And so it begins! (the slippery slope)

A bit of context here, i don't craft, i dont even map. Heck, i dont even PLAY PoE!

BUT! I have been following GGG very closely since 2012, and as an econimist (wanna-be) and big ARPG fan with entrepreneur ambitions of my own, I have always been very interested in how a company can survive on a completely free-to-play, no pay-to-win game, with a certain set of ideals, with significant support coming from crowdfunding.

I must say as of 2015, i am VERY impressed how GGG has made it thus far. Even thought of actually playing the game myself! But it seems to me that GGG has already taken a huge step down the slippery slope.

Now if you can put aside your personal hatred for the 1% owners of mirror-worthy-gear, the fact is that power creep is BAD. It is a tool used for marketing new content, which GGG doesn't even NEED since PoE is free to play (as of now).

The fact that GGG even agreed to let garena host PoE is a little bit disturbing in the first place. I actually had an account with garena just to continue monitoring PoE, because since i am from Singapore, and i no longer see "Singapore" listed in the servers, I automatically assumed that Garena is the only Singaporean server around. Of course i later learnt that the Singapore server still existed, its just been ninja removed, BUT! you can somehow... type it in?? Why remove it then?? No idea. Sure there might be a few excuses floating around.... The only rational explanation though is because Garena paid them to do it.

And then there is the fact that garena PoE going pay-to-win (or at least for gameplay related content), significant alienating of player base in the new announced beta changes, excuses on higher map drops being decreased (fake hand-holding, when all along PoE is about learning through failing), it all seems a bit deja-vu. In light of all these, its beginning to not seem surprising how the Blizzard we know and love back in 2000 became the abomination we know today :)

TLDR
Predicted pattern (for crowdfunded game studio) = Small company with ideals > raise funds through crowdfunding > rich enough to alienate target audience > chase away target audience > need to raise funds through other means > listed for public trading > taken over by huge corporation > end of all initial ideals

Of course i hope to be proven wrong, its always nice to see idealists prosper in the real world. But all thats happening is proving VERY interesting indeed for my own personal research. Cant wait to see what happens next! :)

I'm sorry, what is the slippery slope you are talking about? You are making vague references to...nothing?

You don't even play? lol. What a waste of time.

What people are missing is that PoE is two games... one that the players are playing and one that the developers are playing. They enjoy their game. They play us. In order to make their game a bit more fun, they have to radically change our game from time to time and see how we react to it.

Happens in every hands-on roleplaying game. The "Dungeon Master" has his kind of fun, and the players have theirs.

Power creep is common, and generally isn't good for the players game.

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Miská wrote:

You don't even play? lol. What a waste of time.

You realise everything is waste of time right?

I think he is quite commendable in his following of a game without actually playing it, he can be subjective in his analysis. Even if he is another person pointing towards the sky and saying it's falling, he does raise some valid points, if you managed to get past the first sentence.

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Timewar9 wrote:

I'm sorry, what is the slippery slope you are talking about? You are making vague references to...nothing?

Like i mentioned, MY predicted pattern of a slippery slope that a crowdfunded, idealistic gaming studio will take, is:
Small company with ideals > raise funds through crowdfunding > rich enough to alienate target audience > chase away target audience > need to raise funds through other means > listed for public trading > taken over by huge corporation > end of all initial ideals

Right now, my opinion is that GGG is at the "rich enough to chase away target audience" stage.

As we all know, Blizzard is already at the final stage.

Ok... that's clearly a duck. 'The sky is falling' comes from Chicken Little.

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Shagsbeard wrote:

Ok... that's clearly a duck. 'The sky is falling' comes from Chicken Little.

I know but I like ducks better lol

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Shagsbeard wrote:

What people are missing is that PoE is two games... one that the players are playing and one that the developers are playing. They enjoy their game. They play us. In order to make their game a bit more fun, they have to radically change our game from time to time and see how we react to it.

I guess there is a 3rd player is this game then, the people like us, the... observers?? LOL

I'll be honest though, I'm posting this purely to see if there are other rational, or economic, explanations on how idealists in the real world don't ultimately conform to realism. So feel free to prove me wrong :)

The very idea of a crowdfunded game with ideals fascinates me as it goes completely against modern economics (that everyone is rational and behaves only to their best interests)

I think the money this game makes rides off peoples hatred for pay to win and big name publisher games. It is kind of like here in America people sell anti-obama stickers and toys and shit. Do they care about his politics? Maybe, doesn't matter. People hate him and there is profit to be made from that hate. I think POE is the "fuck Obama" bumper sticker of video games. That's how they get away with charging so much for mtx. Your not just buying a skin. You are buying a statement. "We are elite, we are above pay to win and blizzard"