Curse

SOT · Aug 12, 2005, 06:34 AM // 06:34

I have seen the future of gaming on the pc, and it is horror. I have seen the result of marketing strategies thought up by suit-wearing crackheads, and it is, once again, horror.

I am talking about patching a game. Stop a moment, and share this little train of thought with me:

You bought Unreal Tournament 2004 (like me) when it hit the store, or pre-ordered it or whatever. You played the game so much that it became part of your daily routine: Get up, work, eat, frag people from France. You then were told by the game's online component you need to get the latest patch. It told you please goto to (gamewebsitename) and grab it.

You go there straightaway, because you (again, like me) are a person who wants all his or her software up to date, running smooth, and getting the most out of them all. Well, then you arrive and click on the news item link about the patch...and EVERYTHING BECOMES A BETTY CROCKER CATALOG OFFER FROM HELL!

I am talking about gaming companies who, for some in-FRICKING-comprehensible reason, feel the need to, rather than host a file on their own server (these companies being coporate megahitters like Atari, Epic Games, Id Software, Etc) decide instead to have some god-forsaken, ad-infested POS site host the file, and when you attempt to click on an update link, you are basically told to fudge-off and DIE, because you are not a "registered" member of our "community".

Sorry kids, I dished out moola for the game, I am NOT paying a 3rd party website to upgrade YOUR SHITTY, CODE-RAPED game install! Release the game WORKING and in need of NO FIXES, or PUT THE PATCH ON YOUR OWN GOD DAMN SITE!

Ultimate_Gaara · Aug 12, 2005, 06:41 AM // 06:41

Here, Here!

I once played a game where i had to download patch after patch from some lame popup infested site... i can't remeber what game.. i want to say BF1942.. but im not 100% sure.. anyways long story short i stoped playing that game in a hurry...

I like it when the updates happen in game like with Blizzard related games...

a_scrawny_gnoll01 · Aug 12, 2005, 07:08 AM // 07:08

...there are still games that do that? Damn, that is fricking pathetic. Talk about not taking any initiative to keep gamers interested in your product. Telling them to go download a patch from a 'thrid party', so to speak, isn't really a great way to keep people interested. It just shows that they have no interest in hosting the patch themselves, or *gasp* patching when you log in to the game!
For crying out loud, this is just pathetic, and some companies need to learn how these insignificant mistakes that they make end up biting them in the ass in the long run.

Golden Knight · Aug 12, 2005, 02:47 PM // 14:47

wow, games still do that? even Runescape doesnt do that, games that do that basically suck

EternalTempest · Aug 12, 2005, 08:18 PM // 20:18

I agree with you.
I found once you get the file name it's better to google it to find alternate downloads.

It's the FPS with massive mods / editor's with them that do this behavior a lot. Or anything that has Planet that are some of the worst.

Try doing ftp.nameofcompany.com go to public folder and you can usually still find patch via the old ftp method, works much faster with a real ftp client (perfer smartftp) over the browser.

SOT · Aug 12, 2005, 08:40 PM // 20:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by EternalTempest

I agree with you.
I found once you get the file name it's better to google it to find alternate downloads.

Your comment actually reminded me WHY this phenomenon makes me so upset. That right there is not cohesive with system security and integrity. Many sites that dupe files like that are not safe, not so much by design, but by being lax or stupid outright.

I shouldn't HAVE to go elsewhere, sadly. They spend millions (sometimes more) on a game, then to market the game, then to maintain it with updates, you would think that 4-5k in funds would be spent on a server to house patches, tweaks, or what have you. But no, we have "join or die and never play online because your game will not connect because you are the only NON-SPAM-CREDIT-CARD-CHARGED person in Idaho ho refuses to give up your birth name, address, and email address to download a patch for a game we do not own the rights to, the customer service of, and oh yeah, we do not even PLAY games! Our real job is selling babies to Nigeria!"

All sarcasm aside, some of these companies are downright NEFARIOUS. I signed up for one service as an experiment. I NEVER give out my info online, not for anything. If I canot get what I want at Best Buy or local, then screw it. Safer that way. I rarely if ever have had to resort to crossing state lines to acquire said goods/services, so I am not amiss. But these people...sheesh! I now get about 2560 spams PER DAY on my gmail account. There is literally no other explanation. It began about 4 hours AFTER that. So yeah, I know what patching UT2K4 got me, less game issues, and an offer to GOLF-College. Kill me now.

Swampgirl Inez · Aug 12, 2005, 09:06 PM // 21:06

Dude, did you really type in your real gmail account? Come on, you have at least 50 invites (or more) just like every other gmail user. Make a "placetosendyourcrappyads"@gmail.com account and use it only for signing up for stuff. Only my friends and family get my "real" email address. No spam there.

SOT · Aug 12, 2005, 09:13 PM // 21:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swampgirl Inez

Dude, did you really type in your real gmail account? Come on, you have at least 50 invites (or more) just like every other gmail user. Make a "placetosendyourcrappyads"@gmail.com account and use it only for signing up for stuff. Only my friends and family get my "real" email address. No spam there.

I said "my gmail account". I didn't say "my main gmail account".

It was, after all, as stated, an experiment.

Swampgirl Inez · Aug 12, 2005, 09:22 PM // 21:22

OK, just checking...

Acan Vishnu · Aug 12, 2005, 09:44 PM // 21:44

[Fair warning and/or disclaimer: These are entirely my personal observations of the gaming industry, and quite possibly could be utterly and completely off base]

The game industry as a whole as been facing the same issues as any other industry. They all have investors, stockholders, CEO's and Presidents, and they all have one thing in common; they want money.

The problem, at least from the consumers viewpoint, is that several(many?) gaming companies believe that quantity is job one. EA comes readily to mind, the way they see it is getting a game 50-75% of the way to overall greatness is reletively easy but that last 25-50% is very difficult and consequently time consuming. From the standpoint of an investor it can be seen as a case of diminishing returns, you pay your programmers the same for their time regardless of how much actually gets completed and as an investor you don't get any money back until the game is released.

So, they want their money, and they want the maximum return on their investments. This means high quality games made in a minimal amount of time. Unfortunately you can't have everything in this life, so one of those has to suffer. But which? I would say in a general sense it depends on the genre of the game that is being made. Some game types appeal more to a.... less discreminating audience while others appeal more to the other side of the spectrum. What kinds of game appeal to which group? Thats probably infinitely arguable in all honesty, not to mention the bleedover from one group to the other. I would, however, tenetively say that games such as FPS' and Sports games tend to draw the type of people who like to kill, maim and destroy rather than analyze gameplay techniques and really study a game.

As a consequence of this I think that in many cases games in those fields get less overall polishing and also less quality support after release, because for most of their audience it isn't necessary to have; that and the publisher is already pushing the design company to get moving on their next project.

Ahh well, those are my thoughts on the subject at least.