Human nature and game design Hello all, Just a little rant involving nostalgia mixed with current events. There are some serious problems with TS2: when you can play a normal character (i.e., no hacks, "aging off," or elixirs) and STILL end up with the "jump bug." This we all know. What many of us also suspect is that it's highly unlikely that Maxis didn't run into this bug during testing considering the ease with which we run into it. So,...why not fix the bug? Indeed, why not? The answer is quite simple: this game had a dedicated following numbering in the millions before even being released. The major hands behind the design of this game knew that they were destined for richness based purely on game hype. Game quality, which, admittedly, is quite high, doesn't even factor into the equation until the "hype" factor faded. This, I suspect, is also the reason behind the sad, sad "extra releases" for the game. A glow in the dark pumpkin 6x6 feet in dimensions? Be still my... When you know that your efforts have succeeded, the natural inclination (path most traveled, if you will) is to rest on your laurels. Maxis doesn't even need to fix the jump bug to ensure game success. The game has probably sold 10 times over what is required for "best seller" status in PC games already. This explains as well the "killer" items availiable. What is impressive is when a game designer has already sold many copies of their title, and STILL wishes to fix/improve the game. Case in point: Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries had sold umpteen thousand copies and Activision released the fabled 1.1 patch, making salvage dynamic. This patch was released 8-10 months after initial release! True, we're only 1.5 months into TS2 release, but I suspect Maxis to only release the patch as included in a $39.99 EP. Second case in point: Ultima Online was a fantastic seller, possibly (before EQ days) one of the most successful massively multiplayer online games in existence. There were patches and "fun stuff" (Halloween zombie mad rush, if anyone remembers) released constantly for at least 18 months after initial release. True, most patches were necessities, as the game was buggier than an Exorcist priest, but it went beyond that. These people wanted the game to be perfect AFTER they had made their money. Last example: Doom 3, a guaranteed best-seller, had NO bugs that I detected, and I'm fairly proficient at stumbling across these. Enough rambling: my point is that if TS2 was in development for > 2 years, it is nearly impossible to have not detected the game-ruining "jump bug." Either human nature took over and said: "Ah, don't worry about it. Everyone will love the new aging system and let their characters die," OR "Ah, don't worry about it. Everyone will have bought our game anyway and if we need to fix it, we will." Paranoid? Pretentious? Rambling? Irrelevant? Oh well, w/o the patch it's all meaningless anyway. Thus endeth the rant. Silmaril Dragon
I agree completely, having often said this myself. It's not paranoia when they really are out to get you. In fact, my complete and utter distrust of Maxis, and their inability to get their rumored, but entirely unsubstantiated, "patch", out in anything approaching a timely manner, such as, oh, say, "yesterday", has caused us to produce a jump bug fix ENTIRELY ON OUR OWN. You can download it from this very forum, putting an end to the jump bug, either until Maxis finally fixes it, or, if they never do, once and for all. Not only that, we *ALSO* took it upon ourselves to find and track down exactly what the CAUSE of the jump bug is, and support it with concrete evidence, not idle speculation. All this took a whopping 3 days from the start of actual effort being put into the problem. We are not impressed by Maxis's failure.
RE: Patchy goodness JMP and cohort in crime (can't remember other developer's name, sorry), Thank you very much! My characters have returned to me. Tested your "unofficial" patch and like it very, very much. Excellent work. Now any further correspondence (i.e., "help" from Maxis) is deemed unnecessary. Again, thanks. Did you happen to ever go by a certain "Fortran" alias some years back JMP...? Alas, but the sad thing is that it is not paranoia, just observation. When confronted with a positive level of reward, let us say reward "A," after applying effort " A' ," the motivation to further apply effort " B' " due to side effect " C * " is minimal. Basically if there are nonexistent or minimal negative consequences, most people will perform what is necessary, and no more. This explains why greater than 80% say they would steal if they wouldn't get caught. Cheating on spouses, taxes, crime, and work performance are all behaviors largely determined by the ebb and flow of postive and negative consequences. But hey, that just means the other 20% of us are poised for world domination . Again, fantastic job, JMP. Works like a charm. Silmaril Dragon
