Monday, October 15, 2012

Signs of Strength, Signs of Weakness


First off, I was told by a buddy of mine, that to have a successful Blog on internet, you must have a cat gif, so here you go:



This week has been an odd one for the community. I have already discussed in an earlier post about the forums success in pushing back the date for Open Beta. I knew instantly that there would be consequences for this victory within both PGI and the MW:O community. Many people likened this to the Monoclegate from EVE online. I have said it before and will say it again; these issues that were part of the Summer of Rage are not even in the same city as the “Open Beta Crisis”. That being said, one thing is fairly similar; flushed with success, the community launched salvo after salvo of demands, complains, and threats to leave the game if they were not placated. There is something about convincing the publishers to change their mind that makes everyone into a bratty arm-chair developer. It’s probably the major reason publishers avoid relenting in the first place.

Imagine a coworker the just freaks out about everything. Every security concern, every staple wasted everything. At a certain point you will just get fed up with them, and eventually even issues that are probably a serious concern may be overlooked because it is “that guy” complaining about them. The noise completely outweighs the signal. By acting like everything is a huge deal, in the end nothing becomes a huge deal. You undermine your own authority with a group that has clearly demonstrated that they are willing to listen.

Today, the other shoe seems to have fallen, the message from on high is “If we can’t have the Open Beta we want, you can’t have the Christmas you want” (Never mind that the Christmas reference was two weeks ago saying that then was like a week before Christmas, which makes last week’s engine upgrade Christmas, the sheer number of toys we were supposed to get tomorrow made this more like the real Christmas). On one hand it seems almost as if PGI is exerting some sort of authority, taking things one step farther, and showing themselves as a strong company, willing to do what it takes to make a high quality product.

However, I fear that this ends up exposing their weakness. Many of these updates were originally scheduled for two weeks ago, which means, assuming they actually come out next week, that they will be a month behind schedule.  This is not a message you want to send to investors and onlookers as you continue to form your argument that your game and development staff are ready for prime time. Likewise, last week it was said that several features were in the game, just waiting to be turned on (including my monkey bobble-head). Hopefully, they will still go through the effort to turn at least those on, to give us the illusion of progress.

Now I often white knight PGI, and even in this I am not hateful, only skeptical. Now is a very important time for your team, you have opted to paint a bulls-eye on your back, and continue to act like no one will notice you. You have lifted the veil of the NDA, and continue to act like no one will talk about their disappointments. You may still be in closed beta, but the world is watching. I would use this as a wakeup call to bring your A game. My hope is that you do, you have already impressed me as a development company; don’t let this transition fall flat.

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