Elikal, You shouldn't have posted that in a forum. You should have sent it to Jon Wood (Stradden) as an article. Very well written.
Honestly - it wouldn't have a chance in hell.
MMORPG.com is just another business. We don't pay them - companies who sell MMOs do.
Now come on man... this site is pretty good about their articles. They certainly haven't silenced the dissidents like any good, facist, corporate run, business would.
I would be very surprised if Bioware doesn't do exactly what you warned about: Pay for game box, pay sub, buy junk at a cash shop. I am already voting with my money. In these hard times, I have to. So, off to the library to check out a book for free!
I find most of the time, a great book is more entertaining anyway =D
Now come on man... this site is pretty good about their articles. They certainly haven't silenced the dissidents like any good, facist, corporate run, business would.
I have been silenced several times.
They walk the line between serving their clients and not turning off too many readers/posters.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Now come on man... this site is pretty good about their articles. They certainly haven't silenced the dissidents like any good, facist, corporate run, business would.
I have been silenced several times.
They walk the line between serving their clients and not turning off too many readers/posters.
i got an apology out of them for banning me a day for supposed trolling
MMORPG.com is just another business. We don't pay them - companies who sell MMOs do.
Really? We're back to this old chestnut are we Doubter? Really?
Ok, well, let me explain to you one more time why what you're inferring isn't the case at all:
MMORPG.com's readers are our number one priority, not the companies that buy our ad space. Even if that wasn't where we all are ethically, it also makes good financial sense. You see, in the real world companies don't pay for good content (yes, scandals have happened in the past, but it's few and far between. In five years working for this site, I've never seen nor heard tell of a bribe of any kind). They don't advertise here as a way of saying thank-you for writing nice things. They advertise here for the same reasons that anyone advertises, anywhere: To reach the largest possible number of people who might be interested in their product. They advertise here because a lot of people read our website.
And that is why, even from a business standpoint, our readers are more important to us than any advertiser is... Because in the end it's not our words the companies are after, it's your eyes on their ads. I honestly don't understand why this is difficult for people to understand... it works the same way in television: the more people viewing a program, the more advertising space is worth. Look at the Superbowl as an example.
So, for us to worry less about our readers and more about our advertisers, we'd really be shooting ourselves in the foot, wouldn't we?
But it's more fun to do the whole conspiracy thing you're alluding to. That's much easier than having any idea at all how the business that you're so readily criticizing actually works. It's much easier to believe that someone not sharing your opinion of something means that there's something dirty going on rather than see that opinions exist beyond your own.
You don't like it, fine. That's entirely your decision but please understand that your opinions are not the only valid opinions and those who don't agree with you are not necessarily involved in some kind of conspiracy or "dirty dealing".
Elikal, You shouldn't have posted that in a forum. You should have sent it to Jon Wood (Stradden) as an article. Very well written.
Honestly - it wouldn't have a chance in hell. MMORPG.com is just another business. We don't pay them - companies who sell MMOs do.
Now come on man... this site is pretty good about their articles. They certainly haven't silenced the dissidents like any good, facist, corporate run, business would.
If they did we'd stop coming. If we stopped coming their ad revenue would drop substantially. MMORPG.com doesn't care if you flame game A or game B, they aren't the developers after all, they just care that you come HERE and do it so they can get paid on it. WE are their primary source of income.
With that said MMORPG.com has cracked down on people for attacking games they currently have ad deals with like Alganon.
Now come on man... this site is pretty good about their articles. They certainly haven't silenced the dissidents like any good, facist, corporate run, business would.
I have been silenced several times.
They walk the line between serving their clients and not turning off too many readers/posters.
I too have been banned a few times. The first time I was banned for going "off topic" in a thread praising STO because I disagreed with the OP's premise. The second time I was "mistakenly" banned for trolling and they unbanned me after I complained.
Now come on man... this site is pretty good about their articles. They certainly haven't silenced the dissidents like any good, facist, corporate run, business would.
I have been silenced several times.
They walk the line between serving their clients and not turning off too many readers/posters.
I can still post on STO Forums even though I pulled my preorder. Interestingly, Cryptic still lists my preorder as active so I could even roll a character and play, but I won't. Still, the purpose of the STO forum is to serve the player population. As I am no longer a player, I really don't feel right about posting there. But, as the game could be so much better, I hope Cryptic does read what paying customers post up and show some responsiveness.
