Again. Thank you for demonstrating my point. As flawed and disappointing as it was, Hello Games delivered the game they said they would. They didn’t overpromise. They under delivered because they were an indie studio of 16 people trying to make what was actually a AAA game. I followed the marketing of NMS from the day it was announced to the day it was launched. The devs made it clear at every step along the way that the game was going to be a SINGLE PLAYER game and a survival/exploration game. But instead of gamers doing their homework they let their imaginations run away with them. Then twisted one vague and out-of-context quote from development lead to mean what they wanted it to. Had the guy been a professional marketing guy like DeeJ, he’d have simply, politely ducked the question (this is why DeeJ does this and is so good at it. It snuffs out bad community expectations before they get out of control). But he was a Dev. He was trying not to be rude to an unskilled interviewer...and he gave a vague answer that the community took and ran wild with. Make no mistake. NMS was a diaspointing game. Even to this day I don’t like it because the survival aspects interfere with the games core identity: exploring the beautiful universe the devs created. But how gamers responded to that disappointment is an example of everything wrong with gaming and gamers as a culture right now. If we’re going to demand that devs be accountable for their actions, we have to be for ours. Yet gamers are always looking for someone to blame when they’re unhappy.

[quote] I followed the marketing of NMS from the day it was announced to the day it was launched.[/quote] Evidently not very closely. [quote]The devs made it clear at every step along the way that the game was going to be a SINGLE PLAYER game and a survival/exploration game. But instead of gamers doing their homework they let their imaginations run away with them. Then twisted one vague and out-of-context quote from development lead to mean what they wanted it to. [/quote] You are not living in reality. Sean Murray lied on multiple occasions and was very explicit. Your claim that it was "one vague and out-of-context quote" is dishonest. [quote]But how gamers responded to that disappointment is an example of everything wrong with gaming and gamers as a culture right now. If we’re going to demand that devs be accountable for their actions, we have to be for ours.[/quote] The overwhelming majority of gamers are not sending death threats to developers over delayed releases, lies, or anything else. No one is suggesting that the people responsible for this sort of garbage shouldn't be held accountable. [quote] Yet gamers are always looking for someone to blame when they’re unhappy.[/quote] You will blame the consumer every single time, regardless of the circumstances. You're doing it right now.

I followed it VERY CLOSELY. So I know exactly which interview people use to try to accuse him of lying. I know what question he was asked. I know exactly what he said. So I know exactly what sort of “Reality Is Whatever We Say it Is” Game gamers we’re playing, and why the investigation into potential false advertising in the U.K. was quickly dropped. Because when you look at the ENTIRETY of the evidence, and the HOURS of interviews that man gave explaining AND SHOWING what kind of game NMS was going to be...it quickly becomes apparent that he didn’t lie. There was no crime and there was no case against them. Just angry, poorly informed consumers looking for someone to blame. If you paid attention beyond that one sour of context quote from that one interview you knew you were getting a single player survival game. This is EXACTLY what I’m talking about. This desire to twist what a developer says to mean whatever serves the gamer is PRECISELY why devs don’t want to talk to us and why we don’t get transparency. Because we show—time and again—-that we can’t handle it responsibly. You don’t have to send death threats to be part of the problem. Just never be willing to accept that you made a bad purchase decision on incomplete information, but instead look for someone else to blame for it. Just always be looking to blame the devs for whatever negative emotion you happen to be feeling, and for whatever action you took (I am responsible for nothing. Not even my own actions). I knew exactly what to expect from NMS. Hello Games delivered the game they said they would. That game was disappointing and wasn’t very fun. That’s life. If you’re unhappy either learn from the bad purchase, or get a refund and move on. If I tried to slander the devs of every game that I spent money on and didn’t enjoy playing? [i]I wouldn’t have time to do ANYTHING ELSE.[/i] I learn from MY mistake, and I let that inform future purchases. I’ve been burned so many times by Ubisoft that you’ll never see me get excited about one of their game. I’ll only buy them after do a ton of homework into what I’m getting.... ....and that still only brings them down to the level of ordinary dissatisfaction that you sometimes get with things you buy. But if I’m spending my money that is my responsibility to myself. It is RANK HYPOCRISY to argue that developers are responsible for their actions. While gamers are just helpless puppets who are never responsible for anything. Not even their own actions. If you accept that gamers can act irresponsibly in big ways (like sending death threats) then you can’t drive past the fact that they also do in smaller ways. Ways that help make the relationship between gamers and devs toxic.