Left 4 Dead 2: Why the Boycott Is a Good Thing

[Aethren]

L4D2 Boycott

(noun)

1. Collection of [expletive removed] players who did not see Valve's statement that they will still be providing for the original L4D.

2. A pointless and [expletive removed] endeavor by those in definition 1.

 

[Vigormortis]

It absolutely fascinates me that people think, "There's hardly any new content here! This could easily be DLC! Fuck you Valve! We want it all free because we're all cheapskates!" Are these boycotters REALLY that greedy? I mean, don't they realize that the entire game is filled to capacity with new content. Besides the new characters, new AI director, new weapons, new game mode, and new infected (common and special), the 5 new campaigns are filled with all new architectures and a plethora of new texture work, all of which weren't in the original. I mean, call me crazy, but I'm pretty damn sure Left 4 Dead didn't have any maps that had the look and design of New Orleans or any of the other locales in the south that are being put into L4D2. And, speaking of new characters, there's hundreds if not thousands of hours of new voice recordings for the new characters. Not exactly something they'd throw in for free.

Has it occurred to anyone that we have no idea what the new game mode is? Somehow I doubt it's just another "survival-esque" mode that just uses some simple aspect of the larger game with a timer attached.

I'd also like to point out that Valve hasn't actually said they'll completely stop all support for the original Left 4 Dead. Hell, they still support Half-Life 1, Counter-Strike 1.6 and Team Fortress Classic. Why would Left 4 Dead be any different? I give this "boycott" thing 2 months, 3 tops, before it's numbers dwindle to a mere hand-full. Sooner if Valve decides to reveal more of what's in store for buyers of L4D2.

 

[GrouchyBigfoot]

The boycott wont work but good job getting the attention of the company. Plus I believe that most of the people will buy it anyways except for the hardcore guys.

 

[Digikid]

Oh my god no- Half Life SUCKS in comparison to Left 4 dead.

Quite agreed.

This whole boycott thing is just like a Temper Tantrum. It is very childish and never ever works...so why even try? It just makes you look even more foolish and childish. Just shut up and buy the game if you like it and if you do not like it then go and get into another game....then boycott that as well. LOL!!!!

People these days...sheesh.

You don't understand online games, don't talk.

Umm...err....let me think about that as you sit on a pit of lava. I understand that this is a waste of time and resources. Agreed Fanboys will pay 110% and that is their right to be idiots and do so. However it still remains that the boycott in itself is just something to point and laugh it....while having a bag of popcorn with caramel sauce.

 

[Abedeus]

Oh my god no- Half Life SUCKS in comparison to Left 4 dead.

Quite agreed.

This whole boycott thing is just like a Temper Tantrum. It is very childish and never ever works...so why even try? It just makes you look even more foolish and childish. Just shut up and buy the game if you like it and if you do not like it then go and get into another game....then boycott that as well. LOL!!!!

People these days...sheesh.

You don't understand online games, don't talk.

Umm...err....let me think about that as you sit on a pit of lava. I understand that this is a waste of time and resources. Agreed Fanboys will pay 110% and that is their right to be idiots and do so. However it still remains that the boycott in itself is just something to point and laugh it....while having a bag of popcorn with caramel sauce.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

It's better to be a fanboy and blindly listen to what developers promise, and then go into a complete denial when something goes wrong.

 

[Dreyfuss]

So when are the Madden, FIFA, NFL, NHL, Tiger Woods and Pokemon boycotts happening?

Nobody's boycotting those because nobody cares.

Protip: nobody cares because they suck.

I'm not sure where you get the idea it's "self-contradictory," nor where I said it was a bad thing. I said it wasn't going to have any impact on the development of L4D2, that most of the support for the boycott will drift away long before the game is released and that I personally think it's kind of a silly idea. But a bad thing? Communities are being formed around people who are willing to demand more and better things from gaming. That's a good thing.

Yes, that is a good thing. So maybe you don't realize it, but in your article you trashed the whole boycott and its participants over and over again in a way that's a lot more insulting than the kind of ignorant tripe spouted by journalists outside of the industry that has no basis in reality. I read it thinking the whole time "jesus... this guy is practically flaming them." When you say "yeah, you're doing the right thing, but you're retarded if you think you'll actually make a difference," you might as well just say "stop gaming, you're an idiot and nobody likes you."

