It's been an interesting position that I find myself in; as far as the Diablo 3 back and forth goes, I'm comfortably sitting on the sidelines. I've got my chair, my drink, and a bit of time to kill to watch the volleys sling back and forth. It's like being a bystander at some Civil War reenactment group's event, only someone thought it would be a super-sweet idea to randomly throw live ammunition into the mix, in a fit of mad science, to "see what happens".
I'm not even referring to the whole tosspot conversation regarding the "always online" baggage, either. I'm not here to write up the great dissertation of media protection versus consumer ownership. That ship has sailed, and those of us standing on the docks waving after it have only to sigh, give each other meaningful looks, and wait for news of its sinking to funnel back to the mainland. We all know it's a problem. It's not the breakdown of fluid economics- it's simple math. Your money no longer equates to your basic use being a guaranteed factor.
My unique position is thus: thanks to a kind friend, I have a copy of Diablo 3. It's there. It's mine. It smells awesome, and I'm employing servants with fresh towels to dutifully mop up the cascade of drool I'm producing. I can not wait to sink my teeth into a hot, fresh, newly minted character. Only, I have to. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I'm currently relying on a local free wi-fi. A wi-fi, I might add, that has not-so-stellar signal strength and that routinely boots you off every 30 to 45 minutes. I can not play Diablo 3, because I can not muster up the means to meet the towering prerequisite. What I'm saying is, I'm having performance issues versus "always online". They don't make a pill for that. I just have to wait until we move for the problem to sort itself out.
Honestly, baby, this has never happened to me before.
Honestly, baby, this has never happened to me before.
But that's on me. I've made peace with the notion that I won't be enjoying my friend's gift until later this summer. What I can not fathom is the unfortunate scenario that those people who dropped full retail price are experiencing. Welcome to Bizarro World; we don't thank you for your money and you are now not able to play the game. I don't have to argue the functionality of Blizzard's choice. It's superlative to their model; it is simply the proprietary "easiest solution" to the problem of IP protection. I won't knock them over that. They're already knocking themselves.
No, what I want to go on about it the back and forth between the online denizens concerning the protracted recurring hiccups that the launch of this title has experienced. I'm going to peel back the veneer of our glossy habits regarding fandom, and I shall share with you the eldritch truth that I'll pry from the labyrinthine depths. Come closer, and bring the light; there are things out in the darkness that would strip your soul for an aperitif if they knew that you knew the horrible secret I've discovered. Closer now. Stay awhile, and listen...
Blizzard fucked up.
No- flee not. You know this in your heart. That's not the secret. The secret is: that's ok. The idea that a company you love has made a gross error or miscalculation is ok. No one is torching the temples. No one is razing their edifices to the ground and salting the earth.
That's the key piece of real estate being contested in the current war; the idea that either a company can fuck up and we can be angry about it versus the idea that we don't have the right to complain. While my own position on the matter is one of outside-looking-in, I gotta say it plainly, folks: of course we have the right to complain. Don't be foolish.
The bulk of the commentary from the pro-sacrosanct crowd is not only laughable, it's downright hypocritical, and it seems to stem from two variables: 1. They are in a position where they've managed to log in and enjoy their experience with little to no interference or 2. They are hiding behind the idea of a perfect monolith, and falling back on the concept that to complain online, about anything, follows some predetermined law of physics that stipulates that the person presenting the complaint MUST be an idiot, immature, or a n00b. Postulation about the geographical location of said complainer and their proximity to some ephemeral "parent's basement" is an integer that can be slipped in at need.
Let me address the obvious here: Blizzard made a mistake. Fact. It's not the cry of a forum poster seeking out the Blue overlords concerning a percentage change to their class' preferred talent. Blizzard did not have the system in place ready to receive the overwhelming traffic that inundated their servers once the clock hit midnight. Was it poor planning? Did they not understand that 15 years of anticipation might equate to a geek tsunami through the series of tubes? It really doesn't matter, people. I don't care about the why- the why is moot. They made a mistake, and the end result was people stepping up to meet them half way (by being always online) and finding themselves at en empty crossroad, with only a signpost denoting which server error they had encountered, and the closest destination for them to return to.
I refuse to argue this point. This point shouldn't even be a part of the larger conversation. Sadly it is, because there's this group that unleashes the salvo when their love boat is rocked. Guys, gals, please: they made a mistake. It's ok that they made a mistake. The company's not perfect. The company's run by humans, and humans err. Until we accept our new-forged titanium overlords, these things will keep happening. The idea that a complaint - especially a valid one - is null by virtue of it being against something you like is not only a mind blowing logical fallacy, it's destructive to the process. Let me break it down:
-It's hypocritical
I've cross checked here, and in my own small sampling of the populous I've found ten examples of people who are raising a dismissive hand to the complainers, and their rejoinders are all variations on the phrase "shut up, you're stupid". I point out these ten examples, because those same ten individuals can be found on the World of Warcraft forums displaying all the grace of rabid howler-monkeys in regards to tiny tweaks to their class mechanics; they're railing at small changes that might decrease damaging abilities by a fraction and screaming oaths of "BROKEN!" to the heavens.
