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Is there a MMO developer/publisher that you trust?
sludgebeard
Member RarePosts: 788
I know by the title this may comes off as a troll post, but in fact it is exactly the opposite. In a time long past, there was a huge stake in what company was attached to an MMO, in modern times it seems many do not even care about the "face" behind the game, but rather just the feature list and payment model.
At one point there was a veritable pick of developers who had name recognition, but now you dont really have these great innovators or names that are pushing the games forward. Although its not an MMO, Chris Roberts and Star Citizen would be the only relevant modern example I have of a name behind the company actually enticing people to purchase a game.
Now on to the idea of trust. I feel, and again this is just my opinion, that many players feel "burned" by alot of the big name companies and have generated a large amount of mistrust between them and the developers. This goes for the publishers as well, NCSOFT is a prime example in my opinion from the closure of alot of games that although had small fan bases, wernt generating the mega-profits needed for continued support.
Then you have the buyout of many MMO's by foreign developers, for example Cryptic Studios being bought by Perfect World Entertainment a Chinese based company. There again generates alot of feelings of mistrust, whenever a foreign entity now has ahold of a Western product, because of the obvious disconnect between languages.
Also you have developers that implemented new business models, such as Champions Online going F2P, Age of Conan, Wildstar, among others. You also garner from this same vein companies that have ridiculous Microsatction fee's like Goblinwork's Pathfinder MMO, or Shroud of the Avatar with their in game houses that sell for $200 a pop.
My point is, there seems to be a large focus now on a few things, Hype, Profit, and Paid Testing. It seems like a large gauntlet for the consumer to traverse to actually connect with a developer they can trust. So on a serious note, Is there a developer or publisher you trust? Or even continue to Trust? Why has this company kept you with them for so long? And if not why have they led you away?
At one point there was a veritable pick of developers who had name recognition, but now you dont really have these great innovators or names that are pushing the games forward. Although its not an MMO, Chris Roberts and Star Citizen would be the only relevant modern example I have of a name behind the company actually enticing people to purchase a game.
Now on to the idea of trust. I feel, and again this is just my opinion, that many players feel "burned" by alot of the big name companies and have generated a large amount of mistrust between them and the developers. This goes for the publishers as well, NCSOFT is a prime example in my opinion from the closure of alot of games that although had small fan bases, wernt generating the mega-profits needed for continued support.
Then you have the buyout of many MMO's by foreign developers, for example Cryptic Studios being bought by Perfect World Entertainment a Chinese based company. There again generates alot of feelings of mistrust, whenever a foreign entity now has ahold of a Western product, because of the obvious disconnect between languages.
Also you have developers that implemented new business models, such as Champions Online going F2P, Age of Conan, Wildstar, among others. You also garner from this same vein companies that have ridiculous Microsatction fee's like Goblinwork's Pathfinder MMO, or Shroud of the Avatar with their in game houses that sell for $200 a pop.
My point is, there seems to be a large focus now on a few things, Hype, Profit, and Paid Testing. It seems like a large gauntlet for the consumer to traverse to actually connect with a developer they can trust. So on a serious note, Is there a developer or publisher you trust? Or even continue to Trust? Why has this company kept you with them for so long? And if not why have they led you away?
Comments
I like to think that Blizzard as a whole is a bit better now than back then, but as they say the damage was done.
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I have never once got the feeling that Square is trying to mislead anyone of feed any BS,they just basically operate like a straight shooter "here is our game" like it or not.
Then we get devs like Arena net telling us how great their game is and how they are fixing what everyone else is doing wrong .../sigh.Or you get a Smedley who hangs out on Twitter bragging he suckered in a couple million to buy his 5% finished H1Z1 game and 6 months alter it is 10% finished lol.
NCSOFT don't trust them one bit.
I will say there have been a few Indie devs that have shown me some good morals and i might trust them,but no that does not mean with free hand outs or kickstarter money,i don't trust ANY of them that much.