 

[Valkyira]

I don't get you people. You love L4D and your upset because valve are releasing L4D2... maybe you should stop crying and realise that L4D2 will be good. If you think L4D was unfinished/wasnt out long enough than thats fair enough, but for people to moan and criticize Valve for releasing a sequel is stupid. Just be glad that Valve are releasing another left for dead game.

 

[Jumplion]

Looking at this boycott now, I think this is going to be the start of a (hopefully) good trend. We see that there's a boycott for L4D2 from VALVe, a respected company, but how often do we ever see a boycott in this industry?

Think about it, if these guys can get over 30,000 people to join up who knows what kind of numbers they'd achieve in a boycott against EA's DRM or Activision's constant rereleasing of Guitar Hero? I think it'd be much more effective than pirating games you hate or quietly not buying "GH12462:99's eddition", that kind of boycott, out of spite, is not effective at all and only makes the company more reluctant to remove it and controls them out of fear.

companies need to trust us, not fear us, so if this boycott gets even a fraction of what it's requesting achieved I think that it could be the start of a small thing that can lead to a big thing.

 

[R.O.]

That was really ignorant of them to do that. But Valve is greedy. Rather than satisfying loyal fans they want the money grab in a recession? Whoever is over there needs to get fired immediately because not only am I definitely not buying Left 4 Dead but I don't plan on buying any of Valve's marketing schemes from now on. I was just in the store today looking at Left 4 Dead thinking about buying it. Thank God I didn't pick it up.

 

[Andy Chalk]

Yes, that is a good thing. So maybe you don't realize it, but in your article you trashed the whole boycott and its participants over and over again in a way that's a lot more insulting than the kind of ignorant tripe spouted by journalists outside of the industry that has no basis in reality. I read it thinking the whole time "jesus... this guy is practically flaming them." When you say "yeah, you're doing the right thing, but you're retarded if you think you'll actually make a difference," you might as well just say "stop gaming, you're an idiot and nobody likes you."

Still have to disagree. I can (and often do) vehemently criticize the Canadian government, Canadian political system and democracy in general for their many flaws and glaring failures, complaints that are all undeniably valid. That doesn't mean that I don't recognize that it's a great system and that we're very lucky to live under it.

Same with this boycott. Just because this particular boycott of this particular game doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense to me doesn't mean that I don't recognize it as an important step in the evolution of the relationship between developers and gamers, or that I don't applaud its founders and members for standing up and demanding (and getting) Valve's attention.

 

[Taerdin]

Everyone keeps spouting off the wrong perception of the boycott. First of all, they're not just whiny people who want something for nothing solely because of TF2. Updates were PROMISED for L4D, boycotters just want to know that we will still get them. Is holding developers to their promises a whiny thing to do? Thats your opinion I guess, but valve actually SAID left4dead would get continous updates and cited TF2 as an example of what L4D would enjoy. The link is below (the first hyperlink).

I'm too lazy to explain it all, but apparently you guys are too busy to do ALL the research yourself so I'll do it for you...

Manifesto:

WE RECOGNIZE:

-Valve is a company with financial needs and cannot be expected to survive without the release of new games.

-Judgment cannot be passed on the quality of Left 4 Dead 2 until its release.

-Left 4 Dead was, and is, a quality game which deserves the praise of the entire gaming community.

WE ARE COMMITTED:

-To holding Valve to its promise of free, continual updates to Left 4 Dead in order to build and sustain the community.

-To keeping the Left 4 Dead community together in order to improve the quality of online gaming.

-To supporting the model of continual updates Valve has set forth with its staple products like Team Fortress 2.

WE BELIEVE:

-The release of Left 4 Dead 2 as a stand-alone sequel will split the communities and decrease the quality of multiplayer gaming.

-The announced content of Left 4 Dead 2 does not warrant a stand-alone, full-priced sequel and should instead become updates (free or otherwise) for Left 4 Dead.

-Left 4 Dead has not yet received the support and content which Valve has repeatedly stated will be delivered.

-The release of Left 4 Dead 2 will make Left 4 Dead an obsolete purchase and inferior piece of software after only one year since release.

WE REQUEST:

-That Valve honor its commitment to release ongoing periodic content for Left 4 Dead.

