It's Not Your Money

Just chiming in here...

I posted the majority of my point of view in the "scam" thread, just to clarify between Purchases and "Support". I wouldn't say people have a direct say over how GGG uses the money they give GGG, but GGG has had a share in making people feel they have been putting their money to work in one area, while they've been spending in a way some supporters didn't support.

Purchases
Direct Purchases of items from the item shop are almost cut & dry transactions (though, I think they get away with prices that are WAY too high, because they rely on the "support" mindset of most of the players here, illustrated below.) This is like any other company selling something, and you get something in return. They can use the profits in whatever way they like; no questions.


Supporter Packs
These are far from cut and dry transactions. GGG should really reconsider what the packs are called, and the badges forum users get, to avoid this sort of misunderstanding in the future (like: Expansion Bundles or something).

A good (but not perfect) comparison/illustration, would be with PBS television stations. They provide free television programs generally commercial free. At certain times each year, they will run fund raisers to support PBS getting the programming that people want for the next year. There is an understanding that the donations go toward a certain goal. Now, they generally say:
If you support us at a "10 dollar level", you get "themed trinket that is not worth $10"...
If you support us at the "50 dollar level", you get "bigger themed package not worth $50"...
If you support at "X level", you get "bigger themed package with a DVD, not worth $X"...
(If they were "worth" those dollar amounts, none of the donation money would go to the station, it would go to the cost to supply the things)



The packages you get are nice, but you're not paying for them, you're donating to the PBS station to get the programming you want. Those packages are incentives but incidental to the donation that is going to support the broadcasting they want to see more of.

This is the mindset they are promoting in the offering of "supporter packs". THIS is the reason people are feeling angry about how their "support dollars" have been spent. Some would not have given GGG as much, or any, support, if they knew about the Xbox version.

If the PBS station went out and built a theater to present the same TV shows performed by local actors or something... the TV supporters may be rightly upset if they'd never go to a theater, and the diverting of funds meant that one of the TV shows they wanted wasn't acquired by the station.

This brings me back to a statement I presented in the previous thread, that the ideal decision making process in acquiring a "Supporter Pack" SHOULD be based on what fun the person has already had in the game, and supporting what the company has already done, because that's all that's guaranteed. (In other words, not based on thinking that they're funding the future development of features they personally want, or fixes to problems with the game - even though, this is the thinking GGG depends on.)

I think GGG may view supporter pack purchases incorrectly as well... people buying them are not necessarily agreeing with the design decisions made by GGG - many are supporting future changes they want to see made.

This is why I haven't donated to GGG. Because during the period I enjoyed the game, I wasn't invested in the game, and once I did become invested in enough time and such to even think about giving them money, I no longer liked the direction they were going.

A donation now, would be like saying I agree with what they're doing, sending the wrong message (and I personally don't care so much about the Xbox port, but since I'll never own an Xbox, I wouldn't have supported that use of my funds either - not because I think Xbox-impacted design decisions will lead to a worse game, it's other areas of the game).

I see nothing "deceptive" about them releasing an Xbox one port. Here's a fact: GGG is a business, not a charity. The fact that you can already play this game, totally free, and get all of the non-cosmetic content in the game (excluding stash tabs) is great.

I've spent maybe $150-200 on this game, and the news of this release doesn't bother me at all. It's funny because I'm the type of person that gets pissed off easily when a gaming company screws over their userbase. Dragon Age 2 pissed me off very much, for instance. They made a fantastic game with DAO, received excellent reviews and sold a ton of copies, but then decided to screw over all the fans of the first game by making the second one extremely dumbed down.

GGG did nothing of the sort. Breach is a very fun, challenging league and it's been great to play it. This is the first time I've bought a league-specific bundle (I usually just buy points). That being said, it is totally absurd how much lag the breaches cause despite my computer being able to run Witcher 3 on ultra with 40-50 fps.

Here's one thing many people don't seem to comprehend: if GGG makes a lot of money with their Xbox One port, they will have more money to spend on everything else. Maybe they will finally hire someone to properly optimize the game. Maybe they will make POE 2 with it. Maybe they will squander it. Who knows?

