Making Sure Players Get The Best Experience Is More Important Than Worrying About How They Got The Game

from the word-of-mouth-is-king dept

Thu, Nov 1st 2012 3:34am — Zachary Knight

Recently, Extra Credits did a great episode on game demos and why no one makes them any more. The reason came down to the fact that it was really tough to make a game demo that really allowed a game to shine -- you were more likely to make a great game look terrible. In this episode, they talked about the need some people have to try out a game before they buy it and that free to play games were one way to accommodate that need. I would also add to this that piracy is another way some gamers try a game before they buy.

Just as it is important that people who play a demo get a good experience that leaves them wanting more, the same should be said of the full game itself. If your game sucks, people will stop playing it, word will spread and fewer people will buy it. This word of mouth also comes from those who pirate the game. Although they never paid the developer money, these players are still willing to speak their mind when it comes to the games that really make an impression on them. So it is still important to make a great game.

It was this last scenario, of people pirating a game and then talking about its bugs, that led one developer to take to the Pirate Bay to let those players know that a patch was coming. Jonatan Soderstrom is one of the developers behind a recently released game, Hotline Miami. After the game showed up on the Pirate Bay, people started complaining about bugs they ran into.

However, a few people had a couple of problems getting the game to run.

“Whenever I try starting the game I get [an] error,” user randir12 explained. “Error defining an external function.”

“Sometimes the game works if I click ignore, but there’s no sound.”

Instead of letting these players get help from other Pirate Bay users, Jonatan, as user cactus69, showed up himself with advice and news of a coming patch.

Hey there! I’m Jonatan Soderstrom, me and my friend Dennis Wedin made this game.

We’re working on an update that hopefully will take care of any/all bugs, and we’ll try to do some extra polish in the next few days. Would be great if you could update the torrent when the patch is out! It’d be great if people get to play it without any bugs popping up. Hope everyone will enjoy the game!

For the ‘Error defining an external function’ problem, try restarting your system and play again, it can pop up when your computer has been running for a while. We’ll try to figure out if there’s more to it than that.

While such direct contact between pirates and a game's developer is not entirely new (we have seen something like this before) it is still not the norm, and a great way to make an impression on the fans of the game. Soderstrom was able to put out a potential fire that could have led to some people to never picking the game up. In fact, this was his thought process on taking that effort. In a pair of tweets, Jonatan explained that he both understood why people might pirate, but also that it was important that they have a good experience.

I don't really want people to pirate Hotline Miami, but I understand if they do. I've been broke the last couple of months. It sucks.

And I definitely want people to experience the game the way it's meant to be experienced. No matter how they got a hold of it.

That great experience is one of the most important things any creator should work toward. It doesn't matter how much time and money you put into a game, movie, album or book. If the output does not meet the expectation of those who experience it, they will tell others. That will lead to even more people avoiding it. However, as you work toward making the best possible experience and you are completely open about faults, then people will respect you more, and often look past any flaws to support you.

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Filed Under: customer service, hotline miami, infringement, jonathan soderstrom, video games

18 Comments

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Shadow Dragon (profile), 1 Nov 2012 @ 3:47am

Insert Typical Copyright Madimalist Troll Subject
[Insert Typical Copyright Maximalist Troll Response]
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The Mighty Buzzard (profile), 1 Nov 2012 @ 3:58am

[Insert Typical Troll Feeding]
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Zakida Paul (profile), 1 Nov 2012 @ 4:10am

Ah common sense. So simple and yet in such short supply in the creative industries.

Make a product that people want to pay for and they will do so.

Release a product that is unfinished, full of bugs and generally not very good, and they will not pay for it.

Any student doing business 101 can tell you this.
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- Anonymous Coward, 1 Nov 2012 @ 8:41pm
  
  Re:
  And talk about people who use torrents as a tool to judge whether they really want to buy a game (or music)... make the game carried in torrent bad is not good (as so does music).
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PaulT (profile), 1 Nov 2012 @ 4:11am

I'll also jump in before the troll fest, but I would note a few points:

1. Whatever the word of mouth is among "pirates", the word will spread outside of pirate sites. If people pirating the game think it sucks, they'll let paying customer know as well as fellow pirates. A pirate giving a bad review on Amazon can sway sales as easily as someone who bought a copy from there.

