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Jun 23 2012 05:59 AM #1
Why are some gaming companies so evil and don't care about customers?
I really can't understand this...
Let's take for example, Valve... Players have been expecting Half-life 3 for years. What they're doing, however, is placing jokes here and there, and when fanboys get optimistic ... another cold shower: "Sorry guys, we were just joking, we plan nothing for the future"
Or Blizzard. For years Blizzard has been mocking the Alliance and Alliance players. Blizzard has promised to give the good stuff in World of Warcraft for years, yet all expansions have turned out to be disappointing for Alliance players. Things went out of control during the latest Blizzard conference during which Cannibal corpse singer was allowed to bash Alliance players in sexist and homophobic way.
The question remains - I wonder why some gaming companies are trying to disappoint the loyal fans and care nothing about how they feel.Last edited by SvetPandaren; Jun 23 2012 at 07:18 AM.
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Jun 23 2012 10:17 AM #2
Maybe slightly different to your examples,but for me my biggest dissapointments are from Dice,and the recent direction they've taken BF in,going against what BF was about and pandering to the call of duty run and gun crowd.
Or Activision,i see them as a bigger evil than EA now,will do anything to squeeze the last drop of money from a players wallet,though EA is still a close second.
Stuff like i mentioned,it's all money money money.
Can't really comment on your part about valve releasing teasers then letting people down,maybe a sick sense of humour?:P
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Jun 26 2012 07:16 PM #3
I think that RoR is greatly overpriced, Turbine is generally fairly bad at clear and honest communication, and LOTRO now seems to be store-driven more than anything else, but you're doing a disservice to the word "evil" by applying it to any video game company.
I say this as someone who spends way too much time playing video games, but step away from the PC and the console for a bit, do some reading about the atrocities committed on both small and large scales by individuals, heads of state, and countries, and then see if you really think that Valve teasing you and Turbine overcharging you really count as evil.
"Sam thinks it a queer place, but I think he likes it, too." - Frodo
"If you're in advertising or marketing, kill yourself." - Bill Hicks
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Jun 26 2012 07:36 PM #4
Money and profit are evil. Gaming companies have investors/owners who only care about the money. The investors/owners own the gaming company. The loyal fans are statistics on someone's spreadsheet. Like the Elder Scrolls hubbub when details were released released (I think it was Elder Scrolls and not SWTOR)--bloggers warning Bethesda that they shouldn't just assume they have their loyal fanbase already in the bank for an MMO.
What are you going to do. I'm not convinced that Rohan is overpriced now that they added the points and dungeons. Mounted combat has been in development for a long time, which means it was expensive. That feature alone could have cost $5+ per player who buys Rohan just to break even.
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Jun 26 2012 10:25 PM #5
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Jun 26 2012 10:57 PM #6
Agreed. I think that RoR is over priced and $70 is just lame, and the 6th bag should be part of the expansion period, and I agree that Turbine is bad at communication. But evil? No. Evil is like the 3rd Reich or something like that. This is just a company over charging a product to see how much $$$ it can get.
I do the same thing at the AH. I know it's just play money but still.Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming "WOW, what a ride!"
Civ II rules after all these years......

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Jun 27 2012 02:57 AM #7
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Jun 27 2012 03:28 PM #8
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Jun 28 2012 03:10 AM #9
No, they aren't.
Profit creates jobs, which provide us with profit that we use to buy things we need and want (like the games whose makers you flippantly and naively accuse of being evil), which allows the makers of these things to also profit, and spread profit to still others. If someone profits, it's unavoidable that others will profit too. I just got home from work, where I was busily trying to profit, so that I can buy things that will make others profit, so that they can buy things, and so on, and so on. Let me know when you get the point I'm making.
Profit produces wealth, which among other things provides charities with money they need to help others in various ways. Would anyone be giving money to charity if nobody profited? People like Bill Gates give millions to charities every year -- what percentage of your income do you give to charities? I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess zero.
Profit provides funding for medical research for things like heart disease, cancer, AIDS, and childhood leukemia, and has thus enabled many, many lives (including, no doubt, someone you love) to be saved by new treatments and procedures for countless health problems, some that only 50 years ago would have resulted in death. This has raised the average life expectancy to almost double what it used to be not that long ago. How many people wouldn't be alive now if no one profited from anything? And don't you think that people deserve to profit from beneficial things they provided to mankind? No? Who are you to decide that?
