Be Like Baseball:
Opinions are like onions, they make me cry!
I've never been good at shooting baskets, but my next door neighbor can hit ten in a row from the three point line. I think basketball should change its rules and enlarge the baskets and add a funnel so my shots no longer bounce off everytime I shoot. If they don't do this, the game will die! Now this may seem stupid, but many Unreal fans want similar things for UT2003. The flak cannon is too strong, the goo gun is too silent, the minigun is too fast, and so on. Since computer games have the ability to change themselves over time via patches, Epic has been known to add some of these user suggested changes in an effort to better satisfy the players. I have a big problem with this.
I can't tell you how many times I have visited the Official UT2003 forums and have seen subjects such as "Suggestions for next patch" or "List of necessary changes or the game will DIE!” I find it funny that these self-proclaimed "game developer wonders" think that they know more than the guys that make a living out of this industry. Epic, trying to please all and be everything to everyone, includes these changes into the next patch in an effort to silence these "wonders". But what do you know, almost the very next day after these "fix-all patches" have been released, the "wonders" are back complaining about something else.
This is just plain wrong.
Epic should be the one to define how things are played and configured and not the players. You don't see any players in the NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA complaining about the shot clock or the distance of the three point line because it unbalances the game. They just play the game and try to win with the rules that have been set. It's time to stop complaining about stuff being unbalanced and start living with the fact that it is impossible to perfectly balance a game.
Mainstream sports of today are full of imbalances - home field advantage and the team who gets to bat last in baseball are a few. These are never going to change just like the hit power of the flak cannon should not be changed to suit the likes of the players. Games are meant to test how the player reacts to certain predicaments, and how the player combats these predicaments should not be changed because a player wants them to be changed.
If people truly meant that they want a game like UT2003 to become as main stream as basketball, these cyber athletes will have to take a cue from them. Play following the rules that the developer has set about and try to make the best of it.
Written By: Zenny On August 12, 2003, 7:52 pm
please someone, comment by Zenny on Monday, Sep 1 2003 @ 8:18 PM -0400
please. i want to know your thoughts on this
Title of Comment by Azmo on Thursday, Sep 4 2003 @ 2:05 PM -0400
I agree that Epic shouldn't listen to the demands of individual players. There will always be people who are unhappy about some aspect of the game, and pleasing all of them is simply impossible.
But I think's it's incorrect to compare online games to 'real' sports. The latter have often existed for several decades, sometimes even for centuries, so most of their weaknesses have been discovered and solved long ago. But even today the major sports are being changed (like the rules for football, which were slightly changed twice in the last decade).
You mention the NFL, MLB, NBA, and WNBA. These all employ hundreds of people, who are often former players or coaches. So there's a lot of expertise and experience inside those organizations to draw on. Now look at Epic (or any software house). They hire people based on their artistic and programming skills, not their competitive experience in the gametypes included in the game. So although Epic may know how to make goodlooking maps and weapons, I think they lack a deeper understanding of the dynamics of their own game (adrenaline anyone?).
So I think Epic could benefit quite a lot from listening to the people who play their games, especially if they want the Unreal series to be attractive to competitive players. How much they might benefit depends on the means they provide for serious people to make and discuss serious contributions, and the willingness of Epic itself to seriously consider the comments and suggestions provided by serious people. I have some ideas if anyone from Epic is interested (riiiight). :)
Azmo
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