The reason GGG doesn't really pay attention to these forums

Certainly so, Eater of Crunk, but I felt it important to isolate why PoE 'isn't like other games' in regards to how it treats its players/supporters. I think we gamers came to terms with the physical cost of our obsessions long ago.

Although your skimming towards what I read as GGG's callous lack of interest in accessibility being a form of abuse is yet another avenue that, perhaps ironically, is well-trodden despite its many stairs and obstructions. As Exile Patness put it in a delightful rant in F&B: GGG need to stop worshipping Diablo II. It's not the early 2000s anymore. Accessibility and ergonomic considerations are not some easy mode gimmick; they're an integral part of respectable, praiseworthy game design.

We ARPG veterans aren't getting any younger, and those gamers with the reflexes at their peak have entirely other genres with which to burn out their brightest years of physical sharpness. :)

Health professionals had a similar culture shift as studies began showing without any doubt that the baked-in "hardcore" 24-hour and 36-hour shifts of paramedics, surgical residents, etc. led directly and linearly to more patient errors and worse outcomes.

Some old-guard docs tried to justify the practice by saying there was no better way to train health providers than to see the development and resolution of an acute illness in real-time. This is simply not true, and may never have been true. The single biggest factor determining shift length in Western medicine has been cost per trainee.

And even after controlling for the cost of providing basic salaries and malpractice insurance for more trainees, it's still cheaper in the long run to have double the number of trainees working half the total shift time, because they're well-rested, fed, motivated, and less likely to make fatigue-induced errors.

And yet there's still bitter, crusty old remnants of yore bemoaning how the bureaucrats spoiled nursing education and whatever happened to being able to yell at or dress down your inferiors, or throw a bedpan once in a while to drive home a point?

Ofc that's drifting far afield of "it's a game, its shtick is being hard and unforgiving and making you feel bad, if you don't like it leave" but every time the issue of RSI in games comes up, this is still a strong analogy.

So 70% of people playing 4 builds.

What's ur point again?

Derp

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Networm13 wrote:

Nice Read. Assuming you two are correct, can you explain why GGG kept trying to shoo the casuals away from the game? The same 'nickel and diming' army that you said gave them so much money. Or is it that GGG thought they already have a stable & big enough hardcore fanbase?

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Aynix wrote:

Its their game. They can do whatever they want. Dont like it? Dont play it.

GGG doesn't really have any competition right now.

Players: This crack is shitty and contaminated (with AN mods).
GGG: So you don't want it then?
Players: I didn't say that!

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Foreverhappychan wrote:

"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play" ('Wargames') is a very wise observation; but "you have to play in order to learn this" is the unavoidable, often overlooked trap. In Wargames, it was a wisdom gleaned from simulated global thermonuclear war, thank goodness.

But is PoE a simulation of what it does...or is it the real thing?

edit: man, I couldn't have HOPED for a better response after mine. Amazing.

lol. Made me chuckle. Thanks for the essay. It was quality writing here.

Also, the lack of direct competition for POE made people come to games such as Lost Ark, Elden Ring and hope GGG will care.

If they actually care they wouldnt keep releasing such leagues and patches and expecting the normal playerbase to do the testing for them for free.. without any sort of compensation at least, every league is the same song..

It's time to face it TGGG isnt a small indie company anymore and the "apologizes" arent really apologizes.. ego has grown to the point where when something goes wrong it seems it goes "unnoticed" by the dev's and move on.. nowdays most games companies don't really apologize when they release shit and they expect their players to consume it.

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Networm13 wrote:

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Foreverhappychan wrote:

"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play" ('Wargames') is a very wise observation; but "you have to play in order to learn this" is the unavoidable, often overlooked trap. In Wargames, it was a wisdom gleaned from simulated global thermonuclear war, thank goodness.

But is PoE a simulation of what it does...or is it the real thing?

edit: man, I couldn't have HOPED for a better response after mine. Amazing.

lol. Made me chuckle. Thanks for the essay. It was quality writing here.

Also, the lack of direct competition for POE made people come to games such as Lost Ark, Elden Ring and hope GGG will care.

Apologies for the long form. It's sort of my MO. Why say in ten words what you can drag out for a thousand? Maybe I'll try a haiku next time.

Lost Ark, Elden Ring, Horizon Dawn, etc etc...great games at what they do, but they don't do what PoE does. GGG rightfully treat such losses as temporary, I'm sure.

It's when they start losing players to BAD games that they need to worry.

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Foreverhappychan wrote:

"A strange game. The only winning move is not to play" ('Wargames') is a very wise observation; but "you have to play in order to learn this" is the unavoidable, often overlooked trap. In Wargames, it was a wisdom gleaned from simulated global thermonuclear war, thank goodness.

You know the scenario where someone with drug dependency promises they will never do drugs again but a short time later they are back to drugs? That person is unable to escape from a place or situation because they are willing victims. That what the mental image I was portraying when you were telling people to not give GGG their money but continue playing anyway. The drug is free but that doesn't mean there isn't any detrimental effects.

Are they are struggling because of the difficulty and effort to quit or are they struggling because they don't want to?

Yes.

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Foreverhappychan wrote:

Yes.

Please try to say yes in Haiku. xD

Anyway, are you still playing? Or just hanging around, hoping that one day PoE2 will save us all?