For those of you that have lost faith in DayZ...

[Mor (DayZ) 57]

Jesus fucking Christ. DayZ is an alpha. It's been an alpha. Nowadays, it's less of a status and more of an everything-proof shield. If anyone points out a flaw, the automatic response is "ALPHER!"

You'd never see this tactic with anything except PC games.

You can find such tactic vocal people, in most communities. In our case is the "hardcore" niche of PC games. You have to understand that since gaming became mainstream, many people feel that "casual players" are the focus of development, diluting their PC gaming experience.

Which is why various early access funding projects such as this or kickstar, became so popular. With people who felt that they are left out, falling over each other, screaming shut up and take our money, each time someone throws a hint of classic at them, gives them the chance to stick it to the man big publishers, and allows them to feel like they are a meaningful part of the process. (as oppose to community/publicity building tool, free testers and investors who probably aint going to be around when the final product arrives, or enjoy it after wasting their first impressions on bugs and experiencing everything already..)

Anyway, the reason you haven't seen this tactic with anything except PC games. Is because early access to developer builds are uncommon in any AAA, where at best you get feature locked, already somewhat polished closed beta. so maybe the problem isn't with the community, maybe the process is just not something for you.

My general rule is not to buy any game, until after couple of month after release. It works well for my nerves and pocket.

Edited October 10, 2014 by Mor

[Accolyte 1727]

But DayZ is nothing like a typical build.

 

And how much (internal) game development experience do you have to come up with that statement? I assure you that most (if not all) games are similarly broken at this stage. For example I was casually skipping through a H1Z1 livestream and could see bugs at pretty much every point I skipped to. These included NPC passing through obstacles, terrible hitreg among others. This is not me trashing the other game mind you, just a comparison.

 

 

To just add more crap ontop of current Alpha launch is a bad idea.

 

No, no it's not. What did you not understand about..

 

 

I always had the development process explained to me this way...

Alpha - Add shit to the game in mass, even if it is barely functional.

Beta - Fix the shit you threw into the game so it actually works well.

1.0/Full Game/Release - Congratulations, the game should now be in full working order. More features can be added if tested to work at max functionality.

 

 

Seriously. Does it make sense to you to add a feature, spend weeks testing/fixing it then move on to add another feature which has the potential of breaking the previously added feature again? It sure doesn't make sense to me.

[Death By Crowbar 1213]

accolyte don't let the confused and uninformed minority get you down! I'm glad you guys are around to redirect and bring order to the madness. Early access alpha is such a newer concept it's difficult for a lot of people to grasp, but with 2.5 million+ people having bought the game that's a lot of re-explaining that has to happen over and over again. Keep up the good fight.

[IReadTheAgreement 313]

What incentive is there for the game to be developed into a finished project? The "Early Access Alpha" already hit peak sales. Are we expecting a "DayZ completed product" to exceed prior release sales? Did ArmA 3 sell more copies on release or during development?

 

I suppose those Xbox One and PS4 sales would be enough to entice them.  Why do so many people assume that the devs are going to take the money and run?  I'm honestly curious.  I've seen no sign of that being the case and would figure if that was their plan they would have done it already.  Instead they hired more people.

[StarLord (DayZ) 39]

Oh, you can't criticize dayZ unless you have developed video games? Lets apply that logic elsewhere:

 

You can't criticize a politician unless you have a paid position in the Government.

 

You can't criticize a TV show because you never produced one of your own.

 

You can't dislike ISIS because you were never a terrorist/insurgent/partisan or self proclaimed "freedom fighter".

 

I'm sorry... are you serious right now? Are you genuinely trolling me on other topics right now...?

 

You have no right to criticize DayZ if all you're doing is bitching moaning complaining and groaning

about things you literally don't understand, have a desire to add to, or improve upon. SERIOUSLY

buddy, stop. It's annoying. You were wrong on the last post, and your ability to manipulate a comment

to try and put someone down is horrible. If you don't want to intelligently contribute, then fuck off.

[Khanarac 252]

I just got into the community last week. I see that shit and I think to myself.... "but you play the game."

Why would you want to change something you log into and CURRENTLY play. My response is always the following

 

"Oh, I'm sorry... Is DayZ not as good at YOUR video game?"

Well I dunno, but you know, people complain because they CARE. Most of them atleast, I do atleast. I love the game and want bad things to change. And that's what joining early Access is about. It gives me the hope to affect the development somehow. I, too, may be bitching, but it is because I care. Also dayz has many faces with all the submods it had, people want that its similar to their submod, so as a dev, you can just not statisfy such a diverse community.

Edited October 10, 2014 by Khanarac

[jukaga 271]

I spent around an hour at the NWAF in a 35/40 1st person server last night and didn't see or hear a soul. I lost a little faith in the community. WTF was everyone? ;)

[StarLord (DayZ) 39]

Well I dunno, but you know, people complain because they CARE. Most of them atleast, I do atleast. I love the game and want bad things to change. And that's what joining early Access is about. It gives me the hope to affect the development somehow. I, too, may be bitching, but it is because I care. Also dayz has many faces with all the submods it had, people want that its similar to their submod, so as a dev, you can just not statisfy such a diverse community.

 

And I'll agree with you, but still... come on... the whining masses who storm off saying " F* this S%#@ is broken I'm done playing why can't they fix their S#$@."