Profit provides financial backing for technological advancement, and is responsible for the fact that we no longer have to live in log cabins and hunt our own food. People made money from inventing new and cheaper materials for housing, as well as new ways of food processing, so that even poor people have greater access to homes and decent food than used to be the case.
Profit has provided mankind not only with what it needs, but also with levels of fulfillment, satisfaction, comfort and convenience that you now take for granted. Almost everything you have, from your house and your car down to your toilet paper, exists because people previously profited enough to put capital into the development of these things. Even your bloody computer, as well as the junk food you stuff your face with while using it, exists because people profited.
It is the grossest form of hypocrisy to condemn as evil the very thing that provides the quality of living that you obviously love and greedily indulge in. It is the height of arrogance and self importance to fancy yourself some all-knowing accuser of the good things that so many people have done because they profited.
Don't live your whole life in profound ignorance. Please, please make an effort to educate yourself by reading at least a book or two about economics, so that you're no longer spouting utter foolishness like your statement above.
RipLast edited by Rippentuck; Jun 28 2012 at 03:14 AM.
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Jun 28 2012 09:51 AM #10
Just stop it people!
(edit
Rippentuck (^^) pls read a book or two yourself. Not just propaganda. I know its hard for you us americans to not act superficial and to not blame other people for delivering alternatives.
How is beeing greedy not the purest definition of evil?
Just think about it. People who want more for themself or think they deserve more then others are willing to kill torture and domiante others for that. Greed is the root of all evil.
If turbine was a real company they would try to offer something worth the money they are demanding.
But making revenue in this business comes down to releasing a picture of a mount and a catchy phrase and bam you have revenue for the next two weeks or so.
This is not business this is making as much money posible with fooling people. You will all want to pull you legs out if RoR comes out and you will realize how bad you where riped this time. But even then you will find superficial excuses why it was okay to spend 90dollars onto somezhing like 'this'.
This is not about economics, this is about supassing economics at all. If you cant understand this by now you are real addicts, sorry.
Lotro would have been out of business for long and good now if real life economics would play any role here.
FunFact: you dont even need to have a valid email adress any more to register an account here. This is really the lowest lows of account based services on the inernet.
In there greed to make money out of everything, they care about nothing anymore. YOU, the customer counts nothng to them anymore.
Best RegardsLast edited by hitm_x; Jun 28 2012 at 10:08 AM.
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Jun 28 2012 12:20 PM #11
What a horrid, one dimensional view on the single worst human invention ever conceived: money. I'ts clear to me that you can't think outside the box, or have not had money troubles, else you begin to hate money with every fiber of your body. One starts to think about why we have to have money when you have to decide whether to get milk and bread or go to the doctor. Of course, when someone has lots of it, everything's nice and dandy, but when someone doesn't, then they come to the realization I posted above.
Bleh, posts like these make me really, really agitated. Please refrain from posting this kind of garbage again.
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Jun 28 2012 12:54 PM #12Ayrolen-Anikosi-Anfribur-Ametrine-Amari-Ayaneth-Asparagus-Anayalos-Alyradal-Aloe-Asiago-Altanoin
7 Haven Way, Tund Loriel, Falathlorn Homesteads
Elendilmir Arda Shrugged -Crickhollow The Colonists
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Jun 28 2012 01:00 PM #13
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Jun 28 2012 02:03 PM #14
No informed rebuttals. Just more ignorant slogans and mindless pretense.
I swear, whenever this stuff comes up, some of you people speak as if you live in a fantasy world, as if you never grew up. You seem to imagine the people you hate (always perceived as rich, of course, even if they aren't) as belonging to some other sub-species of humanity, when in reality many of them are better people than you are. They go out and bust their butts to produce things that benefit mankind (all while raising their own familes), while you sit on your butts in front of the computer they helped create, cramming your face with food that they helped produce, and call them evil. You try just as hard as anyone else to profit and thus make your own life better, while condemning others who do so as being "greedy." You eagerly engage in the very activities you condemn, and then criticize others for not being slobbering hypocrites like yourselves.
I suggest that you grow up and start accepting the realities of the real world and acknowledging some of the good of other peoples' activities that have directly provided you and your children with the things you want and need. Instead of waving about childish and blatantly hypocritical cliches about "greed" and such, stop acting like little kids and go educate yourselves.
