Have you read through the forums here where each and every day someone is complaining and saying that this game is completely unplayable because of these bugs? Take three seconds and look in the bug reports forum or all the pages in this thread. I'm not trying to defend Firaxis here. I'm trying to make people use their heads a bit and think about what they are saying before they say it. I can guarantee you that more than 90% of the people doing all the whining and crying have NEVER worked in the Videogame industry, or ANY industry where resources and timelines impact the final product. Too many people are just the end-user who expects everything to be fine and go their way and wants monetary retribution or punishment to others if they don't get what they want. That drives me nuts, and it happens with more than just videogames. I hate seeing that type of behavior and attitude approved of anywhere, hence why it seems to hit that nerve for me.
Where in CT are you located? I'm in Milford.
Anyway, yes, there are lots of gripes. Some of them are nonsense, but a lot of them (at least the ones I've read) have some legitimacy. In my case, I tend to suffer the bugs (bad leaderheads notwithstanding) and, when I gripe, I gripe about poor implementation, such as spy spam, corporations, etc.
In this case, as I mentioned above, fixing the bugs is less of an issue than the way in which the last two patches have been handled. 3.03 is unusable and was a debacle. The manner in which this new patch is being handled -- "We have it, but you can't and, by the way, tell us if it's worth the wait when you can quantify neither the worth nor the wait" -- is a model for how things should not be done.
Perhaps it's a failing on my part, but I don't suffer business ineptitude well. And these last two patches have been handled ineptly, in one way or the other. This is business, not a frat house meeting and Firaxis' handling of these last two patches are been distinctly poor business.
I've been in entertainment business my entire career, which is now almost 30 years. Want to talk about resources and timelines? Try producing a $10MM Broadway show which is going open in a few days to a live audience and be reviewed by mainstream media sources all around the world. I've had reviews which were terrific and those which make any criticism directed to Firaxis in these forums seem like a walk in the park. And, you know what? Sometimes those criticisms were justified.
Producing any consumer product -- from computer games to Broadway shows to snow blowers -- is difficult, expensive, time-consuming and risky. There are things which can and things which cannot be avoided. A number of bugs in any computer software cannot be avoided. But the poor handling of these patches by Firaxis could have and should have been avoided. It's simply poor business and no amount of apologies and rationales for Firaxis' behavior can change that.
I've been a loyal (read: "obsessive") Civ player since CivII. Over the years (more than a decade now) I've tolerated -- and will continue to tolerate -- many issues with the game and done so gladly because it's given me so much enjoyment. I don't play any other games, so the argument that it's even worse with "Joe Schmoe's Whacky World of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Galactic Dragonslayers" holds no weight with me. I judge Civ and its purveyors simply on its and their own merits. Over the years I've very rarely spoken out (this is my 83rd post since joining this forum over 3 years ago). But when something is poorly handled, it's right to hold accountable those responsible. The more we engage in "La Di Da" apologizing, the worse the situation is likely to become.
Rant over (at least for now
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