under the thumb

[oddie]

I have been very alarmed at the rate people are claiming that they no longer like the game and are canceling their accounts. I am very disappointed that so many are so negative, but I can understand that negativity.

I know that now a days they are emphasizing the fact that techies, and many other areas of specialization, must be more well rounded, be able to communicate well, look outside their field of expertise to become more employable and flexible to the needs of their end users.....but something is missing here. You are dealing with people, and though you seem to respond to them and the concerns expressed ( and never mind the opinions about the quality and quantity of the responses )

Devs, let me clue you in to something I learned a long time ago.........

IT IS MUCH EASIER TO LIGHTEN UP ON THE RULES (in this case the how and wherefor of the game play) THEN TO TIGHTEN THEM UP LATER.............

A basic fact that most teachers, bosses, anybody with any control knows

Regardless of the coding, the testing, and the searching out for exploitable bugs, you are dealing with the human pschye here and that is the most ticklish part, and the most important part for you to pay attention to.

From what I have read so far, I will grant the players one thing for sure, they did not seem to be listened to when this patch was on the test server.

One other thing I would like to mention to the players is that, if you have ability to play on the test server, and you are not then maybe you ought to think about how you could have and therefore the possibilty that the few who were protesting, while the patch was being tested, would have had more voices, but who knows.......
I am guilty of not having downloaded the test server myself, IF I had known how this was all going to go, I think I would have spent time there and tried to help all the other players in protesting.

[jenuviel]

Some of us with access to the test server are on dialup, regrettably. It took me about 10 hours just to download Patch 1 for my main client. There's no way I'm going to download a separate client as well as chunky test patches as well. I'd love to be part of the solution, but it's just not practical for me while restricted to my less-than-optimal internet connection. While I'm sure I'm in the minority these days, I know for certain I'm not alone. It's the same reason I didn't play the SoR open beta (or any other beta, for that matter). I agree with the premise, however. If I had access to the technology (and the money to pay for) cable, I'd spend some of my time on the ATS.

[loyats]

Some of us with access to the test server are on dialup, regrettably. It took me about 10 hours just to download Patch 1 for my main client. There's no way I'm going to download a separate client as well as chunky test patches as well. I'd love to be part of the solution, but it's just not practical for me while restricted to my less-than-optimal internet connection. While I'm sure I'm in the minority these days, I know for certain I'm not alone. It's the same reason I didn't play the SoR open beta (or any other beta, for that matter). I agree with the premise, however. If I had access to the technology (and the money to pay for) cable, I'd spend some of my time on the ATS.

I agree even if she is a dirty no-good Kami lover.

J/K, expect for the agrreing part.

[tensalis]

I agree its sad to see players leaving so easily. Remember though that not everyone goes to the forums - we are the vocal minority of the game. I also have to wonder how many of those complaining actually will leave. I've seen people on the SW:Galaxies forums threatening to leave for months and months, yet still posting and still playing.

Besides, I doubt that anyone who would leave a game so quickly over something that will quickly blow over is not the kind of person who enjoys Ryzom enough to play very long anyway. The ryzom dev team obviously is responsive and works quickly. Their overzealous patch was a nasty mistake, but I'm confident that they'll have it adjusted decently in short order. Remember, other MMO dev teams take months to do simple changes, Ryzom is Speedy freakin Gonzalles by comparison.

[daleknd]

Some of us with access to the test server are on dialup, regrettably. It took me about 10 hours just to download Patch 1 for my main client. There's no way I'm going to download a separate client as well as chunky test patches as well. I'd love to be part of the solution, but it's just not practical for me while restricted to my less-than-optimal internet connection. While I'm sure I'm in the minority these days, I know for certain I'm not alone. It's the same reason I didn't play the SoR open beta (or any other beta, for that matter). I agree with the premise, however. If I had access to the technology (and the money to pay for) cable, I'd spend some of my time on the ATS.

On the brighter side, my dialup connection saved me from trying to harvest during the bad time between patch 1 and the following mini patch. By the time I had the patch downloaded I had no time to play on Wednesday.

Dalwin
humble forager of the Fyros

[jenuviel]

Besides, I doubt that anyone who would leave a game so quickly over something that will quickly blow over is not the kind of person who enjoys Ryzom enough to play very long anyway.

At the risk of hijacking the thread, I disagree with this part. I'm still here (albeit my account is currently cancelled) because I've been following the game for a long time and I'm hoping the problems will be fixed before my time runs out. I've been playing since launch, however. I've seen the fun version of the game. Anyone who started recently likely saw little other than a big patch followed by immediate disaster. "You never get a second chance to make a first impression," as the saying goes.