Your class changes slightly, and you're ready to storm the fucking gate; yet people who paid cash money to simply play a game itself are somehow self-entitled idiots? Please.
-It's not universal
The ESRB makes it a point to warn us (mostly parents with impressionable larva) that our content experience is subject to malleability when we make that jump to playing online. It's truth, and in a bizarre twist of fate we find that it holds here offline. I'm finding commentary from people that are whittling away the hours on their fresh monks who are inexplicably attempting to mount the high horse versus people who are staring at an error screen. You were able to get online- that's awesome! You love the game? Sweet! Your experience is not THE experience. As of the launch, your playtime was bought and paid for with several hundred people who must huddle in the outer dark, awaiting some luck or minuscule window of opportunity to squeeze into your universe to see what all the fuss is about.
There IS a hell of a universenextdoor - now serving number 4.
-It's not your post, soldier
There's always a kneejerk reaction to criticism of things we enjoy among us geeks. It's an ingrained conditioned response to years of "mundanes" hammering at us because they don't "get it". The fascinating thing to me is how often and how brutally we lash out at each other. "Stop hating what I like!" is the traditional greeting to anyone bad mouthing our loves, valid point or no. People, please: Blizzard's a big one. Blizzard can take care of themselves. Once more, I have to point out that it seems it's only okay for them to make a mistake, insofar as it does not affect YOU. Stand down, warrior. Let Blizzard handle this.
-It's a legitimate issue whether you agree or not
This is a problem. This is Blizzard's problem. They have a game requiring a constant net connection to play it at all, yet their own servers were being knocked offline. Irony? Yes, but more importantly it's a problem from a business standpoint regardless of your association with it or good fortune to avoid it. They want you online to play the game, and they themselves can not bolster their online presence to meet you halfway. Call me crazy, but that's pretty much a textbook business issue that not only needs to be addressed, but one where I can actually agree with the customer base when they fly to Twitter to vent their frustration. Speaking of which...
-It's not your place to dictate rights
This goes out to the camp that are shooting people down under the aegis of revoking the "right" to complain, or trying to sideline it by pointing out that there are worse scenarios. First off? Shut the fuck up. Secondly? You are not the arbiter of rights - they paid, and they are unable to play. It's that simple. Thirdly? Seriously? Other problems more worthy of attention? Look, buddy - there's not a queue for this nonsense. There's no Jungian stream of consciousness regarding things that piss us off that we have to wade through on any particular path to reach the other side. We don't have to delegate which issues we choose to vent on in some preordained pecking order.
I'm fairly sure that after they vented regarding Diablo 3, those people were free to return to worrying about bills, the state of the economy and government, the global community, etc et al. Lord knows that they've got the time to do it, since they're unable to play Diablo 3. If only there was something to preoccupy their minds; some form of escapism that they received in exchange for currency that would prove a healing salve to their minds. If only you had simply been grateful for your playtime without the need to belittle the less fortunate. But sadly...
I'm fairly sure that after they vented regarding Diablo 3, those people were free to return to worrying about bills, the state of the economy and government, the global community, etc et al. Lord knows that they've got the time to do it, since they're unable to play Diablo 3. If only there was something to preoccupy their minds; some form of escapism that they received in exchange for currency that would prove a healing salve to their minds. If only you had simply been grateful for your playtime without the need to belittle the less fortunate. But sadly...
-It's not helping the PC gaming argument. At all.
PC gaming is rightly maligned, and this is coming from a man who loves PC gaming. PC gaming is losing ground versus console gaming, and it's really no wonder why. For years, gamers were held to the standards of the next big thing- a conflux of technology, sound, graphics and engines aligning that always foretold of one crucial event: the UPGRADE. And how did the community at large react to our fellow gamers who did not have the additional funds to bankroll the delicate housing for the next big thing? The blame was placed on them with sneering impunity. Rude, yes, but in that case the onus for being able to play falls on the consumer. But consoles streamlined it- buy this machine, and play games. After a good stretch of time, you can opt to buy the next machine improvement, but won't have to replace cards, drives, or chips to keep up in the interim. Now we live in an age where the PC upgrade flux is a bit more stable, yet it's still the minor trials and tribulations (driver updates, replacing bits here and there) that we take for granted with PC gaming versus the literal plug-and-play ease of console gaming. (sans the whole PS3 update issue and pre-Jasper Xbox 360 snafu, of course.)
