In a word, yes.
Chris Priestly wrote...
To those who have had a negative expereince here (other posters, mods, me, whatever) what can be done to improve your experience here in the future?
I find it somewhat amusing (funny?) that, within the span of about a week, both Bioware and EA posted on their blog/forums asking its userbase how to improve their products. EA has now all but admitted that Origin is a monumental failure, and is looking to its users for answers and suggestions about how to improve it (suggesting that no one over at that company honestly knows what's wrong with it), but that's another discussion altogether.
If you'll indulge me for a couple minutes, I'll like to write a short essay and tell you what I think you should do:
(1) PR gaffes. I've said this before, and I'll say it again. You (or the representative that liases between EA and Bioware) need to go to EA's public relations director and ask him to sit down and re-evaluate your overall interaction with the fanbase, both in a personal and professional capacity. The level of outright disdain, confusion and arrogance, both on your company's and EA's part, is nothing short of a complete disaster on every front. Even a simple "no comment" would have been better than the stunts you pulled.
I've never seen a response to a fanbase like what you and your parent company did over the last two months - trying to "one-up" fan protests, blatantly lying or misconstruing information and legitimate questions being posed by hundreds (if not thousands) of players who have experienced crippling bugs and online bans/errors, a pre-release campaign that deliberately misled the buying public, arrogant statements on the part of both Bioware employees and EA, etc.
(2) The moderation staff on the BSN, by and large, has proven that they are either unable to or incapable of adequately maintaining order without causing fan discontent and more problems than solutions. Between you ending every post with that arrogant "LOCKDOWN!" cry and Mr. Woo parroting his "end of line" schtick, it's downright embarassing to be considered a forum member when the moderators use snarky or disdainful remarks. Mr. Epler is the only man I've seen on this board (and the DAII board) that seems to be capable of closing down topics in a firm but respectful manner, while not talking down to other users in a "holier-than-thou" tone.
You
do know that there have been comments on almost every Bioware-related video over the last couple years to the effect of "END OF RINE", right? The behavior of most of the moderating staff is a black mark on the fanbase as a whole, and they are perceived as laughing stocks everywhere I go. I get that there are extremists - on both sides - but the way you deal with the fans is less than optimal. Then, when people call you out on your behavior, you pull this "oh, but we do this on our free time" excuse. If you can't handle fans without being firm but civil, give the responsibilities to someone else who knows how to answer questions and shut down topics without being snarky or stuck-up.
(3) Ignoring fan complaints. Again, I have to reference the whole EMS debacle. Legitimate topics that weren't inflammatory are shut down with no response other than "go to the tech subforum". The supposed fix for the face import bug caused more bugs, necessitating direct fan involvement to sort it out (and no response from the company itself). Even the ending backlash (which was spurred on by major media outlets and other video game writers and developers) was met with the response "well, it's our game, and we ended how we wanted, so if you didn't like it, we don't care". That's exactly the response that got you into this mess. With DAII, there was a lot of backlash, but the writing team owned up and admitted their mistakes, then asked for fan help in crafting the next installment. I may disagree with the steps they're currently taking on DAIII, but it's more than anyone else on the ME team can say right now.
(4) Origin. As I mentioned before, EA has already admitted that Origin has serious issues. Your staff banned people from single-player games for forum complaints and unintended multiplayer snafus, and had to cover your tracks and lie about it ("it was a bug in the system") to get the fans off your back. I don't know how you can fix this, short of a complete Origin overhaul.
(5) Shady DLC practices. Between Ms. Norman saying we don't have the right to criticize day-one DLC (even if it was partially developed at the same time as the rest of the game), CE content and a massive chunk of said day-one DLC hidden behind unlock keys and the knowledge that you had a Prothean DLC squadmate planned over a year ago, you've at the same level as Capcom when it comes to nickel-and-diming consumers. I personally won't stand for it, and I don't think it's worth all the negative press it's entailed to continue using it. The only thing it comes down to is gouging more money from the consumer - if you're going to do it, just admit it outright instead of trying to string your core fanbase along.
(6) Bizarre treatment of users. We already had a user (Javier Abergazzo) who already had his mod privileges stripped after he asked a legitimate question of the company. We have users who should have been banned weeks ago trolling the rest of the forum users with this whole "Shepard deserves better fans" schtick, while the Retake movement has been (by and large) incredibly civil and explanatory. Users PM the mods for answers to questions, and get varying responses that cause confusion and miscommunication.
(7) Rushing games. I haven't bought ME3. I don't plan to. I bought ME2 after seeing a playthrough of the game, and loved it - even the bugs were hilarious. I watched a playthrough of ME3 and was aghast at the bugs, technical issues, spelling errors in subtitles throughout the game, bizarre Photoshop cut-and-paste pictures, weak writing and the nonsensical ending. The only reason I continue to post on this boards is due to the great conversations - and the hope that
maybe you'll finally get your act together and put your back up against EA. The same thing happened with DAII, and we all know how that turned out. Imon Sur admitted the game was rushed, Brent Knowles quit due to said decision, and the final product was a buggy mess that was prematurely shipped out the door.
Get your story planned out, take your time and make sure it's consistent. I shouldn't have to tell you this.
(8) Tie-in games/multiplayer mechanic. Whoever thought of the "play multiplayer to get best ending" mechanic should be demoted. I'm serious. The fact that you need to play a tie-in game or otherwise optional component is a tacit admission that your single-player product, as it stands, is not a complete product. I have no interest in being forced to play several hours of multiplayer just so I can boost a single tally in the game high enough to get an extra 10-second cutscene.
I've been a fan since the original BG. I sincerely hope the company can get past this and go back to making games that aren't just fodder for "10 out of 10" review scores when they ship with a mountain of problems, both from a technical and writing standpoint. Maybe I'll be surprised one day.
Modifié par crazyrabbits, 04 mai 2012 - 04:48 .
Retour en haut