 

Clear, precise, and well thought out statements are totally understandable. Someone who dramatizes their issues.... Well I just can't take them seriously, and never will.

Please don't gripe about zombies running through walls if you already know it can happen. Please don't angrily scream at Bohemia to fix it immediately when they couldn't even

code an app for an iPhone.

[Khanarac 252]

Their inability is irrelevant. They are customers who paid. And any company has to take shit from their customers if their product acts unexpected to the customer. So any shit they take is legit. I too didn't think the game wouldnt be as broken as it really is. At first it looked like it's the mod with some graphic updates, fewer weapons and almost no zombies but a host of new issues suddenly spawned. Also you can't expect everyone to be disciplined in their critizism, esp when it's so easy to die to some bug and instantly hop on the forum to vent their anger.

[StarLord (DayZ) 39]

Their inability is irrelevant. They are customers who paid. And any company has to take shit from their customers if their product acts unexpected to the customer. So any shit they take is legit. I too didn't think the game wouldnt be as broken as it really is. At first it looked like it's the mod with some graphic updates, fewer weapons and almost no zombies but a host of new issues suddenly spawned. Also you can't expect everyone to be disciplined in their critizism, esp when it's so easy to die to some bug and instantly hop on the forum to vent their anger.

 

I know, and I've done that here >> http://forums.dayzgame.com/index.php?/topic/212457-come-on-man/?hl=starlord#entry2130699 << as a matter of fact you replied to

one of my comments on that thread.

 

I stated I'm disappointed, vented my feelings, and then kept on playing. I didn't threaten to quit playing the game or call them out in a degrading manner.

[Khanarac 252]

You can't expect everyone to react like you

[The Aquatic Land Walrus 565]

They dont need to use its in alpha as a shield for the simple fact IT IS IN FCKING ALPHA.And if you bought the damn game after the devs flat out said said not to buy it because it is in alpha its your own god damn fault and the simple fact the game was never released.Instead of bitching give some constructive feedback which is the whole damn reason why we are consisdered testers consider it a pre order with the added bonus of playing it as is.This kind of fcking outcry is the EXACT reason why most game companies never let the general public play their alpha builds or they have a NDA in place because people are plain stupid in the head on what a alpha entails.Its isnt a beta everything in the game as of right now it literally a placeholder all the way down to the ui animations etc etc because they are still being developed.

Want some constructive feedback with that fangasm? Sure.

Zombie AI could use a touchup

Guns feel a bit clunky

Movement is painful to watch in 1st person

 

My point is, it's released as GAME. Whether or not it's an alpha doesn't matter, as it is still a GAME. It is a motherfucking game, despite its stage. And, if the game is lacking, it's a lacking game. Alpha or not.

It's like fanboyism is a shield to logic. I miss the DayZ mod  community...

[The Aquatic Land Walrus 565]

btw I like DayZ, but it has problems. Can you not accept that it is anything from GOTY 2014 without trying to fucking crucify me?

[Sleeves 98]

Want some constructive feedback with that fangasm? Sure.

Zombie AI could use a touchup

Guns feel a bit clunky

Movement is painful to watch in 1st person

My point is, it's released as GAME. Whether or not it's an alpha doesn't matter, as it is still a GAME. It is a motherfucking game, despite its stage. And, if the game is lacking, it's a lacking game. Alpha or not.

It's like fanboyism is a shield to logic. I miss the DayZ mod community...

It is a GAYME that is a work in progress, hence the alpha stage.

[AshleyP 121]

Think of it this way....

 

Almost a DECADE ago, a team of idiots and scammers decided to create some hype about a flight sim they called "Fighter Ops"

 

Does anyone remember Storm of War, which later became Il-2: Cliffs of Dover? I remember parallels between Bohemia and 1C: Maddox. The original IL-2 was clever and had the framework of a great game hiding underneath a mass of broken functionality and bugs, but over time they patched it into something reasonable, and there were lots of great mods. Falcon 4.0 and Grand Prix Legends followed a similar pathway. In both cases open sourcing development kept the games alive long after they would have died, albeit that it didn't really help the original developers. This is one of the reasons why the gaming industry has embraced casual games, and the kind of incremental Call of Duty model whereby the game is basically re-released each year with some new guns and maps. The cost and risk of an ambitious new title are too high.

 

Cliffs of Dover was essentially released as an Alpha, just like DayZ, but crucially it was sold as a finished, full-price product. They're both niche products that were surprisingly successful, they both had development issues; in both cases the team worked hard and really believed in the product. My impression is that Cliffs of Dover had a smaller budget and a smaller market, and ultimately the parent company pulled the plug. The developers split up (Oleg Maddox, the CEO, was "unpersoned") and now it's in the hands of the modders.

 

Hopefully DayZ will turn out better. It's great that they acknowledge that it's alpha. Things could have been so much worse. As I've said before, my worry is that offering it as an early-access alpha at a budget price they'll bring in the hardcore punters, but if that initial burst of cash isn't enough to finish development they're going to hit a brick wall. At which point the temptation will be to patch it into something that doesn't crash, release it as DayZ V1, and then charge again for DayZ2, which will be the actual finished DayZ 1.

 

I mean, that was basically what happened with Armed Assault and Arma2. The latter was the former, finally finished. Although to be fair there was a lot going on behind the scenes.

[boneboys 7988]

This is ridiculous, some of you are arguing amongst yourselves, some are quoting month old posts and even twice at that,,,, pfft !