Console gaming caught up, and in many areas surpassed what PC gaming had to offer. Seriously. Look at just a decade ago versus today, and how many titles are routinely ported to console? So, you have people who are coming back into the light after living in the long Winter of abandoning their PC gaming; their bleary eyes flutter and they hunch in supplication as they step up to try PC gaming again with a beloved franchise. Only, they find that not only can they NOT play what was paid for, but their comments are being met with the same self-righteous mien they experienced when they lamented that they would not be able to play Quake, for fuck's sake. It's not a hardware issue, nor a software issue. At least, not on their end. Yet I'm seeing commentary painting them as the villain in some wag-the-dog attempt to protect Blizzard's credibility. Ridiculous.
And how in the hell are people drawing comparisons to the Portal 2 scenario? Yes, it was silly that people complained because they had to wait an additional 15 minutes or so for the Steam servers to come back up to allow them to download the game, but we're not talking about content delivery with Diablo 3. I can load up Portal 2 right now, and play it. No muss, no fuss. I can't play Diablo 3 due to lack of consistent connection (that's on me) and others can't play it due to lack of server stability (that's on Blizzard). Yes, that ship has sailed, and these current problems (and the truly stupid defense of them) isn't going to result in a Renaissance of PC gaming.
It's simply going to drive more people to the console, and more third party developers off the PC in a (smart, I might add) bid to give them the best venue for making sure their customers are happy. Your dismissive attitude ain't helpin' squat, kids. There will come a day where the two merge not to complete a long-coming symbiosis, but because it's that much easier for a developer to make their game compatible with one or two sets of architecture rather than a mile long laundry list of sound cards, graphics cards, processors and auxiliary tech. You will see a persistent world MMO delivered on console in the next decade or so- that's just the way the wind is blowing.
It's simply going to drive more people to the console, and more third party developers off the PC in a (smart, I might add) bid to give them the best venue for making sure their customers are happy. Your dismissive attitude ain't helpin' squat, kids. There will come a day where the two merge not to complete a long-coming symbiosis, but because it's that much easier for a developer to make their game compatible with one or two sets of architecture rather than a mile long laundry list of sound cards, graphics cards, processors and auxiliary tech. You will see a persistent world MMO delivered on console in the next decade or so- that's just the way the wind is blowing.
And finally...
-It's not the right tone from EITHER side of the argument
I've bashed plenty on the people who are being snide to those in want, but it must be said that some of the commentary coming out of the complaints department has been less than savory. I mentioned in my ME3 ending article that I don't buy into the whole idea of making these complaints a personal matter and painting the company responsible with the same insult brush, or launching into threat territory. I get it. I do, but one can understand where racism comes from and still do their part to fight it. Blizzard isn't evil because of this- they're simply capable of mistakes. Once you accept the idea, the conversation on both sides becomes far more civil.
Anger's fine, but the idea that this is willful malfeasance on their part is counter to the basic concept of business. They have a product. You bought that product, but can't use it. So, logically, they are working hard to correct the error to make sure you are happy and will return at a later date to buy more products. Why is that so hard to comprehend?
Anger's fine, but the idea that this is willful malfeasance on their part is counter to the basic concept of business. They have a product. You bought that product, but can't use it. So, logically, they are working hard to correct the error to make sure you are happy and will return at a later date to buy more products. Why is that so hard to comprehend?
I loathe the fact that I can not play offline just as much as you lament the fact that the servers are full, or being slammed into oblivion. The bright side is, as I type this, Blizzard is fixing the issue. You will be able to play soon. Your complaints were heard, documented, and actionable plans were put into play. Go you. Do we really need additional commentary singling out specific people and their sexual habits? No. Do we need additional forum posts wielded like cattle-prods to speed things along? No. The elevator will arrive at your floor in it's own sweet damned time; going Tito Puente on the button isn't going to augment that timetable. Voice your valid concern, and wax patient. Anything else isn't helping the overall situation.
Both sides could do with accepting the dark secret I revealed earlier: Blizzard fucked up, and that's ok. What would constitute as "not ok" is if there was nothing done about it at all. We can't change their policy about LAN capability or how you get to play the game. At least, we can't with words. The flip side of the horrible secret is that money talks, and the only true way to wage an effective campaign against a game company's choices regarding content is to adhere to the wisdom of The WOPR: the only way to win is not to play.
But hey, that's no fun. Ignore the derision, or ignore the complaints. If you can't enjoy your monk, then perhaps you can enjoy something on the console. That's where I'll be until I can jump into the loot-fest, and at least I have the back-and-forth to keep me company and keep me entertained.
Well, until the problem is fixed... and a new one pops up down the line.
