I’m Dan Rubenfield. I make video games. I’ve been a game designer for around 12 years and have worked on things like Ultima Online, Deus Ex, Star Wars Galaxies, Home, DC Online, and a bunch of other stuff throughout the ages. I’m currently living in Cambridge, UK and in the process of moving to Helsinki, Finland. I live with my wife and 3 cats.
LOL I read this. I tell you people's level of self denil just floors me. He starts off saying basically don't blame me I just make what I'm told to and then the next paragraph he says I was told to reimagine the whole game. He recognises that NEG was a huge screw up, but seems to think nothing was done wrong. What a loser.
Honestly, do you think he had a choice? "Star Wars" doesn't belong to him. LucasArts/SOE told him to change the game. He did. He was an employee. Read between the lines. He said he wanted to change the game and make it better, but he also said he did not get to do a lot of what he really wanted and that he did not want to remove the skill system or the classes. Again, he was an employee. He was not allowed to do just whatever he wanted. And he said something I have been saying for years: Pre-CU was better, but it was FAR from perfect. Also that they were losing 10,000 subs a month BEFORE the changes. Anyway.
Yes but the reason it was losing subs was the game launch incomplete and instead of finishing the things that didn't work at launch they just kept adding new content (which most of was also broaken). the just kept adding crap to a game that never had a good foundation. As people said before SWG was horribly mis managed from start to finish.
All laughing aside...he stated it...the reason was $$$...which was NEVER realized.
Next time maybe you (Dan) shouldn't listen to a focus group and maybe listen to the players who actually paid to play the game. I bet that 150k - 200k is looking pretty good now in comparison...
Regardless of how you feel your work was your objective FAILED.
Also, what he fails to recognize or admit was the game was not successful due to his mismanagement, and the mismanagement of the people above him.
The NGE was one big fat blameshift.
As well as not understanding why people were leaving early on. It seems that he doesn't remember that the game was incomplete in many ways at launch, and that had a very negative effect on many people. Also, players not having a clear indication of what the game was designed for (i.e. squad based combat with vulnerabilites to some professions, as opposed to a more 1 on 1 style of balance).
I’m Dan Rubenfield. I make video games. I’ve been a game designer for around 12 years and have worked on things like Ultima Online, Deus Ex, Star Wars Galaxies, Home, DC Online, and a bunch of other stuff throughout the ages. I’m currently living in Cambridge, UK and in the process of moving to Helsinki, Finland. I live with my wife and 3 cats.
LOL I read this. I tell you people's level of self denil just floors me. He starts off saying basically don't blame me I just make what I'm told to and then the next paragraph he says I was told to reimagine the whole game. He recognises that NEG was a huge screw up, but seems to think nothing was done wrong. What a loser.
I find it humorous that pretty much everyone involved in inflicting the NGE on us seems to think the concepts and design were good. The NGE, as conceived and implemented, even if it was completely bug free, is a horrible core game. Even after two and a half years, with more effort than was put into fixing the original version, the current version of SWG is a bad game. If the NGE version of the game was as good as its creators seem to think it is, it would be doing better than the original version of the game, even with the still angry former players posting on forums and chatting about it in other MMOs.
The fact is, SWG is currently not a fun game, and it will never be a fun game because it is built on a horribly conceived and implemented core game. The changes that comprised the NGE are the reason the game is not, nor ever will be, fun.
Here is my take on this. We know the designers were just doing what they were told. Remember what happened when Tiggs said no? Of course everyone was going to say yes Sir to corporate. Bottom line is SOE should have fixed the issues with the original game and not of screwed over 200k subs. Then they should have relaunched SWG (with all the bug fixes) and worked on gaining subs from there. I remember pre CU very well. Yes it was buggy but people put up with it because we believed SOE would fix a game we loved. All along while they should have been adressing issues they were working on a new game altogether. Pre NGE was not perfect but compared to all other mmo's i have played it was number 1 in my book.
If NGE was released as it's own game and pre cu never existed yes it would be by todays standards be considered a decent mmorpg. It's not about all the hard work this guy put into NGE it's about a jack ass sitting at his desk (Smed) who decided to screw over 200k subs to go after a WOW market. SWG was ahead of it's time. Currently all we have our cookie cutter MMORPG's Perhaps if original SWG plans had not been scrapped it would be a bigger game for the simple fact that it would be the only thing on the market that is different.
People are getting sick of cookie cutter games. The SWG we all know and loved was not this.
Well, it's not "finished" yet. They still make a lot of cash off the game or else they would shut it down, and certainly would not be adding content (like the Hoth battle area). Think about it.
I can tell you why the game was never a success: they had a Farmer profession in beta - but it never made it to live. If they had added Farmer the game would have been HUGE.
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.
Honestly, do you think he had a choice? "Star Wars" doesn't belong to him. LucasArts/SOE told him to change the game. He did. He was an employee. Read between the lines. He said he wanted to change the game and make it better, but he also said he did not get to do a lot of what he really wanted and that he did not want to remove the skill system or the classes. Again, he was an employee. He was not allowed to do just whatever he wanted. And he said something I have been saying for years: Pre-CU was better, but it was FAR from perfect. Also that they were losing 10,000 subs a month BEFORE the changes. Anyway.
Yes but the reason it was losing subs was the game launch incomplete and instead of finishing the things that didn't work at launch they just kept adding new content (which most of was also broaken). the just kept adding crap to a game that never had a good foundation. As people said before SWG was horribly mis managed from start to finish.
Added to that, they seemed to think constantly changing the mechanics of the professions, without any sort of discernable logic behind it, was 'content'. The constant nerfing and tweaking (taking a sledgehammer approach) of how the different professions worked comprised the vast majority of the game updates. It is a pattern that is repeating itself with the current dev team.
Here is my take on this. We know the designers were just doing what they were told. Remember what happened when Tiggs said no? Of course everyone was going to say yes Sir to corporate. Bottom line is SOE should have fixed the issues with the original game and not of screwed over 200k subs. Then they should have relaunched SWG (with all the bug fixes) and worked on gaining subs from there. I remember pre CU very well. Yes it was buggy but people put up with it because we believed SOE would fix a game we loved. All along while they should have been adressing issues they were working on a new game altogether. Pre NGE was not perfect but compared to all other mmo's i have played it was number 1 in my book. If NGE was released as it's own game and pre cu never existed yes it would be by todays standards be considered a decent mmorpg. It's not about all the hard work this guy put into NGE it's about a jack ass sitting at his desk (Smed) who decided to screw over 200k subs to go after a WOW market. SWG was ahead of it's time. Currently all we have our cookie cutter MMORPG's Perhaps if original SWG plans had not been scrapped it would be a bigger game for the simple fact that it would be the only thing on the market that is different. People are getting sick of cookie cutter games. The SWG we all know and loved was not this.
