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Jazuela · 10-04-2002, 07:27 AM

I used to think free games couldn't possibly offer what p2p offers. Here were my reasons:
p2p means professional quality, professional code, professional service, as opposed to a bunch of college kids coding for kicks and not really understanding the business end of a business at all.

p2p means less risk of twinkage, because twinks won't pay to be twinks when they can be twinks for free somewhere else.

p2p means *much* more dedication in the player base, because they are investing in their game time.

I used to think that. I don't anymore.

GSIII has an extremely complex base code. Unfortunately it has been broken from day 1 and rather than rewrite, the staff has patched and bandaided over. So much for professional quality and professional code.

GSIII has *some* staff members who treat their paying customers like crap, and *some* staff members who favor certain players over others. Communication between staff members is sketchy at best, and so when one tells a player "no," another could tell the player "yes" the next day. So much for professional staff.

GSIII is a RP-encouraged game. RP is not required. And so it's rife with players who absolutely refuse to roleplay, who get nasty with people who want to roleplay, who disrupt the roleplay of others, intentionally. So much for the twinkage factor.

Inferno has an extraordinary code system. Professional quality code? You betcha.
Inferno has *some* staff members who favor certain players over others, and then insist that they're not, and though they don't trash their customers, I know of several situations in which their subtle castagations have made players uneasy about seeking the assistance of the staff. Professional staff? Heh - not really, though a far cry from Gemstone.

Inferno is RP-required. Unfortunately the staff teeter-totters on what constitutes "appropriate" roleplay with regards to taking OOC knowledge into the game. They say you shouldn't do it, yet when a half dozen people complain about someone disrupting game play with OOC mind-games, they hedge and haw, and the problem is resolved by players giving up and either quitting the game or rerolling their characters to "show up" in an area where the offending party doesn't live.

So much for professional customer service.

Armageddon is free. Its combat system is a modified auto-combat, but it's still an auto-combat. Repetitive room descriptions, which don't take much effort or creativity to duplicate. So on that end of things, it is amateur in comparison to the p2p's I've played. Now here's the big however:

This free game, Armageddon, has customer service quality above and beyond anything I've seen in the p2p's. Professional? Heck I'm guessing they're department heads in whatever jobs they have outside the game world. Extremely professional in their approach to customer service, listening to their players' concerns, implementing changes offered by the players, explaining why other changes aren't going to happen, in a way that makes the player feel good about the rejected idea.

As an RP-required/intensive game, their code supporting roleplay blows anything I've ever seen away, including Inferno's, which has the standard p2p talk, act, and list of verbs.

So comparing the p2p's I've played with the free game I'm playing now, I conclude, based only on this limited scope, that there is nothing a p2p offers that I can't find somewhere else for free, and in fact there are things in at least one free game that I can't find in a p2p.

10-04-2002, 07:27 AM	#6
Jazuela Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: New England Posts: 849	I used to think free games couldn't possibly offer what p2p offers. Here were my reasons: p2p means professional quality, professional code, professional service, as opposed to a bunch of college kids coding for kicks and not really understanding the business end of a business at all. p2p means less risk of twinkage, because twinks won't pay to be twinks when they can be twinks for free somewhere else. p2p means much more dedication in the player base, because they are investing in their game time. I used to think that. I don't anymore. GSIII has an extremely complex base code. Unfortunately it has been broken from day 1 and rather than rewrite, the staff has patched and bandaided over. So much for professional quality and professional code. GSIII has some staff members who treat their paying customers like crap, and some staff members who favor certain players over others. Communication between staff members is sketchy at best, and so when one tells a player "no," another could tell the player "yes" the next day. So much for professional staff. GSIII is a RP-encouraged game. RP is not required. And so it's rife with players who absolutely refuse to roleplay, who get nasty with people who want to roleplay, who disrupt the roleplay of others, intentionally. So much for the twinkage factor. Inferno has an extraordinary code system. Professional quality code? You betcha. Inferno has some staff members who favor certain players over others, and then insist that they're not, and though they don't trash their customers, I know of several situations in which their subtle castagations have made players uneasy about seeking the assistance of the staff. Professional staff? Heh - not really, though a far cry from Gemstone. Inferno is RP-required. Unfortunately the staff teeter-totters on what constitutes "appropriate" roleplay with regards to taking OOC knowledge into the game. They say you shouldn't do it, yet when a half dozen people complain about someone disrupting game play with OOC mind-games, they hedge and haw, and the problem is resolved by players giving up and either quitting the game or rerolling their characters to "show up" in an area where the offending party doesn't live. So much for professional customer service. Armageddon is free. Its combat system is a modified auto-combat, but it's still an auto-combat. Repetitive room descriptions, which don't take much effort or creativity to duplicate. So on that end of things, it is amateur in comparison to the p2p's I've played. Now here's the big however: This free game, Armageddon, has customer service quality above and beyond anything I've seen in the p2p's. Professional? Heck I'm guessing they're department heads in whatever jobs they have outside the game world. Extremely professional in their approach to customer service, listening to their players' concerns, implementing changes offered by the players, explaining why other changes aren't going to happen, in a way that makes the player feel good about the rejected idea. As an RP-required/intensive game, their code supporting roleplay blows anything I've ever seen away, including Inferno's, which has the standard p2p talk, act, and list of verbs. So comparing the p2p's I've played with the free game I'm playing now, I conclude, based only on this limited scope, that there is nothing a p2p offers that I can't find somewhere else for free, and in fact there are things in at least one free game that I can't find in a p2p.