Smed may not code the actual gameplay, but being the president I'm sure he is pretty invovled in the overall direction of the games in his company. That is why they are all shifting to micro transaction, rmt, virtual card sales, etc. The focus has changed from creating game to one of creating products based on revenue models. That is the direct result of his passion with the eastern market model combined with his lack of concern for the playerbase. The passion from the leadership is no longer about making great games, because his lust for "changing the market" trumps everything else. As for the comments about "the other IP holder", the same problems with swg were seen repeated many times in their other mmos. None to the degree of swg, but they were still the same problems. Again this is the culture of the company stemming from the top on down. Also I doubt the apathy was alone at swg. I doubt anyone is excited working on planetside, eqoa, eq-mac, mxo, vanguard, etc. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think every one of their mmos has lost or changed producer/directors over the last two years. I've heard DCU has undergone several senior changes already. The seniors at the seattle studio making the agency have left soe recently. Something is wrong at soe and I think it comes directly from the top.
I will also add, that the top down additude of walking on the customers can be examplified by Brenlo's knocking SWG to its fan's directly at Fan Faire. Now normally I can laugh such swipes off but that one got under my skin somehow. Call it game community pride or geek out but no rep should knock a game they repesent to its own dedicated (because I was there) players. No, it becomes clear there is a lack of respect to thier players and only a respect for the money they serve. BTW, when I say "repesent", yes, Brenlo is over EQ2 but he is high enough up the chain of command that he reps all of SOE's offerings. At any rate, I didn't care for his humor.
Is Brenlo the douchebag who talked about some change in EQ2 and then mocks and laughs to the Star Wars players about how they are not going to call it the New Player Experience?
This probably has nothing to do with the thread, but I hate John Smedley.
I saw his picture. And that was enough.
But then the comments I read about him...the corporate business that sucks the heart out of games and in the long run kills game companies just oozes off of him.
You bring up a great point here, but Smedley does post on forums and also give interviews with game sites and game conventions quite often. The problem is that he never talks about games and what makes them fun. All, and I mean all, he talks about is micro transactions, revenue models and demographics. Find any article over the last several years and see what I mean. He can barely be bothered to pay lip service to entertainment or enjoyment any more. However ask a question about money and he can't shut up. He is so far removed from the process of actually making a game fun as a result of this and that seems to be the corporate culture now. Almost every giant blunder in soe history directly relates back to decisions that were made based on financial speculation as opposed to game design principles. That is the culture of soe now combined with the arrogance of sony corp on top of it and that is why they are where they are now.
Frankly he doesn't post on his own forums anymore, becasue he doesn't care about what his customers think with one exception. He only posts when there is something threatening revenue or they are trying to increase revenue via RMT. He usually has to preface the post with "I know this is going to be controversial....", but otherwise he just doesn't care.
Hmmm...this, along with your following link, were quite interesting reads and I think your analysis is spot on. John seems to have stopped caring about the customer and appears to be focused solely on the $ - which is just a small part of running a successful business.
Do you think that the partnership with Sony may have done more harm than good for him (and in turn, SWG)? Do you think Smed might be more focused on the customer if he didn't have the backing and name of Sony behind him?
Would Star Wars Galaxies be run the same if it were licensed by Verant Interactive Inc., rather than SoE? Sure, they're the same now, but the name Sony carries a certain amount of brand loyalty and name recognition that Verant Interactive Inc. just doesn't have.
Contrast SoE's game development and focus with that of Blizzard Entertainment. I've never player WoW (nor will I). How can a no-name company like Blizzard Entertainment deliver a game and content that keeps millions of players active, subscribed and happy, while Sony Online can't have more than 5000 subscribers to the largest name in all of marketing - Star Wars?
Leadership would seem to be the obvious answer...but that doesn't explain how a game like "Everquest" could still be going when it's being run by the same company that can't seem to make Star Wars work...hell, authors can write about **edit**ing Wookiee zombies and sell their **edit**ty books, but a game based off of the same name is one disappointment after another. Can it all boil down to JUST leadership? Or is there a "passion" there for Everquest that just has never been there for Star Wars?