Tiggs never said no. She was right there in the trenches lying to us and telling us how great the NGE was. There was a post by a player on the OBoard that has been mis-attributed to Tiggs. She didn't take a stand for the players and got fired for it. She was fired for some other reason that has never been disclosed.
The NGE wouldn't be considered a decent MMO by any standard, today or yesterday. Take the current version of SWG, remove everything Star Wars, launch it as a new MMO with an original IP, and it would have fewer subscribers than the SWG currently does. The NGE is not a solid core game.
Currently all we have our cookie cutter MMORPG's Perhaps if original SWG plans had not been scrapped it would be a bigger game for the simple fact that it would be the only thing on the market that is different. People are getting sick of cookie cutter games. The SWG we all know and loved was not this.
I would venture to say that SWG is STILL very different than any other MMO today. You could make a huge list of features that SWG still has that no other MMO (besides UO) has.
Space was untouched by the combat changes and "new game enhancements."
The crafting system is still the best I've ever seen in any MMO - EVER. And it's far more useful than it was post-NGE.
The ability to craft so many items, from space ships to simple items, with so many unique parts is unsurpassed.
Not to mention, no other MMO has the ability to view each and every item in nearly full 3D and has the ability to 'drop' any item in your house (in other words every item was a 'real' item, not just a pic).
In no other game (besides UO) will you see entertainment classes hanging out in taverns. In fact, I can't think of a single MMO (besides UO) where anyone has a reason to even go to a tavern (LOTRO, I guess).
How many MMO's even have a fully non-combat class anyway?
I could list a lot of things Galaxies has that no other MMO has. But I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything so I won't bother. But it's still the truth.
The things I don't like in the game as it stands to day are:
Jedi as a starter class. Jesus, I hate this. I remember when seeing a Jedi was a "big deal." It was funner for everyone when Jedi was an Alpha class.
I liked the skill system better (big surprise). It was fun to raise skills via actions.
The loss of so many professions was a shock to all who where there in November '05. Most were useless and even pointless, but yeah - I wanted to master them all.
Again, I could make a list, but whats the point.
What keeps me coming back is the close-nit Elder/Vet community that still plays. Those that have stayed play for the reasons I still do - it's a Star Wars MMO.
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.
What keeps me coming back is the close-nit Elder/Vet community that still plays. Those that have stayed play for the reasons I still do - it's a Star Wars MMO.
It's the only thing its got going for it now. The Star Wars aspect.
If it were a generic elf game, it would have folded long ago, because while it slavishly copies WoW as much as it can, SOE refuses to copy the things that truly make WoW a smash it: relatively bug free gameplay and polish.
CH, Jedi, Commando, Smuggler, BH, Scout, Doctor, Chef, BE...yeah, lots of SWG time invested.
Originally posted by Nikoz78 He posted this today: here
best quote in that post...
"The idea was that we had the most valuable IP in the entire world, and we fucked it up to the point of having 200k subs."
lol, if the suits at SOE/LEC thought 200k was bad, I wonder how happy they are with the current subscriber numbers?
The fact SWG hasnt been shutdown by now, really makes me think they're (LEC) only keeping it alive to keep whats left of the playerbase paying their dues (to a SW product) right up until they can release a new SW mmo. Basically, they just dont want any more of their players leaving to play a diff game, getting settled in, and then having to pry em outta that game to come back to the SW brand later on.
Plus, I think the costs of running SWG on no-more-expansions cruise control (until a new mmo can be released) far outweighs the costs of the bad press that shutting down SWG due to it being fubar would generate.
"Uh, we had a slight weapons malfunction, but uh... everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?"
The intent for me posting that link was to direct the anger of the "disgruntled vets" to the right person. That guy did most everything you associate with the "killing of your game", I point to the initial design, and pushing the end product out with no notice. The NGE was the worst decision made in a AAA MMORPG to date. I think everyone agrees on that. What I defend now is that the new dev team has vastly improved the game and it is fun again.
The game is not fun again, it's the same rotting piece of crap it has been since November 2005, with some minor upgrades. Quit telling us how good the game is now, we all used our Vet Trials and saw firsthand how bad it still is. It's even more buggy than Pre-CU was.
What I think is great is how he wants to get people all riled up and uses language like that. You do not win a debate by screaming YEAH FUCK YOU. Simple minds resort to this kind of language because they do not know how to properly argue.
If he really talks like this I can see why he was fired.
What I think is great is how he wants to get people all riled up and uses language like that. You do not win a debate by screaming YEAH FUCK YOU. Simple minds resort to this kind of language because they do not know how to properly argue. If he really talks like this I can see why he was fired.
Now now, that phrase has its place. Just as all the vulgar phrases do. Its just a matter of understanding where that place is, and not just using it for the sake of using it. I'm actually rather glad he DID use his language poorly, however, as it allows us simple and quick reminders to ignore anything he might have to say. I enjoy having those checks in place, it tells me to skip the rest of the blog. Which....I did.
It didn't help, either, that what he was talking about just so happened to be the very opposite of the actions his past would show he has taken.
After reading that second blog posted here, I can see where the guy is coming from.
He clearly said that the point and shoot aspect of the NGE was much needed, then went on to say that dropping the skill system was not; and not something he wanted to do.
But as some have pointed out, he didn't have a choice, and he did the best he could with what he had. I don't think of the NGE as the individual developer's fault, I see it as corporate SOE's fault.
You have to put yourself in their shoes; their jobs were on the line, they either had to make a new SWG, or they were out, simply put. No one wants to lose their job, man.
So I salute all the developers old and new of Star Wars Galaxies, for putting up with the shit that is Sony Online Entertainment.
