Topic: Miners Wars Beta

[PyroJockey]

I said that I don't believe they'll ever release anything except limited offline demos, advertisements, and continued requests for $$.

[Seeing the MW guys cutting back / breaking up features tends to solidify my personal opinion, but it doesn't really prove anything one way or the other.]

Just an observation, if the intent is to defraud, and Miner Wars multi-player is just a carrot on a stick that you will never reach, I don't think they would cut the carrot in half. A con artist does not go from promising you the moon and the stars to just promising the moon when the money starts coming in.

I think they started with good intentions but overextended themselves.

[Scyphi]

I will not deny that this was a most unfortunate oversight (or whatever) on the part of the developers, the players, etc, but blunders happen, and Miner Wars is, as I understand it, Keen Software's first game, so they're entitled to making a couple mistakes, particularly in marketing. Not that it justifies anything, because I agree, this shouldn't have happened.

BUT...I think they're telling the truth, and that it's nothing more than a misunderstanding, just one that took far too long to sort out. And I say that because, looking at their past descriptions of the game INCLUDING the one PyroJockey posted, it can be read both ways to be either seen as "SP and MMO", as was the misunderstanding, OR as "SP with the MMO being separate."

Really what it comes down to is to wait and see what happens. As Foil pointed out, this still doesn't really prove anything. Miner Wars could very well still come out as the complete success we're all wishing it to be. Or it may not. We'll see. I will admit this little mix-up has gotten even me a little leery, but I'm not giving up hope just yet. 'Cuz I gotta admit, this is actually good news for me. I was NEVER interested in the MMO aspect of Miner Wars, just the single-player, and for the moment, it looks like we could still at least get that much.

Although it doesn't really matter at the moment what I think, as it'd be pointless for me to get it at the moment, as it's doubtful there is a computer I have access to at present that can run Miner Wars ideally. Maybe one day in the future I'll be in a position to upgrade to a new laptop, and hopefully then be able to run programs like Miner Wars, so if things are still going good then...

[PyroJockey]

Regardless, I put my money down and am along for the ride. I too am not really interested in the MMO aspect, partially because I haven't played any MMO's (except maybe for Second Life, which didn't hold my interest for long).

I do believe they started out with good intentions and still intend to deliver a game, of some sort, but I believe what they are lacking is project management and this project keeps slipping away from them. Good intentions and brilliant and creative programmers are not enough to make up for poor project management.

They need to set definitive milestones and then meet them. I don't currently see this happening.

[Pumo]

The same here. To be honest, I've never been interested on the MMO part at all.

However, I agree that they were aiming too high, even much more high that what they can achieve as far as I can see, but yes, I still think it's more solid than any other Descent clone projects and I'm still excited as well.

As Scyphi said, this is also good news to me, as this maybe means the Single-player portion (as being independant of the MMO) will be released sooner (hopefully).

[NUMBERZero]

They just released news that confused some confusion. The MMO is going to be a SEPARATE thing. The normal one is with single player missions and servers for mulitplayer just like Descent.



Hello fans and customers!

Ok, so it turns out we had some misconceptions pertaining to the inclusion of the Miner Wars MMO with the pre-order package. We have to clear this up now: The MMO is its OWN THING!

If you're unaware of the nature of these things, after I explain why it is this way, you'll understand:
The version of the game you are guaranteed by pre-ordering, WILL (will, will, will) come with multi-player mode, but more in the style of Descent with server lists, each based in one sector/level at a time. An MMO, something quiiite different, takes quite a bit of work, even for a professional company, and a LOT more money/resources to keep running, (server costs, developers, paid maintenance, etc.). Remember, we're an independent company, and as such it is a risk we literally cannot afford until we have substantial, reliable income from the first release (what you have pre-ordered). This has been the plan from the very beginning.


A COMPROMISE
We acknowledge that we could have done a lot more to quell these misconceptions from the start, so we're willing to give anyone who's ordered so far a *free* copy of the MMO when it has been released. We're also willing to do the same for anyone who orders by:

***December 1st, 2010***

(to be fair to those people who were planning to pre-order soon and assumed there was going to be a full-blown MMO as a part of the package)

Heh, so if you haven't ordered yet, order while you can, and to everyone who has ordered, thank you for having patience with the team and enjoy your extended access. :p

[Kaiaatzl]

I just posted that.

[PyroJockey]

He's just confused. 

[Scyphi]

Personally, I think the fact that they're trying to make it up to everyone for the mix-up as best as they can (and are succeeding fairly well, too) says oodles about them. I mean, yeah, this probably shouldn't have ever happened, but look at their solution; offer those who wanted the MMO who had been under the impression it was all one deal a copy of the finished MMO (whenever that might be) for free. And I think that's great of them to do! I mean, how many gaming companies do YOU know of that would even THINK about doing that?

But another issue about all of this that caused all of this to happen is that the fact they haven't been very good about updating the site as things change (something that was already pretty obvious) because they claim that the decision to make the MMO separate was done a long time ago. So yeah, at the very least, there is a communication issue here.

But it could be worse. I mean, they could be even worse business managers that are virtually bankrupt trying to produce a game on seemingly nothing banking on the fact that one game will save them, if they can even release it at all, like Interplay currently seems to be doing. 

Guess what I'm saying is that despite all of this, I still have a lot more faith in Keen Software than a lot of other companies/peoples.

[Kaiaatzl]

One entire side of my family comes from the Czech republic.  I've seen misunderstandings like this happen before even if the person who's misunderstood speaks seemingly perfect english (my grandmother for example).

And yeah, I definitely have more faith in Keen Software than Interplay.

[Scyphi]

Yeah, I mean, Interplay was supposed to give us Descent on the Wii by now. 

[karx-elf-erx]

Uh-oh! This looks like a 90 degree turn at full speed!

I don't consider this a misunderstanding. To me it rather looks like a (intentional?!) mis-communication.

Not nice.

[-<WillyP>-]

I agree, when I first read the e-mail, I thought, well, maybe Foil was right.  The whole deal smelled a little rank.  But in the end, anyone who bought into the pre-alpha will get both anyway, so what difference would it make?  The fact is, they are far more forth-coming than most commercial efforts.  This has hurt them in the public eye, as they are essentially airing dirty laundry.  The question for us, as potential buyers, is just how dirty is that laundry, and is the wind blowing our way?  By offering both versions of the game to anyone who bought the game thinking they were going to get both, the laundry is washed and hanging out to dry.

[Scyphi]

Ooh, nice analogy! 

[NUMBERZero]

I did get the feeling that they mislead us intentionally. >.>

[Scyphi]

Unfortunately, that's something we'll probably never be able to confirm or deny, and that's probably the worse part of all of this. Even though a lot of us still have a great deal of trust in the Miner Wars project, that trust has still been shaken. :|