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A Worthwhile Post From the Official Forums
abbaba
Member Posts: 1,143
Posted by PeakDantu over at the offical SWG forums.
SWG Steakhouse - a parable
Restaurants were still a pretty new concept, with only a few open in the town. But steak was a hugely popular food and people were expecting big things from SWG Steakhouse, especially the owners. The restaurants that were already open sold food not nearly as popular as steak.
The menu was huge and with each meal there were many choices to be made. Although people liked the huge menu, it was hard on the staff, and sometimes the dishes didn’t come out quite perfect. Still after a year many people in town were eating at SWG Steakhouse many times a week. Even during peak hours though, many tables in the restaurant were empty, and the managers were surprised more people weren’t eating there, after all this is steak we’re offering!! Many of the customers complained on their way out too, saying that some of the dishes simply weren’t up to par. Because many of the entrees shared ingredients, changing one of them often changed the others, which upset different customers. Although not meeting the owner’s expectations, the restaurant was doing well, and many people thought after growing pains it would be the best restaurant in town.
Meanwhile, new restuarants were springing up everywhere. Many SWG Steakhouse customers went to check them out, but most of them came right back. Across the street however a fast food restaurant called McWoW opened. Now most people like a good steak more then fast food, but McWoW did the fast food thing well. They had a limited menu, but what they offered was always cooked perfectly and the orders came out fast. The limited menu also made McWoW popular with kids who weren’t interested in all the spices and sauces and side items offered at SWG Steakhouse. Every night the parking lot of McWoW was over-flowing. There were so many customers that McWoW built new restaurants all over the city and THEY were overflowing with customers.
Most Steakhouse customers stood by their restuarant however. They weren’t interested in fast food, they wanted a nice meal, even if they had to make more choices from the menu and wait a little longer for it to be prepared.
The managers of the Steakhouse were concerned though, and more than a little jealous. They started changing the menu of the Steakhouse trying to make the food more like McWoW’s. The steakhouse customers were not happy at all with the changes and they complained even more. The managers decided that if the customers were still complaining they must not be enough like McWoW. They ran focus groups and surveys of people that were not eating at their steakhouse.
Something drastic needed to be done decided the managers, so they decided to remodel the steakhouse to look like McWoW and switch to a fast food menu. They did this while they were open. Needless to say the customers that ordered the filet mignon with sautéed mushrooms and a Caesar salad were NOT pleased when the waiter brought them a plain cheeseburger with fries. The Steakhouse customers were irate and many begin swearing at the staff. The managers seemed baffled as to why they were not happy, after all they were just making the restaurant try to appeal to new customers. They didn’t understand that their own customers didn’t want fast food, and that the people that wanted fast food would never go to a steakhouse to get it. Gradually, more and more people stopped going to the steakhouse. Ironically, many of them decided to start eating at McWoW’s because they were so fed up with the Steakhouse. The few remaining Steakhouse customers wondered how long their once beloved, thriving restaurant would stay open.
http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=swggpdiscussion&message.id=892491
Comments
Who else would make eggs drop from stormies.
I also find the resemblance between McDonalds arches and WoW (stand on your head) uncanny. Reminds me of Coming to America movie.
Who else would make eggs drop from stormies.
It is pretty obvious to me that the quality and talent of the dev staff is questionable at best. IF SOE has any competent developers I am sure they are working on a new project by now.
At SOE, wrorking on SWG must be a punishment and one step closer to being let go. Like being a 2nd class citizen
At SOE, wrorking on SWG must be a punishment and one step closer to being let go. Like being a 2nd class citizen
They don't have designers anymore. And by that I mean designers by specialty, not by job title.
Helios is lead something, but he has no clue about design. Raph did have many impractical ideas, and many were implemented improperly, but pre-cu at least had coherent design, even if not refined.
SWG is currently feature driven product. They are adding scraps in hope of improving, but there is no coherency anymore. Similar like a ship, workers are shuffling coal, but they don't know ship is docked in harbor and isn't even moving. Navigator is charting course, but doesn't know the destination. Meals are preparing 5 star dinner, but nobody told them it's breakfast time. Ship still works, but something is missing.
My comment towards harvesters was aimed at that. They made sense, because SWG was designed with offline aspects in mind. Harvesters, factories, bazaar, player economy were all designed from world perspective, not player perspective. The world lived on after you logged off, and you were making a contribution even then.
And as for crafters being better off without harvesters and getting resources from loot (my idea)? Organics, including milk and eggs now only drop as loot. Crafters can't get it. They can't kill. They also can't direct harvesting efforts, since all the mass mob killing is limited to highest xp gain mobs, and even that has somewhat changed with pub 29. End result? Not fun. Very not fun.
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SWG - 1st Gen MBH (Closed)
EVE (Closed)
WoW (61 Orc Hunter - Blackwing Lair)
GuildWars (Boring...)
Who else would make eggs drop from stormies.
Actually, a Vegan does not have ANYTHING to do with products that come from animals (eggs, cheese, leather, etc....)
That was a pretty good little analogy.
But you left the part out where the old frequent diner cards were no longer valid at the remodeled SWG steak house.
Don't forget about the people who paid for their meals 12 months in advance and weren't allowed to cancel and now have smedburgers with no relish and the fries are on a back order which are due to be ready in the coming months.
I don't think I'll be recommending this restaraunt anymore. In fact I may have to get the health inspectors in.
This reminds me of when we used to have proper pubs all over London, the red lion, dog and duck etc.
One day someone came up with All Bar One where there were big tables with food being served and everything was shiny and glossy and they didnt always have a tv for the football because it wasn't really appropriate anymore for a bar such as this.
Then one day all the little pubs thought they'd magically morph into All Bar One style bars and started putting cous-cous and lentils on the menu and all the bars with character and originality all disappeared.
I just want a pint, a ham roll that's been shoddily made and wrapped in tinfoil, a smelly carpet that I can happily stub out cigarettes on, the sport on tv, a game of pool/darts and where I can relax and be myself without having to iron a shirt and wear shoes so I can get past the neanderthal on the door
I know I have strayed from the original post but I thought I'd share that with you too.