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(I don't know if this forum allows naughty words, so...)
I, too, will never pay for a multiplayer patch. It makes Firaxis seem like a used-car dealer, or (even worse) Microsoft. I BOUGHT Windows 3.1, it SUCKED. I BOUGHT Windows 95, it SUCKED (a little less). I payed Microsoft for what they advertised, and got ripped off. So I pirated Win98, then Win98 SE, and I'm realtively happy with it. I am a very moral person, but not stupid; even though I had to break the law and look like the evil one, I have finally made Microsoft fulfill their obligation to me.
There are 2 kinds of companies: Those that care about their clients, and those that care only about their profit. The first kind is exemplified by Valve. They released Halflife. Then, even though some (crazy) people would have sold their left nut for it, they realeased Team Fortress 1.5 FOR FREE. Then, the BOUGHT the rights to Counterstrike, and INCLUDED IT FOR FREE WITH HALFLIFE. This is like buying a game (which of course came with standard multiplayer along with its awesome SP game) and then getting 2 more complete games for free, with full support!
How does Valve profit? Well, they also released Halflife: Team Fortress Edition and Halflife: Counterstrike Edition. All were extremely successful. And the fanbase is very loyal and loves Valve. It just shows that when the client is satisfied, the money will follow.
Now let's look at the OTHER kind of company - the bad kind. Well, it's hard to find examples (other than Microsoft, which is unique) because they go out of business too fast. But one springs to mind: Apple. They used to be dominant, because what they made was the best for the situation. But then, time went on. Certain things became standard, like 17" monitors. So Apple said, "Our computers come with 12" monitors, which is a design decision. You can still buy a 17" monitor instead, but it will be a $1000 upgrade." (Yes, mac monitors actually were about 3X as much as PC monitors.) Then PCs came out with 64 megs of memory standard. And Apple said "Sure, you can have 64 megs of ram, but it's not standard. Instead, you can pay us 3 times as much as PC memory for it." Then Apple realized they were losing market ground, and allowed clone makers to come in. However, they were selling Apple systems with all the stuff that comes standard with PCs (large monitor, good speakers, big/fast harddrive) - and they were selling it for LESS than Apple sold their inferior systems! It looked like Apple compatible stuff might win back marketshare! So, Apple said: "Damn you, we're here for a huge profit margin, and we can't make our profit if we have to compete with you! If you keep bundling standard stuff for free instead of raping people for it when they 'upgrade', we might have to sell MORE units for a LOWER unit profit!" So Apple revoked their license, and kept selling computers with 100 MHz processors for more money than competing 300 MHz Pentium II systems, and making still more when people had to "upgrade" their brand-new system because it was so slow.
What is the result? Well, Counterstrike is the most widely played multiplayer game of all time, and Valve is so profitable that the can just sit around and design Team Fortress 2 for years, making it perfect, without releasing anything since 1998. And Apple has about 3% market share, down from (guessing) 90% of the home computer market. But at least they still make an assload of money of each computer they sell - and will continue to do so until they go bankrupt in early 2003.
Where does Firaxis fall? I don't know. They released a product that they knew was faulty (um, editor? hmm?); but that's OK if they patch it. They planned to have the release version multiplayer, but now won't give any official comment - maybe they'll do the right thing, and maybe not. But before I go, I'd like to share one thing with you:
************************************************** *
If you have any doubts that Firaxis decided at the LAST MINUTE not to let people have multiplayer in Civ3, go to your Civilization III root folder (or CD). Open "jackal.txt". Read the contents.
I, too, will never pay for a multiplayer patch. It makes Firaxis seem like a used-car dealer, or (even worse) Microsoft. I BOUGHT Windows 3.1, it SUCKED. I BOUGHT Windows 95, it SUCKED (a little less). I payed Microsoft for what they advertised, and got ripped off. So I pirated Win98, then Win98 SE, and I'm realtively happy with it. I am a very moral person, but not stupid; even though I had to break the law and look like the evil one, I have finally made Microsoft fulfill their obligation to me.
There are 2 kinds of companies: Those that care about their clients, and those that care only about their profit. The first kind is exemplified by Valve. They released Halflife. Then, even though some (crazy) people would have sold their left nut for it, they realeased Team Fortress 1.5 FOR FREE. Then, the BOUGHT the rights to Counterstrike, and INCLUDED IT FOR FREE WITH HALFLIFE. This is like buying a game (which of course came with standard multiplayer along with its awesome SP game) and then getting 2 more complete games for free, with full support!
How does Valve profit? Well, they also released Halflife: Team Fortress Edition and Halflife: Counterstrike Edition. All were extremely successful. And the fanbase is very loyal and loves Valve. It just shows that when the client is satisfied, the money will follow.
Now let's look at the OTHER kind of company - the bad kind. Well, it's hard to find examples (other than Microsoft, which is unique) because they go out of business too fast. But one springs to mind: Apple. They used to be dominant, because what they made was the best for the situation. But then, time went on. Certain things became standard, like 17" monitors. So Apple said, "Our computers come with 12" monitors, which is a design decision. You can still buy a 17" monitor instead, but it will be a $1000 upgrade." (Yes, mac monitors actually were about 3X as much as PC monitors.) Then PCs came out with 64 megs of memory standard. And Apple said "Sure, you can have 64 megs of ram, but it's not standard. Instead, you can pay us 3 times as much as PC memory for it." Then Apple realized they were losing market ground, and allowed clone makers to come in. However, they were selling Apple systems with all the stuff that comes standard with PCs (large monitor, good speakers, big/fast harddrive) - and they were selling it for LESS than Apple sold their inferior systems! It looked like Apple compatible stuff might win back marketshare! So, Apple said: "Damn you, we're here for a huge profit margin, and we can't make our profit if we have to compete with you! If you keep bundling standard stuff for free instead of raping people for it when they 'upgrade', we might have to sell MORE units for a LOWER unit profit!" So Apple revoked their license, and kept selling computers with 100 MHz processors for more money than competing 300 MHz Pentium II systems, and making still more when people had to "upgrade" their brand-new system because it was so slow.
What is the result? Well, Counterstrike is the most widely played multiplayer game of all time, and Valve is so profitable that the can just sit around and design Team Fortress 2 for years, making it perfect, without releasing anything since 1998. And Apple has about 3% market share, down from (guessing) 90% of the home computer market. But at least they still make an assload of money of each computer they sell - and will continue to do so until they go bankrupt in early 2003.
Where does Firaxis fall? I don't know. They released a product that they knew was faulty (um, editor? hmm?); but that's OK if they patch it. They planned to have the release version multiplayer, but now won't give any official comment - maybe they'll do the right thing, and maybe not. But before I go, I'd like to share one thing with you:
************************************************** *
If you have any doubts that Firaxis decided at the LAST MINUTE not to let people have multiplayer in Civ3, go to your Civilization III root folder (or CD). Open "jackal.txt". Read the contents.
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