The Patch syndrome - we all do it

[SpartanPete]

Lets be honest, while we nick pick at games for bugs, in history games have always had bugs, and we just accepted them or found it was just part of the game to us.

However lately, and i am guily, of ths, we seem to buy a game, and want a patch straight away!
Before we have even seen if there are bugs!

Is it the something for nothing? or the the search for perfection? I carnt put my finger on it,I think its that i want to fell i am playing a better working gmae than of the shelf??

I was desperate for the Battlefield 2 patch a few weeks ago, waiting for the fifa manager patch and now waiting for this patch! As a result i don play any of the games that much while i wait!!! its just plain daft! ! ?!?!

I would realease a patch that does nothing on release if i was the developers! Just to shut people up.

[MrFun]

Re: The Patch syndrome - we all do it

Originally posted by SpartanPete
Lets be honest, while we nick pick at games for bugs, in history games have always had bugs, and we just accepted them or found it was just part of the game to us.

Actually, I think Roman Emperor Nero's insanity and his neglect of emperor responsibilties was due to the fact that one day, he just "snapped" and lost his mind due to frustration with some PC game that was released during his lifetime.

[ahsingjai]

Yeah, I found Civ4's bugs to be very disappointing.

I am able to play the top games right now, Call of Duty 2, Quake IV, Half Life 2/Counterstrike source, age of empire 3 and etc but Civ4 constantly crashes for me. I love the game but I wish it was stable or at least give us updates on their developments on a patch.

[Lafferty]

Well to some degree i think we got this habit from rushed games. In the good 'ol past (esp. before widespread internet which made patch distribution really feasible to boot) we were used to thinking of games as being finished and to be honest i think they were all in all technically more stable. On the other side you have to see the context. I mean the technological (computer) era context. In just the past 10 years a LOT has happened and the complexity of software multiplied massively as well a the sheer number of people necessary to get it done (i dont really want to know how many man years Civ IV contains).
Back to my start - rushed games, increased complexity and maybe other factors as well resulted in - well - not properly tested software (question is how "complete" can you test a software today anyway?) created the habit to simply first see if there is a patch available.
Another issue is player complaining about a buggy game and it turns out that one (or even several) driver issues or other things cause the problem. Quickly the game is accused of being totally bugged (i had a driver issue with Civ IV and solved it i hope, my other driver issue still remains (kicks creative)) and a patch is demanded.

Honestly i can wait for a patch. I know there are surely real bugs in the game and a couple of show-stoppers as well. Thats the stuff that needs to go into the first patch. Additional features can come with a later patch (where is my Palace view/Throne room?).

My biggest issue though is with the publishers - i really hope that other business models will come up in the next few years. Allthough it had some drawbacks i made good experiences with the steam platform e.g.

Well, just my late night 0.02

[Zinegata]

Re: The Patch syndrome - we all do it

Originally posted by SpartanPete
However lately, and i am guily, of ths, we seem to buy a game, and want a patch straight away!
Before we have even seen if there are bugs!

If people have come to expect that their product needs patching right after release, then it only means that "a product needing patching right after release" has become a very common occurance.

Thus, I don't think that's the player's fault. I blame the gaming industry instead ^_^.

[nbarclay]

I don't become concerned about a patch until I start seeing things that need to be fixed. If a game would work perfectly as shipped, I might think it would be nice if the developers would come out with a patch to improve some balance issues or something, but it wouldn't be that big a deal - especially in a game that's moddable enough that the player commuity can address a lot of issues ourselves. But when I can't even play a game as shipped on a system that is supposed to meet the hardware requirements (at least without cheating and ruining the exploration phase of the game), and other people report the same kind of problem, and there are other reports of memory leaks and frequent crashes, I want the problems fixed ASAP.

[Sava]

I probably won't even install a new patch unless it adds new game content

my civ4 works perfectly

[Kataphraktoi]

Re: Re: The Patch syndrome - we all do it

Originally posted by Zinegata


If people have come to expect that their product needs patching right after release, then it only means that "a product needing patching right after release" has become a very common occurance.

Thus, I don't think that's the player's fault. I blame the gaming industry instead ^_^.

QFT

RTW anyone?how about a random game off the shelf? after trying those,and the insanity that is crunch hours damaging games,no wonder we want patches. its the exception nowadays to actually need a patch-in fact some games wont even run before patched.

IIRC wasnt there a game that needed a 40 meg patch on day 1 because all the retail vers was so bad? some massivly online, i think. and no it wasnt a pay-to-download either. no internet:no game. even if you did buy it.