MMORPG.com is just another business. We don't pay them - companies who sell MMOs do.
Really? We're back to this old chestnut are we Doubter? Really?
Ok, well, let me explain to you one more time why what you're inferring isn't the case at all:
MMORPG.com's readers are our number one priority, not the companies that buy our ad space. Even if that wasn't where we all are ethically, it also makes good financial sense. You see, in the real world companies don't pay for good content (yes, scandals have happened in the past, but it's few and far between. In five years working for this site, I've never seen nor heard tell of a bribe of any kind). They don't advertise here as a way of saying thank-you for writing nice things. They advertise here for the same reasons that anyone advertises, anywhere: To reach the largest possible number of people who might be interested in their product. They advertise here because a lot of people read our website.
And that is why, even from a business standpoint, our readers are more important to us than any advertiser is... Because in the end it's not our words the companies are after, it's your eyes on their ads. I honestly don't understand why this is difficult for people to understand... it works the same way in television: the more people viewing a program, the more advertising space is worth. Look at the Superbowl as an example.
So, for us to worry less about our readers and more about our advertisers, we'd really be shooting ourselves in the foot, wouldn't we?
But it's more fun to do the whole conspiracy thing you're alluding to. That's much easier than having any idea at all how the business that you're so readily criticizing actually works. It's much easier to believe that someone not sharing your opinion of something means that there's something dirty going on rather than see that opinions exist beyond your own.
You don't like it, fine. That's entirely your decision but please understand that your opinions are not the only valid opinions and those who don't agree with you are not necessarily involved in some kind of conspiracy or "dirty dealing".
and you didnt ban him for trolling or something so that has to be said for something i think that point alone invalidates this "conspiracy"
I have done alot of bitching on this site over several games that I felt I got burned on and I never have been warned. I had a mod edit a post I made about how much I hate teenagers and their opinions on beta testing a game for 2 hours and trashing talking it one time.... but that is it. Stradden breaks out the logic for you about why you are wrong. Unfortunately with conspiracy theorists the plain and obvious truth is never good enough... there has to be some secret agenda to oppose you or something.
MMORPG.com is just another business. We don't pay them - companies who sell MMOs do.
Really? We're back to this old chestnut are we Doubter? Really?
Really. Who pays you? How does this site make money?
If you want the site to be above reproach, you should not be selling ad space for MMORPGs. To claim that there is no conflict of interest is laughable, really.
Ok, well, let me explain to you one more time why what you're inferring isn't the case at all:
MMORPG.com's readers are our number one priority, not the companies that buy our ad space. Even if that wasn't where we all are ethically, it also makes good financial sense. You see, in the real world companies don't pay for good content (yes, scandals have happened in the past, but it's few and far between. In five years working for this site, I've never seen nor heard tell of a bribe of any kind). They don't advertise here as a way of saying thank-you for writing nice things. They advertise here for the same reasons that anyone advertises, anywhere: To reach the largest possible number of people who might be interested in their product. They advertise here because a lot of people read our website.
And that is why, even from a business standpoint, our readers are more important to us than any advertiser is... Because in the end it's not our words the companies are after, it's your eyes on their ads. I honestly don't understand why this is difficult for people to understand... it works the same way in television: the more people viewing a program, the more advertising space is worth. Look at the Superbowl as an example.
So, for us to worry less about our readers and more about our advertisers, we'd really be shooting ourselves in the foot, wouldn't we?
As I wrote - you walk a fine line. People do get suspended for negative comments about certain companies. That is from personal experience. Maybe you are unawre of your mod's actions. I doubt it, but it's possible.
But it's more fun to do the whole conspiracy thing you're alluding to. That's much easier than having any idea at all how the business that you're so readily criticizing actually works. It's much easier to believe that someone not sharing your opinion of something means that there's something dirty going on rather than see that opinions exist beyond your own.
It would be a pretty feeble conspiracy if one admitted to it.
You don't like it, fine. That's entirely your decision but please understand that your opinions are not the only valid opinions and those who don't agree with you are not necessarily involved in some kind of conspiracy or "dirty dealing".
"Not necessarily". Yes, I agree.
Implying that companies don't care about negative press (which is what posts on a forum amount to) is at variance with reality.