Verant truly were leaders in their field at the time, how much of that was down to John Smedley only his colleagues can say really but now with SOE he (and they) have devolved into also rans, desperately trying to keep pace by emulating features and systems that have been innovative in their competitors products.
2 Years after SWTOR has been out SOE will bring out a fully voiced mmo and make a huge song and dance about how they're pushing new boundaries. It's pathetic to watch as an outsider as a company with the resources they have at hand wastes them, continually through poor management level decisions and for that there's only one person to blame, the man at the top.
...The spread of secondary and latterly of tertiary education has created a large population of people, often with well developed literary and scholarly tastes, who have been educated far beyond their capacity to undertake analytical thought.
I'm not sure I would call wow a fluke considering blizzards track record. There is a reason they have multiple game franchises in the best selling software lists, so I'm sure they knew what they were doing when they created wow. To the degree it is now, no, but that is a result of such weak competition right now more than anything else. There should be far more games competing for top honors than just one run away success. Which is somewhat related to this thread and how soe conducts itself as a company. If you really want to point out flukes it would be everquest since soe has since then not come anywhere close to its success. Maybe treating their customers like shit and chasing away the people who actually showed talent making their games hasn't been such a good formula so far. After ten years in the industry I don't think it is just a result of recent economic trends.
I agree with you that SOE almost seems like they dont want customers, they act like a 5 star hotel when in reality they are a box hotel/motel you see on every corner now. I played Blizzard games when I was a kid, I really dont understand the appeal to adults though? You take away the millions of Chineese and Koreans and thier in the same boat as SOE with North Americans and European players.
Besides that Smed just isnt that high on the Devils freinds list to make SOE as popular as Blizzard.
And they arnt getting endorsed by the prince of darkness either are they? I think everyones seen his commercial for WOW.
Is Brenlo the douchebag who talked about some change in EQ2 and then mocks and laughs to the Star Wars players about how they are not going to call it the New Player Experience?
SOE mods are notorius for deleting posts that are in the least bit critical of any SOE game let alone posts about how shit the mods are.... SOE bought out my OLD favorite game Poxnora. The second they did that, i knew the game was going to go down the drain. Lo'n'behold, it did. Glad I got out when I did, made quite a bit of cash.
I laugh reading all the crying about how SOE is moderating with a heavy hand. Here is a newsflash every MMO that keeps forums around will be doing it within in a year. I have two friends who are currently helping to Code the Battlenet 2.0 forums. Kiss the cesspool goodbye ActiBlizzard has plans to homogenize all of the forums with the launch of SC2. At the GDC Turbines Jeff Steefle talked about how the ESRB was now getting into the forum and in game interactions business and have started warning developers that excessive hate speech or mature content on forums or in MMO games could lead to ratings changes.
I get that people love to paint SOE and Smed as the bad guys but this is a paradigm shift in the industry as a whole.
The wild west of the Internet is coming to a close Kiddies.
There is a major difference between constructive criticism and just flat out bs. Most people only listen to the bs on the internet, take the oh so mighty mmorpg.com for example. Most people wont listen to you. They either skim or think it's reigning fire and brim stone.
There you now know how to post on a forum such as SOE's. Idiot's at SOE no different with Lucas will say they want "ideas" and "innovation" but it all boils down to this. However they do there math. If the figures aren't up to par with there expectations then screw it, it was a bad idea. Even though this is were talking to your fan base as well as the general game community can help promote and improve game aspects. Developers aren't the ones playing the games, we are. They seem to have forgotten that.
When did you start playing "old school" MMO's. World Of Warcraft?
