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A Small Win For Gamer's
laserit
Member LegendaryPosts: 7,591
Here is another example of how a very unpopular game design decision can be changed with enough consumer's speaking their mind and speaking with their wallet's.
I sincerely hope that this 180 degree change in this game's policy is reflected in future game design. I can think of another big franchise where a change such as this would be very welcome.
bad policy = bad policy
bad business model = bad business model
no matter how good or bad the game.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Comments
If they want to keep making money on the game, they had to do something.
The problem is many players do speak their minds and sometimes players are just as wrong as the companies are. A great example is Rift at the beginning, where they continually nerfed certain souls because players were whining about it - it didn't have to be done.
I bought the game shortly after it came out. I missed the launch issues, BUT - I was still given a free pick and got BF4 for free.
I dunno.... I have mixed feelings about this one. I do think that SimCity should have had an offline mode. HOWEVER, it was originally sold and marketed as an online only game to be played with other players. I like the idea of trading my extra resources for resources I needed that played in the same regions. I never really got into the community projects, simply because I never got to deep in the game play.
To me, this is both good and bad. The good is quite obvious - it's another way to play the same game for those that don't want multiplayer capability. The bad is two fold - the original concept was that your choices had an impact. Now, your choices are pointless. If you screw up, simply backtrack and restore an older city file via Dropbox.
To me, this is like going to a game and making demands for something it was never designed for.
* I want a PvE only version of EVE Online and Darkfall
* I want a single player version of World of Warcraft - Why should I have to be connected to a server and play a monthly fee when I only want to play by myself. Who cares if it's a multiplayer game.
* If I don't get my random item in a raid, I should be able to restore my game to 15 minutes ago, complete the last fight again and have another shot until I get what I wanted in the first place.
On a side note - They already announced that they would be looking into an offline version a while back. They also announced that they were looking to increase the map size. Guess which task was assigned priority. I don't see this as a win for gamers.
I agree with you
But there is a difference between protesting and whining.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Whether it's a game, an automobile or a toaster.... a bad design is a bad design and needs to be changed. I very much enjoyed earlier versions of SimCity. I purchased the latest version on day 1. It held my interest for about 6 hours of game play. I never bitched, I never whined..... I just never played.
I guess the difference is, unlike Eve, Darkfall and World of Warcraft, many (maybe the majority) SimCity fans prefer single player sandbox style gameplay. Personally for me, it felt like SimCity meets FaceBook. Blah...
EA figured their market for the game would enjoy it the way they designed it and EA was wrong.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
There is a difference between being a fan of the franchise and the fan of the game.
The people who are complaining were never fans of the game. Period. If you only played for 6 hours. You were not a fan. However, you could still be a fan of the franchise.
This would be like Halo fans screaming about the RTS versions of the Halo games in their franchise. They should be FPS, because all of the other ones were FPS. Right?
This was never meant to be a single player game. Ever. It was designed from the ground up to be a multiplayer version of SimCity that you could play with friends. This is why they had to dumb it down compared to previous versions of Sim City. It wasn't until shortly after release when they started to consider offline play. If people want a single player version of Sim City, they should have considered playing Sim City 4000.
The general public (not you laserit) is becoming so narrow minded and arrogant in their entitled attitudes, that I wouldn't be surprised in another 10 years if we hear stories about thousands of fans protesting the way how a movie ended that they "force the publisher" to rewrite the ending just for them. This is why we keep getting half assed games. The publishers try to make a single product appeal to everyone. They shouldn't. Let the people who enjoy the game enjoy it, and make a different style of game for the ones that don't.
EDIT: This is why toaster manufacturers, car manufacturers, and game publishers release different styles of games that have little to do with one another - even if they are in the same franchise.
This is just silly.
Why do you think all games should follow a formula that you like?
Why would you feel the need to protest any game for that matter? There are millions of games out there. There are thousands of MMOs and multiplayer games today. Some are down right terrible. Some are borderline scams (*cough* Entropia). However, I still don't see the need to protest.
Do you protest movies you don't like? Do you think a restaurant should not be allowed to sell food unless there is something on their menu that suits you? Do you think that entire genres of music should just end because you don't like them?
As for flopping? I hardly think SWTOR flopped. They made a lot of money on it. If you think that flopping is having a big release and then watching the game slowly dwindle away - then every game that ever existed is a flop. All games go through this life cycle. Otherwise, you would still be playing the original MMO that brought you into the genre and I would still be playing the original Sim City on my Rainbow computer back from the 80s.
Ouch, this hurt to read, but I get your point. If you hate or dislike a particular game, why would you even spend the time to provide feedback? Is there an expectation that your input will actually change things and bring the game back into the "like" category? I would think if you hate or dislike a game then move on, otherwise find a constructive way of expressing yourself if you absolutely HAVE to provide feedback.