Patching the Bug in the Game Industry

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Author Topic:   Patching the Bug in the Game Industry

mindlace23 posted 08-19-99 11:01 AM ET
There's a core problem with the idea of continued bug fixes for a game.
The game company gets no revenue.
Therefore, no matter how lofty their ideals, every economic incentive tells them to spend as much time as they have to to address the most grievious errors and then move on.
'Enhancements', ala SMACX, provide one possible mechanism for addressing errors in a revenue providing fashion. The problem is, SMACX is another 'one time' gig.
For a FPS with virtually no replay value, this isn't much of a deal. I don't know about all of you, but I played CivII for _hundreds_ of hours, and have played SMAC for at least one hundred, plus the 40 hours I spent playing the demo.
We, the hard-core users of a very replayable game, are the only ones who _really_ care whether these things are addressed. Look at the time that Yin26 has invested in Firaxis.
We've got CIVIII and the mysterious 'third episode' coming to the sweep of time trilogy, with the suggestion that with the next iteration- CIV4,SMAC2,third2- you will be able to play from humble beginnings as a nomad on earth to a galaxy-spanning empire.
There has never been another game phenomena like this one, nor one that crys out more compellingly for _continual_ bug fixes and patches to refine and redefine gameplay.
I have a modest proposal. Firaxis should have a monthly or quarterly Sweep Of Time subscription. SoT'ers would get certain benifits, including a clearer channel to inside firaxis, participating in beta-tests, participating in bug-fixes (they could use mozilla's bugtracking software), special tournaments, seeing their names show up in future games in the scenery or as place names or whatever, etc.
There might even be an electronic issue, featuring interesting scenarios, gamefiles, a unit or two- and PATCHES.
The patches would be public, a gift from the fanatics to the world. The rest would be ours, by right of lunacy ;-).
We would, in return, pay firaxis for this.
Perhaps there would be tiered pricing- at the highest tier, you never pay for a Firaxis game, it just shows up in your mailbox.
I would pay $10 a month for everything except the 'free games' and $15 with free games.
Q's:
What would you be willing to pay for this?
What would it 'have' to include (no red phone on BR's desk, please.)
A note: At this point I don't care what Firaxis should or should not do. All I'm interested in is finding out how to get what we want by giving them what they need.
mindlace23 posted 08-19-99 11:24 AM ET
don't post here, please post on the other thread. sorry for the double post.
~mindlace
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Author	Topic: Patching the Bug in the Game Industry
mindlace23	posted 08-19-99 11:01 AM ET There's a core problem with the idea of continued bug fixes for a game. The game company gets no revenue. Therefore, no matter how lofty their ideals, every economic incentive tells them to spend as much time as they have to to address the most grievious errors and then move on. 'Enhancements', ala SMACX, provide one possible mechanism for addressing errors in a revenue providing fashion. The problem is, SMACX is another 'one time' gig. For a FPS with virtually no replay value, this isn't much of a deal. I don't know about all of you, but I played CivII for _hundreds_ of hours, and have played SMAC for at least one hundred, plus the 40 hours I spent playing the demo. We, the hard-core users of a very replayable game, are the only ones who _really_ care whether these things are addressed. Look at the time that Yin26 has invested in Firaxis. We've got CIVIII and the mysterious 'third episode' coming to the sweep of time trilogy, with the suggestion that with the next iteration- CIV4,SMAC2,third2- you will be able to play from humble beginnings as a nomad on earth to a galaxy-spanning empire. There has never been another game phenomena like this one, nor one that crys out more compellingly for _continual_ bug fixes and patches to refine and redefine gameplay. I have a modest proposal. Firaxis should have a monthly or quarterly Sweep Of Time subscription. SoT'ers would get certain benifits, including a clearer channel to inside firaxis, participating in beta-tests, participating in bug-fixes (they could use mozilla's bugtracking software), special tournaments, seeing their names show up in future games in the scenery or as place names or whatever, etc. There might even be an electronic issue, featuring interesting scenarios, gamefiles, a unit or two- and PATCHES. The patches would be public, a gift from the fanatics to the world. The rest would be ours, by right of lunacy ;-). We would, in return, pay firaxis for this. Perhaps there would be tiered pricing- at the highest tier, you never pay for a Firaxis game, it just shows up in your mailbox. I would pay $10 a month for everything except the 'free games' and $15 with free games. Q's: What would you be willing to pay for this? What would it 'have' to include (no red phone on BR's desk, please.) A note: At this point I don't care what Firaxis should or should not do. All I'm interested in is finding out how to get what we want by giving them what they need.
mindlace23	posted 08-19-99 11:24 AM ET don't post here, please post on the other thread. sorry for the double post. ~mindlace