I have no financial stake in anything I post here. You cannot claim the same.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Hmm, I have done alot of bitching on this site over several games that I felt I got burned on and I never have been warned. I had a mod edit a post I made about how much I hate teenagers and their opinions on beta testing a game for 2 hours and trashing talking it one time.... but that is it. Stradden breaks out the logic for you about why you are wrong. Unfortunately with conspiracy theorists the plain and obvious truth is never good enough... there has to be some secret agenda to oppose you or something. /snicker
Ask yourself where the money comes from. That should enlighten you.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
MMORPG.com is just another business. We don't pay them - companies who sell MMOs do.
Really? We're back to this old chestnut are we Doubter? Really?
Ok, well, let me explain to you one more time why what you're inferring isn't the case at all:
MMORPG.com's readers are our number one priority, not the companies that buy our ad space. Even if that wasn't where we all are ethically, it also makes good financial sense. You see, in the real world companies don't pay for good content (yes, scandals have happened in the past, but it's few and far between. In five years working for this site, I've never seen nor heard tell of a bribe of any kind). They don't advertise here as a way of saying thank-you for writing nice things. They advertise here for the same reasons that anyone advertises, anywhere: To reach the largest possible number of people who might be interested in their product. They advertise here because a lot of people read our website.
And that is why, even from a business standpoint, our readers are more important to us than any advertiser is... Because in the end it's not our words the companies are after, it's your eyes on their ads. I honestly don't understand why this is difficult for people to understand... it works the same way in television: the more people viewing a program, the more advertising space is worth. Look at the Superbowl as an example.
So, for us to worry less about our readers and more about our advertisers, we'd really be shooting ourselves in the foot, wouldn't we?
But it's more fun to do the whole conspiracy thing you're alluding to. That's much easier than having any idea at all how the business that you're so readily criticizing actually works. It's much easier to believe that someone not sharing your opinion of something means that there's something dirty going on rather than see that opinions exist beyond your own.
You don't like it, fine. That's entirely your decision but please understand that your opinions are not the only valid opinions and those who don't agree with you are not necessarily involved in some kind of conspiracy or "dirty dealing".
Damn Elikal nice post. I would probably feel comfortable letting you make game director decisions over a title I was producing. Too bad the people with $$$ are all jackasses.
Thanks to you and all those who said such kind words. I don't feel so special in my insights. It is more a total marvel to me, how such apparent things are ignored in almost every single MMO. I have seen good insights and tips SO OFTEN in beta phases, by many people with intelligence and experience, but truth is, developers never listened. Instead they listened to those fanbois who praised every single step of it. Like in the closed Vanguard beta. That was a sad time, and in variations, it's what I always see. To me and enough others those things are so apparent, and some would be so easy to implement.
Take the space station Citadel from Mass Effect 2. Its really a simple place. Not much grandeur, but the conversations, the small things, people talking, buying, just something more than the DEAD things of Sol Station or DS9 from STO. Make some people wander, some guard patrol, some customers talk, SOMETHING to make the place fee alive. Just one simple example. Its would be SO easy and many good ideas we can read in forums are there, on the table. Its not magic. But for some reason I dont grasp every single developer of MMO games in the last two years succesfully avoided every single good idea.
My guess is, they are way too sure of themselves. Its like a "corp spirit", where there is too little creative disagreement. But its entirely disheartning to see.
There are so many burning issues in MMOs these days. Like, why does EVERY MMO company promise always everything? It has great PVP and great PVE and customization and story and solo and group and raid content and EVERYTHING. I mean, in the end, some are betrayed because NO MMO can have all that, and the result is endless flamewars. Like the many lame PVP attempts in PVE games like LOTRO or CO. Why not just say, we make a PVE game (like EQ) and end of story. Who wants PVP, pls look somewhere else and save a years long and tiresome flamewar between PVP and PVE gamers. It is so pointless to try to have something for everything instead of being good for one core audience. Instead of making a game which is GOOD for 250k - 300k, they try to make a game for millions and fail to make a good one. Here is a secret (shh don't tell anyone): when Blizzard made WOW, they did NOT had millions of potential gamers in mind. They had a very defined core audience in their mind. And you can hate WOW, I know I do, but at least WOW is coherent for its target audience. (Apparently so, as you can see but its financal success.)
I know such a personal text can not be an article. I want to move something, so I am taking sides with emphatic wording. A journalist would have to have more distance, and in gaming I have no such distance, because I care too much to be professional.
