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On Buying Unfinished Products
angus858
Member UncommonPosts: 381
A man is looking for a new car so he walks into a dealership and sees something exciting. The car is the SotA 32 from Portalarium Motors. In addition to its modern styling, this vehicle also has many retro features. The man is delighted to see vinyl bench seats, side vent windows, and a shifter on the steering column. There are no emissions controls on its powerful V8 engine. There is no backup camera, automated braking, or smart technology here. There are no air bags, no padded dash board, or software for parallel parking. The man realizes that this is a car for those who don’t need hand holding. He wants this car.
The man then notices something else about the SotA 32. It’s missing many parts, including the passenger-side door, the left rear wheel, headlights, a windshield, rear seats, mirrors, exhaust, and bumpers.
A salesman notices his interest. “Sir, are you interested in this car?”
“Boy, am I ever!”
“You can drive it off the lot today”, says the salesman, “as long as you realize the car is unfinished and untested.”
“Will it ever be finished?”
“Sure. We call this an Early Access Alpha model. It’s barely functional and generally unsuited for driving.”
“Tell me more!”
“Once it has all the parts it really needs, we can call it a Beta model. At that point we test it out to see if it needs any modifications to make it safe and functional. Eventually we will announce the car as released and make a special announcement to the public.”
“Can I buy this Early Access Alpha model right now?” the customer asked.
“You may participate in Early Access as long as you are willing to pay the full sticker price for an unfinished, untested vehicle. You may even pay more than the sticker price if you like. I’ll throw in a paper crown you can wear on your head to signify your customer loyalty.”
“You drive a hard bargain, but I’ll take it!”
“Oh, one last thing. The Early Access Alpha model comes with a special ignition safety interlock. When you try to turn the key, the engine will not start until you say aloud that you are willing to be a test driver in this unfinished, untested vehicle.”
“Wait a minute” replied the wary customer. “Does the odometer work yet?”
“Yes. It will begin counting miles the moment you drive it off the lot. There will be no odometer wipes. Your mileage is persistent.”
“Well that settles it. So long as the odometer will not be wiped, I guess it’s good to go. Let’s sign the paperwork so I can own this baby.”
The customer drove away in his Early Access Alpha SotA 32, but was back the very next day.
“This is the worst car ever!” he cried. “It wobbles, throws wind in my face, and is impossible to stop. It’s too loud and dangerous to drive in the dark. What is wrong with this company? Why is this car so bad? I’m going to tell all my friends not to buy this car.”
The salesman had no idea how to reply to this customer. He was speechless.
Comments
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
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?"
But yea EA cancer come to supply this kind guys
me like everyone buyed some game in EA and still wait finished product someday i recomend you stop buy believe in Dev promises and marketing , wait release , take a ship and back analys and if worth go on , stop trow money away is even valid to MMORPG as well
So which is the best bet? The unfinished car with no estimated finish date with outdated parts? Or the unfinished car with updated parts and an estimated release date? Or the finished car that costs the same as both above?
If you added a section describing that parts were being redesigned, delivered to your house and installed on the car while you slept that worked worse than what was on there previously, then your analogy would be closer. If you mentioned that the dealer also had a shop where you can buy seats, a radio, an air conditioner, a heater, dome lights, and a glove compartment, -- all which will not be on the finished product -- that would get you even closer.
Oh and don't forget your car decays over time. But have no fear! You can buy vouchers at the dealer that will allow you to reverse the decay. That's not wear and tear. No, no, no. You have to pay for that just like other car owners. This is actual decay.
~~ postlarval ~~
Also this would ONLY happen if there were actually finished cars on perhaps some other lot and this would be an isolated case.
Furthermore,it would never happen,why would a manufacturer send out an unfinished car,so it can have RECALLS a day later?
Bottom line is does NOT matter if it were accepted or part of real life society,anyone with common sense knows it would be morally wrong and likely also legally wrong.This is why we are seeing MORE laws added all the time,it is because people in general like to steal/cheat/lie and rip off other people and are finding new ways to do it all the time.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
With the exception of the seat belts, yes it would. Modified my response for the nitpicker.
~~ postlarval ~~
Let's party like it is 1863!
I think that some people believe that these early access games are "mostly finished" and they have to put up with a few bugs here and there.
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
Also, we spent money based on a kickstarter that never fully materialized. The game today bears little resemblance to what we were told as part of pledging.
After they realized they could sell things like POTs to a small subset of Ultima groupies wearing role-colored glasses, they all but abandoned their original ideas. It's more lucrative to cater to a bunch of social misfits with more money than sense.
I didn't want another copy of Ultima. I didn't want another Ultima Online. I wanted Richard Garriott to work his magic and bring us a new game with the best of both those worlds. He screwed up all three.
All they are about is squeezing more and more cash out of people. Portalarium makes Greed Monger look legit.
~~ postlarval ~~
Once again a dev blatantly lies to sell copies.
Once again gaming journalism helps sell said game for access.
Once again there's outrage by the community with the gaming sites pretending they had no part in selling you that craptastic pile of lies.
At least when people back a KS game and their getting screwed, the middleman is cut out and they're choosing to be screwed themselves. There's not a whole industry devoted solely to pushing 'release quality' games full of non-existent 'features' taking your money with pre-release reviews and then zero accountability.
The best case for anything nowadays is to buy nothing before or just after launch and wait for streams and vids to make your decision.
If you buy before then, it's on you to make the best of whatever the crap you got. Getting refunds in this environment is going to be harder than trying to get congress to work together after election day.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
I agree with this. The only thing I would like to add is that I don't think all early access game developers are out to screw those that back them. I do think there are some. I also think there are some that make promises with intent to fulfill them that find they can't for any number of legit reasons. So, in the end there are all shades of legit to non-legit developers. The only advice has to be "buyer beware".
Let's party like it is 1863!