General Discussion

mmo-type games get released with loads of bugs, lag, and just crap; because people PAY for it.  not only do people buy the box, they pay a monthly sub, and they say things like "oh, we just need to stick it out a few months while they work out the bugs".

each of these game companies has had YEARS of time, MILLIONS of dollars and many people working overtime to build these games.  what exactly about an MMO takes MILLIONS of dollars to create?  if your development team is making six figures and has experience on numerous other MMO and/or game projects; then, why haven't they learned from the past and are releasing bug-free games for the years and millions put into these mmos?

for every mmo that gets released and the moronic reasoning is "oh all mmos are always evolving and are never complete"; please understand that does not include bugs/crashes/etc; that means that new content gets added, new skills/classes/races get added, new items/housing/mounts/etc gets added.  that is NOT a reason for why a game gets to retail and is bug-filled.

MILLIONS of dollars.  raise your hand if you currently have a million dollars.  do you know how much money that is?  30 million dollars.  how does half a decade (or longer) and tens of millions of dollars, ONLY buy a bug-filled retail game?

not only that; but, they "rely" upon players who donate their time and effort for testing the game pre-release.  players who are not employees and are not paid, are used to supplement the people that are pissing away multiple millions of dollars, in order to make a game.

so, why?

are we, as a people, so weak-minded that we HAVE to have something to follow and worship?  if it's not a sports team, then it's a gaming company?

i do fully blame fanbois for their blind faith (read - stupidity), in feeding the egos of dev teams and saying they'll play a game even if it crashes to the desktop once an hour.  but, it's not only fanbois that are buying the boxes and paying for MONTHS of a buggy game.

heck, i've even seen staff on this site make posts about how folks should just try to stick it out with the game for a few more months, because it's making all sorts of improvements.  a few months to PAY money to BETA test a game until it's got the bugs worked out.

does anyone understand how insane that sounds?

i mean, if i were a gaming company, i would love to DEATH, everyone that talks like that.

i'm also curious, people of those opinions, do you accept that from cable, cell phone, or any other monthly service you have?  would it be ok with you if your satellite/cable crashed and had to be rebooted a couple of times a day?  or if you had laggy (perhaps static-filled) television programs and/or phone calls?

honestly, are you that way with every service to which you subscribe?  if you are NOT, then you are either a hypocrite, or what? stupid? fanboi? a child who doesn't have to pay any bills?  i'm not even sure what it would categorize you as.

would you pay to go to a ball game (which is just a game and is just entertainment, just like MMOs), only to have the pitcher or quarterback (or whatever position), on the team you're hoping wins, decide he would take a nap in the middle of the game?  would you be cool with having thrown away that $40 (or more) ticket?  you're paying $50-100 for a box, and $15/month, yes, it's a replacement for sports (or another hobby to go along with sports' watching).  would it be acceptable to you if your team was winning by one point and with 10 minutes to go, the coach put in all the second stringers?   what if you're watching a playoff game at home, and there's about to be the play the decides who wins and who loses... and your cable/satellite died for five minutes?  would you be perfectly fine with that?  after all, it's JUST a game, and i know people that would be ready to put holes thru chest cavities if that happened.

so... why do you throw away money and tell gaming companies, "hey, give us whatever crap-filled game you want, i WILL support you"... ?

I pay for gameplay and ideology, not stability and polish.

Many people spend much more than the cost of an MMO on relatively non-interactive, evanescent goods like seeing movies in theatre and eating fast food.

Originally posted by katriell

I pay for gameplay and ideology, not stability and polish.

and that goes for any sports game you watch, your actual cable/satellite/radio/phone/internet service as well?

these are different forms of entertainment for which you pay.

my questions really were NOT confined to just why does someone play a game, i want to know if those people that pay to play subpar games, also pay for subpar everything else and if they, honestly, would be satisfied if everything else were subpar.

that is why i gave examples as i did.

so, would you?

Originally posted by katriell

I pay for gameplay and ideology, not stability and polish.

Many people spend much more than the cost of an MMO on relatively non-interactive, evanescent goods like seeing movies in theatre and eating fast food.

i see you edited it.

so, say the movie you're watching in the theatre had parts where it "lagged", i.e. the movie stuttered and spurted and you were unable to understand what was being said or see it very well (since you've ignored all the examples i gave and actually gave examples that i did not break down)...  would you be pleased with the shoddy movie presentation?

say your popcorn tasted a bit nasty and you found a couple of roaches crawling out of it.  your soda had a dead fly floating in it.  would you be satisfied with these "bugs"?

I used to have one exception -  SWG because I loved it so much. I think I would still accept its faults today if it were still in the old system.  But not now.  I  am tired of the bugs and lags in  certain games so I simply wont bother with them.  The fact that no-one on the current SGW bothers to implement some decent PVP goals as all their faithful subscribers stand around Restuss. That is total disregard and disrespect to the players there.

But anyway, I think a better analogy would be you are watching a baseball game and the only bat broke in half and they had to continue with it taped up  or a football match and the goal posts keep falling down. Or watching hockey and the ice defrosted. Or watching a concert and the sounds was only coming out of one amp. Or reading a book and the pages werent glued together, or buying a pair of jeans but the butt area wasnt finished yet so you had to walk around with buttocks on display....Ive taken it too far havent I.

But, I do agree, but I see it more as a disrespect to the player base. They feel we are dumb enough to put up with it. It isnt our job to test it, its ours to pay them to do that so we can get on and have fun and roleplay without rubberbanding backwards into a wall. But I do suffer from the SWG curse so maybe I am a little more tainted than others opinions.

The mmo developers have a gnack at finding lazy amateurs to develop thier game and completely ignore talent.  Have you ever stepped into an mmo world thinking it took 4 years to make, playing through all the content and thinking, if I had 4 years with a fulltime job I can do the entire art in this game to a better quality?

I don't watch sports, so I'll answer that part of your question in terms of the movies and serial television shows I watch. Yes, I choose series for ideology and content as well. For example, I love the 1960s Planet of the Apes series and movies, and hate the 2001 remake, because even though the 2001 movie naturally has vastly better visual effects and such, everything else about it is utter crap IMO. The old series and movies, on the other hand, are proper and delicious science-fiction with interesting concepts and equally interesting stories derived from those concepts.

As for services like phone, television, etc., in some cases I don't have a choice due to limited coverage in the city's-edge suburban area I live in. But generally I choose based on a balance of cost and quality, because 1) these things are more expensive than an MMO, and 2) some of these things are vital services. I need a reliable phone connection if I'm injured and have to call a hospital. An online game's stability or lack thereof plainly isn't in the same league.

EDIT: Now you edited your post too. :P
Edit of the edit: Ah, no you didn't, the page merely auto-positioned atop your new post so I didn't see the one I initially replied to...

Originally posted by CleffyII

The mmo developers have a gnack at finding lazy amateurs to develop thier game and completely ignore talent.  Have you ever stepped into an mmo world thinking it took 4 years to make, playing through all the content and thinking, if I had 4 years with a fulltime job I can do the entire art in this game to a better quality?

Developers must feel gutted after 4 or so years of developing a whole world to find out its laggy, filled with bugs or simply boring and nobody plays.