In which JohnT goes grognard about grognards...

[JohnT]

A month or two ago I bought Railroad Tycoon 3* and became involved in the forums over at Gathering.com. It's been a while since I've been interested enough in a computer game to actually spend time at their forums learning (and giving) tips - the last one was Civ2 and it brought me to this place (1999).

But the thing that really interests me are the people who don't like the game with a conviction and earnestness usually not seen outside church. Regardless of the real and imagined flaws that might exist in RRT3, I have to wonder: what sort of people is it that hang around message boards doing nothing but complain?

There's this one guy who did a VERY thorough analysis of why (in his opinion) RRT3 doesn't match up to another game - 5,500 words in total in just two posts. There are a number of people who think that it is in everybody's best interest to talk about how the game is "broken" in nearly every thread, regardless of topic

"Can somebody tell me how to do X?"

"If the game was properly coded and designed, X should be truly intuitive!"

For months! The same people do this for freakin' months! And then they get mad because the "patch" doesn't re-engineer the game to their specifications - and some of what they're asking, it's akin to *****ing to Blizzard because Starcraft is Real Time and you want it to be Turn Based and the patch didn't give you the option of making it RT or TB!

Yeah, one might feel like they wasted $50 - but then, that's why they release demos. And guess what? By the time your life is over a misguided $50 game purchase will likely be WAY ON DOWN your list of "Top-Dollar Items On Which I Wasted Big Bucks."

So what is it with people who have nothing better to do than to shiite over other people's enjoyment?

*There's a thread about RRT3 in Other Games if you care to talk about it there. I also created a pretty cool scenario for those of you with the game - if you're interested, please let me know and I can email it to you or link to one of the hosting sites.

[Inverse Icarus]

it's nothing like your starcraft example. it would be more like making the build shortcuts "B, F" for each race's farm, regardless of it's name.

[JohnT]

Naw, my Starcraft example is spot on. Some people prefer the RRT2 economic model and are demanding that Pop-Top re-program RRT3 as so to give them the option of playing with either economic models - a massive programming undertaking, one not to be done in a mere patch.

[JohnT]

Regardless, the strengths and/or weaknesses of RRT3 is not the purpose of this thread. I'm just... whining about... whiners.

[Inverse Icarus]

ah, when i read intuitive, i instinctly thought UI. just finished a class on it.

my mistake

[Fake Boris]

Indeed, people can get almost as zealot as I am when they talk about games.

Now seriously, I have seen similar things at other places. We just have to live with it.

[Asher]

RRT3 sucks ass.

But because it sucks so much, the forums must be even worse, so I avoid them at all costs.

The engine for RRT3 just blows, it angers me. Ditto for Deus Ex II.

[VetLegion]

Whiners make the world go forward.

They save time for the rest of us too
Every time I see a patch for a game I silently thank the relentless whiners who spend their time on the forums, getting annoyed over a game - for free. It is true love by them

JohnT I don't know if you followed the development of Civ 3 or even SMAC, this community also has it's whiners, some of which have already posted in this thread , some of which have already became legends but don't post anymore.

In all, don't be so harsh on whiners, they are a constant of all forums and a benchmark to measure our own "moderateness" against. You know, the bad cop and the good cop routine?

"You ****ing Firaxian bastard I will chop off your liver and eat it while I decapitate you and **** down your neck if you dont put a SCHOOL HOSPITAL M1ABRAMS TANK IN CIV 3 N*O*W, no make that YESTERDAY!!!!11!!! This game is a ripoff I hope it sinks at sales and YOUR CHILDREN STARVE you *******s!!!11!!!"

And then you have:

"Dear Firaxian employee see what nutcakes we have here? Don't pay attention to him. But you do agree the game is broken? Now if you could please fix this and this, it would be great! Great game btw!. Thanks"

[Nubclear]

What annoys me are the....sorta whiners. Those who acknowledge the flaws of the game and are angry they aren't being changed, but have little warnings inserted throughout their posts:

Hi. Just before I begin, I want everyone to know I bought the game and ill buy the next one!
That said:

-A sucks
-B sucks
-C1 and C3 suck as well.

They really need to fix this because of 1, 2, 3, and 4. I'll buy the game regardless, but they REALLY need to fix them.
Blah blah for 200 more words.

Anyway, I love GameCorp and I'll buy their products! I just hope they fix this because its REALLY gamebreaking!

In fact....Ive seen a ton of it in the Civ3 fora

[Az]

@Tass.

So, do you say they've changed the economy? that's a shame.

[Stuie]

Re: In which JohnT goes grognard about grognards...

Originally posted by JohnT
So what is it with people who have nothing better to do than to shiite over other people's enjoyment?

Well, you're definitely asking the correct audience.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Asher
Ditto for Deus Ex II.

I've been trying to play the demo for Deus Ex, but everytime I install it I get a message saying that "Flesh failed to initialize."

I tried contacting the Eidos support page but they've concocted this neat sort of loop in which the support page gives you the option to select a game, then once you've selected a game you're taken to the home page for the game, which has a button for the support page, which takes you to the page where you select a game, which takes you back to that game's home page.....

[Imran Siddiqui]

Eidos sucks... they are such a horrible publisher.

[Cookie Monster]

Well thanks fellow Apolytoners. I won't be getting this game.

[Az]

I tried contacting the Eidos support page but they've concocted this neat sort of loop in which the support page gives you the option to select a game, then once you've selected a game you're taken to the home page for the game, which has a button for the support page, which takes you to the page where you select a game, which takes you back to that game's home page.....

the bastards! I get this in a lot of sites, btw.