A new way to deal with consumer complaints!
SiliconNooB and Deimosion join Lusipurr in a podcast which plumbs the subfaecal depths of the industry’s worst company. The Better Business Bureau and countless fans weigh in, only to have their petitions rebuffed with fresh, steaming poos. Caveat emptor!
MelI think something important to note about this petition stuff surrounding ME3 is that its success is fueling the petitions of dozens of other things people take issue with. “I don’t like this….Petition!”
Take Dark Souls, for example. It’s finally getting ported to the PC and the developer, From Software, claims that this is in response more or less to fan outcry that a port to PCs is needed. So, they port it and put extra features in the port, to boot! But… console fans, who have previously been told not to expect DLC for Dark Souls, are now outraged that PC gamers get extra content and not console gamers! Petition! But it isn’t over yet! PC gamers, upon hearing about the Dark Souls port also learned that the online system was going to be run through Games For Windows Live, apparently a detestable service. So what are they–PETITION!
So what we have here is a game with not 1 or 2 but THREE petitions surrounding it, some in direct response to the outcome of prior petitions! I like a developer that listens to its fans, but I’m always irritated by people who get what they asked for then whine when it’s not precisely to their tastes. It’s going to get to the point (and has gotten there already, in my opinion) where this kind of concerted effort will be wiser for a publisher/developer to ignore, lest they face further outrage from some other sub-community their game entertains. It could lessen developer responsiveness to the wishes of its fans, not all of which are nick-picky nonsense, in sort order.
SiliconNooBTo the best of my knowledge From Software (or perhaps their publisher) did their level best to stir up fan outcry for a PC port, so that isn’t really a valid example of organic fan demand.
And Games for Windows Live is a horrible service!
MelFrom really made the issue of there not being a PC port of their own game? Interesting. I still think the issue as a whole is obnoxious, and I haven’t had to use GFWL before, but I’ve only heard vitriol. However, recently, I read that From might be considering alternatives to GFWL, but nothing specific was stated. Really, that means Steam. I hope so.
SiliconNooBLike I said, it was either From or their publisher Bamco; the Dark Souls FB page started calling on gamers to declare their interest, or some such.
Games for Windows really is quite horrible and time consuming every single time at start up! The real kicker is that something called Games for Windows Live really should have had some sort of Windows OS integration, which could be rather painless given the capacity for Windows to automatically sign you into things; instead it is a horrible and intrusive sign in mechanism which takes an uncomfortable ammount of time each time you want to play your game.
