Often times it’s not until after I finish one of these rants that I realize I’ve missed some major detail, something that could have summed the whole thing up nicely. And while an anthology of Blizzards past successes to contrast their modern failings against is good, I entirely missed out detailing why Diabalo 3 is gonna suck. So let me break it down.
When I played Lost Vikings, WarCraft 1/2, Diabalo, Starcraft and the rest I was inspired. I felt like they were these cool dudes trying something new then putting it out there and saying “I hope you enjoy this”, like they were on my level. And I wanted to be like them. But then World of Warcraft drew in the business men and Blizzard was gutted. Starcraft 2 was basically a cash grab, replacing imitation with it’s predecessors innovation, and as I illustrated at least starting the conversation that leads to innovation is incredibly easy to do. But the subtext of the Diabalo 3 announcement makes that pale in comparison. Let’s look at what they’re saying:
Always on internet required – “This game isn’t for everyone, just the affluent.” Granted it’s not that big a deal for most of the people complaining about it, but the point is they’re intentionally setting the bar higher than “everyone.” Contrast this with Starcraft which ran on 6 year old specs when it came out. But alright, so they only want people who enjoy a certian level of technology. What are they going to offer this techno elite?
Mods Prohibited – “We own this game, you don’t.” And you’re going to play their game like it or not. Well that’s real nice. I’m the sort of person that when I get a new toy takes it apart and puts it back together again. I don’t feel like I own something if I can’t.
In Game Auction House for Real World Money – “If you think you can make back some money on this game, don’t forget we get a cut.” Never mind that, as I said, you don’t really own the game you paid for, that’s not enough for them. Actually, Paul Saunders may have summed it up the best. (Jump to 1:21 in that video.)
What Blizzard is doing is turning every single player into a gold farmer. Apparently someone in Blizzard’s Business Development department decided ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’ and then appended ‘then devour their business model and use the flowing profits to add to your already glorious horde of gold and jewels.’ That person may possibly have been a dragon….
…You pay Blizzard a fee when you buy the item and they pay Blizzard a fee when they post the item. They’re also paying Blizzard to extract the money from their system. So really in the end Blizzard is making more money from these transactions than you are…. Any profits you take home is just what Blizzard is paying you to gold farm on their behalf. See my previous comments regarding glorious hordes, gold, jewels and dragons.
Naturally this statement was a funny slant on things for the lulz, but it’s not far from correct.
Now compare with my previous statement about how I felt Blizzard “were these cool dudes” when I was a wide eyed and innocent youngster and I hope I’ve managed to justify my repeated expressions of disappointment. In fact I hope I’ve encouraged you to be equally disappointed with the way the money grubbers have ruined things.
RSS Comments.
August 29th, 2011 - 9:29 am
You some of your points in a… not very tactical way. For instance, saying that you have to be able to mod a game to enjoy it (personally or not) would mean you dislike /a lot/ of games. The statement just doesn’t make any sense like you put it.
But I do agree with the fact that previously it were games made by gamers, and now it’s all about money. It always happens when a company grows too much. Pretty much the ONLY exception is Valve if you ask me, and even there it is seeping through by now.
August 29th, 2011 - 10:26 am
Taking something apart isn’t about liking it. It’s about ownership. And in my opinion it’s a jerk move to charge people premium prices for something without offering them ownership. It’s like Apple. You can use their stuff but in the end they have control over the device in your pocket. Imagine if a vehicle were built that didn’t have a hood and the only way you could change your oil was to take it to a dealership where they can use their specialized tools to remove the body to get at the engine? People wouldn’t stand for it unless they were really cheap. Yet we pay full price for hands-off technology and software all the time. Something’s screwy here.
October 28th, 2011 - 11:35 am
I think Bobby would agree.