I laugh reading all the crying about how SOE is moderating with a heavy hand. Here is a newsflash every MMO that keeps forums around will be doing it within in a year. I have two friends who are currently helping to Code the Battlenet 2.0 forums. Kiss the cesspool goodbye ActiBlizzard has plans to homogenize all of the forums with the launch of SC2. At the GDC Turbines Jeff Steefle talked about how the ESRB was now getting into the forum and in game interactions business and have started warning developers that excessive hate speech or mature content on forums or in MMO games could lead to ratings changes. I get that people love to paint SOE and Smed as the bad guys but this is a paradigm shift in the industry as a whole.
The wild west of the Internet is coming to a close Kiddies.
While I don't agree with the tone (dude do you have to sound like a arrogant jerk in every post?) Todeswulf is essentially correct, at least as far as what Blizzard has planned for all of it's games. I mean right now they will forum perma-ban you for just about anything, however they want to take it further and a premium subscription model is how they plan to do it.
As I understand it Free Battlenet play after 2.0 means you can do Vs games that’s it no ladders nothing, WoW players will be able to play the game and read ad supported forums but not post, and will not be able to use the Armory.
Premium battlenet members will be able to play ladder games participate in BG and Arena Tournaments, view the armory and post on ad free forums that will be moderated 24/7. They will also have tools that let them have personal Blogs and Guild pages, and will be able to play a digital version of the WoW TCG. The price is 4.99 a month for non-WoW players and 2.99 a month for Current WoW subscribers.
Yes the old school B.net kiddies are going to go ape shit
No Blizzard could really care less because they know that it is going to improve thier overall image and folks will be lining up to shove even more money down there trousers.
This sword here at my side dont act the way it should Keeps calling me its master, but I feel like its slave Hauling me faster and faster to an early, early grave And it howls! it howls like hell!
Comments
I will also add, that the top down additude of walking on the customers can be examplified by Brenlo's knocking SWG to its fan's directly at Fan Faire. Now normally I can laugh such swipes off but that one got under my skin somehow. Call it game community pride or geek out but no rep should knock a game they repesent to its own dedicated (because I was there) players. No, it becomes clear there is a lack of respect to thier players and only a respect for the money they serve. BTW, when I say "repesent", yes, Brenlo is over EQ2 but he is high enough up the chain of command that he reps all of SOE's offerings. At any rate, I didn't care for his humor.
Is Brenlo the douchebag who talked about some change in EQ2 and then mocks and laughs to the Star Wars players about how they are not going to call it the New Player Experience?
This probably has nothing to do with the thread, but I hate John Smedley.
I saw his picture. And that was enough.
But then the comments I read about him...the corporate business that sucks the heart out of games and in the long run kills game companies just oozes off of him.
Hmmm...this, along with your following link, were quite interesting reads and I think your analysis is spot on. John seems to have stopped caring about the customer and appears to be focused solely on the $ - which is just a small part of running a successful business.
Do you think that the partnership with Sony may have done more harm than good for him (and in turn, SWG)? Do you think Smed might be more focused on the customer if he didn't have the backing and name of Sony behind him?
Would Star Wars Galaxies be run the same if it were licensed by Verant Interactive Inc., rather than SoE? Sure, they're the same now, but the name Sony carries a certain amount of brand loyalty and name recognition that Verant Interactive Inc. just doesn't have.
Contrast SoE's game development and focus with that of Blizzard Entertainment. I've never player WoW (nor will I). How can a no-name company like Blizzard Entertainment deliver a game and content that keeps millions of players active, subscribed and happy, while Sony Online can't have more than 5000 subscribers to the largest name in all of marketing - Star Wars?
Leadership would seem to be the obvious answer...but that doesn't explain how a game like "Everquest" could still be going when it's being run by the same company that can't seem to make Star Wars work...hell, authors can write about **edit**ing Wookiee zombies and sell their **edit**ty books, but a game based off of the same name is one disappointment after another. Can it all boil down to JUST leadership? Or is there a "passion" there for Everquest that just has never been there for Star Wars?
