Google suspects the most likely meanings of AMAA are Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects Armenian Missionary Association of America American Medical Athletic Association Alliance of Merger & Acquisition Advisors
@Aliteri: I definitely agree that many of them have great insight and are quite talented. I'm glad they're contributing to the industry. I was curious about that.
And no, I don't think of them as a hive mind. But it often seems the majority of them - or at least the vocal majority - love trashing games. When I look at most threads, most are negative, and most of the comments therein are negative. It's not that positive opinions don't exist. It's that they are nowhere near as loud as the negative opinions.
It's important to stay level headed imo. No need to bash developers without good reason but also don't be naive thinking they're your "pals" and take everything at face value. Just because a dev studio is indie or "small" doesn't mean they are above exploiting their customers' good will when the business side of their work calls for it. Stay informed, read between the lines and don't throw your money away regardless of how small the amount. Same with publishers and any dev/publisher combo.
Kickstarter and digital distribution have brought about a resurgence of retro gaming and a lot of familiar names have started popping out but this is far from immune to potential shallow cash grabs like with:
Yes, sorry - AMA = ask me anything, AMAA = ask me almost anything (I'm just going to go ahead and assume there are going to be aspects of business deals and game content we won't be able to talk about, since the game has not been released just yet).
@Nathan and @Tanthalas LMAO ohh man I was so clueless I had no idea Tanthalas was responding to me, I thought he was talking to someone else..... Ok thanks guys.
I think, as a dev, that goes both ways... the interesting flip-side of things like kickstarter is that any dev funded by it in a way has - I think - more of a responsibility to their customers to keep an open dialogue and be transparent about what it is that they're doing.
It's one thing to feel a certain sense of ownership and entitlement over a developer's project as a gamer, because a series is beloved and means a lot to you. By contrast, this hybrid gamer/personal investor thing that kickstarter is creating is... different in some subtle but important ways.
By contrast, this hybrid gamer/personal investor thing that kickstarter is creating is... different in some subtle but important ways.
And that's for the best. Gamers as a whole are a pretty alienated community, they bitch when a developer/published make a market test (new commercial practices, such as day 1 dlc) and then buy their products anyway.
When people realize that what they buy is what they support (and by that I mean more than a simple acknowledgement, but rather when they start acting on it), they might become a tad bit more critical about their purchases. Or so I hope (or dream about).
@Aliteri Personally after 5 Decades of observing this mass of conflict we call humanity, I have given up on the hope that "the masses" will one day become rational I think for that to happen we will have to stop being Humans :-)
I really can't imagine what else Blizzard could do wrong to make their image worse. No answer to complaints, selling the game at full price in some countries, latin america, for instance, and them language locking them because they supposedly bought a "limited" edition, banishing linux players for supposedly cheating, providing no proof at all of cheating or if their cheat detecting software just flagged a false positive due to Wine's memory management, etc.
Of course you have users who seem to believe developers are their slaves. Who know nothing but flaming developers everywhere they can, I usually call them Fire Elementals instead of Trolls. There's abuse on both ends.
Finding a forum as this one where trolling and flaming is minimum and people actually discuss their different points of view is rather rare. Of course even here there are examples of the "i'm right, the rest of the Universe is wrong" philosophy.
A smart developer will listen to their community and learn to filter all the garbage and noise. The smart player will remember that without the developers the game they love/hate so much wouldn't even exist.
@Aliteri You said: "A handful of them are indie developers, a few others are modders and so on.
I'm not a member of the codex community and for a time I actually thought they were all shit but I eventually came around after reading some quality posts, reviews (some of the best out there, both praising AND criticizing) and realizing some boards are more productive than others (basically staying away from the general discussion board), but from the way I see it there are 2 misconceptions about the RPG Codex.
One is the idea that they are a hivemind, which they aren't, and the other is that they all hate every new game, which they don't (after all, they aren't a hivemind). Their opinions differ. At first glance you'd think that they all hate everything that's new but there are Witcher and Dragon Age (1) fans around. No doubt what is the most ambitious gameplay module mod for DA:O is being made by one quality codex poster.
Another thing is that they 'encourage freedom of speech' (meaning that they barely moderate their own forums) causing many of their boards to be filled with trolls - the kind that calls everything shit and spams images to appear clever, in short tries to gain 'circle jerk points' no matter what.
I'm not defending everything that happens there though. I think that their extreme defense of freedom of speech (read: lax moderation, if any) allowed for slurs to take over the board and become the sort of buzzword crappy and apologetic developer toss around to make their worse than average game look better. But quite frankly, I think that some developer boards out there are much, much worse.
