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The Rage of the Mechwarrior Online Community (2013)
- kmf 12y agoI love these kind of articles because they literally could not exist a century ago. Outrage over a patch and its effects on a virtual community is a uniquely 21st century problem. For something similar, see this post[1] on a clan war in EVE Online, which reads almost identically to a real-life war report, except that it's, well, not real life. [1]: http://themittani.com/news/b-r5rb-biggest-battle-all-eve http://themittani.com/news/b-r5rb-biggest-battle-all-eve
- ewood 12y agoI think the 19th century story of The Strand Magazine almost being bankrupted by the 'death' of Sherlock Holmes and the subsequent outrage of their readers is a close approximation (http://sherlockholmes.stanford.edu/print_issue12.html http://sherlockholmes.stanford.edu/print_issue12.html). When people believe they have buy-in to an idea (even a virtual idea) they become very protective of that, which should be a good thing for a game developer but obviously it is a two edged sword.
- lotharbot 12y agoMy wife is the developer of a mod for a 20-year-old game [0], which she forked from another mod about a year ago. The reason for the fork? The other mod made missiles follow slightly wider turning arcs, so they were harder to dodge by going around corners. It seems like a tiny difference, but high-level competitive players want their missiles exactly right because different missile tracking leads to different viable tactics. "That shot into that tunnel is a sure kill" turns into "that shot is unlikely to hit"; "I can dodge that" turns into "I have no option but to run". The primary developer of the other mod was not a high-level competitive player and did not see this as a problem. Merely suggesting the fix (which my wife originally coded as a patch to the other mod), with simulations, a mathematical proof of correctness, and uniformly positive feedback from many top-level pilots, was enough to touch off a flamewar that wasn't settled for weeks. People can be fanatical about their video games. [0] the game is Descent (1 and 2). Her mod can be found at https://github.com/CDarrow/DXX-Retro https://github.com/CDarrow/DXX-Retro . The other mod is at http://www.dxx-rebirth.com/ http://www.dxx-rebirth.com/ . Current competitive 1v1 play is at http://descentchampions.org/ http://descentchampions.org/ and group play is at http://descentrangers.com http://descentrangers.com .
- tdicola 12y agoThat's awesome, I'm glad to hear there are still folks playing Descent. Truly an underrated multiplayer game. I loved playing it on IPX over TCP with a modem way back in the day.
- lotharbot 12y agoIt's still just as fun. Come join us. Players of all skill levels welcome. http://descentchampions.org/new_player.php http://descentchampions.org/new_player.php will get you started. If you were active on Kali or Kahn and want to reconnect with old friends, also check out https://www.facebook.com/groups/kalikahn/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/kalikahn/ . We've recently had an influx of early online players (kiln, Scoundrl, Grax, Lioness, Dtile, Arch_Angel!, R2D2, Vlider, Moon, Merl, and the list goes on.) The flip side of being fanatical about our game: we run into people we used to play with/against 20 years ago, and we're instantly friends.
- kayoone 12y agoWow, didn't know people still played Descent. It was one of the first multiplayer games i ever played in the mid 90ies over null modem connection with a friend sitting next to me as LAN wasn't that common back then. Good times :)
- lloeki 12y ago> It was one of the first multiplayer games i ever played Not the first for me, but Doom 2 and Descent were the first one that have been successful in my circles. I remember having played Descent 1 and 2 for long hours, completing both solo and played Descent 2 coop with friends, then on a whim, tried to hop into Kali and tore basically everyone apart, as most people were clueless about 3D ambushes and dogfight mechanics. The descent series were underrated, innovative gems. That D2 intro had some of the most memorable lines to me[0]. Still have the original (badly scratched) disc somewhere. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT5U4LMiF7M&feature=kp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT5U4LMiF7M&feature=kp
- Fuxy 12y ago
- idle_processor 12y agoThose interested in gaming communities turning toxic should look at Starbound's subreddit[0] and community forums[1]. The climate's been growing increasingly hostile over feature delays, players unsatisfied with the product, and variance in community management strategies employed by its developers. There's a similar theme of broken promises there. However, Chucklefish has been updating pretty regularly and acting on a lot of constructive player feedback, so the overall negativity strikes me as somewhat confusing. Another rather notorious and perhaps more justifiable example of community backlash can be found by looking at forums[2] for, and general controversy[3] surrounding, Infestation: Survivor Stories (formerly The War Z). [0] http://www.reddit.com/r/starbound/ http://www.reddit.com/r/starbound/ [1] http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php [2] http://steamcommunity.com/app/226700/discussions/ http://steamcommunity.com/app/226700/discussions/ [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infestation:_Survivor_Stories#Controversies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infestation:_Survivor_Stories#...