November 6th, 2011 - 5:43 pm
do you support piracy? and what are your views on them?
back in the days where games were just made for offline play with no online authentication… people could duplicate CDs and just install a crack to enable play…
you could buy just one CD and share it with 10,000 other people…
how much money does the game company earn?
will it be worth it for them to create new games if knew they would be earning nothing?
they are trying to earn a living just like you and me and everybody else…
they do not run a charity that makes free awesome games for everyone to play…
requiring online connection play with authentication solves this problem…
monthly subscriptions further stops piracy… (not that i like it though… that’s why i don’t play WOW)
why mods are prohibited? well… you ask yourself this question…
IF u created something would you like some other random people to change it without your consent?
and what’s the problem with them taking a portion of your auction money?
you are viewing it as – “i sold this bow for $10… and they stole 10% from me!!! now i get only $9 instead of $10!!!”
so why don’t you factor in your “loss” by selling your bow at $11.11?
so after the 10% tax… you still get $10?
basically… what you really are not happy about is that blizzard is making use of our transactions to earn more money…
which from your point of view is “farming” us…
well… do you buy food from restaurants? are you happy to do so? are u willing to do so? don’t you think it’s injustice to the farmers who farmed those vegetables to sell to the suppliers for cheap prices? which in turn sold to the restaurant you are eating from? aren’t everybody “farming” from everybody else? if we start thinking from your point of view?
blizzard spent years in making Diablo 3… how much payroll does that count for those staff they hired just to make the games you wanna play? what about the resources needed for the production costs? and how much more resources do they need to put in to maintain server costs after the games released?
so let me ask you a simple question…
IF blizzard released Diablo 3 for FREE
and IF they don’t charge anything for online auction house…
basically… everything about Diablo 3 is FREE…
would you enjoy the game then?
would it still suck?
if you don’t like it… don’t play…
if you are not intending to play it… don’t try to pull them down…
seriously… what’s your problem?
you have yet to give a valid reason as to how Diablo 3 sucks…
only for your unhappiness towards them earning more money from their hard work…
you sir… in my eyes… is just a big selfish bastard…
there!
November 10th, 2011 - 12:48 pm
.
| Always on internet required – “This game isn’t for everyone, just the affluent.”
Are you still living in the 90s? This is almost as absurd as complaining about needing to have a computer. Yes, this game is only for people who can meet the requirements for playing the game. That’s true about every game and has no bearing on whether the game is fun for people who can meet the requirements.
| Mods Prohibited
Um, would you say an amusement park sucks because you’re not allowed to “mod” the rides? Diablo 3 is not a toy you can take apart and put back together. If that makes you unhappy, fine, but it still has nothing to do with whether the game is fun to play as-is.
| In Game Auction House for Real World Money
I don’t consider the Auction House relevant at all. It has nothing to do with gameplay and you can certainly play without ever using it. Create a character and go. Use what you find. Ignore the AH. Like the internet, or the non-existence of mods, the auction house is basically a meta-game element. None of those things are The Game. Please review The Game
January 2nd, 2012 - 7:07 am
I can understand the need to protect against piracy, but why are some of you getting stuck on that point? It’s like the moment the word piracy pops up, it’s like most people suddenly become deaf and blind to anything else.
I come from South Africa and we still pay for the data we use. It’s not just a monthly fee with us and games like this that love to check that your not using a cracked version really does eat up your data cap real quick. It’s not an effective solution for a global product while it focuses on only the 1st world countries. Might I also point out that there are and always have been ways to bypass this method and I assume even when Diablo 3 appears with it, yet again somebody will figure out a way around it.
As for mods, why SHOULDN’T I be allowed to mod the game to what I want? I’m a Linux user and I’m used to modifying FREE code to suite my needs. Why shouldn’t I be allowed to shape small episodes I can share with my friends in a game I paid R500 for? Exactly. It’s lame ass excuse to blame piracy for this.
And finally. They make it so you never really owned the game. You go to the store, you buy it for FULL retail price (about R500-R600 here), you have to go home and download multi-gig stuff to play it. Then when you want to sell it again, you’re not allowed to without giving Blizzard a cut…. and you guys are going to blame piracy for this… right.
I hate to break it to some of you, but it’s not about piracy anymore. It’s about making money. They just use the illusion of fighting piracy to convince the slow amongst you… and by the looks of it they’re succeeding.