The moment you become selective about what is a customer concern and what isn't, you begin losing sales and opportunities. Complaining about other's complaining A) Makes the situation worse, Makes yourself look worse and C) Applies a veiled form of censorship."
Actually, i agree. Spot on. You describe codex culture perfectly. When people behave poorly, the common response from the well adjusted is ostracism. Ostracism of codex was my advice.
My mindset is not complaining. I'm here to jest, play, game, and post campy videos and links. Like this!
Edit this afterthought: I am grateful to the codex for introducing me to gems like TOEE with Co8 mods, Golden Chalice, some spiderweb games, and so on. Doesn't mean I want to hang out on those forums.
@Aliteri Personally after 5 Decades of observing this mass of conflict we call humanity, I have given up on the hope that "the masses" will one day become rational I think for that to happen we will have to stop being Humans :-)
For years my favorite quote has been "The greatest proof that there is intelligent life in the universe is that no one has tried to contact us" I have no idea who originally said that.
@Aliteri Personally after 5 Decades of observing this mass of conflict we call humanity, I have given up on the hope that "the masses" will one day become rational I think for that to happen we will have to stop being Humans :-)
For years my favorite quote has been "The greatest proof that there is intelligent life in the universe is that no one has tried to contact us" I have no idea who originally said that.
@Aliteri Personally after 5 Decades of observing this mass of conflict we call humanity, I have given up on the hope that "the masses" will one day become rational I think for that to happen we will have to stop being Humans :-)
For years my favorite quote has been "The greatest proof that there is intelligent life in the universe is that no one has tried to contact us" I have no idea who originally said that.
I love the Codex. It's filled with so much pure, undiluted hate, it just sends shivers down my spine. I check in once in a while to have a laugh. As long as you don't take *anything* seriously, you can actually find some decent stuff there, they have some smart people between all the tranny loving, game hating, entitled chavinistic pigrats.
I don't like the gaming industry today. I do think its a improvement that we have digital distribution systems but I hate the way they milk us. If DLCs aren't bad enough a lot of games have in game paid items. I miss the old day where you bought a game and then only expected a expansion(I wont complain about DRM because we brought it among us pirating.
Now, about Overhaul? I'm mad because they cant modify the game a lot, I'm mad because of what is happening with the Spanish translation, on the other hand I'm happy that they took this project when no one else would have done it.
When you complain about developers and what they do or don't do...and how much work YOU think the game is...remember this original Baldur's Gate factoid: "The game required ninety man-years of development"
I've said it before and I'll say it again: gamers are the biggest pack of self-entitled whiners on the face of this planet. Devs can literally never win. No matter what they do, some bloated section of their fanbase will hate any given decision, and they will roar it from the mountaintops to try and make themselves appear as anything besides a vocal minority. Take that whole ME3 ending fiasco. I've never seen a more disgusting display of bandwagon, mob mentality in all my years.
I resent this. The ending was terrible quality compared to the rest of not only Mass Effect 3, but also Mass Effect 2 and 1.
Is that disgusting? A carefully researched alternative, which doesn't change the Reapers motives but only fixes the major problems most gamers had with the original?
Anyways sorry for going off subject, Mass Effect is the only series which has ever been as close to my heart as Baldur's Gate, and unlike Baldur's Gate's ending Mass Effect was a huge disappointment. I'm writing a novel length fanfiction with an alternative ending as my own personal head-canon therapy.
Gamer's can be truly atrocious, but Beamdog is a beacon of civilization amidst the crushing reality of vile and fallen monstrosities. I am disappointed that the game art was lost, but in awe of their honesty when all I've come to expect from developers is nastiness and lies. Even Bioware fell pray to this, and admitted that ME3's ending was deliberately vague because they wanted people to talk about it. Vague doesn't make a good story, its just bad storytelling.
I've so far been really happy with Beamdog. I may not like DRM but I understand why companies think its necessary, even though it doesn't work. At least Beamdog's is as un-intrusive as possible. They've also been very forthright and honest, not made promises they couldn't keep, and offered to add and fix more things post release. Altogether I may have found my new favorite developer. At least until I'm rich enough to make my own game developing company ;-)
I actually agree Beamdog's DRM choice is the least intrusive possible. To me it's no different from a store employee checking your receipt before giving you the goods you bought.
I really like they're close to their community and as open as possible about the problems they face and what to expect from the games.
I think it would do everyone well to avoid speaking in absolutes.
DLC is good and bad. It can be used to intentionally withold game content to be sold later, or it can be used to legitamately sell new content. It's not one or the other, it's just how DLC offers itself to be used.