Originally posted by Nineven After reading that second blog posted here, I can see where the guy is coming from. He clearly said that the point and shoot aspect of the NGE was much needed, then went on to say that dropping the skill system was not; and not something he wanted to do. But as some have pointed out, he didn't have a choice, and he did the best he could with what he had. I don't think of the NGE as the individual developer's fault, I see it as corporate SOE's fault. You have to put yourself in their shoes; their jobs were on the line, they either had to make a new SWG, or they were out, simply put. No one wants to lose their job, man. So I salute all the developers old and new of Star Wars Galaxies, for putting up with the shit that is Sony Online Entertainment.
he did it to cover his own rear.
The REASON the game was losing 10K per month was HIS mismanagement. he went along with it because he had no choice, because he had failed already.
His "fix" was not what the game needed (clicky combat system) -- the game just needed good managemenet to fix all the things that were wrong. HE chose to completely avoid that and go clicky combat. Then they shoved the profession gutting down his throat.
He was in a dark place that he made through his own bad management.
Now he spews forth his anger and his hate at the world when everything was his own fault.
Listen, it's just a game. FUN is subjective. End of argument.
200K subs was a very respectful number per-World of Warcraft. That is a fact. They were right to think Star Wars was the most valuable IP in the world (it likely was/is).
But the true blame for the failure of Star Wars Galaxies is that they pushed it out the door a year too early. It was a buggy mess from day one. THAT is why it failed.
The game has sold over 1 million copies (fact). And most of those were pre-CU. You can say how "awesome" the old game was (and I'd agree with you), but apparently the VAST majority of people who bought it would disagree. People seem to forget that MOST people who bought the game in 2003 quit soon afterwards.
I've been saying for years that people were leaving the game in DROVES even before the Combat Upgrade. I remember this clearly.
SOE shot themselves in the foot (again!) by releasing another buggy mess with the New Game Enhancements. That is what killed what was left of the population in late 2005. But they were losing 10,000 subs a month (verified) BEFORE the NGE was even thought of.
The idea of being able to choose weather you want to fight FPS or Classic style was not a bad idea in and of itself. Today you are able to play the game either way (FPS or Classic MMO style) by simply hitting the Y or U key (can't remember which one).
This could have been pretty cool had they left the skill system and especially the numerous classes. AND if they had polished it before taking it live.
SOE is notorious for pushing games live way too early. In the spirit of fairness, I think they have learned their lesson in that regard.
As for the state of SWG as it stands today. I agree that it's not as good as it was before. But if you're not in the know, I can tell you that the game has never been more bug free (yes, it still has some bugs). But compaired to Pre-CU the game is night and day in regards to bugs. Thats a FACT.
I jump on Galaxies a few hours a week. After almost 5 years the game is old and out dated anyway. And I challenge anyone to name a single MMO that has more complexity or freedom than SWG even today (besides UO). Go ahead and try it.
As for condemning his "foul mouth" - all I can say is don't be so candy-assed. I mean, come on!
/peace
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.
I jump on Galaxies a few hours a week. After almost 5 years the game is old and out dated anyway. And I challenge anyone to name a single MMO that has more complexity or freedom than SWG even today (besides UO). Go ahead and try it.
What is still complex and free about the NGE gameplay? Every single aspect of the rich, complex gameplay except for the space game was dumbed down or removed. There is basically one way to level your character and once you reach level 90 most players end up with the same skill template and the exact same gear. Everything about the game now is cookie-cutter.
Every single aspect of the rich, complex gameplay except for the space game was dumbed down or removed. Care to explain this bold statement? Or are you just in the habit of making wild claims while not even trying to explain yourself or back up your statement? Please explain why "every single aspect of the rich, complex gameplay is dumbed down or removed." There is basically one way to level your character and once you reach level 90 most players end up with the same skill template and the exact same gear. Well, which is it? Is there only ONE way to level or BASICALLY one way to level? You don't sound too sure. And I don't play MMO's for PvP. I play for PvE content, so I could less about that. But I do recall everyone pre-CU that did PvP mostly all having the exact same "template of the week." So this is a weak point. Not to mention the PvP players in Galaxies have ALWAYS been a minority. Everything about the game now is cookie-cutter. Really. Please explain this statement.
These kind of "haters" are no better than the "fanboys." Lets discuss the game within the realm of REALITY. Talk about delusional.
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.
Nikoz you say the game sold over 1 million copies and the equate the loss rate to mean most people didn't like the game. You don't take into account that most people tended to have 2-5 accounts, I would guess an average of 3 would be on the low side and a safe guess. Losing one person meant losing multiple subscriptions.
The game was great back in Pre-CU, but it wasn't good enough to retain people due to its terrible condition. Even in that condition it was able to retain several hundred thousand people.
The NGE is still the same game that sold 1 million copies and it struggles to retain a few thousand people. Think about that before you try to compare the time periods again. People didn't naturally leave the game for other games, they ran screaming, because SOE took a broken game and make it worse.
As for SOE learning their lesson about releasing games early as you think they have. Can you please show an example of why you think they have? I can't name one single game they have made, bought, published or produced that wasn't launched well before it was ready. There is no evidence that they have learned anything. Every available fact actually points to them not changing how they operate save covering their ass better.
Nikoz you say the game sold over 1 million copies and the equate the loss rate to mean most people didn't like the game. You don't take into account that most people tended to have 2-5 accounts, I would guess an average of 3 would be on the low side and a safe guess. Losing one person meant losing multiple subscriptions. So you actually believe that the majority of pre-CU players had "2 - 5" accounts a piece? Dude, thats wild. I myself had 2 accounts, but do you seriously believe that the average player of this computer game actually payed $75.00 bucks a month to play it? Please. And whats more, the vast majority of the initial box sales for Galaxies was in 2003 - and thats when the majority of the players quit the game (within the first month). Did you even read the interviews linked in this thread?? The NGE is still the same game that sold 1 million copies and it struggles to retain a few thousand people. Think about that before you try to compare the time periods again. Really. Just a "few thousand?" Thats delusional man. This game has continuously lost subs since launch, but the claim that it's "dead" and that nobody plays it is just your little fantasy. Don't want to kick a dead dog but the reality that about five servers are populated has been proven here again and again. Even an SOE employee stated that while they can't give sub numbers, the game is doing "surprisingly well." As for SOE learning their lesson about releasing games early as you think they have. Can you please show an example of why you think they have? Sure. This was written by the Managing Editor of MMORPG.com, Jon Wood (known in these forums as Stradden):
"Yesterday, Warcry’s Dana Massey published an interview with Sony Online Entertainment’s CEO, John Smedley. In the interview, Smedley apologized for the New Game Experience released into Star Wars Galaxies in 2005. The move, which has been a perpetual thorn in SOE’s side ever since, was made without input from the game’s players and with little to no warning.
