Do you play a game based on "Potential"?

maskedweasel

A lot of games release unfinished because people tend to buy into the "early access" of a game.  Whether that practice is good or bad, it has widely been accepted to pay for unfinished games that has bled over from PC games to Consoles and in many cases, mobile too. 

Why do people continue to invest in these games?  They say they have "potential".  Do you buy games and/or play them due to their unproven potential?  Vote on the poll and if yes, what game(s) are you supporting based on their potential?

Sovrath

If I'm interested in the game and it looks like enough is done then "yes". I bought into Conan Exiles and loved it.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Distopia

Need another option... As I only buy EA games if I know I'd buy it either way down the road. I know my tastes pretty well, I'm usually not wrong when I think I'll enjoy something regardless of what the gaming community at large feels about it. Like Conan Exiles or Wasteland 2 and Age of Decadence (some of the EA titles I've purchased). None disappointed me, have had plenty of fun with them. I've been let down far more honestly by launched titles. 

I'll definitely buy Divinity:OS 2 at some point as well, I am just waiting until it consists of more than one chapter. 

Shaigh

You either like the basic game or you don't but when you speak of potential its an excuse for something that doesn't exist in the game right now. I can't play a game based on what it has in the future, I play it because I find it fun right now.

Distopia

Shaigh said:

You either like the basic game or you don't but when you speak of potential its an excuse for something that doesn't exist in the game right now. I can't play a game based on what it has in the future, I play it because I find it fun right now.

Yep that's how I feel as well. Hence not buying Divinity OS 2 yet, not enough there to get my money's worth from it yet. That's why I don't buy things based on "potential" or pledge to kickstarters, if I'm spending I want to be able to play. 

MaxBacon

Yup, there's far too much of games milking the money-making formulas and not going past it, just see the craze with Zombie survivals time ago.

So obviously yes, the possibility of its potential is enough for me vs buying "more of the same".

maskedweasel

Distopia said:

Shaigh said:

You either like the basic game or you don't but when you speak of potential its an excuse for something that doesn't exist in the game right now. I can't play a game based on what it has in the future, I play it because I find it fun right now.

Yep that's how I feel as well. Hence not buying Divinity OS 2 yet, not enough there to get my money's worth from it yet. That's why I don't buy things based on "potential" or pledge to kickstarters, if I'm spending I want to be able to play. 

See and that's where things are a little different for me.  

I did back Divinity OS2, but it wasn't really a potential based thing, it was because I played Divinity OS (I didn't back it) and I liked it. I only backed the 2nd one because it essentially seemed like more of the same.

I tried supporting games that sounded like they had a good direction,  but where I thought they had potential left me waiting for something I wasn't sure would come and too often didn't.  I'm interested in seeing those that backed some of these games and if their foresight of potential was ever realized. 

laserit

I've been disappointed with many more released games, than early access games, probably because I've scrutinized them more closely. It's kind of funny right now that the majority of the games that I play today are early access games that are not complete. Even if most are never finished, I can usually say that I got my moneys worth.

IMHO They just seem to be the more interesting and tend to think more outside the box.

Octagon7711

Yes, but not as much as I use to.

Phry

Playing too many games at the moment to consider playing unfinished ones tbh.

Kyleran

Generally no. I did kickstart CU mostly due to DAOC nostalgia, not even sure I want to play it.

Then I also bought Albion Online last year but I blame that mostly on @Blueturtle13

Scorchien

yes right now the one that has the most potential i am supporting is Wolcen :Lords of Mayhem

  now anyone who enjoyed or is familiar with Grim Dawns or POEs EA and development should jump on this , its very similar experience and quality of development ,community, focus and direction ...

  http://store.steampowered.com/app/424370/

alkarionlog

nope I don't pay for potential, 'im a consumer no a investor, I have not interest in potential, also I saw a lot of games with "potential" shooting thenself with stupid things, so unless the game is good enough then nope not gonna waste money on "potential"

BMBender

Short answer no

longer answer $5 and "Potential" will buy you a cup of coffee.  A 5 mo. old has the "Potential" to be a Nobel prize winner, a career criminal to anything in between.  It's what he/she does in life that matters.    "Potential" is a worthless metric by which to measure anything.

