Holding Developers to Higher Standards

[Soviet Heavy]

Gaming is expensive. At sixty to seventy bucks retail (and even worse in Australia), gamers should come to expect quality from the product they buy. That means that we should be harder on developers. Too often nowadays, we are trying to justify faults in otherwise good games by going soft on the developers.

Of course the popular target right now is Dragon Age 2. The arguments are split between the people who pick apart every problem in the game, and those who will ignore the faults by merit of it being a Bioware game. Basically, the two extremes of fanboyism: the unpleasable and the blind follower. Obviously neither of these are the majority, but they are the most vocal.

Neither of them is correct, but both are very problematic. The unpleasable use word of mouth to spread hate for the game, while the blind followers act as enablers for sloppy work from the developers.

For the price we pay for the pastime of gaming, we should demand a certain quality assurance. If I could choose between a rushed sequel coming out a year or two after the first, or a dedicated sequel taking as much development time to make the best possible product, I would choose the latter. We need to be harder on developers to get their shit together. I want my money's worth, and I should feel like I got it.

That means giving credit where credit is due, to show developers where they did something right. Encourage them to keep doing that. But it also means criticizing the faults extensively. If something does not click well, we as consumers should be within every right to tell the developers to smarten up, get their act together and fix something. Arguing between ourselves gets us nowhere, but focusing our demands and our compliments upon the developer will send a message.

I demand quality, give it to me, or I take my money elsewhere.

 

[oplinger]

You'll take your money elsewhere.

Has anyone ever considered they aim to make mediocre games? Especially when they plan to make sequels?

If you make a game shitty, they won't buy the sequel. You make the game perfect, it can only go down hill.

Plus how budgeting goes they try to get the most bang for their buck, and may skimp on QA. Sadly QA is not the best way to fix bugs -anyway- you can have all the testers you want, but you can still have the game turn to shit on certain hardware and configurations.

I'm not saying most developers intentionally make the worst possible game ever. Sometimes they don't even think they'll be making a sequel.

But if you plan to make a trilogy, may as well make them get better and better.

It's really not that we don't demand quality from our devs, we do. ...We just don't really want quality to begin with. We want fun. We don't -care- what form it comes in. We want to have fun, and not be offended.

If a developer does that. It doesn't matter what the quality of their games are. We'll still buy them, they will still make money...

Sales aren't even really about the damn content! it's about marketing. How many good developers have you "encouraged"? How many of those developers still exist? ..I can think of a handful of great developers that tanked because people didnt know to "encourage" them.


The entire thing is flawed.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

You want to talk bad prices?

Look at this.

Tell me that doesn't confuse you.

 

[Gennadios]

I'd much rather we hold the sh*tcaked video game reviewers to higher standards so crappy games can't be guaranteed a few good days of sales at launch.

Developers have no reason to care while utterly mediocre offerings like DA2 and Black and White have reviewer scores above 90.

 

[theheroofaction]

There's one thing with your argument, there's the silent majority who ARE satisfied with their purchases.

These are the guys who don't defend what they like because they're too busy having fun.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I'd also like to add that devs should not make promises they can't keep.

Molyneux, I'm looking right at you.

But whatever. Since I used Dragon Age 2 as an example, I'm sure some pretentious little twerp is going to come in here and tell me how wrong my opinion is.

 

[Gennadios]

You want to talk bad prices?

Look at this.

Tell me that doesn't confuse you.

Digital distributors don't need to clear out shelf space, so the publishers get full control over sale prices.

Small price to pay for environmental responsibility and not have to visit your parents to dig through the basement for old CDs.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

There's one thing with your argument, there's the silent majority who ARE satisfied with their purchases.

These are the guys who don't defend what they like because they're too busy having fun.

And you know what? I'm fine with that. But since they don't speak out, I can't comment on their choices. But if they are satisfied regardless, than the minority demanding devs do better and succeeding should only make the silent majority happier. If they are happy regardless, an improvement in quality should logically make everyone happier.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

Small price to pay for environmental responsibility and not have to visit your parents to dig through the basement for old CDs.

This game is on Steam as well.

You can buy the physical copy, then register it, and still save yourself $35. Also, the remastered set The Dragon Knight Saga (which includes Ego Draconis and Flames of Vengence) is only $40.

 

[XT inc]

Who is to say a game is shit these days? When have you played the full complete version of a title that is presented unto you in its glorious finished form? The answer is probably never. They snip out all the content sell it to you in multiple 10 dollar expansions, putting all the little add ons, humorous skins for characters, cheat codes, and new toys off into the for sale bin, to the end of micro-transactions. Only paying an additional 50 bucks in the end is by no means micro.

I think the humorous bit, is that when the games do die down, is when they release the goty edition for full price again but this time with all the content included. My friends say I'm cheap and I say I'm just not dumb enough to spend a plethora of games worth of money on map packs for a game the devs are replacing in 8 months.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Um...am I missing something here? Can't you just play a bunch of demos until you find a game you are reasonably sure would be worthwhile buying?

Or, failing that, just play demos, alot of them are fun in their own right. If only Exile3 still worked on my computer, the demo was a great game in of itself, the rest of it was the same, but more.