- roghummal 12y agoI think Chucklefish started to lose it around the time there was a slew of updates about employees relocating to the UK. The initial backlash was tame. They made a lot of promises about productivity gains and more frequent updates. People cooled off. As time went on and they didn't deliver people got agitated again. Chucklefish's response: 'Communicating so much with the community has ruined morale and killed productivity.' Community's response: 'Wait what? It's our fault you aren't getting anything done?' Chucklefish: 'No no we're getting things done.' The regular updates consist of art, 'what I ate for lunch today'-esque non sequiturs, and empty promises (feature lists any zealous 12 year old would make up). Those do nothing to quell the growing negativity. The outpouring of negativity in /r/starbound did not come quickly or easily and could still be reversed. Chucklefish just has to deliver.
- pekk 12y agoDid you ever finish a software project for someone impatient? I think it should be obvious that writing daily blog posts is a lot of work that isn't development. And that a camp of angry villagers telling you that you're incompetent and constantly telling you to change direction isn't going to help morale.
- wiradikusuma 12y agoslightly related to MechWarrior, anyone know any good recent (2 years back at most) MechWarrior-like single player games?
- codezero 12y agoMost recently, Titanfall.
- girvo 12y agoAs someone who considers MechWarrior 2 to be one of the finest games ever made... Titanfall is amazing, and scratches the blow-things-up-in-an-OP-mech itch well enough!
- codezero 12y agoIt didn't do it for me, but it did light a candle :)
- girvo 12y agoIt's missing the tactics that I loved from MW2 (and the world and lore), but I also love fluid fast-paced first person shooters, so for me it's perfect. One of the best multiplayer FPS's for myself since the original Unreal Tournament.
- shadeless 12y agoNot a single player game, but still an awesome Mech game is Hawken. [1] Ever since I first tried it other FPS games seem pretty boring, I can't go back to playing Battlefield or Call of Duty after the spectacle of Mech fights. If you decide to try it, my nickname is 'shadelesss' ;) [1] https://www.playhawken.com/home https://www.playhawken.com/home
- forrestthewoods 12y ago"To compound the problem, PGI has begun reversing its stances on a number of features, which include “no coolant flush” and “no third-person view,” in order to garner more players and make a higher profit." By higher profit they probably mean any profit at all. Gamers have zero ability to read between the lines. This isn't a bunch of greedy devs driving Ferraris that want more money to buy a Lambo. This reeks of a desperate hail mary to save the studio and avoid shutting down. The game is probably a total failure and they are doing anything and everything they can to not lay the whole team off. Gamers have a right to be angry I suppose. Go ahead. Be angry. If a company can't make payroll it doesn't matter of it's community is angry or happy.
- tsunamifury 12y agoThis is a problem anywhere the customer is completely disconnect with the costs of the product they consume. To the a feature is a costless idea that simply can be implemented by saying the word. As we know in real life every feature has time, money and community costs -- many of which are hard to estimate. It's why I can ever work in the videogame industry, a fickle and unsympathetic user base who often has no comprehension or respect for the scale of the product they are using.
- DanBC 12y ago> To the a feature is a costless idea that simply can be implemented by saying the word. As we know in real life every feature has time, money and community costs -- many of which are hard to estimate. Except this is an example of features being added that the community didnot want.
- krfsm 12y agoActually, for a videogame community, the MWO community is pretty mature and helpful. But if people spend $100+ on a promise of a game concept and no progress towards that happens in a couple of years, they will get grumpy even if mild tempered. I think PGI could have saved themselves a lot of grief by: - Getting private matchmaking out much earlier than May this year. It's been requested since day one, and would have kept the hardcore folks busy until community warfare. - Learn the art of tweaking game balance. They drop patches every two weeks. Instead of making huge, sometimes game wrecking, balance changes every three months they could have nudged the balance slightly each patch. "Missiles seem slightly too easy to avoid - making them 3% faster" doesn't make anyone blow a gasket. "Bumping missile speed 75%" will.
