Dear developers,

We’ve had some good times, haven’t we? Of course, they haven’t all been good, but what relationship is perfect? I mean, my girlfriend has said we can’t have sex until my gear matches hers, which I assume means “start raiding higher-level instances, you noob” and not “you need surgery”, but that’s beside the point.

You’ve got to understand something about me…when I say “I pay your salary, I deserve attention!”, it’s the frustration talking. I really, really want to enjoy your game, but something stupid has pissed me off yet again, and it’s getting in the way of having fun while playing it.

And that’s all I want; to have fun.

I may ask about features that seem like they would be easy to implement (even though sometimes these features would take two angels, six demons, a division by zero and a human sacrifice to add to a live game), but when I do that, what I’m really saying is “This would make it more fun for me!”, even though “You suck if you can’t even put this in!” may be what comes out of my keyboard.

Also, when I complain about class nerfs, unbalanced gameplay or PvP gear giving benefits that PvE gear doesn’t, you have to remember something. You’re dealing with thousands of players, all of which pay your bills, but when you get down to it I’m a self-centered bastard. A nerf to mages that makes the game more fun for hunters and druids doesn’t do anything but piss me off every time I log my mage in. What’s that? The hunters and druids weren’t having fun before?

Screw them. I pay your salary.

Sorry. I did it again. It’s just a natural reaction. Deep down, I know that you can’t try to please one group of players…you have to do what’s best in your opinion to make the game more fun for as many people as possible.

I really do understand that, but it still pisses me off.

I know that the “M’s” in “MMORPG” stand for “Massively Multiplayer,” but it’s still a personal experience for me. Who cares how many thousands of other people are logged into my server? I may talk to them, play with them, even join their guild…but they’re just part of the game to me…just like in “real life”. I realize that every human in real life has their own likes, dislikes, dreams, fears and desires, but unless those are important to me, they take a backseat to the world inside my head.

Just like in an MMORPG.

All I want from my fun is for it to be…well, fun, and changes to the game I’m playing take that away. Seeing my in-game efforts trivialized by a patch has the same effect as watching someone burn the comic book collection I’ve been building since fourth grade. Yes, I had the fun of reading them all. Yes, I got to enjoy the “journey” of gathering and saving them all.

But they were mine, dammit!

I realize that changes have to be made, but be gentle, for crying out loud.

Just remember…in a lot of ways, I’m playing a single-player game…there just happen to be a bunch of other people in-game at the time. Movies, music, television, games…with all of those, all I care about is my fun.

Of course, amazingly enough, I enjoy a good movie more when there’s a theater full of people enjoying it with me. I don’t want things to never change; I just want things to be designed, developed and maintained for only one reason…so I can have fun with it.

Screw the rest of the players…unless helping them makes things more fun for me.

Does this attitude make me right? Not really…at least, no more than a developer that has the attitude of “This is my game, so shut up and take what I give you!” is necessarily right.

But we’re all in this together.

Just remember to look past what I say and see what I mean; it doesn’t matter how badly spelled it is, how incorrect the grammar is, or how stupid my idea may seem. It all means the same thing:

I want to have more fun than I’m having with your game.

Signed,

Your players

Rate this:

2.5

If you liked this, then you should seek medical attention - right after you subscribe to my RSS feed!!

Tags: complaints, games, gaming, mmo, mmorpg, playerbase