Polarisms

I have been around gaming a long time. I have seen many sequels and I have seen the civil wars erupt as a result of feature changes. I came across this thread on the Team Fortress 2 forums this morning. Here is the OP:

So – you were a big fan of [previous game]. You played it actively – you consider yourself an expert on [previous game] as well an a key part of the [previous game] community.

Now [game developer] has produced [new game], and everything’s different! They’ve removed [old feature], and added [new feature]. The old strategies don’t work, and they’ve removed features you, and many in [previous game]’s community, believed were integral to the game. You've contacted them, but they're adamant the changes are an improvement. You're still outraged that they made such changes to the game you're so fond of.

There’s hope! By following one of the next four simple steps, you can enjoy yourself again.

1. Pay [game developer] to include [old feature]

Unfortunately, in today’s competitive computer game world, game developers need to stand out. They need to appeal to a large audience. And here’s the facts: the community for [previous game] is a small fraction of the market for [new game], but they pay just as much for the game as everyone else does. Selling a warmed-up version of [previous game] with a few bells and whistles won’t cut it, when [competing game] and [other competing game] have already taken the gameplay developments of [previous game] and further improved them.

Now, if the community for [previous game] has a few idle dot-com millionaires lying around, you’re in luck. They could pay [game developer] to keep [old feature] and other things the community wants. They’ll need to pay a lot; because if [old feature] was so popular, [previous game]’s community wouldn’t have shrunk so much. Don’t have the money? Go to 2.

2. Play a different game

The game market has grown in leaps and bounds over the [time since previous game], and there are wide range of different games to spend your time with. Try [more popular competing game]! It has features similar to [old feature] – heck, that’s part of the reason why [new game] removed [old feature]. [previous game]’s been copied so much, they needed to introduce [new feature] to differentiate themselves from all the imitators. In any genre, there are a range of games worth your time. Try something new! You may enjoy it. If none of the other games out there interest you, there’s still hope! Go to step 3.

3. Make your own game

Thanks to the work of some developers and the modding community, players don’t need to accept the games that are out there for purchase anymore – they can make their own games! Using [previous game] or [free community-developed alternative to previous game], you could modify the code to produce exactly the game you want. Using the wonder of the internet, you could share this so that you and the five other people who like the game this way can play it exactly the way they want. It only requires a small knowledge of programming and some free time, but it gives you the satisfaction of not having to deal with any thing in the game that might annoy or inconvenience you. Plus, if it turns out that your modification is popular, it could be your path into the lucrative game development world – even [famous game developer] had to start somewhere!

So, you can’t afford to pay the software company to follow your unique vision of how [new game] should be, are not happy with any of the competing games, and lack the ability or interest to make the game the way you want. Chin up, bucko! There’s still option 4.

4. Shut your Cake Hole.

It’d be great if software companies listened to the community that played their previous games obsessively, and it’d be great if [new game] was exactly the game you wanted. Then, it’d be nice if everyone had ponies and lollipops too. We don’t, and I’m surprised you hadn’t worked that out before. The thing most of us do, rather than complain about stuff that won’t happen, is shut our cake holes and get on with enjoying ourselves in some other fashion.

If you are furious that [game developer] has betrayed you and the community, remember that it’s just one game amongst many. There are many hobbies out there for everyone – try taking one up. Say, quilting, or lacrosse, or even wing chun kung fu. You may find you enjoy it. And the important thing is these hobbies will keep your whining cake hole shut. The rest of us, free of your whining, can enjoy ourselves playing [new game] – which, for the record, is far more enjoyable than [previous game], especially since they removed cheapass balance-ruining tactics like [old feature].

With these four steps, anyone can be happy with a game that doesn’t do things exactly the way we want.

QFT. I love this guy.