clairvoyant in real life, but like others on here, I play one on the internet.
John Smedley is a moron. Amazon, wtf??
Sorry but the Everquest franchise DIED when smed left "theybreak" games. They need to sell it to amazon already so he can revive it.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
[...]
Management was excited about this concept until the cost of this new game was clear and neither company (SOE or LucasArts) wanted to (or were able) make that investment. But the thought remained that a Star Wars game with more "Wars" in it could be huge.
A prototype of the combat and faction switching in a town had been built. That and the launch World of Warcraft game influenced the development of the Combat Upgrade (Apr 2005) and following New Game Experience (Nov 2005).
The context at that time was that World of Warcraft had launched in November 2004, and so had Everquest 2. Everquest 2 clearly didn't meet expectations as WOW took off, even with their early shortages of product. Almost every other MMO in the market got less play and less acquisition as WOW took market share. So there were noticeable financial stresses on SOE and all the other MMO companies.
[...]It's OK to grieve a bit if appropriate for you. I don't want to see bashing of John Smedley or any of the other folks I know and respect at the former SOE. It's easy to demonize someone for doing something risky when the results turn out poorly. And we need risk takers to get innovation. What's more valuable is to figure out how to avoid making major mistakes in the first place, and coming up with more creative ways to solve these combination of game/community/business problems."
https://community.crowfall.com/index.php?/topic/5792-gordon-walton-are-you-the-one-who-brought-us-the-nge/
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
As such, I now associate his name with such, and would be weary to lay down cash on anything with his name on it short of it receiving universal critical acclaim.
That said, I don't know the guy personally, so I wouldn't wish hateful things on him out of spite. I just won't be considering giving Amazon any money for a project he's involved with until I see the finished product. Which, in today's perpetually early access environment, means I may not ever have to consider giving them any money.
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.
This guy could turn a rose into stinkweed in no time.
Crazkanuk
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