126 réponses à ce sujet

[Ovidi]

Operative84 wrote...

Ovidi wrote...

Can I get a woop woop for differences of opinion!

you can have one woop but the second is going to cost you..........

Bit short on cash but I'll  trade you my soul, i'm not using it for anything.

[vonFurious]

Ovidi wrote...

Can I get a woop woop for differences of opinion!

Yes. Let us differentiate between opinion and fact. 

[xODD7BALLx]

Ovidi wrote...

Operative84 wrote...

Ovidi wrote...

Can I get a woop woop for differences of opinion!

you can have one woop but the second is going to cost you..........

Bit short on cash but I'll  trade you my soul, i'm not using it for anything.

do you have change for a $20?

[roundcrow]

Operative84 wrote...

Ovidi wrote...

Operative84 wrote...

Ovidi wrote...

Can I get a woop woop for differences of opinion!

you can have one woop but the second is going to cost you..........

Bit short on cash but I'll  trade you my soul, i'm not using it for anything.

do you have change for a $20?

I've got bits of string, wood, dead budgerigars, and sparrows.  

[Sword For Hire]

Operative84 wrote...

Ovidi wrote...

Can I get a woop woop for differences of opinion!

you can have one woop but the second is going to cost you..........

woop vs 2nd woop


<_<

[Moogliepie]

vonFurious wrote...

GEWill wrote...

I those that are negative about this game and complaining about it being short need to realize this is an expansion not a full game.

This expansion is pure quality.

Qualitative vs. Quantitative. 

I don't see how you can say this is "pure quality" what with all the bugs. Even if you can brush aside the lack of DLC gear, the fact that blood powers show up, but don't actually do anything, just gives this game a very unfinished feel to it. God of War 1 and 2 were high quality, but low quantity. If we're talking how many hours of replayability you get out of a game, well, Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 beats any Bioware game by a mile for me. But I don't measure the value of a game purely by hours. Otherwise, I'm sure Minesweeper or Solitaire would be the number one games of all time, played by secretaries everywhere. 

[Wynne]

David Gaider wrote...

Hate to break it to you, but right after DA:O came out if you came anywhere near the forums you would have thought it must be the worst game in existence. This is pretty typical after any game gets released (or it is for us, perhaps, I don't hang around on other companies' forums very much) -- RPG fans are pretty passionate about what they like and don't like, and the ones that don't like tend to post again and again and again and again. Why? That's for a Psychology major to explore, I suppose.

It would be easy to assume that those posting on this forum represent the majority. That, however, simply isn't true. If you spend enough time on the forums, however, it's easy to believe that it must be. It's all the evidence you're exposed to, after all. But if you honestly believe that, you're only fooling yourself.

Ohhhh, you had to say that thing about the psychology major...

I've got to dispute the idea that those posting on the forum don't represent the majority. See, when you take into account the fact that the internet is a faceless entity which provides the user with a cloak of anonymity, the lines between jerk and nice guy begin to blur. You take out the elements of facial expressions, tone of voice, and the fact that a person sitting in front of you can punch you in the face while a person on the internet can only write back a post that you may not see even if you want to (assuming the thread whose title you can't remember gets buried under 500 new threads by the time their exam period is over) and the mindset of a very normal, average person is suddenly very heavily affected. 

The ones who like are, naturally, more interested in playing the game at first to go griping on forums. But sooner or later, depending on the individual, even those who like are also going to seem to be those who don't like once an element begins to wear on them. What you love is a private thing in ways; sometimes you are moved to ramble excitedly if something made you feel extremely strongly... but then there are those little moments, those more subtle elements, where you enjoy them and feel satisfied by them--but they don't drive you to get on the forums. They drive you to keep playing. They suck you in and make you feel a part of the world. And some, the more jaded ones familiar with all too many tropes of the
trade, are going to be the most critical and negative customers--not because they didn't enjoy the crap out of the game, but because they wanted you to really make their heads spin with a barrage of savvy trope subversions to make them feel that old feeling again and that didn't quite happen as often as they wanted. Those people
tend to come out fairly early, probably because their near-immunity to surprise
makes them less likely to want to stop and smell the roses. And some of them are reasonable, and others are prone to passionately swear never to give Bioware another penny EVAR. (I think most of them forget they ever said that within a year.)

