General Discussion

In the early to late 90's, if you asked me "Who is the best company for electronics and gaming?"  Hands down my answer would've been "Sony".  Now, that 4-letter S word is perceived by many as an entirely different 4-letter S word.  I'd been a long time player of Everquest in the early years (also played Star Wars Galaxies and Everquest II) only to find myself upset or frustrated most of the time whether it be the customer service, billing, bugs, malicious changes/updates, monthly $40 expansions, etc.  When Pirates of the Burning Sea was announced, I was very excited...up until the point it was announced that SOE would distribute.  I was selected for beta (hooray!) but Sony Station installer gave me errors in trying to play the game so I just gave up.  What happened?  How did this empire that would've clearly had the world in it's hand suddenly tank in quality?  At this point, I refuse to buy anything that says "Sony".

There is only one solution when you get to the point of getting upset and frustrated and thats to stop doing the things that gets you upset and/or frustrated. And sorry no need to refuse something that isn't forced upon you, remember you have a choice.

Originally posted by Reklaw

There is only one solution when you get to the point of getting upset and frustrated and thats to stop doing the things that gets you upset and/or frustrated. And sorry no need to refuse something that isn't forced upon you, remember you have a choice.

A perfectly valid point and well taken.  I've been Sony-free for about a year now and can say it feels great.  It's true if something upsets a person, they should either take action with it externally (by removing oneself from it) or internally make peace with it (accept things that are impossible to change).

Still, those questions I have above linger...

I love EQ. EQ is the God under raiding, nothing comes close.

Everything else SoE has ever produced I could care less about to be honest.

EQ2 was ok but nothing that innovative and it plays like an EQ light to me.

Sigil's Vanguard was an ok try but too much was just a copy of EQ and the design team didn't have the support or knowledge to do what Verant did. Brad never being around and having no idea how to lead a company was too much for the game to ever be a success.

No one knows.  I was a shareholder of SNE for a longtime, and it was "the" electronics industry leader.

It is a Japanese company, and I think its current President is a non-MBA British citizen.  I do not follow the company very much, but I do still use its products (Everquest) and admire its other products (EQ 2, SWG).

Nevertheless, I have asked friends of mine who work in the industry, years ago, what happened to SNE - no one seems to really know.  I would love to find out! (My theory:  arrogance, they went from being an innovative business to being a big corporation). 

Bad Management > bad choices > bad product.

You know what, I just thought of it:

Marketing.

I think they do not realize that most of us are not "hardcore."  Many of us "gamers" have *gasps!* real-lives and families and real-life friends and actually attend competitive graduate programs.

"Gamers" are no-longer shy, often emotionally challenged, unemployed teens and people in their early 20s.  Most of us are average lower to middle-middle class who just enjoy "gaming" with our busy lives.

Edit:  All I know is that I was never "hardcore" or ever wanted to be.... but I still want to "game." 

Originally posted by declaredemer

You know what, I just thought of it:

Marketing.

 

 

I think they do not realize that most of us are not "hardcore."  Many of us "gamers" have *gasps!* real-lives and families and real-life friends and actually attend competitive graduate programs.

 

 

"Gamers" are no-longer shy, often emotionally challenged, unemployed teens and people in their early 20s.  Most of us are average lower to middle-middle class who just enjoy "gaming" with our busy lives.

 

Edit:  All I know is that I was never "hardcore" or ever wanted to be.... but I still want to "game." 

I agree. I have a bit less time to play with studies etc.

But I still play EQ cause it's so complex and the chats are much more fun. I have no "N00B.WTF.BBQ.321" players to deal with.

But EQ is like an ancient practice. You know not many do it anymore, but if they just gave you the tools and attention it needed it could flourish.

What I blame SoE for is focussing on every stupid game they have made since EQ and instead of treasuring the diamond EQ is they neglect it in favor of their stationpass and new games.

^{Well any SOE game should be in your market then, as one of SOE's biggetst failures is dumbing down every game they touch to the lowest possible denomiator over time. There are no difficult SOE games anymore even EQ1 has been altered beyond recognition from its original state.}

^{P.S. I work 40+hours a week, have a life outside of video games and also do volunteer work and yet For almost 3 years of EQ I was able to maintain my presence in one of the top guilds on my server. The whole no life living in moms basement depicture of high end raiders is largely a myth. Being in a high end raid guild is all about being organized and efficient in your game play. Sure there were a good portion of that type in the high end guilds, but also a lot of successful people who ran their own business and had familes and or worked those 40+ hours a week. Being in a top notch raid guild is by no means easy it takes a lot of dedication, but it can be done if you are determined enough.}