The article quotes Smedley: "With the NGE, I'm sorry about the mistake we made," he told us. "We screwed up and didn't listen to the fans when we should have, and it's not a mistake we're going to make again."
He goes on to say that the mistake was not bringing the fans into the mix, which he described as the cardinal sin of not listening, but assuming...." Link to article where Smed apologizes: here If you kept up with MMO development over at SOE you might know that they often say they are focusing on pure polish before they even release updates, much less full expansions and new games. See EverQuest II, Vanguard updates, Star Wars Galaxies content updates, etc.
Also, I have zero vested interest in shilling for any video game. I am a 'virtual world' enthusiast and thats all I am. I'm here to discuss online worlds. And while I have always agreed that pre-CU was vastly superior (fun wise) I also enjoy dealing with facts and logical assessments - not emotional outbursts - when it comes to discussing Star Wars Galaxies.
/peace
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.
Hi Nikoz, lets clear some things up and not do surgery on my comments.
First AVERAGE of players vs accounts I said was 3 accounts per player which would AVERAGE 45.00 per person, not the 75 you list for some reason.
Also 1 million UNITS is very different than 1 million copies of the base game. Every article and press release I have read states units in no clear terms of base vs expansion. That still does not equate to 1 million people as is being loosely discussed right now. If I had to take a guess I would think around half a million tried the game the first year, but that is just a guess. Overall though the retention rate for the game during the Pre-Cu era was vastly superior to the NGE era.
I also never said the game was Dieing, so don't put words in my mouth. I said a few thousand subscribers. If you take that to mean 50k or 10k it is personal speculation, but everyone generally agrees that the game has dwindled to be very very low populations. Either way you look at it the numbers are down between 80% and 96% compared to the [again rumored] 250k or so pre nge users.
As for Smed "apology" is says NOTHING about them not releasing games early. All that articles says is an ambigious "we made mistakes" without pointing out what that mistake was other than his infamous "we will listen to our customers". If you really read the quote in that article you can see the lie, he says they didn't listen to the fans when the truth is they never bothered to ask. If that is all you have to base your opinions on and feel that you are enlightened to their change of heart, let me refresh your memory a bit of some of his other promises to listen to the customer.
June 2004 (at the guild summit after the player boycott)
At EQMac the author writes, "Smedley had us all sit down, then proceeded to start off the day. He informed us all we were there to help SOE. That they wanted player input on what to do to make the game better, and they promised to listen." terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2004/06/not_quite_camp_.html
May 2005 (right after the combat upgrade, I love the part about paying the bills)
"Yes, we've seen the petition. Yes, we're reading your emails very carefully.. in fact I've responded to many of you personally. " <<snip>> "and what I'd like to ask your help in doing is to target these problems so that we can knock them down very quickly. As you've seen in the last few days, the team is working tirelessly towards fixing any problems that have arisen.. and with your help we're confident we can get the rest of them taken care of as well." <<snip>> "What would really help us is to give us ideas on how we can improve the new system and cool things you would like to see us do in the near term. We aren't going back to the old system, but with your help I'm confident in a few weeks you're going to feel this was the right call. Obviously you are our customers, and you pay the bills around here... we're trying to make changes that are going to make your experience better in the long run. Please bear with us while we make that effort, and give us a little time to respond and address your concerns." swg.allakhazam.com/news/sdetail5524.html
June 2005 ( Robert Pfister EQ Producer)
We're committed to not only listening to your feedback, but working with you to make EverQuest more enjoyable for years to come. www.graffe.com/forums/showthread.php
Nov 2005 (I just love that Smed has such a firm grasp of who is paying the bills, again)
"You pay the bills around here, and that's not something we are forgetting." <<SNIP>> The Path forward
The real purpose of this post is to ask for your help. In this thread, could you please list the top issues you see needing to be addressed in the short term. Any big problems from your perspective - what's really keeping the NGE from being a postive thing from your perspective. We will be watching this thread carefully and taking notes, and posting an ordered list of stuff we'll take care of (and we'll try to say how quickly we can do it as well). Please keep this thread on point. We have to move forward - asking us to pull the NGE out isn't going to be productive. If you really want to help, here's your chance. www.1up.com/do/my1Up
Feb 2007 (just to show they don't care about launching early)
''Microsoft had wanted to launch this thing in July of 2006,'' Mr. Smedley said. ''We felt like the game needed more time, and we have given it more time, but at some point enough is enough, and we have to ship the game and start generating revenue.'' query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html
Jan 2008 (but I thought you were listening like you have been promising for the last 5 years?)
John Smedley: Because we didn't listen. I think we were a little too arrogant as a company. We thought we knew what was best as a company, and we should have listened more. That's really the biggest lesson we've learned as a company in the last eight years. Listening to our customers is everything. www.massively.com/2008/01/14/a-ces-interview-with-soe-ceo-john-smedley-pt-1/
So you will just have to forgive me if I don't readjust many years of listening to Smed and company promises that they will start listening to their customers. Also forgive me if I don't make a wild jump to conclusions that Smed admitting the NGE was a disaster financially is any indication that they will somehow finally touch a product that will release in a near finished state.
I understand that living in SOE land that any positive ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds is cause for dancing in the streets, but enough is enough already. This is a company with a long history of putting their ambitions and revenue forcasts far above the customers concerns. When they finally do what you think they might, then by all means point it out to me. Until then history has spoken.