BUT: It would be good if more websites and mags would be more critical. Less pleasing questions, more tough questions in interviews. More critical journalism and not this blind praise of all that mediocre stuff we see these days everywhere. I want a really critical, tough analysis of games!
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
My guess is, they are way too sure of themselves. Its like a "corp spirit", where there is too little creative disagreement. But its entirely disheartning to see.
It has got to be a massive ego stroke for nerds to be treated like rock stars. It's bound to affect their judgment.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Thanks to you and all those who said such kind words. I don't feel so special in my insights. It is more a total marvel to me, how such apparent things are ignored in almost every single MMO.
These companies ignore what we say to make their games better, because pretty much every MMO released these days is garaunteed to sell millions despite how bad it is. I know we see how well or not well a game has done by continued subs but really, how much is lost if they loose a ton of subs. They sell the hype, the IP, maybe both and get their box fee, recover most of their sunk costs that way and then shrug. There isn't really a consequence for a bad game when they sell so much up front. If you took away the original box price, there would be a consequence. As it is now, the excessive hype will never dye because they needed, they want their 50 bucks!
If I can convince a couple millions fans, or hype of origincal content enough to get a couple of million people to try my gama for a month, aka buy the game, at 50 plus a pop... i've just made a ton of money. Hey if it drops to a few hundred thousand, what do I care? I'll scale back the staff, reduce the servers (assuming there is more than one server) and move onto the next project telling everyone how much i've learned from the last one. If there are enough people sticking around, I might let the game linger a little longer, throw out some expansion packs, fill up my item store with cosmetic goodies all while moving onto my next gig for my next cash in. If it falls flat completely, close up shop, jump over to another project and be a part of that decision making process.
Hey, I played City of Heroes for awhile and enjoyed it. I really enjoyed the space combat portion of STO. I just wasn't willing to pay what they are asking for it. I think there is not enough there, and I think its ridiculous they are asking for even more than that through a store and playing games with pre-orders and lifetiem scripts, pretty much anything they can do to get mnoey up front which suggests they might have a longevity problem.
Still it's not a bad game. I've seen worse, a lot worse. Is it a perfect Star Trek game... no. It's not even a great MMO, but some people are going to enjoy it, and play it. I can't exactly fault them for that. I will fault them for trying to tell me my opinion is irrelevant.
Oh and to the two of you who are trying to turn this thread into some sort of anti-MMORPG.com thing, I find that completely unnecessary. Yeah, some of the articles and interviews seem be too kind to games like Alganon or conducted in a way that seems very generous to thet companies, but they certainly don't police the forums like Simtropolis clearly did with Cites XL.
parrotpholk-Because we all know the miracle patch fairy shows up the night before release and sprinkles magic dust on the server to make it allllll better.
I WAS interested in this game. From everything I've heard, I'm going to check back in.. in about 6 months from now.
Please don't bring Bioware into this. They were bought out by EA, remember? Bioware wasn't like this when they didn't have big brother looming over their shoulder. Not to mention, Xbox live is a big reason for the DLC content. Mass Effect 1/2 and Dragon Age are AAA games that capture RPG. There are not many games like that. Those titles are nowhere near the same galaxy as the failure of the modern MMO.
As far as I'm concerned, the last real MMO that was released was Dark Age of Camelot. WoW has destroyed everything.
What really sucks is that we are going to have to wait 9-10 years for a real Star Trek MMO, if ever. Is Cryptic really the best the Star Trek IP could do? What about Turbine? I really hope the loose rumors of Forgotten Realms being done by Cryptic are BS.
@OP: i wouldn't say it better myself. Too bad it's not only problem of Cryptic, but entire industry I miss times when games were made for gamers and not for fast bucks.
My guess is, they are way too sure of themselves. Its like a "corp spirit", where there is too little creative disagreement. But its entirely disheartning to see.
It has got to be a massive ego stroke for nerds to be treated like rock stars. It's bound to affect their judgment.
Its about time someone realized this. Cryptic is being run by the poster boy of why nerds who think theyre rockstars =bad: Bill Roper.
The whole problem with STO is that all the missions are generated out of their GENESIS auto content generation tool!
Wich only causes boring repetitive and souless missions. Done one, done them all.