Rip
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Jun 28 2012 02:08 PM #15
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Jun 28 2012 02:21 PM #16
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Jun 28 2012 02:23 PM #17
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Jun 28 2012 02:29 PM #18
Money is not evil. Before there was money people bartered. So you needed chicken or be able to write a letter or do chores, work for your food and clothes. Money made the bartering easier and more fair. The value of money, or what we are buying for it - is the other thing.
Greed - yes, likely the number one reason for "evil". Let's slaughter the neighbours and take all their cattle and fertile lands. Well we don't do that much anymore, because the neighbours territory is a market now and we frown upon killing potential customers because we are civilized now.
Greed can also be a good thing, because we (as in humanity) in general strive for "more" we invented a bunch of things and as a result we don't kill other tribes as much anymore - plus we stopped living in caves a while back.
I'm not really sure how any of this relates to an industry that caters luxury items to people that have enough leisure time to enjoy them. Fast Food chains are a greater evil in my eye.
Then again the topic was more about broken promises if I understood the OP.Rouven* – official representative** of the silentU majorityUU for 130 years¸

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Jun 29 2012 02:36 AM #19
Because being evil, not caring about their customers is a good buisness plan.
And kill kittens too. In fact, most of the ppl start a company in the sole purpose of being MEAN and EVIL to you.
In fact, I plan on starting my own gaming company applying those principles and I expect a great success.
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Jun 29 2012 02:46 AM #20
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Jun 29 2012 07:35 PM #21
I'm a Buddhist. I drive a 15-year old pickup truck. My computer is almost as old as my truck (exaggerating slightly.) I don't "stuff my face with junk food", unless you mean Ramen noodles and fruit from the Farmer's market. You don't know anything about me. I know a lot about American culture.
(How much rep do I need to neg someone? I thought I was over that hump already.)Last edited by Silverangel; Jun 29 2012 at 07:39 PM.
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Jun 30 2012 05:54 AM #22
(I don't really mean all of the following, I'm just trying to illustrate to you the logical consequences of your original statement.)
To buy that truck, buy that computer, and slurp those noodles, you first had to profit at some point (and by golly, you brazenly continue to do so, I'm sure!). And in buying these and many other things, you caused others to profit. Thus by your own logic, you're as guilty as anyone else of evil profiteering, and complicit in the crimes of others' profit. You also don't live the life that you presumably think others should live, thus you're not only an evil profiteer participating in countless crimes against humanity, you are necessarily a hypocrite.
Do you see what I mean? If your premise is that "profit is evil," then you're saying that ALL profit is evil --not just amounts you can't aspire to. You can't separate "good" profit from "bad" profit simply by citing the amount. If it is evil, then it is ALL evil, and you convict yourself.
I originally wrote more commentary here, and also asked you to do things for me that would further demonstrate why you were wrong to make the statement that "profit is evil." Anyone else would have gotten the full treatment. But since you say you are a Buddhist (where I assume you got the notion that profit is evil), I'll just delete all of it, try to be kind, and simply suggest that you be more careful about flippantly attaching the word "evil" to people you don't know and have never met. You said I don't know anything about you -- and you're absolutely right. But now I'm asking you to acknowledge that you don't know anything about the people you condemn, either. Can you do that?
Oh, and just so you know, we've been sternly reminded by moderators recently that abusing the rep function is frowned upon in this establishment. However, if it will make you feel better, I would like to respectfully ask the moderators to grant Silverangel the special favor of giving me negative rep, and if that's not possible, please assign it to me. I'll gladly accept the negative rep without complaint or hard feelings.
Rip
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Jun 30 2012 07:17 AM #23
All I'm gonna say is the word evil is so misused on this forum it's pathetic.
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Jun 30 2012 07:36 AM #24
No, I don't think I've evilly profiteered. I've worked a fair amount for my $12,000 truck and my noodles to heat up in my $15 microwave that I got at Goodwill. When I owned my own art business, I charged very modest prices. I didn't try to squeeze as much as possible out of the wealthy people who wanted their big houses to look like palaces for various reasons. I quit for that reason--I didn't enjoy my abilities being harnessed to serve this excess. This does not mean these were not good people.
