Tiger Woods Out...Until August!
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| | | Posted by Tom Chick on Tuesday September 02, 2003 - 04:30 AM |
(Post a comment) » The Firing Line #13: Reducing pesky fan noiseTom Chick on The Firing Line:
The yawn heard round the Internet
Tom's got a beef with the way hardcore gamers are treating publishers and their representatives. A recent incident with the Homeworld 2 community brought this issue into the limelight again, and Tom think it's enough. You, hardcore gamer? Down boy! DOWN! |  Previous news article | Back to main news | Next news article  |
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#69
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Author:
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Anonymous at 08:43am 09/12/2003
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Response to #65:
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@ch_mod flame_on.
Jonathan Swift's proposal wasn't to "eat the rich" (that
was a radical leftist battlecry of the 1970s). His proposal was
contained in the satirical "A modest proposal For Preventing
the Children of Poor People in Ireland, from Being a Burden on Their
Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the
Publick". The proposal was -- to eat them (the children).
An excerpt:
"Infant's flesh will be in Season throughout the Year, but more
plentiful in March, and a little before and after; for we are told
by a grave Author an eminent French physician, that Fish being a
prolifick Dyet, there are more Children born in Roman Catholick
Countries about nine Months after Lent, than at any other Season,
therefore reckoning a Year after Lent, the Markets will be more
glutted than usual, because the Number of Popish Infants, is at
least three to one in this Kingdom, and therefore it will have one
other Collateral advantage by lessening the Number of Papists among
us."
The object of Swift's pamphlet was to savagely mock both the English
and the Irish ruling classes for their utter failure to address the
ongoing Irish famine -- an historical event that has echoes today
around the world (no, I am not Irish).
If you read the Times of London's contemporaneous and heartless
editorials you would see clearly the origin of Swift's anger. But
the world is a little older now, and these sorts of problems are too
hard to think about, so let's fire up DOOM 3 and frag some more
aliens.
@chmod flame_off.
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#68
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Author:
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Passing_Lunatic at 01:57am 09/12/2003
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That was a highly articulate outburst, Mr Chick. Most enjoyable. I'm
starting to be very glad I found this place, even if the forum
software is all weird.
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#67
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Author:
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Anonymous at 07:32am 09/8/2003
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Response to #66:
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I'll put this bluntly as the cold truth - and you can observe the
history of things to do this date and realize for yourself it
explains nearly everything:
As for this particular scenario. The association is blatantly
obvious. Sierra killed Dynamix. The Tribes franchise is permanently
damaged. There is no recovery from this. Gamers will always remember
Sierra as the publisher that killed Dynamix and destroyed Tribes - I
don't care what happens with Tribes 3, most hardcore gamers will
never forget it and never trust Sierra again. Until Sierra wakes up
to that reality, they'll always be surprised that at the smallest
situation, people will jump down their throats and stab them in the
back (i.e. flame them in forums) any chance they get - because
that's what they did to us in the long run.
The same goes for EA Games and Westwood, same situation, and now no
one trusts them for game development, particularly RTS genre.
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#66
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Author:
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Anonymous at 07:23am 09/8/2003
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The majority of these publishers deserve every flame they get. Look
at EA Games, crappy support, crappy patches, and dishing out
expansion packs instead of providing true customer support - i.e.
like working games.
Gamers would probably treat the publishers (and developers) more
respectfully if it wasn't all about profit vs. quality. Gamers
aren't stupid folks. They know what's going on, and publishers just
can't handle the truth - they need to stop being greedy and start
making quality products and providing real support for once. Until
that happens, you can bet that most gamers will probably flame any
corporate puppet that rides a forum. We can see right through the
lies and deceit.
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#65
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Author:
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tomchick at 12:23am 09/6/2003
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Response to #50:
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(Ugh, I hate this forum software...)
Al, thanks for the response. A couple of quick points. You wrote
"it isn't being hardcore that makes [fans] idiots. There is
some correlation, but absolutely no causation on this matter."
You are absolutely right and I don't deny overstating the case a bit
to make my point. I hope people reading the column don't take it
too literally, but I trust them. For instance, I don't think there
was a rash of cannibalism after Jonathan Swift's modest proposal to
eat the rich. :)
A more important point is distinguishing Alex Rodberg from some of
the other folks I mentioned. I believe Alex's official job at
Sierra/VU is brand manager. He and his wife, Meaghan, have a long
history of participating on Usenet and message boards, rubbing
elbows with gamers not because they have to, but because they want
to. While Alex may not be as crucial to the creation of a game as
someone like Brian Reynolds or even Carl Norman, I maintain -- Relic
forum meltdown or not -- that he's still one the good guys when it
comes to interacting with fans.
-Tom
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#64
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Author:
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tomchick at 12:13am 09/6/2003
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Response to #61:
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Great post, Mike! It's important to remember that you can get just
as much attention by being polite, well-spoken, and articulate
rather than trying to shreik and holler and cuss.
Almost every developer, producer, and PR person I've met
(particularly developers!) wants feedback. It's not as if they
don't like interacting with their customers and fans. They do. But
there's a reason the stereotype of gamers is some guy without social
skills.
I couldn't have said it better than Mike in #61. That old chestnut
about attracting more flies with honey than vinegar is true.
Courtesy isn't easy in an online environment, where you can't see
the person you're talking to and there's no immediate reaction. But
kudos to the folks who make a point to be contientious about it.
-Tom
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#63
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Author:
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CIASpook (View my Profile) at 04:35pm 09/5/2003
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Response to #45:
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I don't believe Tom needs to do that. Because we, as intelligent
hard-care gamers know exactly who he is talking about and who he
isn't. If you read enough forums, you know exactly the type of
people he is talking about.
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#62
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Author:
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CIASpook (View my Profile) at 04:30pm 09/5/2003
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I think this piece is excellent and describes many gamers to the
"T"!!! There is a very effective way to make your point
and get people to listen to you. Write clearly (l33t does not
count, just say elite) and be polite. Be positive. Instead of
asking a developer why they aren't doing "x", tell them
why you think "x" would be a great idea.
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#61
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Author:
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FantasyMeister at 02:08pm 09/5/2003
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Hi Tom,
Got passed the link to your article by another forum user so surfed
over and had a read, I thought it was excellent. It reminded me a
lot of the film 'Crazy People', although I realise that wasn't your
point.
More importantly it made me think hard about what I post, where I
post it, why I'm posting it, and how it reads to the people I'm
posting for (mostly Sony people and developer types, I try to give
feedback on bits and bobs for them). Whether they actually read
what I post is another matter.
Having read your article, I'd just like to thank you for encouraging
me to be a little more constructive and above all courteous in my
posts. I'm just a regular gamer, I tend to forget that these guys
I'm writing for aren't always there because they want to be, but
because they sometimes have to be.
I guess I'll try and cut down on the spam as well. A little ;)
Thankyou again,
FM
(aka Mike Scoates)
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#60
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Author:
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Anonymous at 05:11am 09/5/2003
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Amen Tom !
I get tired of hearing the "flight sim" illuminati pogues
over at Sim HQ. You also just described Gaelen Thurber to a tee.
Hoo ah,
Porkcohp.
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