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Europa Universalis 2 recently experienced some problems with its 1.02 patch. After a few mix ups, here was the official response. Now all you Firaxis fanboys out there: I dare you to argue even for a second that this response didn't help the company with its core fans. And I dare you to tell me that it took a long time to do or that Firaxis simply has nothing to gain from learning from this example.
That's right fanboys. A New Year's dare for ya.
Now it's important to note that they DID make mistakes. But what's important is how they recognized it, didn't shift blame, and all points apologized and reaffirmed their commitment to the game and the fans. In contrast, what does Firaxis do? I'll let you answer that in your own heads, but it's pretty clear. Even in the recent Christmas Chat, Jeff Morris -- Top QA guy, no less -- admits to the 'joys' of the ignore option and avoiding the 'zoo' of the General forum here. Brilliant.
That's right fanboys. A New Year's dare for ya.
Now it's important to note that they DID make mistakes. But what's important is how they recognized it, didn't shift blame, and all points apologized and reaffirmed their commitment to the game and the fans. In contrast, what does Firaxis do? I'll let you answer that in your own heads, but it's pretty clear. Even in the recent Christmas Chat, Jeff Morris -- Top QA guy, no less -- admits to the 'joys' of the ignore option and avoiding the 'zoo' of the General forum here. Brilliant.
Oh dear, oh dear...patch 1.02 revisited
Dear Community, Dear Mods, Dear Betazoidz!
Allow me to apologize for the absence of Paradox people on the boards lately and the lack of response to the patch 1.02 problem. It is a series of unfortunate events that caused this silence.
1) The staff of Paradox is quite small. About 4 or 5 people regularly post here and read these boards. Usually, on weekends etc as well as at work. Most developers do not run forums for their games, it is up to the publishers to do so. Everybody at Paradox has other jobs, this service is "on top of everything else", although - very important to us.
2) We submitted patch 1.02 to Strategy First on Friday, Dec 07. Johan ANdersson is the only person who can authorize such a file and he went on a w-e-l-l deserved four week vacation after that. He has worked on Eu1 and Eu2 and two projects in between for four years straight with almost no vacation. It was a company ORDER that he leave. I am not joking. We do not want him to burn out.
3) On Saturday morning Dec 8, the beta team reported a new bug appearing (the colonization bug) with the new patch. Johan broke his vacation for a few hours, and we submitted the new in time for Monday Dec 10 in North America.
4) Despite instructions, SFI released the wrong patch on Dec 20 after having added the copyprotection. We can not see that here since we have not yet received production copies of the US edition. As simple as that. We immediately informed Strategy First of this on Thursday, Dec 20 and were told it would be corrected and the right update would be on their new site. We still have no means to test it until we receive production copies.
5) On Friday, Dec 21, we closed the office for the holidays and everybody traveled far to their relatives and family to celebrate the holidays. Nobody is in the office this week, and the same is also true for Strategy First who is completely shut down.
I am sad to see the reaction on the forums that our players think we have run into hiding. It is only a fact of being away from computers, WANTING to be away from computers and spending a few "free days" after four solid years of EU almost every single day. I am sure I speak for the other Paradox staff usually on the boards as well.
You have my assurance as senior manager at Paradox we will get this whole mess sorted out right after the holidays when we can get hold of all the people needed. This is a result not of bad will but of the fact that we are a very small company with limited resources, and believe it or not but Strategy First is also a small publisher with limited resources. You may not see it from your end, but they are a devoted partner and very dedicated to strategy games, and we chose them over bigger publishers because of this devotion. This is not an excuse for our failure to solve this problem on time and quicker, but maybe it gives you an explanation. Let me repeat; We will fix the problem. Just give us a few more days.
Yours sincerely,
Fredrik Malmberg
Dear Community, Dear Mods, Dear Betazoidz!
Allow me to apologize for the absence of Paradox people on the boards lately and the lack of response to the patch 1.02 problem. It is a series of unfortunate events that caused this silence.
1) The staff of Paradox is quite small. About 4 or 5 people regularly post here and read these boards. Usually, on weekends etc as well as at work. Most developers do not run forums for their games, it is up to the publishers to do so. Everybody at Paradox has other jobs, this service is "on top of everything else", although - very important to us.
2) We submitted patch 1.02 to Strategy First on Friday, Dec 07. Johan ANdersson is the only person who can authorize such a file and he went on a w-e-l-l deserved four week vacation after that. He has worked on Eu1 and Eu2 and two projects in between for four years straight with almost no vacation. It was a company ORDER that he leave. I am not joking. We do not want him to burn out.
3) On Saturday morning Dec 8, the beta team reported a new bug appearing (the colonization bug) with the new patch. Johan broke his vacation for a few hours, and we submitted the new in time for Monday Dec 10 in North America.
4) Despite instructions, SFI released the wrong patch on Dec 20 after having added the copyprotection. We can not see that here since we have not yet received production copies of the US edition. As simple as that. We immediately informed Strategy First of this on Thursday, Dec 20 and were told it would be corrected and the right update would be on their new site. We still have no means to test it until we receive production copies.
5) On Friday, Dec 21, we closed the office for the holidays and everybody traveled far to their relatives and family to celebrate the holidays. Nobody is in the office this week, and the same is also true for Strategy First who is completely shut down.
I am sad to see the reaction on the forums that our players think we have run into hiding. It is only a fact of being away from computers, WANTING to be away from computers and spending a few "free days" after four solid years of EU almost every single day. I am sure I speak for the other Paradox staff usually on the boards as well.
You have my assurance as senior manager at Paradox we will get this whole mess sorted out right after the holidays when we can get hold of all the people needed. This is a result not of bad will but of the fact that we are a very small company with limited resources, and believe it or not but Strategy First is also a small publisher with limited resources. You may not see it from your end, but they are a devoted partner and very dedicated to strategy games, and we chose them over bigger publishers because of this devotion. This is not an excuse for our failure to solve this problem on time and quicker, but maybe it gives you an explanation. Let me repeat; We will fix the problem. Just give us a few more days.
Yours sincerely,
Fredrik Malmberg
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