What's more evil is black-and-white thinking and trying to tell people you're right and they are wrong. Those things have heaped more evil on the world than just about anything else. There are different ways to live and think.
Can't do that because I've worked for them, as I mentioned. I've also worked for a large corporation for several years. I just got health a insurance card. The maximums spectacularly fail to meet of federal minimums because the insurance company got a special waiver from the government to give me horrible insurance that does not protect against catastrophe. It's better for me to have no health insurance and keep the money than to have this insurance, and meanwhile people are profiting off of the money they are taking from my paycheck.
Personal insults like those above are worthy of neg rep by a number of forum rules, probably.Last edited by Silverangel; Jun 30 2012 at 07:45 AM.
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Jun 30 2012 10:54 AM #25Rouven* – official representative** of the silentU majorityUU for 130 years¸

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Jun 30 2012 11:38 AM #26
Money and profit are not evil. They are inventions (like fire, gun powder and many others) that can be used for good or evil.
Money is a convenient way of transfering value between humans. Otherwise, you end up with frustations trying to convert beets into 10 gallons of gasoline. You have to find someone with gasoline that will accept your beets. Or go thru a multiple step process to convert your beets to gasoline.
Without profit, there is no reason to do anything. You tell me that I will lose net worth or money on every transaction. The best I can hope for is to end up where I started. I am not putting any resources into the project.
Morale problems that can be defined as evil occur when humans use money and profit in a way to hurt other humans. Humans have been abusing and making victims of other humans as long as humans have been interacting with each other. It did not take money, profit, fire and gun powder to fuel humsnity being bad to humanity.
All these inventions did was give us new and more effective ways to be nice or mean. The more useful an invention in generating good for society - it tends to have an equal usefulness in pain and suffering (evil) generation.
Bottom Line - We don't need to get rid of these inventions. We need to change people.
IMHO - The pace of technology improvement has greatly out stripped the ability of humanity and our society to use them wisely. Obviously a person with a sharp wooden stick that wants to stab me is not a concern as long as there is no accessible technology that always the stick wielder to get to my house.in South Florida. It would be even better if there was no accessible technology that would give the stick wielder the idea that stabbing the Yula Bunny is something that needs to be done.
Unless stated otherwise, all content in this post is My Personal Opinion.
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Jun 30 2012 01:35 PM #27
Utter nonsense. Please explain what you would use as an alternative medium of exchange, or how the economy would work without a medium of exchange.
Beyond that, I've long noticed that the people who say "money & profit are evil" change their tunes very quickly when it's THEIR money & THEIR profit being discussed.
For those who equate "money & profit" with "greed," please just stop. That's emotional hissy-fit garbage masquerading as an argument.
Fare you well ... let your life proceed by its own design
Nothing to tell ... let the words be yours, I'm done with mine.
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Jun 30 2012 01:41 PM #28

Fare you well ... let your life proceed by its own design
Nothing to tell ... let the words be yours, I'm done with mine.
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Jun 30 2012 05:50 PM #29
Of course. Thanks for interpreting what I meant to say instead of attempting to pontificate economic theory to a raving idiot. So...I've spent my afternoon adding to the uncountable hours I've spent on my LotRO interface. (Trying to make it less amateurish is like water wearing away stone.) This work is free for all players to use, of course, like the works of all of the other modders.
I'm happy. This is the way creativity should be.
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Jul 01 2012 10:17 AM #30
I cant believe you people. Has History told you nothing? Had the Enlightenment only happened in Europe?
Profit is not a value. Its more importent to share then to gain.
The reason of existence is to let other people profit from things I do, things I create.
Those are not 'sentiments'. If you cant live by those 'standarts' you are weak and egocentric.
Those are thoughts you really should consider. Not only believing the words you are hearing yourself saying every day.
If you still cant draw the right conclusions... Profit and Economy created (or invented) slavery, in all ages if mankind,
collonianism and things like konzentrationcamps. Thats the reality of finding the most efficent ways of making profit and
being as economic as possible. Profit and economy was always the reason and the excuse for the most 'evil' undertakings in mankind.
There is simply no argument that explains why making profit is more importent then human lifes.
And even here profit and economy is the reason and the excuse for everything Turbine did that is considered bad, wrong, greedy or phony. Do you really want to justify mediocredity, lies, backhand play and overpriced nonsense with the locig of the market? The market is virtual, as are profits. Humans arnt.
