60 replies to this topic

[Elizander]

Try not to schedule it at the end of the day when tired I guess.

[Clownwarlord]

I need one (a pr person), to talk to all the idiots I deal with.

[Bud Crue]

YES

[Appogee]

TLBFestus, on 12 March 2017 - 08:57 PM, said:

Just to reiterate...it's PGI's economy he's referring to.

Spot on. I share your observation about what he means when he says that.

MechaBattler, on 12 March 2017 - 09:40 PM, said:

I find it a little disappointing that people are trumpeting the cheapskate joke as a real reason to get pissed about. I know we're in the "triggered" era. But come on. Most of the whales are older adults. I would expect more from the older gentry.

Yeah, I feel the same way. Plus, it devalues our complaints about genuine and legitimate concerns when we we are over-critical of little things like this.

[Clownwarlord]

The people that get angry over the cheapstake comment only prove this famous line ...

[Bud Crue]

I don't get this particular aspect of Russ's foot in mouth disease. I mean even out of context, it happens to be true. We are cheapskates when it comes to modules. Why wouldn't we be?

And that is where the butthurt comes in.

If Russ would have been a little self-deprecating and instead of calling folks cheapskates, acknowledged that his system makes us all cheapskates this would not be an issue. If he would have said: "yeah well, we were idiots when we created a system where we encouraged everyone to be module cheapskates and that is on us, but now we are fixing this and I hope you will all bear with these changes" etc. But that sort of acknowledgment of fault/reality would never occur to Russ -we know best, shut up and say thank you- Bullock, and so now folks are once again irrationally pissed off. C'est la vie.

[The Errant]

TLBFestus, on 12 March 2017 - 08:57 PM, said:

Honestly, the "cheapskates" comment wasn't as onerus as it was made out to be, but it's yet another instance of Russ' mouth being in motion before the brain is engaged.

The other thing is his referral about having to be careful about "the economy". Yes...there's no real economy in this game, but having listened to it again, I believe that the economy he is talking about is PGIs economy.

They don't want to leave us with too many c-bills because it hurts PGI's economy. If you have lots of c-bills it's not such a big deal to sit and wait for a mech to come out for c-bills rather than spend MC (aka REAL money). They want people in a position that many still have to face the grind for c-bills and be tempted into spending money on the game.

Quote

(Russ Bullock timestamp 1:48:59)...People literally getting hundreds of millions in excess c-bills. As awesome as that sounds I think you guys all want the game to continue to have a viable economy so that we can continue to, you know, run this game, so we have to be about that thinking too

Just to reiterate...it's PGI's economy he's referring to.

That is a worthwhile observation. I see people compare aspects of MWO to other MMOs fairly often. Here's another one: Most free-to-play MMORPGs have both micropurchases and a monthly subscription. Sure, in most cases you can grind your way to access content that the paying customers can, but what makes the f2p model (with micropurchases and subscription option) successful is striking just the right balance between making the player feel like they have access to a fair, playable game for free and making it just tedious enough to do it free that players are okay with paying for the convenience. I can't remember from whom but I've picked up the phrase, "You've got the money or you've got the time, most folks don't have both."

Granted MWO is not a MMORPG, it's a MMO shooter. Other MMO shooter games have a one-time purchase for the full game and then season passes for the online play on top of that, and if you're on a console you often have to pay money for services like XBL. Unless I'm mistaken, the only ways PGI makes money from MWO are from mech packs and MC. How do you get people to buy MC and mech packs instead of grinding out the cbills? Make the grind to where folks have either the time or the money, not both, and hope enough of your players are the ones who have the money and not so much the time...and while that can be frustrating at times, I understand they have to pay their bills and employees somehow.

***

As for Russ...yeah I was just telling some folks in TS the other day that Russ is not a public speaker. Would it help to hire a PR person? It might, but I feel like that'd be going a different direction than the 'straight from the horse's mouth' approach they seem to be trying for with these live podcasts with the devs themselves. Would such a PR person have a background in software engineering/game design and enough understanding of the developer-POV nuts and bolts to speak on the fly and respond to questions in these podcasts? Honestly the folks who write the community releases and whatnot do fine, it's the live unscripted nature of these podcasts that is getting them.

And while I for one don't mind, I understand others who say that as the president of the company who makes the product we've spent our time and money on, Russ doesn't really have the luxury of being just one of the guys and I think that's a perfectly valid point of view. It's a shame, but that's life.

[Appogee]

The Errant, on 13 March 2017 - 03:32 AM, said:

Would it help to hire a PR person?

Sean Spicer will be available soon.

[CDLord HHGD]

Alan Davion, on 12 March 2017 - 09:08 PM, said:

The sooner they learn this lesson, the better it will be for everyone.

Not holding my breath...... -.-

And honestly.... MWO's economy is one of the most basic and simplest I've seen. Think the model is from the game Oregon Trail. To call what we have an "economy" is an insult to games that actually try to have an economy (even the ones that fail).

[Jables McBarty]

Honestly it's not the "cheapskate" comments that alienate me so much as the "Well I think we designed a really nice product" comments.

I recognize that in part when he says that (which he also said a couple times during the most recent FP townhall, and I think maybe during the summer 2016 one as well), he's talking to his developers, saying "I stand by you guys and the work you've done," but it also shows a complete inability or non-intention to listen to your customers and consider their criticism valid.

When I hear that I think "if you think that, then why are you even talking to us? Just publish the product as-is, if it's so good."

[Roughneck45]

My personal favorite was him describing respec.

See, its two actions to switch a node, not one! Deselecting a node counts as one, and its FREE! Then you purchase a node...