-That Left 4 Dead 2 not be released as a stand-alone, full-priced sequel but as either a free update to Left 4 Dead or an expansion with full compatibility with basic Left 4 Dead owners.

-That Left 4 Dead owners be given discounts for Left 4 Dead 2, should it be released as premium content.



Therefore, we - the members of this Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott - promise to abstain from the purchase of Left 4 Dead 2 until our requests are addressed.


Important links (should probably read the first two!!!):

Valve's Past Promises [http://www.videogamer.com/news/valve_details_post_left_4_dead_launch_plans.html]
Past Valve interviews about L4D1 post-release plans [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQWylFmqnwM]
L4D2 Boycott Forum + Chat Room [http://l4d2boycott.proboards.com]

This was all on the FIRST FREAKING PAGE of the group, which I guess all of you couldnt be bothered to look up. I know you guys are a bunch of self righteous assholes who hate on everything based on what only one or two people have said on it, without ever spending the slightest shred of time researching or determining the truth, but seriously this seems pretty reasonable to me. The developers promised something and didn't deliver, we as customers have only one recourse when dissatisfied with a company and that is to stop buying their product. If I came on this forum and complained someone would tell me, 'just dont buy it then, vote with your dollar' and thats all this group is doing. I think everyone here needs to grow up at least a little, myself included.

Also theres 32,500ish members now...

 

[in_95]

http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg72/Rodriiigo0/BlueShift.jpg[/IMG] (and for the record, yes I did buy Blue Shift, and yes I did love it.)

Yes, and how much did it cost? That's right, the same as an expansion pack.

L4D2 looks and feels like an expansion pack. It's all tweeks and no new major updates. I don't mind paying for it. Just sucks to be paying for full price when you know it's just L4D 1.5.

For the record I also paid for blue shift and enjoyed it- for a day because it was really short- but got freaked out by the clone Barneys that looked more lifelike and therefore strangely disconcerting when there's 3 of them in the same room as you. Like when you get an entire team of Gordon Frohman's assembled in HL2.

 

[Taerdin]

Everyone keeps spouting off the wrong perception of the boycott. First of all, they're not just whiny people who want something for nothing solely because of TF2. Updates were PROMISED for L4D, boycotters just want to know that we will still get them. Is holding developers to their promises a whiny thing to do? Thats your opinion I guess.

Okay. Valve has already said you'll still get them. Said that within 24 hours of the L4D2 announcement. Before the boycott group was even a group. So.. end of boycott, hm?

I'm too lazy to explain it all, but apparently you guys are too busy to do ALL the research yourself so I'll do it for you...

What a surprise, since you were apparantly too lazy to do the research before joining the boycott group.

Manifesto:

WE RECOGNIZE:

-Valve is a company with financial needs and cannot be expected to survive without the release of new games.

-Judgment cannot be passed on the quality of Left 4 Dead 2 until its release.

Ah.. that's why there are complaints about the music and the character models. I see. You might want to inform the idiots in your boycotting group which are saying otherwise then, they're giving you a badworse name.

-Left 4 Dead was, and is, a quality game which deserves the praise of the entire gaming community.

And here we see it.. "But we're not gonna be the special-ist!!" Wait.. what's that I hear, could it be the Wahhmbulance?

WE ARE COMMITTED:

-To holding Valve to its promise of free, continual updates to Left 4 Dead in order to build and sustain the community.

-To keeping the Left 4 Dead community together in order to improve the quality of online gaming.

-To supporting the model of continual updates Valve has set forth with its staple products like Team Fortress 2.

Good for you.. and L4D2 affects any of these things... how?

Oh.. wait.. here we go:

WE BELIEVE:

Aka, we have no evidence but it'd be kind of stupid for us to just be getting all up in arms because we're not the most special any more.

-The release of Left 4 Dead 2 as a stand-alone sequel will split the communities and decrease the quality of multiplayer gaming.

Good grief.. so are you going to boycott every single online game that follows L4D? Because, newsflash, they're all gonna do that.

-The announced content of Left 4 Dead 2 does not warrant a stand-alone, full-priced sequel and should instead become updates (free or otherwise) for Left 4 Dead.

Hey, and they should give you ponies and unicorns too. Go to school. Learn some coding. As a tip, when the expansion pack contains more content than the original, it ain't an expansion. Remember, you've already stated that you recognize Valve developers need to eat.