 

[theheroofaction]

There's one thing with your argument, there's the silent majority who ARE satisfied with their purchases.

These are the guys who don't defend what they like because they're too busy having fun.

And you know what? I'm fine with that. But since they don't speak out, I can't comment on their choices. But if they are satisfied regardless, than the minority demanding devs do better and succeeding should only make the silent majority happier. If they are happy regardless, an improvement in quality should logically make everyone happier.

Interesting rebuttal, and I can't say that I have a counterpoint. Well done.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

There's one thing with your argument, there's the silent majority who ARE satisfied with their purchases.

These are the guys who don't defend what they like because they're too busy having fun.

And you know what? I'm fine with that. But since they don't speak out, I can't comment on their choices. But if they are satisfied regardless, than the minority demanding devs do better and succeeding should only make the silent majority happier. If they are happy regardless, an improvement in quality should logically make everyone happier.

Interesting rebuttal, and I can't say that I have a counterpoint. Well done.

Thank you. My sociology class has us doing debates, so I am pretty quick with rebuttals.

 

[theComposer]

There's one thing with your argument, there's the silent majority who ARE satisfied with their purchases.

These are the guys who don't defend what they like because they're too busy having fun.

There's nothing left for me to say really. I guess I'll go back to having fun then.

 

[Rayne870]

I'd also like to add that devs should not make promises they can't keep.

Molyneux, I'm looking right at you.

But whatever. Since I used Dragon Age 2 as an example, I'm sure some pretentious little twerp is going to come in here and tell me how wrong my opinion is.

You aren't wrong for not liking it, but it is your opinion. And though there are others who share your opinion my opinion differs, I like the game, others share that opinion, and I am reasonably certain that Bioware is content with what they produced as well. Most of the stigma about DA2 was that it was different than DA:O which it was.

 

[Rayne870]

I also don't understand how gaming is expensive, I seem to be able to afford everything I could want to play with a minimum wage job. But I do think there does need to be quality in games and people can't release something that is bugged to unplayability on day one or equates to less than 8 hours of engaging game-play.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I'd also like to add that devs should not make promises they can't keep.

Molyneux, I'm looking right at you.

But whatever. Since I used Dragon Age 2 as an example, I'm sure some pretentious little twerp is going to come in here and tell me how wrong my opinion is.

You aren't wrong for not liking it, but it is your opinion. And though there are others who share your opinion my opinion differs, I like the game, others share that opinion, and I am reasonably certain that Bioware is content with what they produced as well. Most of the stigma about DA2 was that it was different than DA:O which it was.

I would be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy Dragon Age 2. I really liked the game, even if it was different than Origins, it didn't bother me too much. But I feel like I should be able to voice my criticisms about the game and my frustrations with the developers without some rabid fan biting my head off.

I want Bioware to keep doing better, and to me that means putting the pressure on. Keep doing the good, work on the bad. I don't want to enable them to continue sloppy practices that are very apparent in the game.

 

[Katana314]

Um...am I missing something here? Can't you just play a bunch of demos until you find a game you are reasonably sure would be worthwhile buying?

Or, failing that, just play demos, alot of them are fun in their own right. If only Exile3 still worked on my computer, the demo was a great game in of itself, the rest of it was the same, but more.

Here's my motto! End of discussion for me.
On the same note, there MIGHT still be people playing the Battlefield 2 demo somewhere.

Anyway, I've learned now that I am the only person who can determine if a game will be fun for me, and it's not worth buying through any other form of hype. I sometimes make exceptions for cheap games, but even from a reputable company like Valve, I'm no longer paying $50 if I have not had a chance to play it.

 

[Rayne870]

I would be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy Dragon Age 2. I really liked the game, even if it was different than Origins, it didn't bother me too much. But I feel like I should be able to voice my criticisms about the game and my frustrations with the developers without some rabid fan biting my head off.

I want Bioware to keep doing better, and to me that means putting the pressure on. Keep doing the good, work on the bad. I don't want to enable them to continue sloppy practices that are very apparent in the game.

Ah that was something that was lost in translation on the original post. I can figuratively shake hands with you now and say "dude you're a bit of alright".

I probably jumped on you a bit assuming you were just a mindless hater.

Bit of a confession here: I can't enjoy DA:O, I want to, I love the story and stuff but I can't stand playing a melee class in that game and I refuse to play a mage. So I am defaulted to saying yeah it was really good but I had to sit and watch my fiance play it to come to that conclusion. DA:2 was a great jumping on point for me due to the combat changes. The simple idea of every time I press the button I am actually making an individual hit really helps me.

I am currently slogging through another attempt at DA:O though, but I think to me it will always be "GRR I want to love this game so much but I can't."

 

[Blueruler182]

Oy... Congratz, you noticed that the video game industry is like every other industry and everything on this planet in that there will occasionally be shit. Films, books, comics, tv, and every industry will try and make money and rush a product for fan appeal. If you don't like it, don't buy it.

And I honestly think they're in the right. It costs a LOT to make a video game, and they're trying to make a return on their business. We are capitalist. We want to make money. Not everyone is going to pour their heart and soul into a new IP when they're not sure where their dinner's going to come from. And we're not entitled to anything just because they're selling stuff.