As for Smed "apology" is says NOTHING about them not releasing games early. All that articles says is an ambigious "we made mistakes" without pointing out what that mistake was other than his infamous "we will listen to our customers". If you really read the quote in that article you can see the lie, he says they didn't listen to the fans when the truth is they never bothered to ask. If that is all you have to base your opinions on and feel that you are enlightened to their change of heart, let me refresh your memory a bit of some of his other promises to listen to the customer. June 2004 (at the guild summit after the player boycott)
At EQMac the author writes, "Smedley had us all sit down, then proceeded to start off the day. He informed us all we were there to help SOE. That they wanted player input on what to do to make the game better, and they promised to listen." terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2004/06/not_quite_camp_.html
May 2005 (right after the combat upgrade, I love the part about paying the bills)
"Yes, we've seen the petition. Yes, we're reading your emails very carefully.. in fact I've responded to many of you personally. " <<snip>> "and what I'd like to ask your help in doing is to target these problems so that we can knock them down very quickly. As you've seen in the last few days, the team is working tirelessly towards fixing any problems that have arisen.. and with your help we're confident we can get the rest of them taken care of as well." <<snip>> "What would really help us is to give us ideas on how we can improve the new system and cool things you would like to see us do in the near term. We aren't going back to the old system, but with your help I'm confident in a few weeks you're going to feel this was the right call. Obviously you are our customers, and you pay the bills around here... we're trying to make changes that are going to make your experience better in the long run. Please bear with us while we make that effort, and give us a little time to respond and address your concerns." swg.allakhazam.com/news/sdetail5524.html
June 2005 ( Robert Pfister EQ Producer)
We're committed to not only listening to your feedback, but working with you to make EverQuest more enjoyable for years to come. www.graffe.com/forums/showthread.php
Nov 2005 (I just love that Smed has such a firm grasp of who is paying the bills, again)
"You pay the bills around here, and that's not something we are forgetting." <<SNIP>> The Path forward
The real purpose of this post is to ask for your help. In this thread, could you please list the top issues you see needing to be addressed in the short term. Any big problems from your perspective - what's really keeping the NGE from being a postive thing from your perspective. We will be watching this thread carefully and taking notes, and posting an ordered list of stuff we'll take care of (and we'll try to say how quickly we can do it as well). Please keep this thread on point. We have to move forward - asking us to pull the NGE out isn't going to be productive. If you really want to help, here's your chance. www.1up.com/do/my1Up
Feb 2007 (just to show they don't care about launching early)
''Microsoft had wanted to launch this thing in July of 2006,'' Mr. Smedley said. ''We felt like the game needed more time, and we have given it more time, but at some point enough is enough, and we have to ship the game and start generating revenue.'' query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html
Jan 2008 (but I thought you were listening like you have been promising for the last 5 years?)
John Smedley: Because we didn't listen. I think we were a little too arrogant as a company. We thought we knew what was best as a company, and we should have listened more. That's really the biggest lesson we've learned as a company in the last eight years. Listening to our customers is everything. www.massively.com/2008/01/14/a-ces-interview-with-soe-ceo-john-smedley-pt-1/
So you will just have to forgive me if I don't readjust many years of listening to Smed and company promises that they will start listening to their customers. Also forgive me if I don't make a wild jump to conclusions that Smed admitting the NGE was a disaster financially is any indication that they will somehow finally touch a product that will release in a near finished state.
I understand that living in SOE land that any positive ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds is cause for dancing in the streets, but enough is enough already. This is a company with a long history of putting their ambitions and revenue forcasts far above the customers concerns. When they finally do what you think they might, then by all means point it out to me. Until then history has spoken.
Good stuff right there. Thanks for the research and read.
The intent for me posting that link was to direct the anger of the "disgruntled vets" to the right person. That guy did most everything you associate with the "killing of your game", I point to the initial design, and pushing the end product out with no notice. The NGE was the worst decision made in a AAA MMORPG to date. I think everyone agrees on that. What I defend now is that the new dev team has vastly improved the game and it is fun again.
While it's clear that this guy had an important role to play in a lot of what was wrong with SWG, I'm hesitant to agree that he is solely responsible for things.
He did the jedi system in two weeks. O.k., but who gave him only two weeks to do it?
He told SOE management if they go with the NGE they're going to lose all 200000 current subs. Someone told him, do it anyways because we'll get more subs from the marketting of the new version. Who told him that?
He was working on something that would delete most of what his colleagues were adverstising in dev chats. Who gave the green light for the bogus marketting campaign and simultaneously gave Rubenfield the greenlight to revamp the entire game making most of the marketting information null and void?
Who gave these guys at most 3 months to revamp the entire game?
Who told them to replace a live game with an entirely new one, rather than simply launching a new product?
Who decided not to inform players of the upcoming revamp until 12 days before it went live?
I was extremely unimpressed by this guy's attitude, and I see his role in why things went to hell, but there's a lot of upper management decision making here regarding time-lines, overall game direction, and marketting that still needs to be answered for.
As for the current dev team. I'm not very happy with Blixtev. His attitude was "if my boss tells me to put a toilet in the living room, then I put a toilet in the living room," or something to that effect. He told us that himself. You know what I would say, and have said in that exact position? "If you want a toilet in the living room, it's going to have a list of negative outcomes, here's what they are. If you want someone to do that to your product, your business and your customers, you're going to have to find someone else. I'm not your guy."
As for other current devs. They've been given probably the worst assignment they'll ever get in their careers. This game has been butchered and the customer base is divided and angry. I wouldn't want to try to fix this kind of mess from a game development standpoint.
If anything is going to be "fixed" it's going to have to involve more than just coding. Smed and other managers have been caught outright lying to people now. They've also been caught making a decision to disguard their entire player base hoping to get a bigger audience. Code doesn't fix that. It's also been alleged that they kept people in the dark regarding the NGE to keep people paying for a product that would soon no longer exist. Code doesn't fix that. You know what does? An official apology, financial restitution and disciplinary action for anyone caught intentionally misleading consumers.
Was I offended by Rubenfield's blog? Hard not to be. Is he solely responsible for what went wrong with SWG? No, clearly management decisions had an important role to play. Looking for one scapegoat in development isn't a productive approach in my view. SOE threw Freeman under the bus years ago, and that didn't work either.
Comments
LOL I read this. I tell you people's level of self denil just floors me. He starts off saying basically don't blame me I just make what I'm told to and then the next paragraph he says I was told to reimagine the whole game. He recognises that NEG was a huge screw up, but seems to think nothing was done wrong. What a loser.
Yes but the reason it was losing subs was the game launch incomplete and instead of finishing the things that didn't work at launch they just kept adding new content (which most of was also broaken). the just kept adding crap to a game that never had a good foundation. As people said before SWG was horribly mis managed from start to finish.
Also, what he fails to recognize or admit was the game was not successful due to his mismanagement, and the mismanagement of the people above him.
The NGE was one big fat blameshift.