In the moment when a person sees a thread which mirrors something that drove them crazy (or that they loved) about a game, there's also an immediate urge to express any buried feelings you might've had which you never before expressed; it's cathartic to say, "omg, YES! I wanted to kick Oghren down a flight of stairs and smash Morrigan's face in a cow pie, too!" (Not me personally, Morrigan was my first character's bff, but I can understand that perspective due to all the approval loss over helping people; that's just an example. Plus, her reaction is hilarious to contemplate... uh, I think this is what they call digressing, so I'm gonna stop right here.) Negative feelings tend to crystallize more easily--for instance, "Wynne asking my character about her past was a nice touch" is a much softer feeling which doesn't provide much in the way of lively discussion and delightfully sarcastic wisecracking. It's true, and while you're playing the game it hits you in a very subtle and engrossing way--but that's not the moment you're going to need a break from the game and you're going to Alt-Tab into the forums. On the other hand, if you just got your face smashed in for the twelfth time by the Big Bad on Nightmare and then finally beat him only to find that your boyfriend broke up with you and then the game crashed before you could save, then all of those nice little subtle moments are going to fade in the face of your massive irritation and you're going to get on the forums and see that thread which says, "Love interests don't give a crap about MC," the memories are going to hit you again but you'll see them in a different light and before you know it you're posting, "omg, you are SO RIGHT. Nobody but Wynne gives a flying frack who your character even is!!!11" It's an emotional release, but perhaps not an entirely relevant or helpful one unless you take a discerning eye and look past the comment itself to the heart: though that person was in the moment speaking on emotion and not being very self-critical, you do have a model of what that player found organically enjoyable about your game. They loved to feel that their character had a genuine connection with the NPCs; that the NPCs truly cared about their individual character. And with Wynne, that feeling of sincere bonding and immersion was well established, which means you now have a model of exactly what you did right--from a negative comment, you glean positive feedback. And probably if you caught that person on another day, or spoke to them one on one, you'd see a whole other attitude. "I just liked that so much that it made me wish my other favorite characters, and the love interests, would have done the same. It made me feel like my origin, and my character by extension, truly mattered in the game world." In that respect, I think developer presence on the forums is all the better; seeing a human face to a company creates a sense of understanding. It reminds people that the game was made by human beings who really care, who really see this as a pastime (maybe even an art form) which they love and not just a way to make cold, hard cash. The average person sometimes gets a little too paranoid about corporate entities, after all. On the internet, forgetting about the human element is even easier at times.

The reality is, those phrases in bold above are two very different ways of saying the same thing--that you loved Wynne asking that. You wished in past games that somebody would do exactly what she did and you'd likely have been more annoyed if nobody mentioned anything about it. So, why does a positive sentiment end up cast in such a negative light? That little, subtle moment in context became a realization fueled by the angry mob effect which drives you to seek catharsis--and knowing that Bioware watches these forums can be a factor as well. After seeing Tali become a love interest in response to fan outcry (not to mention the canceled Firefly becoming the Serenity movie, another indicator of fan outcry being important) we naturally expect that if a hundred threads pop up with people whining about something, chances are that whining is going be the straw that Bioware spins into gold. Well, or possibly into something like the planet scanning in ME2, but it can't always turn out perfect. The point is, the negativity and the whining... they don't necessarily mean anything all that bad. Some saying those things are in many cases probably saying it precisely because they LOVE the games. Hell, even the people shouting, "I'm never buying another Bioware game ever again!" after overdosing on the game (familiarity breeds contempt and all) and disliking the first casual stuff they heard about Awakening and then wandering off to play System Shock 2 another time will probably play the game again in six months, remember everything they liked about it, and if the word of mouth (most important advertising tool besides Mr. Priestly) is good they'll pick up Awakening too. A bit late, but still. Sure, they vented their feelings at the time, but what they felt in the moment isn't likely to be how they feel forever--and on the anonymous, faceless internet, who's going to check up on them and make sure?

