ORIGINAL: Oleg Mastruko
Your criticism is honest, but I would not call it necessarily intelligent. It usually comes out as malicious and whiney (at least to me, and I am sure to many others as well). Sometimes (often) even nitpicky.
Faced with such criticism (and you're not alone in that), what do you think it takes for a company to realise it's much more profitable, less unnerving, easier to make - lets put it mildly - "less demanding" games than WITP.
Most of WITP customers belong to "hard to please" cathegory. Extreme examples like yourself belong to "very VERY hard to please" or "impossible to please" or "never satisfied" cathegory. Would you like to depend on such customers for your living?
O.
Part of me whines when I write critically of Gary's games. This is because he's been one of the few wargame authors over the years that's bothered to design games on the Pacific theater, a subject I have deep interest in, and at a scale I can sink my teeth into. The fly in the buttermilk is Gary isn't very good at the details. Also, I've noticed over the years a strong penchant to revisit old ground with an unchanged point of view. The result has been, for my taste, more and more unsatisfying. To top it off, Gary's work has been somewhat sloppy of late, and furthermore, the after-market support he seems willing to extend to his customers has waned appreciably in the past ten or twelve years. The result of all this on me can, occasionally, cause something which approaches a whine to slip out. Here and there. But then I consider that fallibility a privilege I've both paid for with hard cash and to a degree and in a moral sense earned over time through my own contributions, modest as these might have been, to our hobby.
Am I malicious? I think that was a poor choice of words, Oleg. Malice bespeaks of evil or wicked intent, a desire to do great harm. A learned man who read my work would notice in an instant that my criticism is objective and constructive by nature. I encourage Gary to do better always, and then go on to give my opinion how that might be accomplished. This describes someone with a helping hand extended, not a person consumed with malevolence.
Are most
WitP customers "hard to please"? Do you not read these boards for meaning? Can you not see that each and every time a player steps forth to offer hard criticism, a bevy of 2by3/Matrix supporters veritably rushes forth to offer their small and stilted apologies and denial, and should that person with a complaint persist, is he not then subjected to ridicule in an effort to drive him away? That is your concept of "most customers" being "hard to please"? Do you suppose a man who says on the one hand "I'd like it to be better . . . " but then on the other remarks ". . . but I'm mostly satisfied with the way it is now and grateful for what I have . . ." and caps it off with ". . . so please, Gary, keep shoveling it, because I just can't get enough" is a good example of someone "hard to please"?
As for what direction 2by3/Matrix care to go in: if indeed they concentrate solely on the beer-and-pretzels crowd then surely they will have an easier sled of it. So what? The world is full of people and all of them do not share the same standards. I don't know what the sales figures are for
Risk, but I do know you can apparently buy that game all over the world, or at least you can buy it everywhere I've traveled. It seems to appeal to a wide audience, and some people consider
that a wargame--and in its own way it is, I guess.
But am I responsible for 2by3/Matrix going in that direction for the reason I complain about fairly serious errors in a more ambitious program that they've designed and published and I've paid for? I don't think so, but you're welcome to.
Would I like to depend on me for my living? Surprisingly, yes, I would. I've found that I produce better work when my customers demand improvement. It is all too easy to perform down to one's market. That is, in fact, a common human trap. I try to avoid it.
Finally, is my criticism intelligent? Can you not tell the difference, Oleg?
You know, I've thought for some time that what on-line companies ought to provide is a special forum for special customers, a special place where their special needs might be better cared for. They might consider complimentary coffee at the door, and perhaps even provide special little boxes of virtual crayons for those whose preference is to boldly mark-up the walls.
Now if you can't understand that, or simply fail appreciate it, go see Pasternaksi. He'll give you some therapy.