As well as not understanding why people were leaving early on. It seems that he doesn't remember that the game was incomplete in many ways at launch, and that had a very negative effect on many people. Also, players not having a clear indication of what the game was designed for (i.e. squad based combat with vulnerabilites to some professions, as opposed to a more 1 on 1 style of balance).
LOL I read this. I tell you people's level of self denil just floors me. He starts off saying basically don't blame me I just make what I'm told to and then the next paragraph he says I was told to reimagine the whole game. He recognises that NEG was a huge screw up, but seems to think nothing was done wrong. What a loser.
I find it humorous that pretty much everyone involved in inflicting the NGE on us seems to think the concepts and design were good. The NGE, as conceived and implemented, even if it was completely bug free, is a horrible core game. Even after two and a half years, with more effort than was put into fixing the original version, the current version of SWG is a bad game. If the NGE version of the game was as good as its creators seem to think it is, it would be doing better than the original version of the game, even with the still angry former players posting on forums and chatting about it in other MMOs.The fact is, SWG is currently not a fun game, and it will never be a fun game because it is built on a horribly conceived and implemented core game. The changes that comprised the NGE are the reason the game is not, nor ever will be, fun.
Here is my take on this. We know the designers were just doing what they were told. Remember what happened when Tiggs said no? Of course everyone was going to say yes Sir to corporate. Bottom line is SOE should have fixed the issues with the original game and not of screwed over 200k subs. Then they should have relaunched SWG (with all the bug fixes) and worked on gaining subs from there. I remember pre CU very well. Yes it was buggy but people put up with it because we believed SOE would fix a game we loved. All along while they should have been adressing issues they were working on a new game altogether. Pre NGE was not perfect but compared to all other mmo's i have played it was number 1 in my book.
If NGE was released as it's own game and pre cu never existed yes it would be by todays standards be considered a decent mmorpg. It's not about all the hard work this guy put into NGE it's about a jack ass sitting at his desk (Smed) who decided to screw over 200k subs to go after a WOW market. SWG was ahead of it's time. Currently all we have our cookie cutter MMORPG's Perhaps if original SWG plans had not been scrapped it would be a bigger game for the simple fact that it would be the only thing on the market that is different.
People are getting sick of cookie cutter games. The SWG we all know and loved was not this.
I can tell you why the game was never a success: they had a Farmer profession in beta - but it never made it to live. If they had added Farmer the game would have been HUGE.
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.
Yes but the reason it was losing subs was the game launch incomplete and instead of finishing the things that didn't work at launch they just kept adding new content (which most of was also broaken). the just kept adding crap to a game that never had a good foundation. As people said before SWG was horribly mis managed from start to finish.
Added to that, they seemed to think constantly changing the mechanics of the professions, without any sort of discernable logic behind it, was 'content'. The constant nerfing and tweaking (taking a sledgehammer approach) of how the different professions worked comprised the vast majority of the game updates. It is a pattern that is repeating itself with the current dev team.
Tiggs never said no. She was right there in the trenches lying to us and telling us how great the NGE was. There was a post by a player on the OBoard that has been mis-attributed to Tiggs. She didn't take a stand for the players and got fired for it. She was fired for some other reason that has never been disclosed.
The NGE wouldn't be considered a decent MMO by any standard, today or yesterday. Take the current version of SWG, remove everything Star Wars, launch it as a new MMO with an original IP, and it would have fewer subscribers than the SWG currently does. The NGE is not a solid core game.
Space was untouched by the combat changes and "new game enhancements."
The crafting system is still the best I've ever seen in any MMO - EVER. And it's far more useful than it was post-NGE.
The ability to craft so many items, from space ships to simple items, with so many unique parts is unsurpassed.
Not to mention, no other MMO has the ability to view each and every item in nearly full 3D and has the ability to 'drop' any item in your house (in other words every item was a 'real' item, not just a pic).
In no other game (besides UO) will you see entertainment classes hanging out in taverns. In fact, I can't think of a single MMO (besides UO) where anyone has a reason to even go to a tavern (LOTRO, I guess).
How many MMO's even have a fully non-combat class anyway?
I could list a lot of things Galaxies has that no other MMO has. But I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything so I won't bother. But it's still the truth.
The things I don't like in the game as it stands to day are:
Jedi as a starter class. Jesus, I hate this. I remember when seeing a Jedi was a "big deal." It was funner for everyone when Jedi was an Alpha class.
I liked the skill system better (big surprise). It was fun to raise skills via actions.
The loss of so many professions was a shock to all who where there in November '05. Most were useless and even pointless, but yeah - I wanted to master them all.
Again, I could make a list, but whats the point.
What keeps me coming back is the close-nit Elder/Vet community that still plays. Those that have stayed play for the reasons I still do - it's a Star Wars MMO.
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.
If it were a generic elf game, it would have folded long ago, because while it slavishly copies WoW as much as it can, SOE refuses to copy the things that truly make WoW a smash it: relatively bug free gameplay and polish.
CH, Jedi, Commando, Smuggler, BH, Scout, Doctor, Chef, BE...yeah, lots of SWG time invested.
Once a denizen of Ahazi
I tried sharing this information on the Official Boards. Fastest deletion EVER.
fishermage.blogspot.com
best quote in that post...
"The idea was that we had the most valuable IP in the entire world, and we fucked it up to the point of having 200k subs."
lol, if the suits at SOE/LEC thought 200k was bad, I wonder how happy they are with the current subscriber numbers?
The fact SWG hasnt been shutdown by now, really makes me think they're (LEC) only keeping it alive to keep whats left of the playerbase paying their dues (to a SW product) right up until they can release a new SW mmo. Basically, they just dont want any more of their players leaving to play a diff game, getting settled in, and then having to pry em outta that game to come back to the SW brand later on.
Plus, I think the costs of running SWG on no-more-expansions cruise control (until a new mmo can be released) far outweighs the costs of the bad press that shutting down SWG due to it being fubar would generate.
"Uh, we had a slight weapons malfunction, but uh... everything's perfectly all right now.
We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How are you?"
The game is not fun again, it's the same rotting piece of crap it has been since November 2005, with some minor upgrades. Quit telling us how good the game is now, we all used our Vet Trials and saw firsthand how bad it still is. It's even more buggy than Pre-CU was.
If he really talks like this I can see why he was fired.