I've seen a lot about research and studies about the state of mind in the moment. A person will answer a question very differently on one day in comparison with another. During a week when my dog died and I got cut off in traffic and I didn't have time for a shower before a very stressful exam, I will answer very general questions with a very bleak outlook without even thinking about it, and it's extremely likely that neither I nor the person conducting the questionnaire will know the exact reasons why. And during another week when I find out I won a free trip and my out of work boyfriend got a job and the dachshund breeder has puppies available after all, my general outlook will be better, and those same questions which last week were so direly answered (suicidal thoughts, do I like myself, do I think I'm in a good place, do I enjoy living) will acquire far more positive responses. People who come on these forums and complain may have things going on in their life that even they don't realize are affecting them, and only later will they realize that the stresses of life caused their commentary to be a lot more negative than it would have been if they were in a good and stable place at that time.

Criticizing a game you play a lot--it's like criticizing the person you love, really. You may adore 80% of their personality, but that only makes the little 20% you are ambivalent about or loathe stand out all the more. And the half of that 20% which seems to repeat itself to no end and of which you do not think you will ever be free... that becomes insanely annoying to the point where you want to scream. And you may well scream. Scream to the bloody ends of the earth, throw dishes, threaten throttling, threaten to leave them for some young buff stud, etc.--but it's only because that person makes you feel more than any other. You love them, and that's why you care when they do something you think they should damned well know by now is going to hurt you. But in the end, you know they're not perfect and neither are you, and in 90+% of cases the talk about throttling and studs is just a lot of nonsense, and then if your relationship is functional, you have a good long talk about how you can resolve the things that got you shouting in the first place. Arguments, even those which end in people shouting "it's over", don't necessarily spell the end of the relationship. Same goes for the developer-customer relationship. (Kind of a weird metaphor, but it works well enough, I hope.) Ironically, even the most vocal long-term critics are probably doing it because--whether they admit it or not--they believe you have the stuff it takes to obliterate their protective cynicism bubble.

I am capable of ranting passionately about what bugged me or what I felt was lacking, and it often flows so easily. Irritation seems to foster communication in some way. But that doesn't change the fact that the ME games and DA are some of the games that I've played the absolute most. It doesn't change the fact that I ramble excitedly to my friends about them. It doesn't change the discussions I've had with my boyfriend and my father about what we did in which place, who are our favorite characters, where we hope the series goes next... so although I'm a loud critic at times, I am also a staunch supporter. I would be horrified if my comments ever lead to discouragement of the people who do this stuff. Horrified. I am passionate about gaming. The entire reason that I expend the energy I do, typing furiously away, comparing these games to what I loved about other games, is because I want to put my finger on the pulse of the hobby and explain what makes it tick. I want to make it that much easier for you to do your job, by saying unreservedly what I really think about whatever comes to mind, because there's only so much gushing a girl can do about how adorable Alistair is (and he is) and that's best done on fan groups because it's only constructive feedback to a certain degree, but as Joker says, "there's always more we could upgrade."

I think it's that way for a lot of us. The positive ones and the negative ones and everybody in between. So please, keep that buoyant and unflappable attitude going, and I hope it's matched by everybody at the office. It should be. You people do great work, and it's definitely not going ignored.

Sorry for the incredibly long post. Huh... maybe I should just make that my signature; it'd be easier.

Modifié par Wynne, 18 mars 2010 - 01:06 .

[PSUHammer]

There is no way I am reading that but I bet there is some good stuff in there that I might agree with.

[Feraele]

David Gaider wrote...

Bratt1204 wrote...
Who is deciding that improvement is even needed

We do.

Origins is one the best RPGs out there; most everyone just loves the game, in an almost insane way. I do not see this love with Awakening, quite the contrary. Almost all of these posts are from people who are so disappointed because the expansion in no way compliments DA:O.

Hate to break it to you, but right after DA:O came out if you came anywhere near the forums you would have thought it must be the worst game in existence. This is pretty typical after any game gets released (or it is for us, perhaps, I don't hang around on other companies' forums very much) -- RPG fans are pretty passionate about what they like and don't like, and the ones that don't like tend to post again and again and again and again. Why? That's for a Psychology major to explore, I suppose.

It would be easy to assume that those posting on this forum represent the majority. That, however, simply isn't true. If you spend enough time on the forums, however, it's easy to believe that it must be. It's all the evidence you're exposed to, after all. But if you honestly believe that, you're only fooling yourself.

Let the reviews and sales speak for themselves.

Indeed. Sage advice.

Why..do they post over and over again..because like you stated,  they are passionate about the game and what they "believe" is the right way to go.     The last part of course is up to you guys..if you made a change...for the betterment of the game..or to further your goals down the road,   let us in on it.  hehe 

Don't be silent.   Silence is the worst thing.   I'm not saying give spoilers..just clue us in...some sort of roadmap maybe?

