Mass effect dev: "Stop thinking you're the producer."

[Abedeus]

Speaking as an individual who has willingly paid his 80$ for the collector edition and has used his new Prothian teammate quite well, I feel entitled to retort to all the angry people around here. As I am a busy man however, I have had to outsource my retort through one Mr. N. Muntz.

Mr. Muntz, if you would be so kind?


Much appreciated.

I like this argument.

It both gives you the ability to feel self-righteous without having anything valid to say AND you can use the douche excuse "You are just poor, you probably didn't watch the game in 3D either."

 

[Misho-]

But if you just happened to buy some of his/her paintings in the past, it doesn't give you the right to barge into his/her house and demand that he/she should change their style to accommodate your taste.

My response is more of a: "you know, I'm not a fan of how you charge by the color. I'm going to go buy more paintings by that Polish guy or support some street artists instead."

It's a perfectly valid response It's your money. But yeah, I used to do Customer Service before and I used to get this a lot (I'll just take my business elsewhere).

To be honest that threat will never get you anywhere... Ever. And it's a preferable scenario (for the company)on the long run. (It's a long explanation but yeah).

Bottom-line is: it's your money, don't like the product don't buy it, but remember: You didn't invest your money as the producers did, you simply bought the end result. (Even if you bought previous products, it doesn't make the entire line "your" property).

To come back to the artist example, it's not that criticism is bad by any means, it's that it's just that. Criticism, hopefully the constructive kind. It will be noted and maybe applied. But if you don't like the paintings don't buy them. The artist will continue to sell to someone else. In the unlikely scenario nobody buys any of his/her work ever again and begins to feel belly aches caused by starvation then perhaps he/she will change the method. Or die.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

I think you've all finally done it. You've finally made the word entitled as meaningless as epic fail and win. Time to take it out of my dictionary.

Also why won't people read the god damn source article? This is coming from an ex Bioware dev who is not was not involved in ME 3 but saying that does not invalidate her opinion and given the size of the DLC it makes it unlikely to be cut content. What more has me annoyed is laziness in other parts.

To be fair I was thinking some of it was lazy as well. Then I remembered that ME2 was released around this time last year.

They have made this in about 14 months. There is about 30 hours worth of content (give or take depending on if you are a completionist or not) with a VERY large cast. Even if they lifted the engine from the last game that pretty damm impressive. That they got sloppy here and there makes it a bit more believable.

A rushed cycle doesn't excuse darn right lazy and sloppy work in parts. As I said before just because someone writes an essay the night before and has at its core a good argument does not make it a good essay. If the language mechanics and presentation is not up to scratch well then it is bad. If something is not ready and unpolished means it should not be released. This isn't like it is being pushed out for Christmas and while probably not Bioware's fault still doesn't make it alright.

That is a fair point.

Judge the game by its merits. I have been saying that a few times already I believe.

And I will judge it by what is in the game and on the disc no more no less as I do not buy DLC unless it is something like Shivering Isles.

 

[Misho-]

Speaking as an individual who has willingly paid his 80$ for the collector edition and has used his new Prothian teammate quite well, I feel entitled to retort to all the angry people around here. As I am a busy man however, I have had to outsource my retort through one Mr. N. Muntz.

Mr. Muntz, if you would be so kind?


Much appreciated.

I like this argument.

It both gives you the ability to feel self-righteous without having anything valid to say AND you can use the douche excuse "You are just poor, you probably didn't watch the game in 3D either."

Lol I didn't know spending $9.99 equals being rich. I guess the 1% is comprised of more people than I thought... In any case I'm against day 1 DLC on the disc before any backlash, it's just that sometimes the con arguments take it too far (even for comedic effects).

 

[Metalix Knightmare]

Speaking as an individual who has willingly paid his 80$ for the collector edition and has used his new Prothian teammate quite well, I feel entitled to retort to all the angry people around here. As I am a busy man however, I have had to outsource my retort through one Mr. N. Muntz.

Mr. Muntz, if you would be so kind?


Much appreciated.

I like this argument.

It both gives you the ability to feel self-righteous without having anything valid to say AND you can use the douche excuse "You are just poor, you probably didn't watch the game in 3D either."

Actually, it's more I just wanted to use the Nelson laugh in an overly fancy manner.

 

[oooooooooooooooooooooooooo]

First of all, the thread title is highly misleading.

As for the article, I do not like day one DLC, but no one is making you buy the DLC, nor is anyone making you buy the game in the first place. There is obviously a market for day one DLC, so developers are going to try exploit that.

 

[ZeroMachine]

http://kotaku.com/5892199/stop-thinking-youre-a-producer-former-mass-effect-designer-tells-gamers

Well, as the people who buy your games and pay for your salaries, I say we shouldn't be exploited.

Hey, how about you get rid of the sensationalist title and make it clear that she doesn't work with Bioware anymore? So, you know, people don't read the title and fly off the handle?

That'd be great, thanks.

 

[Abedeus]

Speaking as an individual who has willingly paid his 80$ for the collector edition and has used his new Prothian teammate quite well, I feel entitled to retort to all the angry people around here. As I am a busy man however, I have had to outsource my retort through one Mr. N. Muntz.

Mr. Muntz, if you would be so kind?


Much appreciated.

I like this argument.

It both gives you the ability to feel self-righteous without having anything valid to say AND you can use the douche excuse "You are just poor, you probably didn't watch the game in 3D either."

Lol I didn't know spending $9.99 equals being rich. I guess the 1% is comprised of more people than I thought... In any case I'm against day 1 DLC on the disc before any backlash, it's just that sometimes the con arguments take it too far (even for comedic effects).