Judge the way the developers use the technology rather then the technology itself.
Onto to DLC, I for one would pay a fortune for new races added later on, if they can't afford to spend the time on it now. I have seen good ways to use DLC, and very bad ways.
@Leronis Are you talking about Overhaul or developers in general? Some developers are worthy of praise, some are not. Overhaul? They aren't much of a developer, they just make slightly enhanced versions of old games. Modders do this sort of stuff for free. As for the price? if enough people are willing to pay this full price, I guess it's justified, but I won't pay it.
The average fan exploits a modder far more than Overhaul does, if you ask me. Most fans don't even know the name of the modders themselves and have never so much as sent a 'thank you' email. The average fan didn't give a modder any money, recognition or respect, but expects the company to provide these things. In the end, I think the average fan rationalizes whatever argument gives the lowest price. The lowest price, in this case, is 0. It's a customer's prerogative.
So far I've heard a lot of people get offended at the idea of BG:EE on behalf of the modders. But if anything, it seems to me BG:EE has invited a number of modders into the project. So, while fans are upset at the abuse of the modding community, the modding community itself seems to be supporting the project. Maybe a few modders are upset...but I haven't heard their voices just yet.
The average fan exploits a modder far more than Overhaul does, if you ask me. Most fans don't even know the name of the modders themselves and have never so much as sent a 'thank you' email.
as far as this goes, i typically try not to bother people and if there's a board, i will definitely say thank you on it and say what i like about it, but if i made a mod, the first few emails saying how awesome the mod is would be wonderful, but then if they kept coming, it would annoy me. So i try to appreciate them but it's a fine line of not bothering a person while wanting to thank them for their hard work. *shrughs*
@Leronis Are you talking about Overhaul or developers in general? Some developers are worthy of praise, some are not. Overhaul? They aren't much of a developer, they just make slightly enhanced versions of old games. Modders do this sort of stuff for free. As for the price? if enough people are willing to pay this full price, I guess it's justified, but I won't pay it.
So I have to ask...you say you won't buy this and you insult the people making this product....is your life so empty and dull you have nothing better to do than to post on a forum for a product you have no interest in? Jeez get a life man.
Telling people they have no life is a sure sign that you yourself have no life. No wait......damn.
Ok lets look at this...I make an observation about an apparent illogical motivation and ask for clarification..... Where as You .... Umm.... could you explain the logic train your ridin cause I don't see it... Im not posting on a forum for a product I have no intention of buying...whats more, Im not insulting the people trying to create said product. So Thinking Im using what precious little free time I have to be involved in something that I am interested in....to me that is the definition of having a life. Now if I were hanging out at say... a WoW forum just to say bad things about Blizzard and say I wont pay for it....and maybe indicate I *MIGHT* steal it.....thats not having a life to me...but I may not understand the concept...so enlightenment would be useful.
Comments
Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937
Ankrom Moisan Associated Architects
Armenian Missionary Association of America
American Medical Athletic Association
Alliance of Merger & Acquisition Advisors
Sorry I was focused on your reply to me not the other post.
And no, I don't think of them as a hive mind. But it often seems the majority of them - or at least the vocal majority - love trashing games. When I look at most threads, most are negative, and most of the comments therein are negative. It's not that positive opinions don't exist. It's that they are nowhere near as loud as the negative opinions.
Kickstarter and digital distribution have brought about a resurgence of retro gaming and a lot of familiar names have started popping out but this is far from immune to potential shallow cash grabs like with:
http://www.blackisle.com/
Tweets:
Josh Sawyer: lol black isle lol (
Brian Fargo: A game division is obviously only as good as the talent it employs. (
Chris Avellone: I know nothing about the Black Isle Studio news announcement, doesn't involve me or Obsidian... or well, anyone that I know. (
Be observant. Be smart.
It's one thing to feel a certain sense of ownership and entitlement over a developer's project as a gamer, because a series is beloved and means a lot to you. By contrast, this hybrid gamer/personal investor thing that kickstarter is creating is... different in some subtle but important ways.
edit: i accidentally a word
Personally after 5 Decades of observing this mass of conflict we call humanity, I have given up on the hope that "the masses" will one day become rational
Of course you have users who seem to believe developers are their slaves. Who know nothing but flaming developers everywhere they can, I usually call them Fire Elementals instead of Trolls. There's abuse on both ends.
Finding a forum as this one where trolling and flaming is minimum and people actually discuss their different points of view is rather rare. Of course even here there are examples of the "i'm right, the rest of the Universe is wrong" philosophy.