And thank you once again for posting Mr Gaider.

[Harcken]

David Gaider wrote...

Let the reviews and sales speak for themselves.

Indeed. Sage advice.

I think a person on another forum put it best: "Does taking on the mantle of reviewer automatically give one +5 taste?" The forums don't even come close to representing how all customers felt about a certain game, but reviewers are WAY farther from it. A review is the opinion of one guy that blasted through a game in order to hastily write up an article about it and quickly move on to the next game.

Since there is no feasible way to poll every single person who purchaed a game and get them to unanimously agree that a certain change is for better or for worse, the forums, in my opinion, are the next best thing. Sure you have the guys that completely radiate pessimism and tear down everything they see, but on the flip side you got the fanboy that fails to see any potential improvements.

[MiSsSmOkEy20]

I loved it. I do wish the romance would of continued since that was one of the best parts but the game still was really good. The BlackMarsh was my favorite mission out of all of them, they should of made it to where you could go and raid the baronesses house.

[MelodicCure]

Baconmonster723 wrote...

I must say I was so disappointed in everyone.  It's like because you make damn fine games everyone expects you to make a perfect game everytime.  I personally didn't enjoy this as much as Dragon Age:Origins or Mass Effect 2, however, that doesn't make it a bad game.  To the contrary for an expansion it was fantastic and was absolutely worth every penny of my 40 dollars.  Do I wish it was slightly less money?  Sure, but that doesn't mean I should sit here and rip a game that I will easily log 60 hours on (considering I've logged almost 240 hours in DA:O).  But the fact of the matter is that this expansion is a higher quality game than most full games that are out there *cough* Final Fantasy XIII *cough*.

^ That.

[robotnist]

David Gaider wrote...

Bratt1204 wrote...
What I just cannot fathom is, how the gaming industry can have such a pompous attitude toward their market base and continue to be profitable? I just cannot believe how you respond to your customers when they have complaints about the products they purchase. Having the "If you don't like it, too bad - just don't buy it" or " We're taking the romance and story-lines you loved so much (and produced such great sales for us) out of the games, just get over it" attitude is just unacceptable. I have never seen a corporation take this sort of complacent approach towards its customers. I could only image if I were out shopping for a vehicle and I complained about a missing feature and was told by the salesperson "We don't have that feature on the car anymore, we decided it wasn't necessary any loner (even though it was the most popular feature on the car), you just need to get over it". I would expect that sales person to be looking for another job and I would be looking elsewhere for a car with features I loved and found necessary. 

I'm not certain why you insist on assigning a tone to my responses that I'm not assuming. I've never told you to "get over it", and I'm not a salesperson -- and we don't make games to order. At some level you are indeed going to have to decide if you want what we're offering, and while feedback is appreciated you do indeed have to realize that we're not only going to listen to the voices on this forum... or the loudest voices on this forum, if one prefers.

I'm glad you really enjoyed DAO -- and I'm really sorry that you're unhappy about Alistair not featuring more prominently in the expansion, but I'm not really sure what you get out of the hurt victim routine you keep repeating. I hope you do eventually play the game and find something there to enjoy -- because there's plenty -- rather than looking for what you feel is missing. If not, while that will make me sad, c'est la vie. We cannot make everyone happy. Me least of all.

i love anything dragon age cause i have no expectation of where it belongs, or what it should do. 

thats entitlement.

and it seems many people adopt this thinking when they have such a personal experience with a game like DAO. 

i went into awakenings with an open mind and even though im disappointed that i cant use all the new abilities in the original campaign, or maybe im a little sad i miss some of my friends from the days of old, its not my decision to make. i dont own a development company therefore until i do, i will be playing other peoples games, and if i keep an open mind and low expectations, i will have a higher success rate of joy.

[Domyk]

Andrastee wrote...
And Mr. Gaider is correct - right after DAO was released there were a huge number of threads on the forums complaining about ... um, everything, pretty much. I remember one guy who declared the game was terrible and he was taking it back to the shop because the camera view didn't zoom in far enough.

hah.  Dead on.  It's like this on almost all gaming forums.  First few weeks you have all the negative posts outweighing the positives, why?  Because the rest of us are busy enjoying and playing the game to be frothing at the mouth on messageboards 24/7.

