Life Lessons From a Bad Game by Mike Anderson October 01, 2005

"That is something that frustrates me in lots of games. You are hiding someplace you've never been, but when you sneak out, you are surrounded by guys who already knew you were there!"

"Why do games do that, it isn't fair?!?"

"Because it is an easy way to make the game more exciting."

"Oh. I still don't understand how a video game could hurt your feelings."

"Do you *really* want to know?"

"Sure!"

"Well, I got interested in the game over a year ago ﾖ you know how I really love Gothic II, and of course you know how much I love Jedi Knight II? Well, a friend told me about this game that was coming out later in the year called Dungeon Lords. There was only a little information about it at the time, but from what I learned, it looked like a knights and swords version of Jedi Knight II battles, with lots of cool role playing things I like from other games like Gothic II. So I started keeping close track of everything I could learn about the game ﾅ"

"Am I going to regret saying I wanted to know this ﾅ ?"

"No ﾖ I won't go through every detail. But as I tracked it last summer, I read interviews with the guy who was making the game, and the more I read, the more it captured my imagination, made me think about actually playing the game."

"Like seeing the trailer for the new Zelda GameCube game?"

"Yes, like that. Anyway, everything seemed to be set for the game to come out in November, and they even started taking names for people to do beta testing and put out an announcement that a demo would be released at the end of September. But there was no demo, and no talk about the beta, and eventually they told us that the game wouldn't come out until some time early this year."

"That's a bummer, but I still don't get ﾅ"

"I'm getting there. The thing wasn't all of the delays; it was how they were ﾅ"

"Oh, wait, I know this one ﾖ if they had just been honest and come forward and told people what was happening there wouldn't have been a problem, but by not telling until they had to, they looked like they were hiding it, and got in bigger trouble."

"So you *do* listen! Anyway, that was October, and we basically heard nothing until the middle of February."

"That would make me frustrated!"

"It made many people frustrated, but I had patience. In February there were lots of articles describing the game and showing what it looked like, and more interviews. They all looked good."

"But wasn't that when you read one that had you worried?"

"Yes ﾖ people who write about games that aren't finished yet don't usually say that they aren't finished yet, they just talk about what is done. But one person said that with the amount missing from what he played, it would be hard to get it done in time for the late April release date. That is when I wrote the letter saying it is better to be late but good than on-time and bad."

"But they didn't listen?"

"No ﾖ in fact many people on the internet thought I was just saying bad things and should have been more trusting."

"What do they say now?"

"One person actually emailed me to apologize."

"So it wasn't done when it came out?"

"No, and it isn't done *now* - months after release. Worse yet, a lot of the stuff that the guy talked about in the interviews will never be in the game, and had been cut out of there long ago."

"Shouldn't they have said something? Isn't that lying?"

"Are you starting to see how my feelings got hurt?"

"Can I play parent? What did you *learn* from this?"

"Pretty basic stuff that I tell you all the time and I'll tell you again now"
ﾖ Honesty and respect are the very basis of any relationship: People making and selling games want our money, and we want good games.
ﾖ Trust is easy to give once, but once lost is very hard to earn back: Just as you have found out by being dishonest or hiding things, it is much easier to just accept that you did something wrong.
ﾖ Some people will pretend to be your friend just to use you, and will lie to you and eventually stop talking to you when they don't need you anymore: I have been lucky to make some true friends on the internet, but it is even easier for someone to pretend to like you when they don't have to see you.
ﾖ Trust your feelings: I knew that something was wrong in February, but I didn't listen to that little voice inside of me.
ﾖ If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is: Do you think I'd believe it if you came home with a new Nintendo DS, and told me you'd bought it with pennies you found on the roadside and nickels from returning cans? NO!
ﾖ Time is something you can never get back: The game will be released someday or cancelled. Like we tell you about games and many things in general, everything in moderation. If being interested in one thing comes at the expense of another, that isn't good.
ﾖ It is just a game: Games are fun, and it can also be fun being part of a group of people interested in the same types of games is fun too, but spending time wondering if the sword will be in the left hand or right hand is just too much worry for a game.

"So you got your feelings hurt because you trusted people who pretended to be your friends, and stood by them even when you thought they might be wrong, only to find out that you were right and they had been lying or at least not telling the truth?"

"That's absolutely right. So how does this relate to you?"

"Other than the part about taking the time to finish it properly, I really don't ﾅ oh, wait I do know!"

"What?"

"I should show my brother respect by making the best comic book I can for him, the one that we were talking about, and be honest with him that I couldn't finish it because I asked a question and you talked for half an hour!"

"Close enough."

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