Bored Gamers: Thou Shalt Not Kill The Hype!
Jim Devereaux reveals the perils of ‘hype’
There’s a secret sauce available to nary a few game makers these days. The magic ingredient they all need but seldom have control over. That fleeting flimflam that can be here today, gone tomorrow. This is the trouble with ‘hype’ (and how to get into it). The four cardinal sins thou shalt not commit are listed herein:
1. Delays
An increasingly common casualty among AAA titles, any delay longer than a few weeks from the originally stated release date has a compound effect on the level of hype a game is getting. Not only does it create irritation and disappointment (which, well before anyone has played the thing, is particularly damaging) but it creates a bigger problem. It gets forgotten.
2. Downgrades
Ahh, that joyous feeling when technology allied to human perseverance unlocks a new and exhilarating visual experience. Check that resolution! Man, that frame rate! Woah is that ambient-occlusion!? Totally killer anti-aliasing bra! Seriously though, once seen one cannot un-see. These pesky brains of ours build the prettiest pictures based on the most fleeting amount of data. As a game marches towards release we expect, nay, demand, greater improvements to satisfy our presentation cravings. All too often, the reverse is true.
3. Bug Patches
OK, all games in the modern era of internet connected machines can and should be patched to fix bugs, that is a given. The real hype killer is the monster day one patch. That Godzilla of a file size that will cripple your internet connection for hours (or in some cases days) before you can even begin to play your expensive and shiny new game.
4. Log In Woes
If experience has taught us anything, it’s not to trust a publisher when they confidently state they have enough servers to cope with demand when connecting to their new online game. An even bigger hype killer than the day one patch, the ‘you can’t log in, please try later’ style message amounts to a horrendous and infuriating c**k-tease.
We expect, nay, demand, greater improvements
Conclusion
Not all problems are foreseeable or avoidable, however, there are plenty of foreseeable problems that are frequently flirted with by good people who ought to know better. This is 2014, game element is carefully analysed and debated with anal levels of scrutiny by legions of blood-thirsty gamers 24/7. Ready to question, antagonise and interrogate any game that carries ‘the hype’. Disrupt it at your peril…
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