Great article - my only hope is that players would read and take the time to actually understand what is being said here.
Worry not, Kano... I'm sure many of us here are every bit as intelligent and capable of grasping "what's being said here" as you are.
-eye roll-
The importance of launch, the first 3 months being so critical, near impossibility of making a live game grow by any significant margin (regardless of how good the updates are), player demands far exceeding realistic development goals etc....
You don't say! Really? So, wait... you mean the first months of a MMO's launch are critical, as that's when first impressions will be made, reviews will be written, and a game's long-term health could well be determined when it's barely out the door?
Get right out of town!
You mean, players' own expectations for a game they envision in their heads can grow well beyond what the finished product actually is, or was ever meant to be? You mean players can be unreasonably demanding, and expect far more of a developer than could ever realistically be delivered? That this could lead to a sense of disappointment, and even betrayal by the developers, over things that never existed anywhere outside the players' own over-hyped imaginations and overblown expectations?
No way!
Years of testing, playing and, especially, discussing MMOs never revealed any of that! Surely, no one else reading Dave's post could ever have grasped it if not for your summary and emphasis!
Truly, you are the only person here smart enough to have picked up on these things, Kano! The rest of us are just here, slobbering all over our keyboards and marveling at the colorful pictures!
Thank you so... so much for your insight, and for taking the time to explain it to us lowly simpletons!
Players really need to understand these points, because they are true in vast majority of cases.
Yes, yes we do. And thank you so much for coming here and bestowing your wisdom upon us, for what is surely an esoteric concept, only comprehensible to someone of such great acuity as yourself... as opposed to pretty much anyone who takes the time to read the article themselves.
All sarcasm aside.. Seriously, Kano... Could you have been any more condescending?
Despite what you clearly think of others who aren't yourself - especially with a post like that - we're not a bunch of uneducated, unwashed masses around here. Nothing you wrote is in any way revelatory. We can all read Dave's words. We can all understand what he's explaining to us.
Maybe some don't like or agree with everything he's said... but we can surely grasp it.
So, you know... in the future... if you can... try being a bit more charitable, and tone down the condescension, okay? It's really unnecessary.
I wonder if Dave is covered by a Non Disclosure about his departure from DGB (formally SOE) I would love to know what went down, and what his expectations are for our beloved EQ franchise.
It was nice to see that he finally admitted that EQ3 was for a new group of people, despite trying to get those of us in EQ2 to like it. To be quite honest EQ3 was restarted 3 times and I think it stands a good chance of dieing at launch, as I think they totally missed the group of people needed to make money from.
There are so many fails before that, games that were canned outright after pouring millions into them. The Anentcy and others.
Thank you ... as a long time Gamer, I''ve gone from having fun while playing to appreciation of the the game developers and wondering more and more about the process of making the games and the people who make them. I hope that you continue to expand on your article. It is exactly what I've been wanting to learn.
Very good read. You are spot on in many of the items you discussed here.
Like everything else in the world, there is an initial season of plenty followed by belt tightening and readjustments. It seems to be a natural cycle in life. We have all experienced it to some degree, from varsity team sports to best job of your life. Everything plays through their cycles and eventually ends.
Great article - and now I do understand you a bit better Dave. You have said many things over the years that have left me puzzled. But reading this article made me understand your position and reasoning a bit better.
I wonder if Dave is covered by a Non Disclosure about his departure from DGB (formally SOE) I would love to know what went down, and what his expectations are for our beloved EQ franchise.
It was nice to see that he finally admitted that EQ3 was for a new group of people, despite trying to get those of us in EQ2 to like it. To be quite honest EQ3 was restarted 3 times and I think it stands a good chance of dieing at launch, as I think they totally missed the group of people needed to make money from.
There are so many fails before that, games that were canned outright after pouring millions into them. The Anentcy and others.
I really enjoyed the article as well.
When it comes to the departure, I suppose it might have been very simple. A new investor bought SOE, looked at the numbers and made a quasi-educated guess. "Player numbers have been going down for the past 5 years, these people were here for the past 5 years, we are going to replace them."
Not saying it is the right logic to take, but investors make those kinds of decisions quite often.
Comments
All sarcasm aside.. Seriously, Kano... Could you have been any more condescending?
Despite what you clearly think of others who aren't yourself - especially with a post like that - we're not a bunch of uneducated, unwashed masses around here. Nothing you wrote is in any way revelatory. We can all read Dave's words. We can all understand what he's explaining to us.
Maybe some don't like or agree with everything he's said... but we can surely grasp it.
So, you know... in the future... if you can... try being a bit more charitable, and tone down the condescension, okay? It's really unnecessary.
Thanks. You're a pal.
I wonder if Dave is covered by a Non Disclosure about his departure from DGB (formally SOE) I would love to know what went down, and what his expectations are for our beloved EQ franchise.
It was nice to see that he finally admitted that EQ3 was for a new group of people, despite trying to get those of us in EQ2 to like it. To be quite honest EQ3 was restarted 3 times and I think it stands a good chance of dieing at launch, as I think they totally missed the group of people needed to make money from.
There are so many fails before that, games that were canned outright after pouring millions into them. The Anentcy and others.
Very good read. You are spot on in many of the items you discussed here.
Like everything else in the world, there is an initial season of plenty followed by belt tightening and readjustments. It seems to be a natural cycle in life. We have all experienced it to some degree, from varsity team sports to best job of your life. Everything plays through their cycles and eventually ends.
Without these cycles, life would get boring.
Nanulak
I really enjoyed the article as well.
When it comes to the departure, I suppose it might have been very simple. A new investor bought SOE, looked at the numbers and made a quasi-educated guess. "Player numbers have been going down for the past 5 years, these people were here for the past 5 years, we are going to replace them."
Not saying it is the right logic to take, but investors make those kinds of decisions quite often.
Nice. That's more or less how I viewed it with out the insider information.
I hope to see Dave move on to bigger and better things.