Now now, that phrase has its place. Just as all the vulgar phrases do. Its just a matter of understanding where that place is, and not just using it for the sake of using it. I'm actually rather glad he DID use his language poorly, however, as it allows us simple and quick reminders to ignore anything he might have to say. I enjoy having those checks in place, it tells me to skip the rest of the blog. Which....I did.
It didn't help, either, that what he was talking about just so happened to be the very opposite of the actions his past would show he has taken.
After reading that second blog posted here, I can see where the guy is coming from.
He clearly said that the point and shoot aspect of the NGE was much needed, then went on to say that dropping the skill system was not; and not something he wanted to do.
But as some have pointed out, he didn't have a choice, and he did the best he could with what he had. I don't think of the NGE as the individual developer's fault, I see it as corporate SOE's fault.
You have to put yourself in their shoes; their jobs were on the line, they either had to make a new SWG, or they were out, simply put. No one wants to lose their job, man.
So I salute all the developers old and new of Star Wars Galaxies, for putting up with the shit that is Sony Online Entertainment.
he did it to cover his own rear.
The REASON the game was losing 10K per month was HIS mismanagement. he went along with it because he had no choice, because he had failed already.
His "fix" was not what the game needed (clicky combat system) -- the game just needed good managemenet to fix all the things that were wrong. HE chose to completely avoid that and go clicky combat. Then they shoved the profession gutting down his throat.
He was in a dark place that he made through his own bad management.
Now he spews forth his anger and his hate at the world when everything was his own fault.
fishermage.blogspot.com
Some of you kids are really funny (seriously).
Listen, it's just a game. FUN is subjective. End of argument.
200K subs was a very respectful number per-World of Warcraft. That is a fact. They were right to think Star Wars was the most valuable IP in the world (it likely was/is).
But the true blame for the failure of Star Wars Galaxies is that they pushed it out the door a year too early. It was a buggy mess from day one. THAT is why it failed.
The game has sold over 1 million copies (fact). And most of those were pre-CU. You can say how "awesome" the old game was (and I'd agree with you), but apparently the VAST majority of people who bought it would disagree. People seem to forget that MOST people who bought the game in 2003 quit soon afterwards.
I've been saying for years that people were leaving the game in DROVES even before the Combat Upgrade. I remember this clearly.
SOE shot themselves in the foot (again!) by releasing another buggy mess with the New Game Enhancements. That is what killed what was left of the population in late 2005. But they were losing 10,000 subs a month (verified) BEFORE the NGE was even thought of.
The idea of being able to choose weather you want to fight FPS or Classic style was not a bad idea in and of itself. Today you are able to play the game either way (FPS or Classic MMO style) by simply hitting the Y or U key (can't remember which one).
This could have been pretty cool had they left the skill system and especially the numerous classes. AND if they had polished it before taking it live.
SOE is notorious for pushing games live way too early. In the spirit of fairness, I think they have learned their lesson in that regard.
As for the state of SWG as it stands today. I agree that it's not as good as it was before. But if you're not in the know, I can tell you that the game has never been more bug free (yes, it still has some bugs). But compaired to Pre-CU the game is night and day in regards to bugs. Thats a FACT.
I jump on Galaxies a few hours a week. After almost 5 years the game is old and out dated anyway. And I challenge anyone to name a single MMO that has more complexity or freedom than SWG even today (besides UO). Go ahead and try it.
As for condemning his "foul mouth" - all I can say is don't be so candy-assed. I mean, come on!
/peace
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.
What is still complex and free about the NGE gameplay? Every single aspect of the rich, complex gameplay except for the space game was dumbed down or removed. There is basically one way to level your character and once you reach level 90 most players end up with the same skill template and the exact same gear. Everything about the game now is cookie-cutter.
These kind of "haters" are no better than the "fanboys." Lets discuss the game within the realm of REALITY. Talk about delusional.
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.
Nikoz you say the game sold over 1 million copies and the equate the loss rate to mean most people didn't like the game. You don't take into account that most people tended to have 2-5 accounts, I would guess an average of 3 would be on the low side and a safe guess. Losing one person meant losing multiple subscriptions.
The game was great back in Pre-CU, but it wasn't good enough to retain people due to its terrible condition. Even in that condition it was able to retain several hundred thousand people.
The NGE is still the same game that sold 1 million copies and it struggles to retain a few thousand people. Think about that before you try to compare the time periods again. People didn't naturally leave the game for other games, they ran screaming, because SOE took a broken game and make it worse.
As for SOE learning their lesson about releasing games early as you think they have. Can you please show an example of why you think they have? I can't name one single game they have made, bought, published or produced that wasn't launched well before it was ready. There is no evidence that they have learned anything. Every available fact actually points to them not changing how they operate save covering their ass better.
/peace
I miss the good ol' days when nerds were actually intelligent.
Hi Nikoz, lets clear some things up and not do surgery on my comments.
First AVERAGE of players vs accounts I said was 3 accounts per player which would AVERAGE 45.00 per person, not the 75 you list for some reason.
Also 1 million UNITS is very different than 1 million copies of the base game. Every article and press release I have read states units in no clear terms of base vs expansion. That still does not equate to 1 million people as is being loosely discussed right now. If I had to take a guess I would think around half a million tried the game the first year, but that is just a guess. Overall though the retention rate for the game during the Pre-Cu era was vastly superior to the NGE era.
I also never said the game was Dieing, so don't put words in my mouth. I said a few thousand subscribers. If you take that to mean 50k or 10k it is personal speculation, but everyone generally agrees that the game has dwindled to be very very low populations. Either way you look at it the numbers are down between 80% and 96% compared to the [again rumored] 250k or so pre nge users.
As for Smed "apology" is says NOTHING about them not releasing games early. All that articles says is an ambigious "we made mistakes" without pointing out what that mistake was other than his infamous "we will listen to our customers". If you really read the quote in that article you can see the lie, he says they didn't listen to the fans when the truth is they never bothered to ask. If that is all you have to base your opinions on and feel that you are enlightened to their change of heart, let me refresh your memory a bit of some of his other promises to listen to the customer.