A smart developer will listen to their community and learn to filter all the garbage and noise. The smart player will remember that without the developers the game they love/hate so much wouldn't even exist.
"A handful of them are indie developers, a few others are modders and so on.
I'm not a member of the codex community and for a time I actually thought they were all shit but I eventually came around after reading some quality posts, reviews (some of the best out there, both praising AND criticizing) and realizing some boards are more productive than others (basically staying away from the general discussion board), but from the way I see it there are 2 misconceptions about the RPG Codex.
One is the idea that they are a hivemind, which they aren't, and the other is that they all hate every new game, which they don't (after all, they aren't a hivemind). Their opinions differ. At first glance you'd think that they all hate everything that's new but there are Witcher and Dragon Age (1) fans around. No doubt what is the most ambitious gameplay module mod for DA:O is being made by one quality codex poster.
Another thing is that they 'encourage freedom of speech' (meaning that they barely moderate their own forums) causing many of their boards to be filled with trolls - the kind that calls everything shit and spams images to appear clever, in short tries to gain 'circle jerk points' no matter what.
I'm not defending everything that happens there though. I think that their extreme defense of freedom of speech (read: lax moderation, if any) allowed for slurs to take over the board and become the sort of buzzword crappy and apologetic developer toss around to make their worse than average game look better. But quite frankly, I think that some developer boards out there are much, much worse.
@Leronis
The moment you become selective about what is a customer concern and what isn't, you begin losing sales and opportunities. Complaining about other's complaining A) Makes the situation worse,
Actually, i agree. Spot on. You describe codex culture perfectly. When people behave poorly, the common response from the well adjusted is ostracism. Ostracism of codex was my advice.
My mindset is not complaining. I'm here to jest, play, game, and post campy videos and links. Like this!
http://i.imgur.com/sgXpd.gif
Edit this afterthought: I am grateful to the codex for introducing me to gems like TOEE with Co8 mods, Golden Chalice, some spiderweb games, and so on. Doesn't mean I want to hang out on those forums.
First place I ever saw it was here: http://bestofcalvinandhobbes.com/2012/04/intelligent-life-better-doesnt-contact-us/
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/black-isle-studios-is-back.75368/page-4#post-2236946
@nathan
An amaa would be great, I think BG:EE can use all the exposure it can get.
Now, about Overhaul? I'm mad because they cant modify the game a lot, I'm mad because of what is happening with the Spanish translation, on the other hand I'm happy that they took this project when no one else would have done it.
http://koobismo.deviantart.com/
Is this disgusting? A planned more than 60 page comic being made by fans, with voice-overs, as an alternative ending?
http://social-iconoclast.deviantart.com/#/d4tc9u0
Is that disgusting? A carefully researched alternative, which doesn't change the Reapers motives but only fixes the major problems most gamers had with the original?
Anyways sorry for going off subject, Mass Effect is the only series which has ever been as close to my heart as Baldur's Gate, and unlike Baldur's Gate's ending Mass Effect was a huge disappointment. I'm writing a novel length fanfiction with an alternative ending as my own personal head-canon therapy.
Gamer's can be truly atrocious, but Beamdog is a beacon of civilization amidst the crushing reality of vile and fallen monstrosities. I am disappointed that the game art was lost, but in awe of their honesty when all I've come to expect from developers is nastiness and lies. Even Bioware fell pray to this, and admitted that ME3's ending was deliberately vague because they wanted people to talk about it. Vague doesn't make a good story, its just bad storytelling.
I've so far been really happy with Beamdog. I may not like DRM but I understand why companies think its necessary, even though it doesn't work. At least Beamdog's is as un-intrusive as possible. They've also been very forthright and honest, not made promises they couldn't keep, and offered to add and fix more things post release. Altogether I may have found my new favorite developer. At least until I'm rich enough to make my own game developing company ;-)
I really like they're close to their community and as open as possible about the problems they face and what to expect from the games.
DLC is good and bad. It can be used to intentionally withold game content to be sold later, or it can be used to legitamately sell new content. It's not one or the other, it's just how DLC offers itself to be used.
Judge the way the developers use the technology rather then the technology itself.
Onto to DLC, I for one would pay a fortune for new races added later on, if they can't afford to spend the time on it now. I have seen good ways to use DLC, and very bad ways.
So far I've heard a lot of people get offended at the idea of BG:EE on behalf of the modders. But if anything, it seems to me BG:EE has invited a number of modders into the project. So, while fans are upset at the abuse of the modding community, the modding community itself seems to be supporting the project. Maybe a few modders are upset...but I haven't heard their voices just yet.