Why are MMO customers treated so badly and better yet why do we take it?
As MMO gamers we have come to know many pains when it comes to the launch of a new game we have been following. We know what to expect come launch. The servers will crash, the game will be riddled with bugs, a hand full of features left out, and a CS team that doesn’t seem to care. After our second or third MMO we can predict the failures of a launch like Miss Cleo on a Friday night. After the launch of Warhammer online and with the expected bugs, broken mechanics, and the announcement that cities andclasses were cut I came to wonder… “If this were any other product in any other sector this would be all over the news and people would sue.
Imagine for just a moment that you buy a brand new iPhone. Yaay an iPhone your officially cool! Now imagine that there a a bunch of bugs, some times when your talking on it the call will suddenly end, or your in an app and the app crashes the phone and you have to restart the phone. Imagine that they said it was going to have a calender but a week before the launch they say that it and 3 of the apps will come out later for purchase 99cents each. Think just think about how nuts people would go. The product would fail so badly and would have so many class action law suites. Yet MMO’s do it all the time to the point its expected. Why is the MMO gaming industry different? Why to MMO gamers put up with it? It makes no sense and we keep seeing less completed games coming out. Vanguard, Age of Conan, warhammer, and I am sure many more. Why, why do we do it?!?!
First, however, we have to play devils advocate right? The Massively Multilayer market is a tough row to hoe. It takes lots of money and 3 or more years to develop. If we held them to a higher standard it would be harder to get funding and smaller games would suffer. MMO’s are a games that will be played for 3-5 years (some times longer, but come on guys EQ is done let it die) As much of a stress it would add to the development of these monster projects, creating whole freaking worlds, I think in the long run the industry will do better. Imagine if Age of Conan or even vanguard had been 100% at launch. I think both games would be doing VERY well right now, if at least much better than they are now. Before you think just the MMO industry is to blame lets talk about how we, the customers, are to blame. We start following games years before they come out, especially if you are already a fan of the I.P. or genre. This pressures the Developers in a number of ways. No I’m not just talking about the “All these fans are whining on the boards that we should release the beta lets just do it. I can’t handle the pressure!” I don’t think that has ever happened in the history of the MMO industry. (Yes that 1,000+ worded post you posted doesn’t help sorry.)
However, I believe that the number of fans following the game indirectly pressures the game company to release prematurely. Their investors, seeing that the hype train is already rolling, pressure the developers to just publish already. Also those same numbers get the attention of fan sites and gaming web giants which increase that hype machine even more. Thats not the only place we are to blame. As customers we are just as to blame as the developers if we continue to buy from companies that release unfinished products. Major MMO’s are almost guaranteed 400k subscribers the first month these days. After that its up to whats under the hood. I think if games took paid the cost, whatever it is, to finish their games in whole that they would all do much better after that 1st month and would end up making much more money.
Its a win-win situation. The only place where its going to hurt before release. Us as consumers and gamers will have to wait months longer for our favorite game. Developers will have to manage their funds better and take the hit of however much money it costs to be in development for another month or three. However, in the end every one will be happy. Gamers will have a complete game, developers and their investors will have their money and the industry will see more growth. Perhaps thats what draws millions of World of Warcraft players back every time a game is released? They yern for a polish and complete game never mind the game mechanics or quest quality. Those things come after a player can play the game in its finished state. So, in conclusion, we need to be better customers and stop paying for uncompleted games and perhaps developers will get the message. I feel like we are already moving in this direction which is very encouraging. Now a days players a more skeptical(maybe from being burned so many times by games they loved) and more are taking a “wait and see” approach, which is exactly what this industry needs. So right on guys! Here is to a better future.
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