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The Hermit
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I know that by posting this while not being a respected or long-standing member of the Civ community, I am painting a bullseye on myself akin to the ones AI settlers wear as they joyfully cross in to your borders, but I digress.
I have seen a lot of constructive criticism of Firaxis on these boards, and that is a good thing. However, I have also seen accusations that Firaxis does not communicate with its fanbase. That's a load of dingo's kidneys - I even saw one poster claim that this was a strong suit of Blizzard! Allow me to debunk THAT claptrap - Blizzard has, with its last game/expansion (Diablo 2), quite repeatedly and strongly given the finger to its paying customers. They broke promise upon promise, spread lie after lie, and recently began releasing spyware over their internet matchup provider, Battle.net, packaging it with "patches" that fix "bugs" no one's ever heard of, instead of actual bugs in said game(s).
And if you think Firaxis is clammed-up, go bother the boys at Blizzard a bit. I have, once and only once, ever seen or heard from a Blizzard employee in the last eighteen months that was not their webmaster - the only socialiable person on their entire staff when it comes to PR. And he doesn't have any actual power in the game development process, and can merely make suggestions. That Firaxis employees have come here, asking for lists of known problems, is a huge step up from MANY game companies, including Blizzard. Blizzard's #1 tactic is categorically denying any problems exist, that promises that were made were, in fact, not, and many barely-legal-if-at-all-and-certainly-not-ethical practices. And this despite that Blizzard fans have been incredibly loyal and willing to buy the company's products. A trend that I, if no one else, am not continuing.
While the team at Firaxis may not be here six hours a day to buddy up with us, I feel they are, at least, showing a willingness to communicate which exceeds that of many other companies. This is not to say their level of communications is perfect, or even close, but it's at least a step in the right direction.
And this coming out of a guy who calls Murphy a naive optimist, so sayeth The Hermit.
"Be patient...I must keep reminding myself of this." Tool - The Patient
(Edit: Bugger typos.)
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23-12-2001 12:09
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