I just wanted to add that i am by no means a blizzard fanbois,i feel ALL of their games are second rate but as a business and trust factor,i think i can say i trust them a lot more than most devs.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
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Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
Who said this won't be perfect after all we know what is right
And the sounds of bodies clashing is enough to make them cry.
You know this cannot be perfect even when it is feeling right.
And the sound of bodies crashing echo through the night.
Pulbishers? Not so much. But not less than I trust any other firm that markets products or services. For example, I might not be 100% trusting of NCSoft, but I trust them far more than buying a cell phone from BRAND-X (name withheld by me since it's not on topic).
Which is odd because I hate some of the major design decisions they made, but that wasn't the question at hand.
I see this now after being a gamer for over 35 years and become a developer to help make the games better, I see why its hard to make games today because no matter how much time you invest and money we lose... and yes we lose money, we are crooks... When in fact many companies lose money.... We need to make money to survive like you do when you work...
I feel alot of the issues are gamers think games are easy to make and want it all for free and many have to many different ideas than 20 years ago, so trying to please everyone... Forget it..
Try making a game and work for a company, AAA or indie and you will see..the problems..
See I rest my case... They think, we all have tons of money... Funny... I wish.
So not always is a problem of having a bad game, it's just that it is another game. I think right now, if game developer don't risk to make something new they are going to fail.
How many times you hear "oh this game is awesome is the new WoW killer!"? But it is just more of the same.
For example, if you haven't hear of Chronicles Of Elyria, go take a look at it. That one is really innovative and it is doing a lot of things that nobody have ever done so far. Do I trust the developers? Well, at this point I say I do, they are very active in the community and their plans and ideas some pretty good though they still have to show us things (but they have been publicly out for a month or so, so it is to early to expect much). It is a new studio but with some people with lot of experience in it.
Games that 10 years ago would have been sold in a box and then supported online play now all have a cash shop, F2P games where you pay 150 bucks to get a founder pack, giving you beta access and a fucking crap ring or mount. And people still fall for this shit!
The days of gamers making games for gamers (the old EA slogan) are long gone and we're now firmly in the time of the suits and the bottom line. It's all about money now and you should NEVER trust anyone with your money. I certainly don't.
I'd throw down money to preorder a game from the following companies without batting an eyelash:
1.) Blizzard Entertainment.
2.) CD PROJEKT RED
3.) Bioware.
4.) Bethesda (Not Zenimax.)
5.) Firaxis Games.
(not about the business itself, but how it works. I also don't have any clue what people are working at which company atm and who's in charge there)
You should focus less on the "company" and more and certain people working there. It's the CEOs, CFOs and CIOs who are mostly responsible.
A company can be pretty thrustful and then there is a swap in the upper positions and everything will change.
Examples:
Trion with Rift - Archeage (although I don't know if there were different people responsible or not, but it seems so, considering the difference in business models)
Sigil Games and Vanguard - A change at Microsoft and they changed the priorities, cutting all support. So they had to release earlier. (Didn't they become independent because of that and then later on had to sell to SOE?)
tl;dr
A company is just a name, it's the directors who are responsible.
A company can be changing from thrustworthy to uber greedy within a week, with the change of just one responsible person.
1997 Meridian 59 'til 2019 ESO
Waiting for Camelot Unchained & Pantheon
Even with what happened at WAR. Mark has always come across as honest and hard working. He's never tried to nickel-and-dime me. And he's generally held his hands up when his company has fucked up or misread what the players want (<cough>ToA<cough>). The kickstarter for CU was well updated and the team's communication with the backers/supporters has been excellent (even if I don't have enough time at work to cruise the forums all day any more
2.blizzard
3.valve
Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent.
"At one point technology meant making tech that could get to the moon, now it means making tech that could get you a taxi."
Chris Roberts and Robert Space Industries
Mark Jacobs and City State Entertainment
Gabe Newell and Valve
Honorable mention for:
Allods Team
Wargaming
CCP
Blizzard