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MMO players are sending a very strong message to game companies
ArcAngel3
Member Posts: 2,931
By all going to games by Blizzard, CCP and Turbine, MMO players are sending a very clear message. We don't want to pay to beta test a bad game. We don't want you advertising things and then not delivering. We don't want you ignoring our input and bringing in wholesale, unwanted game revamps. We want to pay a fair price for a good service, and we don't want to be scammed by business models with manipulative gimmicks.
Games that do not meet these standards are emptying as people realize who is going to give them a good entertainment service for their dollar. I'm glad to see this happen. For companies other than Blizzard, CCP and Turbine, you need to raise the standards you set for yourselves in terms of customer service, or face extinction. Either way, gamers will be better off. It's in your best interest to change your approach and put customers first.
Comments
this sounds kind of biased against one company, not gonna say any names cough*SOE*cough
"Emotion, yet peace.
Ignorance, yet knowledge.
Passion, yet serenity.
Chaos, yet harmony.
Death, yet the Force"
The Original Jedi Code
this sounds kind of biased against one company, not gonna say any names cough*SOE*cough
I'm sure some see SOE as an example of how not to treat customers. You could also hear similar comments about Funcom regarding Conan's release. In fact I'm aware of a number of games by different companies that have failed to meet the standards I've mentioned, and have suffered or died as a result. You could also look at some of NCsofts recent decisions (e.g. Auto-assault, Tabula Rasa, Issue 13 of CoX).
There are clear patterns in development, business models, marketting and customer service that are linked to growing games. There are also clear patterns that are linked to games dying out; if companies are willing to see them.
Not to mention Turbine never even gave Asheron's Call 2 a chance after they bought it. They just wanted it to use the engine on all their new games and completely screwed that community.
this sounds kind of biased against one company, not gonna say any names cough*SOE*cough
I'm sure some see SOE as an example of how not to treat customers. You could also hear similar comments about Funcom regarding Conan's release. In fact I'm aware of a number of games by different companies that have failed to meet the standards I've mentioned, and have suffered or died as a result. You could also look at some of NCsofts recent decisions (e.g. Auto-assault, Tabula Rasa, Issue 13 of CoX).
There are clear patterns in development, business models, marketting and customer service that are linked to growing games. There are also clear patterns that are linked to games dying out; if companies are willing to see them.
it was just a joke lol
"Emotion, yet peace.
Ignorance, yet knowledge.
Passion, yet serenity.
Chaos, yet harmony.
Death, yet the Force"
The Original Jedi Code
this sounds kind of biased against one company, not gonna say any names cough*SOE*cough
I'm sure some see SOE as an example of how not to treat customers. You could also hear similar comments about Funcom regarding Conan's release. In fact I'm aware of a number of games by different companies that have failed to meet the standards I've mentioned, and have suffered or died as a result. You could also look at some of NCsofts recent decisions (e.g. Auto-assault, Tabula Rasa, Issue 13 of CoX).
There are clear patterns in development, business models, marketting and customer service that are linked to growing games. There are also clear patterns that are linked to games dying out; if companies are willing to see them.
it was just a joke lol
One with truth in it I think
I suppose that most of your rant seems to refer to people that just wanted to try something new. When they felt it wasn't new enough, they went back to the games that brought them in. The games you mentioned are played by a lot of relatively new people to the genre (cough Blizzard/ Turbine cough). Sure some of the staying power (or lack thereof) was unfinished games, but I think the whole "having to start new and do virtually the same thing" got the best of people. It is probably even more so now with the economy in the dumps. People don't have $50 to toss into a new game that they are unsure of, so they are sticking with their high lvl toons in their already existing game, for $14.99- knowing they have another month before finding that next $14.99.
It is probably also partly why a lot of people are turning to ftp games now, that normally wouldn't...
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Tried- L2, Ryzom, WAR, DDO, PWI, Tab Rasa, Requiem, Champs, AA, JD, PWI, SUN, Dawntide
Played- SWG (pre-cu), AoC, VG, WoW, LoTRO,CoX, EQ2, DAOC, GW, PotBS, Aion, MO,APB, NASA, Fallen Earth, DCUO, Rift
Playing- EVE, Black Prophecy, TOR
Waiting for- Tera, Jumpgate Evo, WH40K, WWE, WOD, TSW
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"Hey, if Activision liked it, then they should have put a ring on it," Double Fine President Tim Schafer said. "Oh great, now Beyonce is going to sue me too."
Just so you know why I mentioned Turbine. It's in the context of their success with Lotr, and high customer satisfaciton there. I don't doubt they've made their mistakes. What they're doing in Lotr at the moment though, is good business.
Contrast this with SOE if you like to see what I mean. After releasing a horribly buggy and incomplete StarWars game, and saying they learned their lesson; they then released a horribly buggy and incomplete fantasy game in the form of Vanguard. Both of those games also saw outraged communities asking for classic servers in the wake of revamps that ignored player input; despite SOE's claims to have learned from previous mistakes.
