Interesting interview.  I didn't learn anything of substance from it.  But enjoyed it all the same.  And there were little tidbits of clarifications.  Like Brad saying he actually had held a couple jobs.  In a posting in these forums, he'd made justification for something or another by saying he had never worked for anyone else.  That he had come right out of college and founded Stardock.  Missing the whole working for someone else experience. ;~p

Lying about Misrepresenting stuff may gain some short term advantage.  But I think in the long term your much worse off for it.  You lose credibility and become that guy who will say anything to cover his ass or to get his way.  Brad makes a joke? in this podcast that he has to "..tell horrible terrible lies to get the top tier talent here".  He says this in a couple different ways.  And I've read him say it in interview and in SD blog.  So either it's true, half true, or is just a false excuse.  Whatever the case, this raises a white lie red flag.  Enough of these little red flags get raised and I begin to doubt a persons word.  

One red flag thats had a big impact on me, is all the hype Brad put into his decision to expand SD's game unit.  It was marketed as the ultimate in post sale support.  All these resources were being devoted to fix War of Magic.  Then later Brad says there are only 3 people working on E:WOM, the rest are focused on E:FE.  I'm sure that some of the E:FE team bounce around and help out with E:WOM.  But that is still very different than surpassing industry standard in regards to post sale support.  He's done what everyone else does... reduce staff on game X to focus on game Y.  He had told us that he was increasing E:WOMs staff, but in actuality he has reduced it.  

There are a number of other red flags which have been raised.  I won't belabor this.  I just don't put much trust in what Brad says anymore.  I still respect the guy, but I've gotten the feeling that his famous openness isn't what it's cracked up to be.  It's beginning to feel like standard marketing cheese.  Either outright falsehoods and misrepresentations, or weak conviction.  Likely a combo, but with some earnest intent.  

I agree with what Xia is saying... I mean really... you wouldn't see Blizzard Entertainment or EA giving away free games and ALSO advocating to FIX a game they screwed up.

Quoting just because it should be repeated.  Most reasonable post of the day.

Lord Xia is once again the voice of reason.

I have no problem with the decision to put most of the resources into E:FE.

It will be a far superior game and it will be free.

I can't fathom how anyone would think this is a bad deal.

Nugent needs to move back.

Not alot has changed in my opinion about SD's customer support.  I've seen people ask for and then say they got partial refunds as per the GBR.  Though in this instance it is more precisely product support that I am interested in.  But in that to I have seen the near weekly patches.  Big time kudos to them for all that.  But I'd have liked to see E:WOM finished.  It's been being finished for 3/4's of a year.  Dragging out its finish in order to reallocate resources to another title seems to me to be the opposite of what Brad was talking about just a couple months ago.  

Now I know, he says that SD games are never finished because SD famously keeps on updating the game into the foreseeable future.   But you know what I mean.  Like in fun playable state kind of finished.  The fun may be subjective, but the OOM's and graphic glitches are not.  Though as Brad says, it may be that it's only a small fraction of people who experience these errors.  But I've grown to doubt things.  Enough little white lie red flags have been raised that I have begun accurately anticipating some.  Excuses and justifications, ass covering and positive spin.  To the point where I was able to predict the general tone and content of this latest interview.  Once I get to that point of having predictions proved, then I begin placing more value in those collective flags. 

Those two examples I used in my first post are as I say, just a couple of many.  By themselves they don't mean much.  But they add to the rest and the whole has taken my notice.  I used those examples because they were used in the interview.  

 Anyhow, I won't be taking part in E:FE unless I have opportunity to review, and then accept gamestops term of service and privacy policy Before they take over our customer accounts... with enough time that I may cancel my account in writing as per Stardocks terms of service. I do not want gamestop to have opportunity to monetize my customer account information.  Thats my own decision and the consequences are mine to accept.  But from the day I purchased E:WOM, I have been interested in it's completion not its sequel.  I can see how the changing of priority from E:WOM to E:FE is acceptable to many or most.  And I can see how it is good for SD to focus on a new game that they can sell, versus one that they have already sold.  But this is different from what we were told would happen.  