The episode missions, that are actually manually made, you can count on one single hand. And that is just pathetic. As it should have been the other way around.
And someone saying this is Tabula Rasa 2.0. Ehmm what? You give Cryptic way too much credit!
As even Tabula Rasa was 10 times better then this piece of procedural crap.
Tabula Rasa had actually smooth, fast paced ground combat! The mob AI in Tabula Rasa was one of the best I have seen in any MMO!
That's why it's so sad it never was given the chance by NCSoft. As, if there was one MMO, that was actually fixable, then it was Tabula Rasa.
It must be sad to see how rampant trolling and hate spitting effort is turning in vain and the game launches with over 1M subscribers. Trolls, you failed :-P
Come back after the first 30 days are up. Then we talk again.
And oh. 1million people registering at the official websites, IS NOT 1million paid subscribers.
Most people that registered at the forums, haven't even bought the game nor will they bother.
You forget that people had to create an account to access Open Beta.
Don't be so naieve and believe all these marketing spins. You should know better by now.
Comments
Honestly - it wouldn't have a chance in hell.
MMORPG.com is just another business. We don't pay them - companies who sell MMOs do.
Now come on man... this site is pretty good about their articles. They certainly haven't silenced the dissidents like any good, facist, corporate run, business would.
I find most of the time, a great book is more entertaining anyway =D
I have been silenced several times.
They walk the line between serving their clients and not turning off too many readers/posters.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
yet thousands upon thousands are stupid enough to buy this product.
I have been silenced several times.
They walk the line between serving their clients and not turning off too many readers/posters.
i got an apology out of them for banning me a day for supposed trolling
Really? We're back to this old chestnut are we Doubter? Really?
Ok, well, let me explain to you one more time why what you're inferring isn't the case at all:
MMORPG.com's readers are our number one priority, not the companies that buy our ad space. Even if that wasn't where we all are ethically, it also makes good financial sense. You see, in the real world companies don't pay for good content (yes, scandals have happened in the past, but it's few and far between. In five years working for this site, I've never seen nor heard tell of a bribe of any kind). They don't advertise here as a way of saying thank-you for writing nice things. They advertise here for the same reasons that anyone advertises, anywhere: To reach the largest possible number of people who might be interested in their product. They advertise here because a lot of people read our website.
And that is why, even from a business standpoint, our readers are more important to us than any advertiser is... Because in the end it's not our words the companies are after, it's your eyes on their ads. I honestly don't understand why this is difficult for people to understand... it works the same way in television: the more people viewing a program, the more advertising space is worth. Look at the Superbowl as an example.
So, for us to worry less about our readers and more about our advertisers, we'd really be shooting ourselves in the foot, wouldn't we?
But it's more fun to do the whole conspiracy thing you're alluding to. That's much easier than having any idea at all how the business that you're so readily criticizing actually works. It's much easier to believe that someone not sharing your opinion of something means that there's something dirty going on rather than see that opinions exist beyond your own.
You don't like it, fine. That's entirely your decision but please understand that your opinions are not the only valid opinions and those who don't agree with you are not necessarily involved in some kind of conspiracy or "dirty dealing".
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
If they did we'd stop coming. If we stopped coming their ad revenue would drop substantially. MMORPG.com doesn't care if you flame game A or game B, they aren't the developers after all, they just care that you come HERE and do it so they can get paid on it. WE are their primary source of income.
With that said MMORPG.com has cracked down on people for attacking games they currently have ad deals with like Alganon.
Alltern8 Blog | Star Wars Space Combat and The Old Republic | Cryptic Studios - A Pre Post-Mortem | Klingon Preview, STO's Monster Play
I have been silenced several times.
They walk the line between serving their clients and not turning off too many readers/posters.
I too have been banned a few times. The first time I was banned for going "off topic" in a thread praising STO because I disagreed with the OP's premise. The second time I was "mistakenly" banned for trolling and they unbanned me after I complained.
I have been silenced several times.
They walk the line between serving their clients and not turning off too many readers/posters.
I can still post on STO Forums even though I pulled my preorder. Interestingly, Cryptic still lists my preorder as active so I could even roll a character and play, but I won't. Still, the purpose of the STO forum is to serve the player population. As I am no longer a player, I really don't feel right about posting there. But, as the game could be so much better, I hope Cryptic does read what paying customers post up and show some responsiveness.
