Burberryan said:
Precisely, Kolyana (I might just not be in total agreement regarding the "inevitable" part, but that's a different discussion for a different place
).
And as we both know and as evidence such as the present one demonstrate clearly, there are certain barriers concerning both the demography of our particular subject matter (our -mine at least, taking pot shots here
- generation might have been luckier in that regard, with what the game industry used to be not that long ago and what it is now) and also the actions of those who choose their paths in life based on that dreadful bynom,
"higher" interests and lower morals (I believe it's become common practice for most well established game publishers to make sure to have at least one or two "unofficial" representatives in any major public discussion boards around their product, and then there are the cases of "disrupters" sent to boards or even online servers of rival products... all quite disgusting and sad, and such a waste and corruption of new potentials such as the Internet), which all contribute to the status quo you so well described.
I'll tell you this, I for one won't sleep with the weight on my conscience of having supported those sad affairs with my own money. First because I don't need to
either way (board rules wouldn't allow me to specify), and second because I despise the kind of those responsible too much.
Regardless, hey, maybe 2 buyer letters are better than 1, 3 better than 2 and... you know. I'll leave that suggestion in the air anyway
I truly considered writing (read: snailmail) to Sid himself; I can be somewhat literate and felt that I could make a good case for 'the consumer'. At the end of the day, though, my comment regarding "inevitable" is more of a resigned realization that any form of complaint is only likely to make any form of difference ... even on an extremely minor level ... if it ultimately is made, or ends up in the hands of, the decision makers; read: The Board.
I feel that Firaxis are well aware of the problems with this title, it's rushed nature and the vagrancies of a publisher calling the shots ... me adding my voice to this would accomplish nothing. I think that they'd agree with me, I suspect that they feel the same way in many respects, but ultimately they will not say as much out loud. Again, "don't bite the hand that feeds you" and, more accurately, don't say anything against the company who now owns you.
On a broader scale I *do* remember those days of extremely high quality products, games that invariably did not crash all of the time and developers who truly took a great deal of pride in their work.
I think it would be unfair to say that these days are gone, but it seems that the more individual developers who are bought out by the large publishers, the more the gaming industry will slide in quality, depth and innovation.
"Inevitable" because I think that this cannot be avoided when one considers the natural evolution of a software publisher with a lot of money, desiring nothing but more money, only caring about deadlines and viewing "games" as nothing more than a means to an end; this is not "Civilization 4, the fourth installment in a legendary series" to Firaxis, this is "Name recognition = money". It's the same mentality that causes spin offs from films ... most are terrible, but then all are made for money and not pride.
"Inevitable" because no publisher will ever truly care about the individual titles it releases ... this is the domain of the developers ... but when developers are *owned* by publisher and while publishers call the shots, the standard of title will always be less than it could have been.
I think your letter would have been better mailed 'conventionally' and probably copied to Firaxis, but then I'm more inclined to think that a "gamers consumer group" representing we - the gamers - would better vocalize the situation to the industry, rather than a handful of peeved emails.
For me, I'll not buy another Take2 title until I have read reviews from fan-sites such as this and feel safe that my money is being spent wisely. Perhaps, in time, Take2 and others will realize that some fans do have a long memory, or a "Richard Branson" will come to the software publishing world.
You know, thinking about it - and don't throw stones at me here - but Microsoft actually has a "quality" gaming division. I've heard of them cancelling titles because they did not have the polish and quality they felt their name required, and I like that: A publisher concerned about it's self image and quality of goods released to the consumers. I'm not a Microsoft fan, but I do that that particular attitude.
).
