MEGA::Chapters 5 & 6 (Fan Creations)

by INSANEdrive, ಥ_ಥ | f(ಠ‿↼)z | ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ| ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, Monday, September 07, 2015, 12:04 (3146 days ago) @ INSANEdrive
edited by INSANEdrive, Monday, September 07, 2015, 12:09

------- Chapter 5 :: Coyote Bungie -------
(We Fans to Bungie)

In thinking about it, I found one of the problems Bungie has, though the term "problem" may be a bit strong, is that Bungie is no longer the Bungie we the established fans knew. The Bungie that made Halo, Marathon, and Myth that I presume we as established fans picture in our heads is now something else. Sort of. This Ship of Theseus, still has a few of the old boards, yet has mostly been replaced or has even added new boards to the ship. This ship has grown; Is it the same ship? That does not mean that this Bungie, that this ship as it exists now can no longer do great things, as vanilla Destiny was quite the technical achievement. Really. Destiny is amazing. From its technical achievements Bungie has made many new fans. Most of them from Playstation for some reason. Huh... weird.

The question I found myself asking was what the difference was in the views of Destiny between a new fan and an established fan? Yet to such an end I cannot answer this question, and so I ask it to you DBO. Based on past Bungie games that you have played, how has Bungie done with Destiny Year One? We are all fans here of varying degrees of tenure, and I am curious if my hypothetical question has merit. I myself am not a new Bungie fan, I am roughly a Middle Skool Bungie fan. I have been a fan of Bungie for at least half of their existence and had I access to Macs in my home (as my school as I recall had a bunch of Macintosh 128Ks mixed with the PCs), then perhaps I would have been an even older Bungie fan then that.

It may very well be that my view of Destiny has been tinted because I came from only one set of Bungie Games. Halo undeniably casts a lofty shadow and in fact I'm fairly sure we have those measurements in the Stephen Loftus diagrams somewhere. Forgive me as I speak presumptively for you, my fellow DBO community, where I presume at risk of error that we would like (and Pete would love) the Halo Forge system. We want the Halo Theater system. We want the grandeur and gravitas of the Halo musics that Marty & Michael created. We want the ability to play and create custom games just as we did in Halo. We want to play campaign and be endeared by its game play and story just as we did in Halo. We want Destiny to be Halo, but we want Destiny to be so much more, and we know that Destiny can be so much more. We are Bungie Fans and we know what Bungie can do.

*Sigh*

But what does Bungie say to that group of dedicated fans? How do you transition from 10 years vs to be 10 years? Could Bungie have assisted in that change? While I think that it is up to each individual on how to change, I think that there is one thing that Bungie could have done. This ONE thing is bigger than ANYTHING ELSE Bungie has ever created.

Communication with its fans.

I think communication is by far the biggest play Bungie has when compared to most major game developers. I have watched Bungie use Twitch and Twitter and their forums to connect to the community. I do not and cannot deny the efforts Bungie makes to communicate. Yet just like its Super bowl team of late, they made these plays that seem counter to what would have been best for we the fans. Or is it the plays that they don't make? Bah. I know... I know..., yes I’m going to back this up, keep your pants on, or if you are Funkmon, put on some pants. In thinking about communication, I asked myself what could be gathered by just looking at the overall past DBO forum reactions. I concluded, while it is not a lone factor, it is a major factor. I think the forums drama at the very least did not come by chance. It is not on purpose, but it is not an accident. Even Cody Miller in all his ideological honey badgering had very little part in the fourms overall drama. I think it's all a symptom of the same kind. While I could go into detail about all sorts of forum drama, if I did then it would make the rest of my post even more moot then it already is at the eve of Year 2.

Caption: What most may see.

Don't infer too much, but at the night of Harry Houdinis last show, as he did his part with a ruptured appendix and a fever of 104 °F ( 40 °C ), reportedly the patrons who had seen the show before said that something was wrong, while the patrons who had never seen the show before thought it was a great act. What do you do as a established fan when you can see something is wrong?

------- Chapter 6 :: Bungie Makes Mistakes -------
(Bungie to the Fans)

It has been said that it’s not what you say but how you say it. Yet no matter how much Bungie tries it seems they don't realize what they are saying when they don't speak. Is interpretation their fault?

It has been said that it is easier to ask for forgiveness then ask for permission. This is done under the presumption or gamble that with a simple whim, any action taken and any repercussion from that action can simply disappear and be forgotten as if never acted. If only it was true, then there would be no need for lawyers.

Now what pray tell do these sudden declarations have to do with Bungies communication skills? It has to do with how I have perceived Bungies actions in the last year or two with its fans both new and old. This observation was a very... very... gradual thing that came to head with the House of Wolves DLC. This happened because of my so called stature in being a Bungie Fan. Had I been new, I think I would have just... probably... just brushed it off. I don't know.

Being a fan of something is a tumultuous thing. Being a fan generally changes an outlook. Changes how a person would react. It changes what would be worth said fans time and effort. Being a fan changes who a person is, in a number of ways, because being fan is a relationship with... whatever. As imaginary as it may be, it is a relationship with whatever can garner the term of fandom. For the sake of this post, of course, this is of Bungie.