2. Anyone who splits potential customers into "people who pay" and "people who pirate" and deny any crossover between the two groups needs to live in reality for a while.

3. It's great to get word directly to people playing your game, whatever the forum. Word of an upcoming patch might ease people who have paid $60 for the game as easily as those complaining about their illicit copy.

4. Games are expensive. If you're going to pay full price for a game, you need to try before you buy. If demos aren't available, you have to preview the full version. That's as true if you pirate it as it is if you borrow it from a friend, play it in store or rent a copy. If you're not willing to reduce the price or make a free legal demo, then piracy will happen - but that doesn't always mean lost sales.
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- Ninja (profile), 1 Nov 2012 @ 5:22am
  
  Re:
  That. I'm one that download and then buy when worth it. I even bought a few PS3 games I found for good prices BEFORE buying the console (after this final hack it'll be very soon!).
  
  In any case, this guy is going for an epic win. I don't intend to check on the game, really. But if I did and found the bugs I'd just not bother buying (and possibly playing). However, with that kind attitude I'd AT LEAST check the patched game, which could result in a sale. On the other possible scenario he'd have literally lost a sale (100% certain loss). If I download then there's a chance I'll buy if I liked. And I'm totally not alone.
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- Greevar (profile), 1 Nov 2012 @ 8:49am
  
  Re:
  Here's an idea: Why not implement a service like OnLive that allows people to try out games before they buy? Offer a time limited play session for each game where people get to see the game in its full glory without risking their money on a game they won't like. The service could be supported with ads from, get this, the game industry promoting other games they want you to try out and, hopefully, buy. It would make sense being that demos are a marketing tool and getting people to play the games that they might later on buy would be a good investment. In this case, they get to demo the retail version of the game and not some hack-meat demo they slapped together because the consumers demanded it.
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vegetaman (profile), 1 Nov 2012 @ 4:47am

Also...
I usually wait a few weeks after the game came out and check youtube for some let's play type videos and see what I think of the game and go from there. I bought Wolfenstein (2009) thanks to doing this, and I absolutely loved it.
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- Anonymous Coward, 1 Nov 2012 @ 4:54am
  
  Re: Also...
  > let's play type videos
  
  All of which, if copyright were enforced to its maximum, would not exist...
  
  Copyright maximalism is like shooting yourself in the foot, while preaching to others how wonderful it is to have a bullet in your foot.
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Chargone (profile), 1 Nov 2012 @ 5:26am

oddly, back when demos were to be had, i came across more than one that was Great fun... and then the game itself was just... kind of flat. (some version or another of Worms was a prime example.) or sometimes outright terrible. so they weren't really representative anyway...
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The eejit (profile), 1 Nov 2012 @ 5:36am

Contrast this with UK users' experiences of FIFA 13 with horrible bugs such as disappearing footballs, invisible players and actual loss of monies.

Source: Watchdog 31/10/12, BBC.
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- Anonymous Coward, 1 Nov 2012 @ 5:45am
  
  Re:
  Heard that it's FIFA 12 (haven't played either personally) with just a couple of texture reskins too.
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- Zakida Paul (profile), 1 Nov 2012 @ 5:50am
  
  Re:
  PES is much improved this year. Go for that one.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 1 Nov 2012 @ 6:13am
    
    Re: Re:
    PES has always been better because they dont waste money licensing player/team names and actually spend it on development!
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    - Ninja (profile), 1 Nov 2012 @ 6:19am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Amen.
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Lord Binky, 1 Nov 2012 @ 6:43am

"However, as you work toward making the best possible experience and you are completely open about faults, then people will respect you more, and often look past any flaws to support you."

This fails as a general business model because people resent you when you try to take advantage of them for liking your product, which leads back to unhappy customers.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Nov 2012 @ 9:55am

There's been a lot of schemes on how to make a game buggy for pirates. Like the music industry going after file sharers, it's shooting themselves in the foot.

After being ripped off for years by bad games and bad reviews, I won't buy a game without trying it first. That's the full game, not a piece of it. If it's buggy, or it's no good, that's a guaranteed no sale.

But if it's good, that's a sale.
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Rekrul, 3 Nov 2012 @ 2:49am

There have been several cases where I bought a full copy of a game after playing the demo. Dark Forces II, Half-Life, SiN, Thief, the Tomb Raider games, etc. Of course, I bought used copies of all of them, except DF2, but still...
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