-Left 4 Dead has not yet received the support and content which Valve has repeatedly stated will be delivered.

Aaaand... this means it won't happen because? Perhaps you'll note the word "yet" in your own sentence.

-The release of Left 4 Dead 2 will make Left 4 Dead an obsolete purchase and inferior piece of software after only one year since release.

Welcome to the world of videogames. Remember, Valve developers need to eat. Oddly, they need to do this every year.

WE REQUEST:

-That Valve honor its commitment to release ongoing periodic content for Left 4 Dead.

And we're going to make sure they don't get fed until they give us our free goodies!

-That Left 4 Dead 2 not be released as a stand-alone, full-priced sequel but as either a free update to Left 4 Dead or an expansion with full compatibility with basic Left 4 Dead owners.

Because we want our free goodies for what we already bought!

-That Left 4 Dead owners be given discounts for Left 4 Dead 2, should it be released as premium content.

Because we don't want to pay full price for something with more content than the original game we paid full price for!

Therefore, we - the members of this Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott - promise to abstain from the purchase of Left 4 Dead 2 until our requests are addressed.

AKA.. "We'd rather you starve than not give us our free goodies!" Because that'll get you the free goodies oh so much faster. "That thing about recognizing that they deserve to get paid? Yeah, that was really just to hide that we're selfish pricks."

I think everyone here needs to grow up at least a little, myself included.

Well.. at least you got one half right.

Seriously, the only argument that doesn't boil down to "I'm a selfish prick and want cheap/free goodies" is the one about splitting the online community, and as mentioned, you better damn well be boycotting EVERYTHING that comes out for online play hereafter, because they're all going to do that. Unless you can seriously argue that the deciding factor that made you buy L4D.. ie, that you wouldn't have purchased it at all otherwise, is that they announced they'd be developing extra stuff for the game.. and even then it's just a whine that it isn't out already, and will remain so until either it's out, or they say they're ditching it.

You may want to post this on their forums, I myself am not the one who wrote all that, they did. I was just passing it along for people to lazy to dredge it up themselves

Also if you can't recognize that you're being horribly immature with your 'whaaambulance' comments and such, then theres really no help for you. Good luck. I could sit here and respond to each of your little quotes in some flame war crap but then I would just be getting even more trolled then I already have.

Feel free to post your comments to someone who remotely cares too though, like... the actual boycotters. As someone who isn't quick to judge I was just trying to fix what I see to be a misconception of the boycotters, but apparently you're too keen to be a troll and a gamer elitist to realize all the group is about is holding valve to their promises, and if they dont deliver then voting with their dollar. They have that right as consumers to not give money to companies they feel have slighted them, so how about you grow the hell up and understand that. I for one will likely buy L4D2 on release, but I understand anyones decision to vote with their dollar.

 

[IamQ]

Q.Q more.

 

[Weaver]

I can't help but feel we wouldn't have these problems if they didn't go with a 360 release. I've been hearing rumors that valve kept wanting to release free DLC and Microsoft kept telling them they have to charge for it.

Furthermore, on the PC an expansion pack is easy. Just dump the new stuff into the current install folder and away you go. On a console, it's not really possible. This is why I think what not only could have, but should have been an expansion pack is now it's own game.

 

[Elminsters Hat]

Sounds like 30000 people are whining for a free game and the guy that's rallying the troops is a tool. I've never played Left 4 Dead, but from what I read here this "expansion" is no small thing, rejecting that argument based on "they added a weapon to TF2 as well!" is just stupid. It shows that they either have no clue or, more likely, are willfully ignorant.

Yeah, it's great large groups of people can get the attention of game developers, I'm sure that it will lead to better games eventually, or better sales anyway. But this is 30000 people complaining to valve about them making an apparently awesome game that's going to cost less, offer more gameplay and be generally better than any game of most other developers.

Can't we use these new-found collective superpowers for good or something?

 

[Sadtank823]

*Dramatic Sigh.* To all of you naysayers who are completely against Left 4 Dead 2, I've just two words for you:

*FRYING PAN.*

 

[Chiddy]

All i can say is that it wont make a difference and when the game comes out half the people who said they are boycotting it will still buy the game