"

MMORPG: You indicated that you have hired new staff for the console project. How many folks are working on it?

The console sub-team has averaged around three developers over the last year. For reference, our company has 92 staff members (including customer support).

Oh how dare they, 3 persons.

"

Nssheepster wrote:

It was your money though. You donated because you were told one thing, and now you find it's another entirely. It's not our money anymore, nor do we have any say in where it goes...But we SHOULD have had a say in donating that money, an HONEST say. Instead, GGG hid the fact that they've been planning a console port, and we donated not knowing that our money was going somewhere we wouldn't have wanted it to.


In the end, we don't get a say. But we DO have a right to be upset that we were deceived, and that money we thought went to a PC gaming company worth supporting, instead went to a game company that was willing to deceive us and leave the PC gamers behind to go port to Xbox.


Sorry if the exact terminology of "their money" is bothering you. Regardless of the terms they use...People have a good reason, and a right, to be upset. So they ARE upset.

As for it being a success...Well, that depends on how you lookat it. In the short term, maybe the first few patches, it probably will be. In the long term, I expect the failure history has shown to be the norm.

Also, as for success...Some of the less-loved changes in the game recently have been attributed to the Xbox preparations. Doesn't that make the port already a failure for the PC gamers? Their game has been changed to support a port they were never told about.

Even if you never spent a bent penny on GGG...You have a reason to be upset at all the time you spent, playing and hoping that things would get better, when really GGG was making them worse for the port.

^ Nothing more to say - perfect summary of the situation!

@Zaludoz

Just because something is called "Supporter pack" doesn't entitle said person who bought supporter pack to be entitled to something more than what is sold.

I support many things through money or means of support. Much like how people like an organization and help by "supporting" it, whether that be through money or by helping out with charity events.

Doing said things of support, does not entitle me a stake in said organization. I am just supporting something.

"

Thegzagenius wrote:

@Zaludoz
Doing said things of support, does not entitle me a stake in said organization. I am just supporting something.

Exactly, the point of all this is, what is the something you are supporting?

Personally I wasn't supporting my toons to look good in obscenely overpriced mtx effects.

I also wasn't supporting xbox.

"

plodd wrote:

"

Thegzagenius wrote:

@Zaludoz
Doing said things of support, does not entitle me a stake in said organization. I am just supporting something.

Exactly, the point of all this is, what is the something you are supporting?

Personally I wasn't supporting my toons to look good in obscenely overpriced mtx effects.

I also wasn't supporting xbox.

So, essentially you bought mtx, not for the MTX sake but for the vague premise that GGG does something with your money you deem worthy?

Uh-huh.

And "supporting something" is basically anything. If you go out and buy a Big Mac, you are supporting McDonalds. You hopefully did it to satiate your hunger, not because you think so highly about that fast food place.

You bought shinies from GGG, and thus supported said company. Why you did that is entirely up to you and your imagination. Personally, i like the shiny MTX and i think that after a thousand or so hours spent ingame, i gladly shell out some money to sate my vanity.

But, in the end i paid for the shinies. Not my personal reasons. (that matter fuck all to GGG or McDonalds, they are just glad you bought a product)

"

plodd wrote:

"

Thegzagenius wrote:

@Zaludoz
Doing said things of support, does not entitle me a stake in said organization. I am just supporting something.

Exactly, the point of all this is, what is the something you are supporting?

Personally I wasn't supporting my toons to look good in obscenely overpriced mtx effects.

I also wasn't supporting xbox.

Yeah, you were supporting the game at the time of buying the pack, hence the name before the pack you bought.

You get points, and gear when u buy packs, sometimes u get to make div cards or unique items. You're always buying something, not just charity.

I think it's amusing that so many people are pretending that they donated. How many of them would have given all of that money for nothing in return, a true donation? They wanted their stuff, their packs, tabs, effects. If you spent money on any of that then you were absolutely not donating even if you were happy to support the company.

No company is going to divulge their plans that are months/years down the road, for a variety of reasons. Complainers are being so unrealistic.

THE FREE MARKET WILL FIX IT