Scorchien

Torval said:

I support projects I think are interesting (music, games, software, art, etc) whether I will play or use them, or even whether I think they'll be successful. If I want the project to happen I'll support it. Sometimes I won't support an obvious choice just because it's popular, because it already has enough support to keep it going.

Wartile is a game on Steam Early Access: http://store.steampowered.com/app/404200/

I supported Wartile on a failed Kickstarter because I think the idea and the project are worth exploring. I'll probably buy the game at some point even if I don't play it much at all. Why? It's an interesting idea and approach to the concept of combining miniature play with real-time turn based strategy. Cool and not "YASC" (yet another survival clone).

I did not support Torment: Tides of Numenara because it didn't need it. Same with Pillars and Divinity:OS. I bought them. I pre-ordered Torment a week before release. Those projects didn't interest me in supporting early.

Just saying, for me it's about the project and that's mostly it.

I have this on follow , gonna chk it out on Steam in a couple days , when it releases

CrazKanuk

BMBender said:

Short answer no

longer answer $5 and "Potential" will buy you a cup of coffee.  A 5 mo. old has the "Potential" to be a Nobel prize winner, a career criminal to anything in between.  It's what he/she does in life that matters.    "Potential" is a worthless metric by which to measure anything.

It's not a useless metric, it's a subjective metric. So if there was something that YOU felt had "potential", whatever that means to you, would you put money into it? Like if there was something you were stoked about, would you buy into it early? 

Distopia

Scorchien said:

Torval said:

I support projects I think are interesting (music, games, software, art, etc) whether I will play or use them, or even whether I think they'll be successful. If I want the project to happen I'll support it. Sometimes I won't support an obvious choice just because it's popular, because it already has enough support to keep it going.

Wartile is a game on Steam Early Access: http://store.steampowered.com/app/404200/

I supported Wartile on a failed Kickstarter because I think the idea and the project are worth exploring. I'll probably buy the game at some point even if I don't play it much at all. Why? It's an interesting idea and approach to the concept of combining miniature play with real-time turn based strategy. Cool and not "YASC" (yet another survival clone).

I did not support Torment: Tides of Numenara because it didn't need it. Same with Pillars and Divinity:OS. I bought them. I pre-ordered Torment a week before release. Those projects didn't interest me in supporting early.

Just saying, for me it's about the project and that's mostly it.

I have this on follow , gonna chk it out on Steam in a couple days , when it releases

The demo they put out was interesting. 

CrazKanuk

Scorchien said:

yes right now the one that has the most potential i am supporting is Wolcen :Lords of Mayhem

  now anyone who enjoyed or is familiar with Grim Dawns or POEs EA and development should jump on this , its very similar experience and quality of development ,community, focus and direction ...

  http://store.steampowered.com/app/424370/

It's in my library but I haven't played it.....waiting for it to be complete Looks soooooo tempting to play though.

Albatroes

I try to. FFXIV and WoW are those kinds of games for me (would say Revelations online but haven't played the OB yet).

FFXIV is a visually stunning game with a lot of freedom to do everything on one character; however, quite a few systems are barebones at best, such as meaningful gear progression and actual worth in terms of crafting to money ratio. Extreme fights and Savage raids have challenge but honestly its a little "cheated" if you're coming from something like WoW since they lower party numbers and rely on tanks/healers to account for that lowered dps count. Plus the content is not scaled so more people can enjoy the content together, incase you have a large guild (called free companies in this game). That being said, since I played XI for almost a decade, parts of XIV still have me coming back 3-4 times out of the year to see what kind of things they may try to implement from XI maybe in a more casual way. I still wont forgive them for treating relics like long-winded glamour items though.