Really? We're back to this old chestnut are we Doubter? Really?
Ok, well, let me explain to you one more time why what you're inferring isn't the case at all:
MMORPG.com's readers are our number one priority, not the companies that buy our ad space. Even if that wasn't where we all are ethically, it also makes good financial sense. You see, in the real world companies don't pay for good content (yes, scandals have happened in the past, but it's few and far between. In five years working for this site, I've never seen nor heard tell of a bribe of any kind). They don't advertise here as a way of saying thank-you for writing nice things. They advertise here for the same reasons that anyone advertises, anywhere: To reach the largest possible number of people who might be interested in their product. They advertise here because a lot of people read our website.
And that is why, even from a business standpoint, our readers are more important to us than any advertiser is... Because in the end it's not our words the companies are after, it's your eyes on their ads. I honestly don't understand why this is difficult for people to understand... it works the same way in television: the more people viewing a program, the more advertising space is worth. Look at the Superbowl as an example.
So, for us to worry less about our readers and more about our advertisers, we'd really be shooting ourselves in the foot, wouldn't we?
But it's more fun to do the whole conspiracy thing you're alluding to. That's much easier than having any idea at all how the business that you're so readily criticizing actually works. It's much easier to believe that someone not sharing your opinion of something means that there's something dirty going on rather than see that opinions exist beyond your own.
You don't like it, fine. That's entirely your decision but please understand that your opinions are not the only valid opinions and those who don't agree with you are not necessarily involved in some kind of conspiracy or "dirty dealing".
and you didnt ban him for trolling or something so that has to be said for something i think that point alone invalidates this "conspiracy"
Best review ever and most acurate 10*
Hmm,
I have done alot of bitching on this site over several games that I felt I got burned on and I never have been warned. I had a mod edit a post I made about how much I hate teenagers and their opinions on beta testing a game for 2 hours and trashing talking it one time.... but that is it. Stradden breaks out the logic for you about why you are wrong. Unfortunately with conspiracy theorists the plain and obvious truth is never good enough... there has to be some secret agenda to oppose you or something.
/snicker
Really? We're back to this old chestnut are we Doubter? Really?
Really. Who pays you? How does this site make money?
If you want the site to be above reproach, you should not be selling ad space for MMORPGs. To claim that there is no conflict of interest is laughable, really.
Ok, well, let me explain to you one more time why what you're inferring isn't the case at all:
MMORPG.com's readers are our number one priority, not the companies that buy our ad space. Even if that wasn't where we all are ethically, it also makes good financial sense. You see, in the real world companies don't pay for good content (yes, scandals have happened in the past, but it's few and far between. In five years working for this site, I've never seen nor heard tell of a bribe of any kind). They don't advertise here as a way of saying thank-you for writing nice things. They advertise here for the same reasons that anyone advertises, anywhere: To reach the largest possible number of people who might be interested in their product. They advertise here because a lot of people read our website.
And that is why, even from a business standpoint, our readers are more important to us than any advertiser is... Because in the end it's not our words the companies are after, it's your eyes on their ads. I honestly don't understand why this is difficult for people to understand... it works the same way in television: the more people viewing a program, the more advertising space is worth. Look at the Superbowl as an example.
So, for us to worry less about our readers and more about our advertisers, we'd really be shooting ourselves in the foot, wouldn't we?
As I wrote - you walk a fine line. People do get suspended for negative comments about certain companies. That is from personal experience. Maybe you are unawre of your mod's actions. I doubt it, but it's possible.
But it's more fun to do the whole conspiracy thing you're alluding to. That's much easier than having any idea at all how the business that you're so readily criticizing actually works. It's much easier to believe that someone not sharing your opinion of something means that there's something dirty going on rather than see that opinions exist beyond your own.
It would be a pretty feeble conspiracy if one admitted to it.
You don't like it, fine. That's entirely your decision but please understand that your opinions are not the only valid opinions and those who don't agree with you are not necessarily involved in some kind of conspiracy or "dirty dealing".
"Not necessarily". Yes, I agree.
Implying that companies don't care about negative press (which is what posts on a forum amount to) is at variance with reality.
I have no financial stake in anything I post here. You cannot claim the same.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Ask yourself where the money comes from. That should enlighten you.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Really? We're back to this old chestnut are we Doubter? Really?
