On this week’s Massively OP Podcast, Justin and I tried to tackle a question from MOP reader Serrenity, who wanted us to talk about MMO developer promises.
“I never treat anything a developer says as a promise — I treat it as a ‘vision’ or ‘best intention,’ because I know that things change. Development is a messy process and things you think were going to easy, are actually really hard (or borderline impossible). It flabbergasts me that people still consider communication from a developer as some sort of verbal contract about features being delivered when, and get all bent out of shape when something changes … and something always changes.”
I think Justin and I found it hard to pick a side because we agreed with Serrenity that some MMO players’ inclination to treat every “maybe” as a promise sealed in blood creates a culture of fear for developers as they shy away from transparency in an ever-changing environment governed by angry forum lawyers. Both of us agreed that flipping tables over a minor patch change is silly, and for my part, I would much rather a dev admit something isn’t working as planned and needs alteration than watch the game die on that hill. But on the other hand, we feel obligated as journalists to criticize games that deviate dramatically from their core principles.
What do you think? How strictly do you hold MMO devs to their “promises,” and does the nature of the “promise” change your mind?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
