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MMORPGDot Comic: Altre's Gamer View We're all familiar with software bugs. Especially when it comes to Massively Multiplayer Games. These days it seems increasingly common for developers to push out a messy game, fully expecting the market to shell out cash for poorly implemented products. Which, of course, we always do.
A standard development cycle is beginning to emerge: first announce a game, then ensure that you give a grandiose feature list; Build as much hype as Possible, and when your publishing date comes up, miss it. A few months later, cut features out of your game. Let a few more publishing deadlines go by, and then finally put the game out. Once on the market, it will have an abysmally buggy and poor launch. Patch the game over time, and in about six months to a year the game will be stable. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Gamers have put up with the increasing apathy of the large companies toward our needs. Why? There doesn't seem to be anything we can do about it. Releasing an MMO without bugs is considered unfeasible, not cost effective. It's much simper to release a shoddy, unrefined game just to get revenue going. After all, if you can just patch it to perfection later it's justifiable, isn't it? Ultimately, whose fault is this downward spiral that we seem to be in? Publishers, for rushing out games and paying more attention to the bottom line than quality or vision? Developers, for promising heaven, and only delivering a smelly fish sandwich? It could be the media, who hype every game to the extreme, and have about as much objectivity as a monkey on a banana farm. Possibly, it's us. The public who will put our cash out on the line, even though we know that we're buying an inferior product. It's probably not anyone's fault specifically. Rather, a convergence of many compromises on all sides that leads to the situation we're in now. Solutions? There are some simple, practical ideas that would improve our software. Less Hype. Realistic promises. Well thought out release dates. Less tolerance for mediocrity. If we can pull these things off, then we're doing alright. These aren't new ideas. So then what are we waiting for, one might wonder? |
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