- rurounijones 12y agoThis is from 2013. Not that the situation has improved much since (Helloooo $500 golden clan mech cash grab and general clan release screw-ups), but probably needs a (2013) in title. The article doesn't quite touch on how hostile / trolling some of the PGI staff (Paul) have been to their community. The community became so broken that the sub-reddits split (See /r/mwo for the haters and /r/outreachhpg for the believers) The rage has mostly died down I think because most people but the true believers have given up and moved on to other games.
- dang 12y agoThanks. We added 2013 to the title.
- klunk 12y agoInteresting note on the subreddit split, it happened because a group of folks from SomethingAwful who don't play the game were made moderators within /r/mwo and immediately used the new privileges to delete content and deface the sub. More than anything else it might be a cautionary example about game devs/publishers ignoring off-domain forums. Since then, PGI has become more active in the /r/outreachhpg community.
- rurounijones 12y agoFrom that I remember that is a bit of an over-simplification of the situation somewhat but I cannot really find a good source of events.
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- ianstallings 12y agoThis is exactly why Eve Online has a "Council of Stellar Management", which is basically a group of users elected by others to represent their views to CCP, the developers of the game, and find a good common ground. It can lead to controversial* decisions and of course because you can't please everyone, but it at least offers something to their giant user-base to let their voices be heard. * For instance the sovereignty system in Eve Online is quite controversial with some very large and powerful factions complaining and even trying to "break the game" until a change is made.
- iamwil 12y agoSounds like the same sort of thing Makerbot did to its open source reprap community that supported it in the early days. People supported Makerbot because they said they support open source hardware and moving 3D printing forward. Then when they closed source their subsequent printers and sold to 3D systems, I think many previous supports felt betrayed. People don't just buy into your product, but they buy into your values and your vision. If you change your underlying values without good communication and reason, your users will revolt in the worst way possible. Reminds me of Simon Sinek's talk http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspi... "People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it" To this day, many proponents of 3D printing really dislike Makerbot, and will discourage anyone from buying one.
- slackware 12y agoFelt betrayed... that is betrayal, isn't it?
- Shivetya 12y agoI used to follow this game, having many a friend who played it for a time last year. Know a few who dropped hundreds on this title. Putting out "gold plated mechs" for five hundred bucks basically sealed the deal for a large portion of the player base. Also, they took up the trick of having sales for items to be delivered three to six months out. That lets them avoid the charge back period on credit cards, so if they are really late or never deliver there is no recourse. Combine that with forever missing deadlines on key features; namely giving the game a long term point other than endless death matches; and its not a great place to be. The even co-opted an early friendly site to where the postings by that sites presenters are routinely shouted down on reddit. It gave fans of the genre very nice looking mechs but deliver a multi player version of MechWarrior 2 many wanted.
- furyg3 12y agoPreface: I know nothing about this game. I feel like this is a preference setting. Either at match level or user-level (e.g. when two 'pro' players fight each other in the game coolant dump is disabled)?
- ende 12y agoWhat a bunch of whiney nerds.
- serf 12y agoor 'outraged consumers', whichever way your particular sunglasses are tinted.
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- arielweisberg 12y agoI wanted to try MWO. I couldn't cut and paste my password into the game client. I sent them an email asking them to add support for cutting and pasting passwords into the game client. The response was that they didn't want to encourage people using password managers. I pointed out that what they were effectively encouraging was password reuse which is far worse. And of course no two-factor and the forum password (same as account password) is not transmitted over HTTPS according to one thread. I moved on to try Hawken. Hawken had the exact same problem and my support post in the forum elicited no response. Hard to get excited about whatever they have to offer with my massive backlog on Steam. Warframe was a lot of fun for the 20 or so hours I typically put into a game. When it comes to large projects I tend to generalize. Lack of attention to detail at any level usually comes from the top down and is pervasive.