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Jul 02 2012 05:05 AM #31
You are apparently confused, and don't seem to understand the definition of profit. Earning money through wages is not profit it is income. Profit is what is left over from selling something after all cost are accounted for assuming that there is something, otherwise it is a loss. Also you don't know that the people he bought those things from actually made a profit so saying that he is complicit in the crimes of others profit is an unfounded allegation. Saying that he is a hypocrit without first proving that he has ever earned a profit, makes your argument invalid. You can't go around simply making statements with out evidence to support your claim. What evidence do you have to prove your point that profit can't be seperated into good profit and evil profit? Since the amount of profit is a number, then technically you can actually pick a point at which to divide it. If his religous beliefs actually do have guidline for defining it( I am not saying it does, as I don't follow his religion, I don't know.), who are you to tell him how to follow his religion? And since you are being so kind to him, I will turn the favor to you by not calling you out about make assumptions about people you don't know and have never met, and will suggest that in the future instead of making flippant replys to others posts, without sufficieant supposition to your assertions, that perhaps you remember that while you are entitled to your opinion, so are they.

Galadtharion lv85; Durweis lv75 guardian; Tarmature lv68 warden
I'm huntin fo wabbits
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Jul 02 2012 03:34 PM #32
Wow. This thread is full of semantic nonsense.
Money is not evil. What people do FOR and WITH money can be evil. It can also be good.
Don't blame currency for the failings of mankind. That's lazy thinking.
Now, if you want to make an argument that many large corporations do a lot of terrible and irresponsible things to make money, then maybe you've got something to stand on.
Personally, I don't agree, but it can be argued.
I don't believe in right and wrong, good and evil. Those are mental props to avoid critically thinking and evaluating each situation you encounter, and resolving those situations to benefit yourself and those you care about.
If a corporation has a policy I don't agree with, that I feel harms me, I place myself in conflict with that company until such a time as that conflict is resolved. They're not being 'evil'. They're doing what corporations are designed to do. They're not created to be my sweet lovey dovey friend. They have stated interests to see to.
But, I have my own interests and I look out for them. I don't paint things I am in conflict with as evil. That just weakens me and reduces my leverage. It clouds my thinking and weakens me. ESPECIALLY if I go around living by huge generalizations like "Game Companies are EVIL." Pffft.
If there is 'evil' in the world, I'd reserve that label for real monsters like Bundy, Gacy and Sandusky... not for game companies.
I mean come on, GAME companies. It's entertainment. It's not even a vital service industry. You find yourself in conflict with one, stop sending them money. End of story.
And money is paper. It has no power other than the authority we give it over goods and services, and our own weak minds. But again, if you don't like money, don't earn any. Don't use any. People do it all the time.
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Jul 02 2012 04:24 PM #33
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Jul 02 2012 11:05 PM #34
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Jul 03 2012 01:25 PM #35
I said Good and Evil. Good and Bad for me? Sure. I can decide if something is positive for me or negative for me. Doesn't mean negative is 'evil'.
Were you 'evil' for dumping fire ants on me? No. But you'd certainly be on my mind for the few weeks before your hospitilization.
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Jul 03 2012 02:43 PM #36
You're cherry picking. If you don't think me dumping a bucket of fire ants on your head is neither evil, or wrong, then you really need inform yourself more on ethics. Of course, at the rate this thread is going, people will think what I just told you to do is arrogant, etc., well, no, it isn't. I'm telling you, hex, to inform yourself more and not to think that there isn't right or wrong, or good and evil in themselves. Because, as I have said, that's quite frankly wrong. Read up on some Kant or something, not some 'unique' idea you came up with on the pot.
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Jul 03 2012 03:30 PM #37Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming "WOW, what a ride!"
Civ II rules after all these years......

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Jul 03 2012 03:51 PM #38
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Jul 03 2012 03:58 PM #39Ayrolen-Anikosi-Anfribur-Ametrine-Amari-Ayaneth-Asparagus-Anayalos-Alyradal-Aloe-Asiago-Altanoin
7 Haven Way, Tund Loriel, Falathlorn Homesteads
Elendilmir Arda Shrugged -Crickhollow The Colonists
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Jul 03 2012 04:01 PM #40Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming "WOW, what a ride!"
Civ II rules after all these years......

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