June 2004 (at the guild summit after the player boycott)
At EQMac the author writes, "Smedley had us all sit down, then proceeded to start off the day. He informed us all we were there to help SOE. That they wanted player input on what to do to make the game better, and they promised to listen." terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2004/06/not_quite_camp_.html
May 2005 (right after the combat upgrade, I love the part about paying the bills)
"Yes, we've seen the petition. Yes, we're reading your emails very carefully.. in fact I've responded to many of you personally. " <<snip>> "and what I'd like to ask your help in doing is to target these problems so that we can knock them down very quickly. As you've seen in the last few days, the team is working tirelessly towards fixing any problems that have arisen.. and with your help we're confident we can get the rest of them taken care of as well." <<snip>> "What would really help us is to give us ideas on how we can improve the new system and cool things you would like to see us do in the near term. We aren't going back to the old system, but with your help I'm confident in a few weeks you're going to feel this was the right call. Obviously you are our customers, and you pay the bills around here... we're trying to make changes that are going to make your experience better in the long run. Please bear with us while we make that effort, and give us a little time to respond and address your concerns." swg.allakhazam.com/news/sdetail5524.html
June 2005 ( Robert Pfister EQ Producer)
We're committed to not only listening to your feedback, but working with you to make EverQuest more enjoyable for years to come. www.graffe.com/forums/showthread.php
Nov 2005 (I just love that Smed has such a firm grasp of who is paying the bills, again)
"You pay the bills around here, and that's not something we are forgetting." <<SNIP>> The Path forward
The real purpose of this post is to ask for your help. In this thread, could you please list the top issues you see needing to be addressed in the short term. Any big problems from your perspective - what's really keeping the NGE from being a postive thing from your perspective. We will be watching this thread carefully and taking notes, and posting an ordered list of stuff we'll take care of (and we'll try to say how quickly we can do it as well). Please keep this thread on point. We have to move forward - asking us to pull the NGE out isn't going to be productive. If you really want to help, here's your chance. www.1up.com/do/my1Up
Feb 2006
"There has never been a release by Sony Online Entertainment that has been incomplete," Smedley said. www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/21/tech/gamecore/main1335511.shtml
Feb 2007 (just to show they don't care about launching early)
''Microsoft had wanted to launch this thing in July of 2006,'' Mr. Smedley said. ''We felt like the game needed more time, and we have given it more time, but at some point enough is enough, and we have to ship the game and start generating revenue.'' query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html
Jan 2008 (but I thought you were listening like you have been promising for the last 5 years?)
John Smedley: Because we didn't listen. I think we were a little too arrogant as a company. We thought we knew what was best as a company, and we should have listened more. That's really the biggest lesson we've learned as a company in the last eight years. Listening to our customers is everything. www.massively.com/2008/01/14/a-ces-interview-with-soe-ceo-john-smedley-pt-1/
So you will just have to forgive me if I don't readjust many years of listening to Smed and company promises that they will start listening to their customers. Also forgive me if I don't make a wild jump to conclusions that Smed admitting the NGE was a disaster financially is any indication that they will somehow finally touch a product that will release in a near finished state.
I understand that living in SOE land that any positive ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds is cause for dancing in the streets, but enough is enough already. This is a company with a long history of putting their ambitions and revenue forcasts far above the customers concerns. When they finally do what you think they might, then by all means point it out to me. Until then history has spoken.
May 2005 (right after the combat upgrade, I love the part about paying the bills)
June 2005 ( Robert Pfister EQ Producer)
Nov 2005 (I just love that Smed has such a firm grasp of who is paying the bills, again)
Feb 2006
Feb 2007 (just to show they don't care about launching early)
Jan 2008 (but I thought you were listening like you have been promising for the last 5 years?)
So you will just have to forgive me if I don't readjust many years of listening to Smed and company promises that they will start listening to their customers. Also forgive me if I don't make a wild jump to conclusions that Smed admitting the NGE was a disaster financially is any indication that they will somehow finally touch a product that will release in a near finished state.
I understand that living in SOE land that any positive ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds is cause for dancing in the streets, but enough is enough already. This is a company with a long history of putting their ambitions and revenue forcasts far above the customers concerns. When they finally do what you think they might, then by all means point it out to me. Until then history has spoken.
Good stuff right there. Thanks for the research and read.
Kef
While it's clear that this guy had an important role to play in a lot of what was wrong with SWG, I'm hesitant to agree that he is solely responsible for things.
He did the jedi system in two weeks. O.k., but who gave him only two weeks to do it?
He told SOE management if they go with the NGE they're going to lose all 200000 current subs. Someone told him, do it anyways because we'll get more subs from the marketting of the new version. Who told him that?
He was working on something that would delete most of what his colleagues were adverstising in dev chats. Who gave the green light for the bogus marketting campaign and simultaneously gave Rubenfield the greenlight to revamp the entire game making most of the marketting information null and void?
Who gave these guys at most 3 months to revamp the entire game?
Who told them to replace a live game with an entirely new one, rather than simply launching a new product?
Who decided not to inform players of the upcoming revamp until 12 days before it went live?
I was extremely unimpressed by this guy's attitude, and I see his role in why things went to hell, but there's a lot of upper management decision making here regarding time-lines, overall game direction, and marketting that still needs to be answered for.
As for the current dev team. I'm not very happy with Blixtev. His attitude was "if my boss tells me to put a toilet in the living room, then I put a toilet in the living room," or something to that effect. He told us that himself. You know what I would say, and have said in that exact position? "If you want a toilet in the living room, it's going to have a list of negative outcomes, here's what they are. If you want someone to do that to your product, your business and your customers, you're going to have to find someone else. I'm not your guy."
As for other current devs. They've been given probably the worst assignment they'll ever get in their careers. This game has been butchered and the customer base is divided and angry. I wouldn't want to try to fix this kind of mess from a game development standpoint.
If anything is going to be "fixed" it's going to have to involve more than just coding. Smed and other managers have been caught outright lying to people now. They've also been caught making a decision to disguard their entire player base hoping to get a bigger audience. Code doesn't fix that. It's also been alleged that they kept people in the dark regarding the NGE to keep people paying for a product that would soon no longer exist. Code doesn't fix that. You know what does? An official apology, financial restitution and disciplinary action for anyone caught intentionally misleading consumers.
Was I offended by Rubenfield's blog? Hard not to be. Is he solely responsible for what went wrong with SWG? No, clearly management decisions had an important role to play. Looking for one scapegoat in development isn't a productive approach in my view. SOE threw Freeman under the bus years ago, and that didn't work either.