Verant truly were leaders in their field at the time, how much of that was down to John Smedley only his colleagues can say really but now with SOE he (and they) have devolved into also rans, desperately trying to keep pace by emulating features and systems that have been innovative in their competitors products.
2 Years after SWTOR has been out SOE will bring out a fully voiced mmo and make a huge song and dance about how they're pushing new boundaries. It's pathetic to watch as an outsider as a company with the resources they have at hand wastes them, continually through poor management level decisions and for that there's only one person to blame, the man at the top.
...The spread of secondary and latterly of tertiary education has created a large population of people, often with well developed literary and scholarly tastes, who have been educated far beyond their capacity to undertake analytical thought.
I agree with you that SOE almost seems like they dont want customers, they act like a 5 star hotel when in reality they are a box hotel/motel you see on every corner now. I played Blizzard games when I was a kid, I really dont understand the appeal to adults though? You take away the millions of Chineese and Koreans and thier in the same boat as SOE with North Americans and European players.
Besides that Smed just isnt that high on the Devils freinds list to make SOE as popular as Blizzard.
And they arnt getting endorsed by the prince of darkness either are they? I think everyones seen his commercial for WOW.
That would be the correct douchebag.
SOE mods are notorius for deleting posts that are in the least bit critical of any SOE game let alone posts about how shit the mods are.... SOE bought out my OLD favorite game Poxnora. The second they did that, i knew the game was going to go down the drain. Lo'n'behold, it did. Glad I got out when I did, made quite a bit of cash.
I laugh reading all the crying about how SOE is moderating with a heavy hand. Here is a newsflash every MMO that keeps forums around will be doing it within in a year. I have two friends who are currently helping to Code the Battlenet 2.0 forums. Kiss the cesspool goodbye ActiBlizzard has plans to homogenize all of the forums with the launch of SC2. At the GDC Turbines Jeff Steefle talked about how the ESRB was now getting into the forum and in game interactions business and have started warning developers that excessive hate speech or mature content on forums or in MMO games could lead to ratings changes.
I get that people love to paint SOE and Smed as the bad guys but this is a paradigm shift in the industry as a whole.
The wild west of the Internet is coming to a close Kiddies.
There is a major difference between constructive criticism and just flat out bs. Most people only listen to the bs on the internet, take the oh so mighty mmorpg.com for example. Most people wont listen to you. They either skim or think it's reigning fire and brim stone.
There you now know how to post on a forum such as SOE's. Idiot's at SOE no different with Lucas will say they want "ideas" and "innovation" but it all boils down to this. However they do there math. If the figures aren't up to par with there expectations then screw it, it was a bad idea. Even though this is were talking to your fan base as well as the general game community can help promote and improve game aspects. Developers aren't the ones playing the games, we are. They seem to have forgotten that.
When did you start playing "old school" MMO's. World Of Warcraft?
While I don't agree with the tone (dude do you have to sound like a arrogant jerk in every post?) Todeswulf is essentially correct, at least as far as what Blizzard has planned for all of it's games. I mean right now they will forum perma-ban you for just about anything, however they want to take it further and a premium subscription model is how they plan to do it.
As I understand it Free Battlenet play after 2.0 means you can do Vs games that’s it no ladders nothing, WoW players will be able to play the game and read ad supported forums but not post, and will not be able to use the Armory.
Premium battlenet members will be able to play ladder games participate in BG and Arena Tournaments, view the armory and post on ad free forums that will be moderated 24/7. They will also have tools that let them have personal Blogs and Guild pages, and will be able to play a digital version of the WoW TCG. The price is 4.99 a month for non-WoW players and 2.99 a month for Current WoW subscribers.
Yes the old school B.net kiddies are going to go ape shit
No Blizzard could really care less because they know that it is going to improve thier overall image and folks will be lining up to shove even more money down there trousers.
This sword here at my side dont act the way it should
Keeps calling me its master, but I feel like its slave
Hauling me faster and faster to an early, early grave
And it howls! it howls like hell!