Ok, well, let me explain to you one more time why what you're inferring isn't the case at all:
MMORPG.com's readers are our number one priority, not the companies that buy our ad space. Even if that wasn't where we all are ethically, it also makes good financial sense. You see, in the real world companies don't pay for good content (yes, scandals have happened in the past, but it's few and far between. In five years working for this site, I've never seen nor heard tell of a bribe of any kind). They don't advertise here as a way of saying thank-you for writing nice things. They advertise here for the same reasons that anyone advertises, anywhere: To reach the largest possible number of people who might be interested in their product. They advertise here because a lot of people read our website.
And that is why, even from a business standpoint, our readers are more important to us than any advertiser is... Because in the end it's not our words the companies are after, it's your eyes on their ads. I honestly don't understand why this is difficult for people to understand... it works the same way in television: the more people viewing a program, the more advertising space is worth. Look at the Superbowl as an example.
So, for us to worry less about our readers and more about our advertisers, we'd really be shooting ourselves in the foot, wouldn't we?
But it's more fun to do the whole conspiracy thing you're alluding to. That's much easier than having any idea at all how the business that you're so readily criticizing actually works. It's much easier to believe that someone not sharing your opinion of something means that there's something dirty going on rather than see that opinions exist beyond your own.
You don't like it, fine. That's entirely your decision but please understand that your opinions are not the only valid opinions and those who don't agree with you are not necessarily involved in some kind of conspiracy or "dirty dealing".
POW
Thanks to you and all those who said such kind words. I don't feel so special in my insights. It is more a total marvel to me, how such apparent things are ignored in almost every single MMO. I have seen good insights and tips SO OFTEN in beta phases, by many people with intelligence and experience, but truth is, developers never listened. Instead they listened to those fanbois who praised every single step of it. Like in the closed Vanguard beta. That was a sad time, and in variations, it's what I always see. To me and enough others those things are so apparent, and some would be so easy to implement.
Take the space station Citadel from Mass Effect 2. Its really a simple place. Not much grandeur, but the conversations, the small things, people talking, buying, just something more than the DEAD things of Sol Station or DS9 from STO. Make some people wander, some guard patrol, some customers talk, SOMETHING to make the place fee alive. Just one simple example. Its would be SO easy and many good ideas we can read in forums are there, on the table. Its not magic. But for some reason I dont grasp every single developer of MMO games in the last two years succesfully avoided every single good idea.
My guess is, they are way too sure of themselves. Its like a "corp spirit", where there is too little creative disagreement. But its entirely disheartning to see.
There are so many burning issues in MMOs these days. Like, why does EVERY MMO company promise always everything? It has great PVP and great PVE and customization and story and solo and group and raid content and EVERYTHING. I mean, in the end, some are betrayed because NO MMO can have all that, and the result is endless flamewars. Like the many lame PVP attempts in PVE games like LOTRO or CO. Why not just say, we make a PVE game (like EQ) and end of story. Who wants PVP, pls look somewhere else and save a years long and tiresome flamewar between PVP and PVE gamers. It is so pointless to try to have something for everything instead of being good for one core audience. Instead of making a game which is GOOD for 250k - 300k, they try to make a game for millions and fail to make a good one. Here is a secret (shh don't tell anyone): when Blizzard made WOW, they did NOT had millions of potential gamers in mind. They had a very defined core audience in their mind. And you can hate WOW, I know I do, but at least WOW is coherent for its target audience. (Apparently so, as you can see but its financal success.)
I know such a personal text can not be an article. I want to move something, so I am taking sides with emphatic wording. A journalist would have to have more distance, and in gaming I have no such distance, because I care too much to be professional.
BUT: It would be good if more websites and mags would be more critical. Less pleasing questions, more tough questions in interviews. More critical journalism and not this blind praise of all that mediocre stuff we see these days everywhere. I want a really critical, tough analysis of games!
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
It has got to be a massive ego stroke for nerds to be treated like rock stars. It's bound to affect their judgment.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
These companies ignore what we say to make their games better, because pretty much every MMO released these days is garaunteed to sell millions despite how bad it is. I know we see how well or not well a game has done by continued subs but really, how much is lost if they loose a ton of subs. They sell the hype, the IP, maybe both and get their box fee, recover most of their sunk costs that way and then shrug. There isn't really a consequence for a bad game when they sell so much up front. If you took away the original box price, there would be a consequence. As it is now, the excessive hype will never dye because they needed, they want their 50 bucks!