Within a month this forum will turn around, it always does.

[Pinkleaf]

What has upset me is finding out that there is to be no romance in the awakening.  Without romance I can't see it intresting me too much.  It gets to boring just hitting stuff all the time.

[1bloodyrogue]

Pinkleaf wrote...

What has upset me is finding out that there is to be no romance in the awakening.  Without romance I can't see it intresting me too much.  It gets to boring just hitting stuff all the time.

Oh god plz stop kicking this dead horse.  It was an expansion you saw how long it was, about the same amount of time it took you to romance someone.  We had better things to do, darkspawn to kill!  You still got to develope with your party members and quite nicely I might add. 

Now on to my part of the post!  I quite frankly loved awakening for what it was.  It's an expansion pack and I liked it!  The only thing that annoyed me was Unending Fury working but half the time and of course Mhairi but that's a dead horse to by now lol.  That's all I have to complain about!  Which should tell you I liked the game!  I honestly think that the story could have developed nicely into a full out game given time and money to do it.  Kudos to the writing staff very nice.  I'll be honest with you guys I'm psyched for Dragon Age 2 or another expansion should we get one.  If we do you can bet your ass I'm gonna buy it too.  Thank you bioware.

[miltos33]

I wonder what the experts have to say on this. Can a game without romance be defined as an RPG these days?

[kaimanaMM]

So far I'm probably a little more than halfway through Awakening and I *love* it.  I was on the fence for a while before it hit the shelves (brand new crew, no continuation of the romance, only minor cameos, etc.) but I can honestly say, after about the first 2 hours, those issues were the furthest from my mind. 

I love the new characters (whoddathunk Nathaniel would be my favorite - so far), the banter is just as good, if not better and streamlined now so you don't have to take a break in the action for an hour or two to go back to camp and run through a list of conversation with everyone, the new spells and talents are just way too much fun (shadow rogue ftw) and the story itself is just as fantastically told as DA:O (*beard stoke* well played once again BW writers, well played). 

And yes, more books please David! 

Modifié par kaimanaMM, 18 mars 2010 - 12:58 .

[Pinkleaf]

miltos33 wrote...

I wonder what the experts have to say on this. Can a game without romance be defined as an RPG these days?

Definitely not, no, no way.

[Haexpane]

miltos33 wrote...

I wonder what the experts have to say on this. Can a game without romance be defined as an RPG these days?

There is no such thing as an "expert" at labeling games with genre names.

[TheRealIncarnal]

I've been playing it for a few days now, still haven't finished, but I have to say that the improvements are marvelous.

The biggest thing that struck me so far is the atmosphere improvements. The cities, the woods, the dungeons, ect. All have much more feeling than the old ones and I greatly appreciate this.

Also the story telling s very nicely paced and I like how there's some real weight to my decisions in the game world. I'm also loving the armor runes and rune crafting.

The only problem I can see it that it's going to end! However, I think that Bioware has definitely struck the right chord for going on to Dragon Age 2 with this expansion. It's nice to see that you've been listening and really thinking over changes to improve the game even more.

Modifié par TheRealIncarnal, 18 mars 2010 - 05:31 .

[Bratt1204]

miltos33 wrote...

I wonder what the experts have to say on this. Can a game without romance be defined as an RPG these days?

I believe not. Just call it an Action Adventure then.

[Devinair]

Wynne wrote...

David Gaider wrote...

Hate to break it to you, but right after DA:O came out if you came anywhere near the forums you would have thought it must be the worst game in existence. This is pretty typical after any game gets released (or it is for us, perhaps, I don't hang around on other companies' forums very much) -- RPG fans are pretty passionate about what they like and don't like, and the ones that don't like tend to post again and again and again and again. Why? That's for a Psychology major to explore, I suppose.

It would be easy to assume that those posting on this forum represent the majority. That, however, simply isn't true. If you spend enough time on the forums, however, it's easy to believe that it must be. It's all the evidence you're exposed to, after all. But if you honestly believe that, you're only fooling yourself.

Ohhhh, you had to say that thing about the psychology major...