Maybe they'll get it right with the Agency or DC online. If, however, they advertise things and don't deliver, or if they release with a ton of bugs, or if they make your character second class unless you visit the item shop or buy TCG card packs etc., or if they tell people "no item shops" and then put them in; then they will have demonstrated that they still haven't learned. Since they have the same leadership and development team (minus their more experienced talent) it will be a tall order for that crew to make such a change.
I'm not sure who you think is ranting? Anyways, I'm sure some people will think you can succeed by failing to deliver what you advertise, releasing buggy and incomplete products, failing to consider player input with revamps, trying to sucker players out of their money with gimmicks that offer little if any entertainment value etc.
I just can't help noticing that WoW, EVE and LoTR didn't do that, and they are some of the most successful games. I don't think that's an accident. They have a habit of delivering on what they promise, being clear about what you get for your dollar, providing a highly polished product, and making their customers feel valued by responding positively to their input. I think as a result, they increase their chances of success.
I think service providers that fail to recognize this are dooming themselves to extinction. That's okay though really. We'll all have fewer but much better games to choose from, and we'll get good value for our money.
Really I'm just highlighting this in case a struggling MMO company is wondering how they are likely to increase their chances of success. Maybe they'll listen, and have a good run
. Maybe they won't. At least it's out there for them to consider. I think the pattern is fairly obvious and consistent. People may not see it that way though, and that's their prerogative. If I'm right, however, it's a missed opportunity.
Also, I got these impressions from observation, forum polls and focus groups with satisfied players ^_^. I'd encourage MMO companies to do their own research to test my hypothesis. If more thorough research proves me wrong, so be it. That's the nature of truly valuable research. I think this isn't a bad place for companies to start looking though, and further review may support my conclusions.
Yeah whenever we state our minds with our wallets companies have no choice but to listen.
I could tell four years ago when people starting calling the mmorpg market "successfull" and "promising" and well full of cash that things would go down hill. I guess the market will get better but I dont' thinkt he quality of the past will fully come back, unless consumers educate eachother about the classics pre-WoW. It will take massive forum movements to get people to realize the features of previous games like shadowbane and the variety of EQ2 and uniqueness of other off the wall games.
*I use pre-WoW because..well it's a pretty big milestone in terms of mmorpg market expansion as much as I h8 to admit it*
Neither SWG nor Vanguard were developed by SOE. I'm pretty sure Sony had their hand in the release of both those games, but I'm really not sure what happened with them after SOE owned them. I've never subbed to a SOE game so I don't really know.
This is very true but there are still too many players that preorder without knowing what they are getting...... Just ask how many people in the Darkfall forum would preorder the game with no knowledge of its playability.......
I recently made the mistake of buying Age of Conan due to the hype and the method of input/control in fighting..big mistake. The game is a waste and without a quad core with dual graphics cards it's horribly ugly..not to mentoin the frame rate UGH..
anywho this was my last straw, from now on I will not buy another mmorpg before I have played it, and that does NOT include free trials where I don't hve access to half of the features.
Oh AND a small part of me wanted to preorder Darkfall but after watching the vid, the animations are clunky and not at all fluid, same for turning. You characters body doesn't move any differantly whether your running swinging left/right, running diagonally forward swinging left/right. Which is what I seriously expected..this statue with movable arms doesn't appeal to me.
Let's get some facts straight before bashing SOE.
1. SOE had its hands tied with SWG by the Lucas Arts people. They said what can and can't go in the game and were directly responsible for demanding that content be modified to their wishes. So don't blame SOE for all of the problems with this game but then again SOE did make mistakes along the way. (NGE) anyone?
2. Vanguard was not conceived by SOE. It was not developed by SOE. It was not made by SOE. It was made by Brad McQuaid and others who formed Sigl. If anything SOE saved the game by buying out Sigil after they released the game uncompleted.
SOE was formed after Everquest was a success. EQ2 while SOE Bashers moan and groan about anything connected to SOE was a good game and still is. SOE responded to players wishes and made changes to the game and made it better several times.
Games are games. They all have faults and weaknesses. If you don't want to play one, don't play it.
I'm not sure you need to become so defensive tbh. This isn't an anti-SOE thread. A number of companies were mentioned that have successful habits, and a number were mentioned that apparently do not. SOE was one company among many highlighted.
This is about identifying principles that appear consistently linked to success. If SOE, or any other company, can acknowledge and embrace those principles, they can easily be on the successful list. Perhaps it could be taken as a challenge for them, and others, to reach their "A game."
The market is much more competitive now, and disposable income is more rare for consumers. If some companies don't change, it's going to be hard for them to survive. Some, inevitably, won't.
Also, you're quite right that games have weaknesses; so do game companies apparently. The fact is that consumers are catching on to this and taking your advice. When a game company has too many weaknesses and not enough strengths, its games depopulate. Then they die. The company itself is likely to follow. That's really the whole point of this thread tbh.