As for WoW, there are quite a few great elements in the game, like the flight, raid fights, and story. Regardless of what people said about WoD overall, for me it was a motivating expansion in terms of story (at least the first half) mainly because it wasn't just good vs evil in a sense, which I think Blizzard does a good job at making compelling "bad" guys (Arthas being my favorite). As for its potential, its been detracting stacking systems to become more "casual" thus making each expansion feel pointless since less and less persistents into the next one. For example, the skill overall pretty much made WoD useless and only giving us 1 skill per spec. If you think about it, since it was already confirmed before Legion was released that the artifact system will not persist into the next expansion, then what exactly will we get that will carry over other than money? Personally, it would be nice if stuff from previous expansions built on each other like it used to maybe back in Cata and previously at least in terms of crafting where you couldn't just up and skip or pick one expansion to go 1-cap skill on.

BMBender

CrazKanuk said:

BMBender said:

Short answer no

longer answer $5 and "Potential" will buy you a cup of coffee.  A 5 mo. old has the "Potential" to be a Nobel prize winner, a career criminal to anything in between.  It's what he/she does in life that matters.    "Potential" is a worthless metric by which to measure anything.

It's not a useless metric, it's a subjective metric. So if there was something that YOU felt had "potential", whatever that means to you, would you put money into it? Like if there was something you were stoked about, would you buy into it early? 

What it is; is hope as a tactic.  An excellent way to be disappointed in life.

k61977

I couldn't pick either one as I don't support games based on potential at all but I do support unfinished games that already have excellent base game already out.  I have only backed a couple games in my entire life before they were finished and it was only because they had an alpha that was already amazing or a company that I knew and have trusted for years.  I base 99% of my opinion on what I can already see not what is promised in the future.

BMBender

To be clear I have supported EA, KS titles.  However, they all came with demos.  I never relied on unicorns, wishes, or marketing campaigns to make my purchase decisions.

Sovrath

BMBender said:

CrazKanuk said:

BMBender said:

Short answer no

longer answer $5 and "Potential" will buy you a cup of coffee.  A 5 mo. old has the "Potential" to be a Nobel prize winner, a career criminal to anything in between.  It's what he/she does in life that matters.    "Potential" is a worthless metric by which to measure anything.

It's not a useless metric, it's a subjective metric. So if there was something that YOU felt had "potential", whatever that means to you, would you put money into it? Like if there was something you were stoked about, would you buy into it early? 

What it is; is hope as a tactic.  An excellent way to be disappointed in life.

That's only if they don't "take it in stride" or fully understand what they are getting into.

so "yeah" if someone signs up for early access or does a Kickstarter and they are massively disappointed when all is said and done, that is on them.

But if they know what they are getting into, know that there is failure but feel that by supporting the project they might get something they want, then they are going to have a more reasonable expectation.

I mean, Darkest Dungeon is a Kickstarter game and I think it's excellent. Same with Pillars of Eternity and Torment: Tides of Numenera.

It's the people who have high expectations and hear a pitch with not much else behind it who are the issue.

BMBender

Sovrath said:

That's only if they don't "take it in stride" or fully understand what they are getting into.

so "yeah" if someone signs up for early access or does a Kickstarter and they are massively disappointed when all is said and done, that is on them.

But if they know what they are getting into, know that there is failure but feel that by supporting the project they might get something they want, then they are going to have a more reasonable expectation.

I mean, Darkest Dungeon is a Kickstarter game and I think it's excellent. Same with Pillars of Eternity and Torment: Tides of Numenera.

It's the people who have high expectations and hear a pitch with not much else behind it who are the issue.

The question as stated by the Op was based of "Potential".  If one researches something then they are no longer basing it primarily off "Potential" are they?

Mendel

I simply am not in a position to purchase anything based on potential.  For games, there's just too many projects that fail to deliver on promises, and that undermines any potential a given project might have.  They want my money now, why can't I ask for my game now?