I've got to dispute the idea that those posting on the forum don't represent the majority. See, when you take into account the fact that the internet is a faceless entity which provides the user with a cloak of anonymity, the lines between jerk and nice guy begin to blur. You take out the elements of facial expressions, tone of voice, and the fact that a person sitting in front of you can punch you in the face while a person on the internet can only write back a post that you may not see even if you want to (assuming the thread whose title you can't remember gets buried under 500 new threads by the time their exam period is over) and the mindset of a very normal, average person is suddenly very heavily affected. 

The ones who like are, naturally, more interested in playing the game at first to go griping on forums. But sooner or later, depending on the individual, even those who like are also going to seem to be those who don't like once an element begins to wear on them. What you love is a private thing in ways; sometimes you are moved to ramble excitedly if something made you feel extremely strongly... but then there are those little moments, those more subtle elements, where you enjoy them and feel satisfied by them--but they don't drive you to get on the forums. They drive you to keep playing. They suck you in and make you feel a part of the world. And some, the more jaded ones familiar with all too many tropes of the
trade, are going to be the most critical and negative customers--not because they didn't enjoy the crap out of the game, but because they wanted you to really make their heads spin with a barrage of savvy trope subversions to make them feel that old feeling again and that didn't quite happen as often as they wanted. Those people
tend to come out fairly early, probably because their near-immunity to surprise
makes them less likely to want to stop and smell the roses. And some of them are reasonable, and others are prone to passionately swear never to give Bioware another penny EVAR. (I think most of them forget they ever said that within a year.)

In the moment when a person sees a thread which mirrors something that drove them crazy (or that they loved) about a game, there's also an immediate urge to express any buried feelings you might've had which you never before expressed; it's cathartic to say, "omg, YES! I wanted to kick Oghren down a flight of stairs and smash Morrigan's face in a cow pie, too!" (Not me personally, Morrigan was my first character's bff, but I can understand that perspective due to all the approval loss over helping people; that's just an example. Plus, her reaction is hilarious to contemplate... uh, I think this is what they call digressing, so I'm gonna stop right here.) Negative feelings tend to crystallize more easily--for instance, "Wynne asking my character about her past was a nice touch" is a much softer feeling which doesn't provide much in the way of lively discussion and delightfully sarcastic wisecracking. It's true, and while you're playing the game it hits you in a very subtle and engrossing way--but that's not the moment you're going to need a break from the game and you're going to Alt-Tab into the forums. On the other hand, if you just got your face smashed in for the twelfth time by the Big Bad on Nightmare and then finally beat him only to find that your boyfriend broke up with you and then the game crashed before you could save, then all of those nice little subtle moments are going to fade in the face of your massive irritation and you're going to get on the forums and see that thread which says, "Love interests don't give a crap about MC," the memories are going to hit you again but you'll see them in a different light and before you know it you're posting, "omg, you are SO RIGHT. Nobody but Wynne gives a flying frack who your character even is!!!11" It's an emotional release, but perhaps not an entirely relevant or helpful one unless you take a discerning eye and look past the comment itself to the heart: though that person was in the moment speaking on emotion and not being very self-critical, you do have a model of what that player found organically enjoyable about your game. They loved to feel that their character had a genuine connection with the NPCs; that the NPCs truly cared about their individual character. And with Wynne, that feeling of sincere bonding and immersion was well established, which means you now have a model of exactly what you did right--from a negative comment, you glean positive feedback. And probably if you caught that person on another day, or spoke to them one on one, you'd see a whole other attitude. "I just liked that so much that it made me wish my other favorite characters, and the love interests, would have done the same. It made me feel like my origin, and my character by extension, truly mattered in the game world." In that respect, I think developer presence on the forums is all the better; seeing a human face to a company creates a sense of understanding. It reminds people that the game was made by human beings who really care, who really see this as a pastime (maybe even an art form) which they love and not just a way to make cold, hard cash. The average person sometimes gets a little too paranoid about corporate entities, after all. On the internet, forgetting about the human element is even easier at times.

