Ok - that got your attention - was just the usual Vimes rant but I think I surprised some folk by popping up again. Seems the head honcho at TenTon didn't like the gloss of SAGA and some of the initial aspects. Absolutely agreed with him at the questions it raises - just not his manner. Now I am KNOWN for an attitude and flaming but this guy went to town over some minor details of the games beginning and I felt the group clapping him for being brave and taking a new independent developer to task in a manner I have never seen TenTon do to a larger publisher needed a dissenting voice. Was well natured banter in the end but I stick by my guns. Any fair person, wishing to use a mass media outlet to give a personal opinion on a small player in the industry, would temper his language with more humour and less over reaction.

For example - the point about the files not being sourced on the SAGA site. I hope I am not being out of order to slava, don't remember any requests not to mention it, but I would guess that they have reached a deal with the sites which involves the site actually doing the marketing and distribution of the key files. We was offered this, still considering under advisement tbh. You all know I have issues over advertising integrity and review sites. maybe we could as we are more a collective info source for the genre - we don't cover games that we cant or wouldn't play, so effectively cant be bought. More of that in another thread lol.

Anyway - the email config was probably an oversight or a recent change that hadnt perpetuated through. Sloppy but understandable in a small developer launching their hopes and dreams into the void. Plus the site cleary states they have taken on more staff to cover the game, laudable at least. But anyone in business knows the chaos this can briefly bring. So forgiven lol. The payments being paypal is fine by me - egalitarean and endorsed by myself every conversation over this with devs. The use of only american cards is probably a limitation over risk by investors or something - seems self limiting - so I would assume a benign reason. Costs alone would make me stagger card cover worldwide.

[RANT]Use paypal. Simple. Card hugging debtors of the world - pay for your crap up front and stop passing on the charges to everyone [/RANT]

His points on the devs company name was a shallow dig and, whilst he did have a point about the one pack a day issue, it seems obvious this is a cap on pay to win. Unlike most genres - MMORTS has some issues built into the nature of the games that require extremely long thought on balancing and finance. Again - this was a self-limiting aspect of the game and would require more info or thought before I condemned it.

Pop over and have a read before your head falls off with all the vigorous nodding, and remember to apologise to your neighbours for the shouted expletives.

Was I way off? Or have we had enough of being treated like the poor hillbilly cousins of MMORPG games?

Vimes you are the only person i don't "get." You write - i read - and i don't understand. My comprehension skills must be out for the day or when i happen to read what you say.

First some thing about some guys review who you even don't like? Then some thing about SEGA and paypal. neighbours!?


"Was I way off? Or have we had enough of being treated like the poor hillbilly cousins of MMORPG games?" - we going to be treated this way until some game exceeds peoples expectations and gets its name heard.

Well this has kicked things off - call me paranoid (behind my back please..some say I am sensitive) but this sniffs of a little MMORTS bashing.A lot of folk with NO experience of the genre are giving long winded opinions on the viability of this ten year old genre lol.

Boomjack (the guy who put Ass in Massively - loved that comment , had to nick it) from TenTonHammer had another ONE attempt at SAGA before confirming he didn't like it. Imagine judging World of Warcraft on the equivalent of hacking a few pigs for skins because you had no idea what else to do or what was possible. Lets drop any allusions to examining the high end game, they didn't even get going in MMORTS terms. Now whilst for hard core gamers I can see this being an interest issue (overstimulated by imagery maybe lol), the growing rise of casual gamers and those interested in creativity and virtual world environments might find these early stages great fun. I know the games have to appeal to a mass audience to succeed but does this have to also follow traditional models, with quick returns and the next ­title­ on the way? With MMORTS we are looking at games with updatability built in and expected. We need merely to find levels to pitch assistance and explanation for different types of gamers and develop the large vocal community that is needed for the new forms of narrative being tested now. Player defined content is highly desirable but also not what the mass are used too. WoW released another couple of instances and a level 25 dungeon recently. Big deal - how crap is that? That is like playing AD&D and waiting till TSR released a new module before getting together to play. Nonsense - we used to make filler adventures or work the commercial one into our campaign. Never would we wait to fed like dogs. With MMMORTS, we also wont be waiting for developer created content in the future.

/RANT over for now - ­link­s below. Ffs - post and stop letting these newbs think I play by myself mostly Note - not one article is positive or has any prior knowledge of MMORTS.

http://random-battle.com/2008/03/12/mmorts-doomed-to-failure

http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?p=215409#post215409

point

1 there is very few hard core gamers.
2 who cares what people addicted to WoW say? MMORTS is probably not for them - its completely different ­style­ of game. We would probably get more players from rts and civilization people who were kinda forgotten recently. I am sure more people loved to play Civilization then WoW.
3 "fed like dogs" - oh this must be a "rant"
4 You can't change what people think, they change it, so most forms of renting is useless.

Well, quick points tree

1/ developers who are professionally engaged in producing a game to make money do generally hope to gain WoW numbers and success. I do not expect the same feeling from hobbyists, given my past experiences with distracted developers, but I would expect them to desire popularity for the genre as a whole.
2/ yes tree- there are few hard core gamers and numbers are actually dwindling. Thus my point above and previously, where we need to engage different types. Civ players are far more casual gamers than more intense RTS gamers. Appeal will have to develop cross genre as few exclusively play one type.
3/ Fed like dogs is an English ­expression­ meaning passively consuming what is placed in front of you. I know you don't have English as a first language but try not to be dismissive of my opinions unless you wish the same treatment
4/ I think most social marketers and advertisers would seriously disagree with you here - as do I. Whilst I may not convince folk, I do not seek too. I may run for office one day but that's another issue.

My approach is that, by placing my ideas in a format not presented everyday, and with facts or opinions not encountered everyday, I contribute to the background data you use to draw conclusions from. Say what you will, but unless you spend a lot of money and time on therapy, you cannot remove the thoughts and the slant I place on them from your mind. It will forever taint the ­base­ you judge all from. The more pugnacious or uniquely held opinion I present, the more likely you will engage that memory more easily. What a world eh?