Really man? Like someone would actually consider deselecting a node and not replacing it.

As far as the cheap comment, its kind of mind boggling. YOU DESIGNED THE F'ING SYSTEM! ITS A TIP IN THE LOADING SCREEN TO SWAP MODULES! MAYBE YOU SHOULD PUT (If you do this PGI thinks you are cheating the system) NEXT TO IT!

[TLBFestus]

Lupis Volk, on 12 March 2017 - 09:20 PM, said:

As a person with Autism and Asperger i can tell you it's not cluelessness but more of a inability to read social ques. I've done it before.

It's also true that there are people in this world who can say anything and get away with it, and those who can't. IRL I'm one of the ones who generally "gets away with it" but even then there are times where you screw up. It's how you respond to the screw ups that's important.

Russ isn't one of those guys, but sometimes I think he's trying to be, and that type of person face plants hard more often than not.

[cazidin]

I volunteered to be their PR guy and was declined. Twice. They don't want a PR guy, or your thoughts. Go back to your island!

[nehebkau]

As a person who has neither autism or Asperger's but who is simply an a-hole and d-head I can tell you that putting your foot in your mouth is not limited to people with social disabilities.

Usually it's just because it sounded funny with your 'inside voice' but not funny with your 'outside voice'. Usually because people like me have our inside voice set on 'jar-jar-binks meets minnie mouse'.

Edited by nehebkau, 13 March 2017 - 07:28 AM.

[Alan Davion]

CDLord HHGD, on 13 March 2017 - 06:26 AM, said:

Not holding my breath...... -.-

And honestly.... MWO's economy is one of the most basic and simplest I've seen. Think the model is from the game Oregon Trail. To call what we have an "economy" is an insult to games that actually try to have an economy (even the ones that fail).

Believe me I know, I said as much in another topic, but I'll be damned if I can find it now.

[Gas Guzzler]

Bishop Steiner, on 12 March 2017 - 09:18 PM, said:

Honestly? Yes.
I like Russ, (which I know is heresy around here), but he has a serious disconnect, socially. I can only speculate on what it may be, but as a person with autism, I am very familiar with that kind of, well, tbh, cluelessness.

When he does step in it (which is often) he seems genuinely baffled by peoples response. After all, he doesn't say anything we don't say ourselves in TS; the forums, etc, right? But... he is the head of a company, not just "one of the guys". And, for various reasons, he doesn't seem to realize that more often than not, he is dealing with a hostile audience.

That said... about the cheapskate comment?

I can't help but feel that mostly it hit 2 sorts of people. The Modern Day PC Police SJW that is continuing the emasculation of a generation.... and those who aren't truly offended by it (because they regularly say far worse).... but see an opportunity to stir up the unwashed masses.

Admittedly, there is also a 3rd crowd, which is why he can't afford to be "one of the guys", which is people who are not native english speakers, so the attempt at humor falls even flatter than it does with english speakers. And even well done humor doesn't always translate... and this was not well done humor.

That said... most of the people making a big deal out of it around here? Just people looking for a replacement for the Island comment, people looking to jump on anything to try to tear PGI down a little more.


um, spending the next half hour backpedaling and apologizing for it in between still trying ot explain the skill tree,, is "not even trying to backpedal from it".

Seriously?

Yeah I have to agree. I didn't give the comment a second though, aside from the "Oh man, there are a bunch of jabronis that are going to take this and run with it".

Roughneck45, on 13 March 2017 - 06:47 AM, said:

As far as the cheap comment, its kind of mind boggling. YOU DESIGNED THE F'ING SYSTEM! ITS A TIP IN THE LOADING SCREEN TO SWAP MODULES! MAYBE YOU SHOULD PUT (If you do this PGI thinks you are cheating the system) NEXT TO IT!

I agree with this too, but honestly just don't care that he said that. Yeah, it wasn't political, but I just don't care.

[Bishop Steiner]

Roughneck45, on 13 March 2017 - 06:47 AM, said:

My personal favorite was him describing respec.

See, its two actions to switch a node, not one! Deselecting a node counts as one, and its FREE! Then you purchase a node...

Really man? Like someone would actually consider deselecting a node and not replacing it.

As far as the cheap comment, its kind of mind boggling. YOU DESIGNED THE F'ING SYSTEM! ITS A TIP IN THE LOADING SCREEN TO SWAP MODULES! MAYBE YOU SHOULD PUT (If you do this PGI thinks you are cheating the system) NEXT TO IT!

added long after they figured out everyone was doing it anyhow.

[Almond Brown]

Interesting. Players and Community members get to come on here, PGI's private Forums, and call them all sort of nasty names and belittle their hard work and then just assume they are expected to just eat it, but what a turn of face when the Dev may or may not speak a simple truth. At its very core, it can only be seen as grossly hypocritical really. And then the Islanders pop off their Island in droves to totally solidify the point. Glorious...

They who live in glass houses should not throw stones...

[AlexEss]

I do and have mostly found this part of Russ to be endearing (also very happy i do not work PGI PR) it is rare to see people speak their mind in his position. For a good reason.. But still.

I am not offended, heck i care so little for grinding monery i have 0 modules. Not worth the hassle. Neither have i picked up a mech pack on pre-sale.

I simply swap my stuff around.

[Rakshasa]

If I had a coin for every time I said something that could be misconstrued, I'd have...well, a lot of coins. I try not to, but I'm human and fallible. That's why Russ' comments don't bother me. Pretty sure a lot of other human beings have said misjudged things in the past too, including those who have become hot and bothered by it. Never let consideration and understanding of human shortcomings get in the way of a good rant though, I guess.