The reality is, those phrases in bold above are two very different ways of saying the same thing--that you loved Wynne asking that. You wished in past games that somebody would do exactly what she did and you'd likely have been more annoyed if nobody mentioned anything about it. So, why does a positive sentiment end up cast in such a negative light? That little, subtle moment in context became a realization fueled by the angry mob effect which drives you to seek catharsis--and knowing that Bioware watches these forums can be a factor as well. After seeing Tali become a love interest in response to fan outcry (not to mention the canceled Firefly becoming the Serenity movie, another indicator of fan outcry being important) we naturally expect that if a hundred threads pop up with people whining about something, chances are that whining is going be the straw that Bioware spins into gold. Well, or possibly into something like the planet scanning in ME2, but it can't always turn out perfect. The point is, the negativity and the whining... they don't necessarily mean anything all that bad. Some saying those things are in many cases probably saying it precisely because they LOVE the games. Hell, even the people shouting, "I'm never buying another Bioware game ever again!" after overdosing on the game (familiarity breeds contempt and all) and disliking the first casual stuff they heard about Awakening and then wandering off to play System Shock 2 another time will probably play the game again in six months, remember everything they liked about it, and if the word of mouth (most important advertising tool besides Mr. Priestly) is good they'll pick up Awakening too. A bit late, but still. Sure, they vented their feelings at the time, but what they felt in the moment isn't likely to be how they feel forever--and on the anonymous, faceless internet, who's going to check up on them and make sure?

I've seen a lot about research and studies about the state of mind in the moment. A person will answer a question very differently on one day in comparison with another. During a week when my dog died and I got cut off in traffic and I didn't have time for a shower before a very stressful exam, I will answer very general questions with a very bleak outlook without even thinking about it, and it's extremely likely that neither I nor the person conducting the questionnaire will know the exact reasons why. And during another week when I find out I won a free trip and my out of work boyfriend got a job and the dachshund breeder has puppies available after all, my general outlook will be better, and those same questions which last week were so direly answered (suicidal thoughts, do I like myself, do I think I'm in a good place, do I enjoy living) will acquire far more positive responses. People who come on these forums and complain may have things going on in their life that even they don't realize are affecting them, and only later will they realize that the stresses of life caused their commentary to be a lot more negative than it would have been if they were in a good and stable place at that time.

Criticizing a game you play a lot--it's like criticizing the person you love, really. You may adore 80% of their personality, but that only makes the little 20% you are ambivalent about or loathe stand out all the more. And the half of that 20% which seems to repeat itself to no end and of which you do not think you will ever be free... that becomes insanely annoying to the point where you want to scream. And you may well scream. Scream to the bloody ends of the earth, throw dishes, threaten throttling, threaten to leave them for some young buff stud, etc.--but it's only because that person makes you feel more than any other. You love them, and that's why you care when they do something you think they should damned well know by now is going to hurt you. But in the end, you know they're not perfect and neither are you, and in 90+% of cases the talk about throttling and studs is just a lot of nonsense, and then if your relationship is functional, you have a good long talk about how you can resolve the things that got you shouting in the first place. Arguments, even those which end in people shouting "it's over", don't necessarily spell the end of the relationship. Same goes for the developer-customer relationship. (Kind of a weird metaphor, but it works well enough, I hope.) Ironically, even the most vocal long-term critics are probably doing it because--whether they admit it or not--they believe you have the stuff it takes to obliterate their protective cynicism bubble.

I am capable of ranting passionately about what bugged me or what I felt was lacking, and it often flows so easily. Irritation seems to foster communication in some way. But that doesn't change the fact that the ME games and DA are some of the games that I've played the absolute most. It doesn't change the fact that I ramble excitedly to my friends about them. It doesn't change the discussions I've had with my boyfriend and my father about what we did in which place, who are our favorite characters, where we hope the series goes next... so although I'm a loud critic at times, I am also a staunch supporter. I would be horrified if my comments ever lead to discouragement of the people who do this stuff. Horrified. I am passionate about gaming. The entire reason that I expend the energy I do, typing furiously away, comparing these games to what I loved about other games, is because I want to put my finger on the pulse of the hobby and explain what makes it tick. I want to make it that much easier for you to do your job, by saying unreservedly what I really think about whatever comes to mind, because there's only so much gushing a girl can do about how adorable Alistair is (and he is) and that's best done on fan groups because it's only constructive feedback to a certain degree, but as Joker says, "there's always more we could upgrade."

I think it's that way for a lot of us. The positive ones and the negative ones and everybody in between. So please, keep that buoyant and unflappable attitude going, and I hope it's matched by everybody at the office. It should be. You people do great work, and it's definitely not going ignored.

Sorry for the incredibly long post. Huh... maybe I should just make that my signature; it'd be easier.

I would never challenge this argument no matter my opinion, i feel........pwned