$10 for a 15 minute mission or so + alternative costumes for teammates (because the character, dialogs and his powers and voiceover are already in-game) and you think it's worth it?

Yes, if you can burn $10 for 15 minutes of enjoyment, then you are richer than average. Or just don't know the value of money.

 

[ZeroMachine]

http://kotaku.com/5892199/stop-thinking-youre-a-producer-former-mass-effect-designer-tells-gamers

Well, as the people who buy your games and pay for your salaries, I would say we do have some sort of control in what we want.

that is like saying because you pay for a movie ticket you get to demand the director change th movie.

How can people be so entitled?

Because videogames are not an artform, they are designed products made for consumption. This is a customer complaining that there is spit on his burger or telling Michael Bay his films suck.

Cept that isn't what happened.

Here is the correct analogy.

What happened is you paid for a Hamburger, threw a hissy fit when there wasn't any bacon in because they charged extra for it.

Then vent on the internet complained like a fucking mad man. Meanwhile likeminded mob slobs review bombed the restaurant saying they spat in the burger when they clearly didn't. Then made a petition to make them change the hamburger to use a different grade beef because the they didn't think the quality of the lower bun was good enough.

This isn't the behaviour of a rational person. This it is insanity. If you did this sort of behaviour in any other type of business you would be locked up. Yet here Bioware is the bad guy for saying what is bloody obvious. That a product should be judged by its own value and that no matter how outraged you are, you still know fuck all about making games.

That... is the best analogy for this entire situation...

You are my hero.

You are legit my favorite person of the week.

If I was near you I'd hug you in a manly fashion.

For now, I shall simply wish you many tasty bacon burgers.

... And now I want a bacon burger too. Dammit...

 

[Loop Stricken]

Thing is, just because YOU don't like it, doesn't mean EVERYONE also doesn't like it... quite a lot are ok with DLC. So who should the devs be listening too? The ones boycotting the game, or the ones dropping money down for all those Space Marine skins?

I'd buy the hell out of those if people still played Space Marine.

I would if the lag and sound issues ever got sodding fixed.

 

[wooty]

If only people could put as much effort into real world problems other than arguing over game content on the internet.

I still, still dont see what all this screaming and toy throwing was all about, no matter how much I look

 

[Canadamus Prime]

She makes a number of very valid a salient points esp. considering all gamers seem to do is whine like self-centered spoiled brat children.
Although one has to admit that having your day one DLC on the game disc is kind of a dick move. There is no justifying making the customer pay extra for content they technically already have.
And incidentally it's not developers I think are evil, it's publishers.

Well maybe they should stop making us feel like we can do a better job than they can.

I would dearly love to see you try. (...and fail)

 

[Misho-]

Speaking as an individual who has willingly paid his 80$ for the collector edition and has used his new Prothian teammate quite well, I feel entitled to retort to all the angry people around here. As I am a busy man however, I have had to outsource my retort through one Mr. N. Muntz.

Mr. Muntz, if you would be so kind?


Much appreciated.

I like this argument.

It both gives you the ability to feel self-righteous without having anything valid to say AND you can use the douche excuse "You are just poor, you probably didn't watch the game in 3D either."

Lol I didn't know spending $9.99 equals being rich. I guess the 1% is comprised of more people than I thought... In any case I'm against day 1 DLC on the disc before any backlash, it's just that sometimes the con arguments take it too far (even for comedic effects).

$10 for a 15 minute mission or so + alternative costumes for teammates (because the character, dialogs and his powers and voiceover are already in-game) and you think it's worth it?

Yes, if you can burn $10 for 15 minutes of enjoyment, then you are richer than average. Or just don't know the value of money.

Quite so Indeed... And so forth. Basically it's paying $10 for in disc content release, like a hostage negotiation so to speak. Well, it no more than what I usually spend for a fast food meal (I'm in a different country mind you) and maybe a movie ticket (yeah, 2 hours of entertainment versus 15 minutes of content I can keep on using). Or 2 fast food meals if I stick to the economic menus... Well I'm aghast for now I've learn that I am but one of the many unaware rich men in my land.

In any case, again, before you fire off the "it's already in the disc and if you like it so therefore you must not know your stuff" argument, please let me repeat as in my original post.

I'm against day 1 DLC in the disc. But my point wasn't really about the DLC but rather that $10 makes you rich (apparently). In any case you are free to insinuate again how I must not know the value of money. If you believe $10 are that much well, I believe it can go both ways...

Or, simply leave it at that since my point was that the hyperbole of the DLC friendly players in the comic strip out there is rather absurd (as the one you kindly posted).

 

[Flames66]

No, I am going to continue telling you what I want in the things I buy.

 

[Gamergeek25]

How come game developers think they have the right to decide what their customers should talk about?

Most gamers aren't qualified to be producers, but they certainly are qualified as gamers and to have an opinion about what they think of games.

If the chef don't want their customers looking over the shoulder, he can kick them out of the kitchen. In the case of Bioware they created a lot of the hype themselves and should be prepared to deal with it.

Yeah in this case when chef doesn't want to customer looking over their shoulder, the customer gets angry.

 

[Etherlad]

Well, as the people who buy your games and pay for your salaries, I say we shouldn't be exploited.

Wrong. They offer you a finished product, and you decide to pay or not to. The Market decides if a product is worth it's price or if it's, as you call it, exploiting the customer.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Well, as the people who buy your games and pay for your salaries, I say we shouldn't be exploited.

Wrong. They offer you a finished product, and you decide to pay or not to. The Market decides if a product is worth it's price or if it's, as you call it, exploiting the customer.

Or in this case, unfinished product haha.

Here's something new to discuss: how valid is a storytelling medium when the stories are sold a la carte?