If I can convince a couple millions fans, or hype of origincal content enough to get a couple of million people to try my gama for a month, aka buy the game, at 50 plus a pop... i've just made a ton of money. Hey if it drops to a few hundred thousand, what do I care? I'll scale back the staff, reduce the servers (assuming there is more than one server) and move onto the next project telling everyone how much i've learned from the last one. If there are enough people sticking around, I might let the game linger a little longer, throw out some expansion packs, fill up my item store with cosmetic goodies all while moving onto my next gig for my next cash in. If it falls flat completely, close up shop, jump over to another project and be a part of that decision making process.
Hey, I played City of Heroes for awhile and enjoyed it. I really enjoyed the space combat portion of STO. I just wasn't willing to pay what they are asking for it. I think there is not enough there, and I think its ridiculous they are asking for even more than that through a store and playing games with pre-orders and lifetiem scripts, pretty much anything they can do to get mnoey up front which suggests they might have a longevity problem.
Still it's not a bad game. I've seen worse, a lot worse. Is it a perfect Star Trek game... no. It's not even a great MMO, but some people are going to enjoy it, and play it. I can't exactly fault them for that. I will fault them for trying to tell me my opinion is irrelevant.
Oh and to the two of you who are trying to turn this thread into some sort of anti-MMORPG.com thing, I find that completely unnecessary. Yeah, some of the articles and interviews seem be too kind to games like Alganon or conducted in a way that seems very generous to thet companies, but they certainly don't police the forums like Simtropolis clearly did with Cites XL.
parrotpholk-Because we all know the miracle patch fairy shows up the night before release and sprinkles magic dust on the server to make it allllll better.
I WAS interested in this game. From everything I've heard, I'm going to check back in.. in about 6 months from now.
Please don't bring Bioware into this. They were bought out by EA, remember? Bioware wasn't like this when they didn't have big brother looming over their shoulder. Not to mention, Xbox live is a big reason for the DLC content. Mass Effect 1/2 and Dragon Age are AAA games that capture RPG. There are not many games like that. Those titles are nowhere near the same galaxy as the failure of the modern MMO.
As far as I'm concerned, the last real MMO that was released was Dark Age of Camelot. WoW has destroyed everything.
What really sucks is that we are going to have to wait 9-10 years for a real Star Trek MMO, if ever. Is Cryptic really the best the Star Trek IP could do? What about Turbine? I really hope the loose rumors of Forgotten Realms being done by Cryptic are BS.
@OP: i wouldn't say it better myself. Too bad it's not only problem of Cryptic, but entire industry
I miss times when games were made for gamers and not for fast bucks.
http://www.teraonline.info.pl Polski Poradnik Gry Tera Online
It has got to be a massive ego stroke for nerds to be treated like rock stars. It's bound to affect their judgment.
Its about time someone realized this. Cryptic is being run by the poster boy of why nerds who think theyre rockstars =bad: Bill Roper.
Excellent article OP! Well written.
And it perfectly complements what I wrote earlier: http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/267449/page/1
The whole problem with STO is that all the missions are generated out of their GENESIS auto content generation tool!
Wich only causes boring repetitive and souless missions. Done one, done them all.
The episode missions, that are actually manually made, you can count on one single hand. And that is just pathetic. As it should have been the other way around.
And someone saying this is Tabula Rasa 2.0. Ehmm what? You give Cryptic way too much credit!
As even Tabula Rasa was 10 times better then this piece of procedural crap.
Tabula Rasa had actually smooth, fast paced ground combat! The mob AI in Tabula Rasa was one of the best I have seen in any MMO!
That's why it's so sad it never was given the chance by NCSoft. As, if there was one MMO, that was actually fixable, then it was Tabula Rasa.
Cheers
It must be sad to see how rampant trolling and hate spitting effort is turning in vain and the game launches with over 1M accounts.
Trolls, you failed :-P
EDIT: Thanks for noticing the typo - accounts, not subs.
Come back after the first 30 days are up. Then we talk again.
And oh. 1million people registering at the official websites, IS NOT 1million paid subscribers.
Most people that registered at the forums, haven't even bought the game nor will they bother.
You forget that people had to create an account to access Open Beta.
Don't be so naieve and believe all these marketing spins. You should know better by now.