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Are there any examples of AAA MMO developers openly lying about something and was exposed?
MMOExposed
Member RarePosts: 7,411
Are there any examples of AAA MMO developers openly lying about something and was exposed?
That would seem like an interesting story/conspiracy.
If you know any stories like this please share.
this comes to mind, because of the recent pool of RNG Conspiracies on the Guild Wars 2 forum that has popped up lately. I am kind of curious if a AAA MMO developer even been exposed for lying ever...
I come in peace
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
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rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
Archeage Itself is a good example ,sooooo many lies isnt even funny....
How many lies? I know of 1 so far, there maybe 1 more forgot what it was. Other people can fill me in what other lies:)
There was the whole Sim City drama. EA claimed that the game required server side calculations to run and therefore it was impossible to release a patch for offline play. Shortly afterwards modders were able to track the network traffic of the game and found that the game only sent data back to the server sporadically. Later one guy was able to demonstrate the game working offline without any connection to the server at all demonstrating the lie for what it was. EA later released an offline mode DLC despite claiming it was impossible before.
Here are a couple of sources:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/01/13/simcity-adding-formerly-impossible-offline-mode/
http://www.themarysue.com/hack-takes-simcity-offline/
The most memorable is Dance Studio Blizzard promised for WOW.
However, I remember one from a game, which I can't remember the name, that had features listed on the physical box that was not available in game, and never made it in game.
LOTRO has had lifetime subs since the beginning, and they still will give them away for something very special (Extra Life 2012, 2013 and I think 2014, for example). I wish I'd bought one back in 2008 when I had the chance.
I don't think of features being cut as a lie because stuff happens and things do get cut for lots of reasons. I remember the Dance Studio but it never happened and I don't think of it as a lie.
To the OP's question, I'm guessing that what keeps AAA studios at the AAA rank is not lying. Trion's debacle around ArcheAge is by far the worst I've seen, but I don't recall any actual lies.
Age of Conan promised drunken bar room brawling.
still hasnt happened.
Do you folks really expect everything a company ever says to be etched in stone? I'll grant you there are probably cases of lies and misrepresentation, but more often it's just circumstances changing, things not going as planned, and the company changing something.
Like that whine about LotR life time subs. How much would your sub have been worth if the game had stuck to P2P and then had to shut down 3 months later.
No one said it was done before, but anyone with any business sense knew it was coming. Aside from Steefel and Anderson regularly dropping hints about it, no company that plans to remain in business would cap the amount of money they get from their core consumers. Hyanmen is correct that the logical next step was an item mall.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
EVE Online and t20 scandal almost made me quit the game forever
Archeage no tricks no traps cash shop
SWG releasing an expansion trials of obi-wan before the NGE was a pretty screw you move but not really outright lying.
The SWG team were denying that the JEDI specialization wasn't implemented yet.
SOE did a lot of lying early about SWG. Heck they released an paid expansion and then made it unplayable a week after with the NGE.
That is however the only good example of outright lying I can think about besides possibly a few people denying that a game would go B2P/F2P and in those cases I guess it is possible that the interview people werent in the loop.
Some stuff like saying that a certain bug doesn't exist, that botting or goldspamming is rare and stuff like that have also happened but most devs try to avoid lying, they might not always tell the entire truth but lying is a bad idea, you need your players trust when you run a MMO.
And well, the SWG vets are probably the most bitter ex players I know so the point is proven, don't lie to your customers.
And Meghan was correct. She was not aware of the plan at the time. She was the community manager not a CEO, exec, or development lead. In 2007, when I was at the office and handed her a box to give to Jim Butler, she did not know who he was. If she had no idea who the Director of Product Marketing and Consumer Insight was, what makes you think she'd have even a basic knowledge of his strategies for two years down the line?
You can call it fantasy thinking all you want. You can pretend that a veteran developer like Turbine offered Lifetime subs with no plan for revenue beyond Year Three. That doesn't change the reality that it was both planned and smart business.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
That's not what I was told by Steefel. At least "not exactly".
He told me at a PAX that DDO wasn't doing as well as they wanted so they decided to try the freemium version to see if it would help the game.
It did so well, better than they had hoped, that they then decided to take the chance and try it on LOTRO.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Man, those RNG conspiracies about the Portal for a Beta invite for GW2 are pretty crazy. When you actually read through those threads you see a whole lot of people who don't understand what RNG means and how drop rate percentages actually work in mmos.
Coincidentally, I got a beta portal within 15 min of logging in on the second day it was available. For the last month the wife and I have logged in and have roamed around Silverwastes for about 2 hours per night. Stopping after the Vinewrath that happens around 9pm (central time). I didn't change my behavior at all during this beta event, other than being able to successfully complete Vinewrath since there's actual people around. On the other hand, my wife has only gotten 200g+ worth of sales on the TP for her efforts this past weekend :P
As mentioned above, the t20 incident in Eve Online was pretty crazy. A player discovered a dev cheating and when he reported it, all his accounts were banned. Only after the community raged did CCP actually do something and the cheating dev got a slap on the wrist.
There are lots of cases of developers who play their own game cheating. Even GM's like in Mortal Online have been caught doing some crazy stuff. As far as outright lying goes, most phrase things to prevent that from happening.
There is or was a several page post at mmofringe.com citing a good number of the big lies John Smedley of SOE has told over there years, and there are some whoppers in there.
While other companies might have told various lies about their games over the years, NO ONE can touch Smed on that particular issue, on multiple games, over many years.
Smed, the arch liar in the MMO industry.
DX10 for AoC was going to be my example as well. DX10 support is even listed on the box (i'm the not so proud owner of the AoC pre order collectors edition), yet DX10 support wasn't added until over a year after launch. Even then, its "DX10" functionality was "beta only".
I am one of those who bought lifetime sub at the beginning. I am still checking out the game from time to time, but I can't really say that I am playing it. Mostly just taking a horse ride and run around....
Sith Warrior - Story of Hate and Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxKrlwXt7Ao
Imperial Agent - Rise of Cipher Nine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBBj3eJWBvU&feature=youtu.be
Imperial Agent - Hunt for the Eagle Part 1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQqjYYU128E
Ellingson, Gaute and Thorvaldson (sp?) from Funcom promised a ton of features for Age of Conan that were never in the game.
All three lied SO much about the game and MMORPG.COM at that time gave them a great platform to spread their lies in many interviews, articles and features and never got back on these 3 scammers for the many empty promises. That was when Funcom temporarily took over this page with their massive ad campaign (=$$$) and when you got banned for voicing the slightest doubts about anything AoC or asking for missing game features.
The "AoC advocate" on these forums back then did a hell of a job getting everyone banned left and right and every critic silenced, luring concerned posters into a borderline controversial discussion to report them in the process of it.
Trion also spread their fair share of lies about many things regarding Rift. Again, this site did a great job helping them doing so and again never questioned the many false statements in later interviews.
Are you asking that if in a world where there is massive uncertainty about development deadlines and actual cost coupled with marketing that has to say something to sell a game that has yet to be developed with good sums of money on the line, did lying occur?
Of course it did, I'd say in every game to some extent.
We can argue over how intent maybe.