- prometheus25
- |
- Exalted Mythic Member
Old school Bungie, born and raised,
In the Septagon is where I spend most of my days.
Relaxin', maxin', posting all cool,
Talking about Halo, life and some school.
Got in one little argument, and the mods got scared,
they said "You're gonna get banned and your member title'll be bare!"
Posted by: Recon Number 54
Posted by: SgtSTFU
To state the obvious, I'm thinking it should be removed shortly after the beta is done (give people enough time to get their two cents in). Seeing as we had hundreds of thread about the beta, who was getting in, etc then I definitely think we should have a forum for it when it actually comes out. I'm eager to see what people think about it.. since I still don't have a 360 :D
Good point.
However, IMO a discussion thread is a lousy place for beta-test feedback. If someone wants to report a bug, then the reporting is far more efficient if it is one-way (with some sort of acknowledgment). The real risk of asking players to "tell us what you think" is that far too many gamers who consider themselves closet designers/critics are going to expect their criticisms and/or ideas to be addressed/implemented without delay or question.
I think a great deal of the post Halo 2 furor resulted from people getting pre-production glimpses, talking about their ideas and concepts in a Bungie forum, and then feeling as if they were ignored when the game envisioned and anticipated in their imagination was not what came on the disk. "We told them what we wanted...." "They promised us....." and so on.
I think that a significant percentage of people playing the Beta are not listening (or understanding) all of the warnings of "this is not the final product, this is a test revision of the game, this is NOT a demo..." and will find fault and "flaws" in the Beta because they are expecting a sneak peek of the final game.
Similarly, I think that another significant percentage of Beta participants are rubbing their hands together because "finally Bungie has gotten smart and is going to listen to what I tell them the game should be, and I am DEFINITELY going to tell them...."
Neither of which are (at least my understanding) the intent or purpose of the Beta. But to those two types of gamers... that is what they want it to be, so that it what it is.
Discussion threads would be horrible ways to process feedback from those groups. It would be much like the Halo 3 forum is now, only with the added urgency of "I need to tell them my ideas/thoughts/opinion now, before it is too late". And the attacks/defenses that would occur in a discussion thread.
If there is a forum, or thread that is made for this, I will do my job and moderate it as directed..... but I am able to foresee the powder-keg that is could be.
I do agree, although I feel that this will happen regardless of the beta. Halo 2 had no such playable demo and, although you mentioned the point regarding the forum, people claimed that the trailer was better, in similar way that several fans claim the pre-release screen shots and videos show discouraging gameplay.
This, I feel, is the biggest problem. I believe that it's not that they voice their opinions and didn't get them implemented, it's that they feel that it's "their" game.
My point may be obscure, but the best way to describe it to you is to relate other developers. Many other studios do not have the open and free-range communication that Bungie.net has. Grudges aside, such forums like Epic's GoW forum don't even come close to the amount of freedom the members have here. I have heard stories of people being banned simply for their input on the game. Now, I'm sure there were exaggerations on this, but I don't believe the claims were too far from the truth.
Bungie.net, on the other hand, not only allows the sharing of ideas, but encourages it, within the bounds of normality, of course. What users have to understand, however, is that they are merely sharing their ideas, not actually giving input on the game. I'm positive that many members do not quite grasp this fully. Every now and then you read a post regarding whether or not Bungie Studios Employees actually reads what goes on in the forums. While I know they do on occaisions, I know that it is much more rare for them to seriously consider those ideas.
It seems that this behavior that we both see is a result of the mission of Bungie.net forums rather than the forums themselves.
Am I making sense? I may have just restated what you said, but I find it true none-the-less.