Add to that the fact that the majority of the MMO-playing population is now of a generation that's been raised in the service era of a capitalist society (at least for those of us who are Americans), and you have a real problem. We live in a time where there are twelve drive-thru hamburger places within a block of one another who are all competing to give you the quickest service for your $1.75, where people download from the mirror closest to their location to save themselves 4 minutes, where newegg.com will find you the cheapest video card of your specification (even if it's only cheaper by $.01). The majority (though not the entirety) of MMO gamers today want what they want when they want it and they don't want to settle for less; it'd be suicide for any MMO company to categorize those players as a non-issue. There are too many competitors out there now for the disenfranchised to turn to. Nevrax, I'm sure, agrees. They are throwing patch fixes out as quickly as they can write them, after all.

In any case, I've gotten a bit off-point. Whether or not those people who've left would stay for the long-term isn't as important as whether or not they'd have stayed longer and what they're saying to the gaming community now that they've gone. There's a fascinating article by Richard Bartle that was posted on the U.K. board here that talks about how imperative newbies are to the survival of any virtual world; if anyone would know, he would. While we may or may not like the folks who drop a game at the drop of a hat, they're a significant market share, and they simply can't be ignored regardless of how fickle they might be.

Cheers, though.

EDIT: Here's the link to that thread- http://www.ryzom.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5086

Scroll down past the initial link. The full article was copied and pasted about 1/3rd of the way down.

[oddie]

Add to that the fact that the majority of the MMO-playing population is now of a generation that's been raised in the service era of a capitalist society (at least for those of us who are Americans), and you have a real problem. We live in a time where there are twelve drive-thru hamburger places within a block of one another who are all competing to give you the quickest service for your $1.75, where people download from the mirror closest to their location to save themselves 4 minutes, where newegg.com will find you the cheapest video card of your specification (even if it's only cheaper by $.01). The majority (though not the entirety) of MMO gamers today want what they want when they want it and they don't want to settle for less; it'd be suicide for any MMO company to categorize those players as a non-issue. There are too many competitors out there now for the disenfranchised to turn to. Nevrax, I'm sure, agrees. They are throwing patch fixes out as quickly as they can write them, after all.

Sad to say this is true, and what with the short attention span of consumers, ah well (the more things change, the more they stay the same), I think we live in different times......and that is a horse of a way off weirder color

[ludig5]

I also have to agree with the general sentiment that 'today's gamer" has a much shorter attention span than when the first MMOGs (or should I say MMORPGs, almost a dead abbreviation) released.

Remember the days in Everquest when the OOC chat was simply filled with awe of how cool EQ was? People in game didnt want to know "whats the quickest way ..." etc, they were just saying "Cool! did you see this...?"

Nowadays, "Get Rich Quick", "Level Quick", "Best Build" etc guides are already published while betas are going on... MMOGs used to be about community. Now, MMOGs seem to be about nothing but UBERness and whining all the time. Its getting pretty disheartening.

The forums I goto for the various game I play (and there are alot) are almost identical.... pure whines, threats etc by players; very little constructive threads.

My personal opinion is the communities of these games is what is killing the genre, not the specific dev teams.... and its a sad state of affairs.

[xasher]

I don't fully agree with Jenuviel about the starting player base. There are alot of people who buy pay to play games who just don't have any intention to pay beyond the 30 day trial period. In my little gaming circle we refer to them as having gaming ADD. How much of the starting user base is filled with these gaming ADD people...it's hard to tell but as soon as the first wave of players reach that 30 day free usage point they bail on the game.

The second wave of people are more likely to be your customer base. These are the people who get hooked on the game, pay the monthly fee and start developing serious character bases for the game. Alot of the gaming ADD become power levellers and just attempt to get their characters as high level as they can in the trial 30 day period...most of my friends who do this if a game doesn't allow them to power level, dive for the next MMorpg that shows on the gaming shelf.

If you look at the timing of the exodus your seeing on Ryzom it corresponds with the natural loss you would expect after the 30 day free period. You also see when patch1 was instated the powergaming wiplash I mentioned above.

All of this quitting and posturing you can see in just about every MMorpg after the first months trial period. Most of the people who have quit or are threatning to quit or have major issue with the increase in difficulty in the game would all have left anyways, wether patch 1 was great or horrible.

It will all come out in the wash...and 2 months from now Ryzom will have a solid player base. The players will all be dedicated to the enjoyment of the game and if Nevrax keeps up their commitment to the game as they are now Ryzom will be one of the best MMorpgs on the market.

You can flame this post all you want...but ill say now those who do more likely fall into one of the 2 catagories i've mentioned above, and I say good riddens.

[drech]

People need a reason to whine, don't they? Devs and gaming companies in general provide more than enough material for whining.

With every release of a buggy game that lacks content and lacks features that are on the box, a gamer's whine routine gets pulled out faster and faster. Rightfully so. No one likes paying for a crap game. They feel used when that happens.

It's just that most people, once they start, can't stop. Say your peace and move on, don't beat the issue into the ground.

Of course, these rules don't apply to me (another part of the problem!).

THEY MUST BE STOPPED.