In one of the many 2015 E3 videos (which I can no longer find), it is mentioned that Bungie was learning their audience. Such a thing is fair considering the updated social style of play that is Destiny. Yet, in light of learning ones audience, I find myself falling back on the conclusion (and even the motto) of people making games that they want to play. Bungie...you have 500 people. It may be more. It may be less.

Things got through that shouldn't have. Things that were not fun or worse, insulting. In answering my question for E3 (a transcript of which is in Addendum Two), Noseworthy mentioned about how in the lab what seemed like a good idea behind the walls, on the couch was realized to be a horrible idea. For which I can only rebut - I don't understand. What I do understand, is that creating a videogame is not only a science, it is an art. I know this because I have both taught myself and been taught about both sides of the video game equations. Sometimes things get through because you've been playing it behind those ivory walls for months. Day in and day out. That's fine, even more so now-a-days. The thing I just don't understand is how it could happen, again and again, to such a large degree. Arbitrarily speaking - Fool me once. Twice. Three times? Four times!? Five?!?!? What the fuck are you doing Bungie?

Pro tip: Surprises that aren't good for everyone tend to be bad surprises. Bungie should know that thanks to xbox players, since they apparently didn't know it before.

To that end as mentioned, again, I think communication is the major player to a number of Destinies Year One woes. There is a reason why the ability to communicate is on all the job applications. I have personally experienced the effects that communication can have on a team, and I imagine there are some of us here who have as well. Lack of communication can kill even the most experienced of teams, and since this is a relationship after all; bumps, bruises, and flaws happen. Again... we are human. There is a breaking point.

We, the fans, have mentioned our want of communication before. Of these fans I have yet to see anyone give an example, and state why. In the end these posts here are simply expressing aggravation or a misunderstanding of the game creation process (which I can still very much do) with "this is what we want”. I think I can make something better. I'm not expressing or rewording these posts you can click on in this paragraph, but my experiences and frustrations. I want to help Bungie do better. So here and now I shall try.

If you happen to go by the tag DeeJ or urk, please get out that notepad you already have out and take note. Cosmo, you’re cool...for now. Take note anyway. This part is by far the most pertinent for you lot.

If the leaks of the past are to be believed, and they were ... House of Wolves at one point did have a Raid.

About one month before House of Wolves dropped, it was announced that the House of Wolves would not have a raid. For myself, after finding out, I'm pretty sure I still have the headache caused from the extreme of my facepalm. I wrote a scathing post that never got posted. At risk of sudden uncensored vulgarity, the last thing I as a fan want to do is give Bungie a new Bun hole, even though the reason I was so angry was that I had found myself covered in shit from the totality of Year One. This was that last straw.

The sudden vulgarity also happens to be the summery of my scathing post never posted. It takes a lot for me to lose my cool, seriously. My post never posted was the result of a year of frustration and disappointment. A sum of ill moments stacking upon silence. So what would make ME, MYSELF, and I so angry as to have an urge to make a post that wasn't myself, even after EVERYTHING ELSE that came before. Thus far when something went awry, I often was able to respond in a fairly logical, calm, and perhaps even sarcastic and satiric manner. So basically this post, but shorter and much more succinct. Was this last straw because of some sort of expectation for a Raid?

Heh. Please. It's not so much because of what you did; it's simply the perceived incompetence of how you did it, or perhaps how you didn't do it (which seems to be a recurring theme).

Of course, not everyone had issue with " how Bungie did it ". Furthermore "how Bungie did it" was done so in a fairly professional manner. DeeJ & urk (IN.THAT.ORDER. :P) do good work as far as I can see. At times it is a thankless job. They put up with a lot of internet shit and salt on a daily basis, all to find what the heartbeat of the community is. For example: DeeJ can make a better beard then urk. It's true. You can tell because it's on the internet. For this internet , DeeJ and urk give Bungie a voice. So ... what's the perceived incompetence?

The thing that got me so hot and bothered was, how it seemed Bungie did not see how a Raid had become an expectation within the community. Even if you were someone who didn't like the Raids, they are a big part of Destiny since...well... day one. The first day players played the Vault of Glass it became a Destiny thing. So logically, if Bungie really cared, if Bungie really read our posts and secretly interacted among us, then -with no excuses- (not even Cosmo) Bungie would have known how important Raids had become (due to flaws possibly,) to our enjoyment of Destiny Year One PvE.

So with the announcement of no raid, there was also a mentioning of the "Prison of Elders". It was this that got me so angry.

Prison of Elders did not come out of nowhere. This sort of thing is planned. Even if it wasn't planned at the start, If say in late December someone said "This Reef raid isn't our quality; It isn't going to work - Cut it", well then this means the Prison of Elders has eventually became planned and that for months Bungie watched us speculate what the raid was going to be in futility, even though Raids are THE PvE thing. While the masses outside DBO were bitching about No Raid, I was bitching in my aforementioned unposted post about no communication about the raid.

Here is what I would have liked to see. I don't know if I have the knowhow to do so, but I have to try. I want to try. I hope I can describe well what it is that I see .

------- Click here for Chapters 7 - 8 -------