I withdraw from my part in this conversation as this direction I've gone has developed the potential for too much negativity.  I had wanted to share my point of view and perhaps engage in dialog that may modify my pov or solidify it.  This reasoning is not worth any trouble over.  If someone feels they need to respond to what I have said, you are welcome to PM me.  If you want to publicly discuss any aspect of this, then PM me a link to a new thread created for the purpose.  Apologies to any who has suffered from the negativity ;~p

E:FE is only being distributed digitally.  Same with its patches as well as E:WOMs.  I'd have to have gamestops Impulse to get them.   It seems we won't have opportunity to review gamestops terms of service and privacy policies before that happens.  And according to Impulses current terms we must request account closure in writing not email.  Time grows short to ensure that the account is closed before gamestop takes over.  I do not accept gamestops current privacy policy. And am aware that they are currently in litigation regarding the mishandling of customer information.  A long list of other law suits give me more reason to distrust gamestop.  

It is my choice to take a cautious stance regarding how my customer accounts are handled.  And it is my point of view that monetizing customer account information is wrong, but more so it is a security risk.  I've seen this all before.  I accepted SD's terms and privacy policies so I bought the game.  Now comes a time where I have the choice to either accept gamestops undeclared terms, or lose my Impulse account.  I won't blindly accept their terms.  And I don't accept their current terms.  So I lose the ability to download E:FE and future E:WOM patches.  

Brad still doesn't answer the people who have asked him if there will be alternative ways to get patches.  Some months ago, before the gamestop news, Brad said they were considering burning patches to CD and mailing them to customers who requested them.  He declined to answer if that is still a consideration.  And he declined to talk about any alternatives.  So I have to assume the choice is to lose the game or accept gamestops terms.  

Oh my goodness!  Listening to the interview as I type this, I just got to where Brad says there will be a 3rd game and it will be free for those who pre-ordered E:WoM, this just made my day!!!  I was wondering, I had heard about this, but I was not sure if it had changed.  I'll be honest, I have not played the game for forever (part of that is my crappy computer).  I was regretting that pre-order of the collectors edition, but I am excited I'll get two games for free.  Even if I can't play any of them on my current machine, I will be upgrading eventually.  Hopefully by then I'll have something fun to play too?

Anyway, this made me very happy to hear.  Wanted to share.    

Yes, good point.  I think that part at least was purely PR/spin.

Best regards,
Steven.

But I wonder if hardcopy patches might mess with the GOO DRM scheme?  

 

I think I fit somewhere between these extremes.  I once was exceedingly naive. I blindly trusted that all would always be well.  One just had to toe their own line and everything would fall into place.  My ignorance was not blissful.  Life experiences have taught me caution.  I am rewarded for due diligence, and I am punished when I'm careless.

 I've been burned twice by electronically distributed media: to the tune of a couple hundred dollars.  And I've suffered the consequences of having my checking account compromised:  I was working through my first year of college and barely made enough money to pay for life expenses.  A fraudulent withdrawal was made on my account  which overdrew my overdraft protection.  The bank reversed the fraudulent transaction and my account balance was restored.  But that transaction, in combination with my automatic deposits, exceeded the limit of my overdraft account.  As a result the bank disallowed my use of overdraft protection and required immediate full payment.  I couldn't pay in full.  So I accrued increasingly high - late payment fees.  It took me a looong time to pay off that loan shark like interest and fees.  Additionally two of my auto-payments were declined, so I accrued payment cancellation and late fees on my gas card and college bookstore accounts. 

It was a tough recovery.  I couldn't afford buying gas so I cycled the 12 mile one way commute to school.  Was enjoyable but cut deeply into my already time limited schedule.  I can't accurately describe how great that impact was other than to say I literally budgeted time by the minute.  I dropped a class so I could gain time for extra work, and so I could sell those books back to the college bookstore to get them off my back.  I took on a second part time job but still had to go on a severe diet. ++.  I paid a stiff penalty for a circumstance beyond my control... or so I thought.  Had I better researched my banking options, I would have selected a more reasonable institution to manage my account.  There would have been nothing to recover from.

I've had many other opportunities to learn caution; such as my time as a drug store manager and catching an employee stealing credit card carbon copies to sell to another crook.  And my time on the investigation side of Pinkerton Security and Investigations looking into other credit card crime perpetrated by store employees.  ++.  As well I have taken careful notice of three decades worth of big business behavior.  I think it is quite reasonable for me to show caution when dealing with them.  Particularly when it involves online banking information; and most especially when it involves a company with a litigation history like gamestops.

Well, they sell used games as new some times, they kind of treat their employees like shit, making them work crazy hours and shove preorders on customers.  I'm sure others have more info.  I don't hate them, I just don't trust them.  I buy from them at times.  I hangout at one where I like the geeks who work there.