Thanks for your feedback, both the positive and the negative. Since originally writing this piece, I have learned that there are few mistakes which many of you have pointed out. I want address a few of the misconceptions that have been posted about me and my stance in response to my post and touch more diligently about the fears that I have with the future of BF2.
First and foremost I am a fan of the Battlefield series. I have played the series since BF42, before the first patch and continue to play BF2 and SF to this day. I am a fan of BF2. I love the game for many reasons including the teamwork, the rank system, the versatility and the dynamics of the game. I will continue playing BF2 until there are no servers left, and will probably continue playing against bots after that.
As a shameful side note, I still play BFV and BF42, RTR, FH and DC. Each game, and mod for that matter, is different. The game play for each is different. The physics for each are different. The strategies for each are different. I like having the variety which is why I keep them all installed and ready for a game at a moments notice.
Now a few of you have accused me of various things, but the one I want to address is the accusation that I know nothing of general software development. I am an Information Architect that develops enterprise level software solutions day after day. I use the project road map mentioned in the planning and development phase of any given project. More importantly I communicate up front with the customer/end user what that road map is, why it is and the time lines for delivering these "enhancements/features" included in the road map.
EA, if they are following a road map, has failed completely to communicate it to the end users. This makes their "new features" seem more like an attempt to sedate the masses, who are unhappy with their product, until they can figure what is actually wrong with their product. If I were to release patches, beta or otherwise, to the products I have developed that were anywhere near the quality, or lack there of, of the 1.3 patch I would be collecting unemployment and playing more BF2 (not such a bad idea).
Another thing I do not do is sell a product to a customer that is not complete. Known issues are always fixed before the product is released and money exchanges hands. I also never work on the next stage of development before all of the newly discovered bugs are fixed. This is a best practice in the software development industry, but seems to be lacking the game development industry, this includes EA, Valve, UBISoft, Blizzard and others.
I will offer up the admittance that there is no way to release a bug free application. In many cases when a developer beta tests his or her own software they know the logic of how it should work and have a hard time stepping out of that logic when testing, so everything may seem fine. This is until the product gets in the user's hands. This is why companies like Microsoft have beta programs for products like IE 7, Windows Vista, Windows Defender and just about any other product. They provide the software for free to allow real-world testing and bug reporting before making consumers pay for it. This is what the gaming industry should be doing. One question I have is how can one sector of the gaming industry get it right the first time (console games, they can't be patched and more times than not work out of the box) but the other sector of the industry (PC games) struggles to get right after the third, fourth or fifth try. Sure there are hardware variations in the PC platform that are limited in the console platform (Nintendo, Sega, Sony), but these variations are handled by standards that 95% of the hardware manufacturers comply with. Could it be because the console industry performs beta testing in the form of focus groups? Maybe, but I don't work in that industry and don't know. But the console industry does something that the PC industry doesn't.
As for the response about bugs, "the only bug I can't understand EA/Dice not fixing quickly is the crashing introduced by 1.3", I have this to say: BF2 has had issues since it's release with the "Red Tag Bug" in which gamers, like yourself, are TK'd because the guy TKing you sees the red enemy tag over your head. This makes the game more frustrating for you when you are being killed by your own friendlies and makes the game miserable for the other guys because he gets punished, maybe not by you because you are such a wonderful and empathetic human being, but by others for the TK and will eventually get kicked from the server for it. That is only one of many bugs that should been fixed before any new content was added to the game regardless of the road map.
EA has burnt many bridges with third party developers since BF42. These developers include not only mod developers but admin tool developers. They have shut these individuals out with nearly each and every patch. Each time EA released a patch they failed to work with the developers and the patches always broke the mods and admin tools. This was not limited to BF42, but included BFV 1.1 and 1.2 patch and BF2. The impact on the community was direct and critical. For nearly a week after each patch, gamers had to wait for a new patch of their favorite mod to be released to fix the break. Server admins also had to wait for the next release of their admin tool, meaning managing smacktards was taken back to the stone age of command line entries to kick and ban players acting unruly in the servers.
With the way EA handled BFV and the community by dropping all support and future development for the next best thing (BF2), EA the following clear and blatant message to the community; "We will work on improving our products until the next thing comes along." How was the community supposed to react to announcement of BF2142? Were they supposed to jump up and down with joy while getting their wallets out and at the ready? I say no. And for those of you who think EA will do it differently in the future Iaks this: What happens to BF2142 when BF3 begins development for release in a year and a half? Will they continue to support BF2142, fixed or not? Based on their actions with BFV I would say no and if they repeat the BFV to BF2 action with BF2 to BF2142 I would then assume the worse.
The people some of you are heckling for having several hundreds of hours of game time in and yet they still complain have every right to complain. That time was an investment which was supposed to pay dividends in the form of unlocks, preference for the commander position and such. They did not log hundreds of hours in the game playing on the 1.3, 1.4 beta 1 or 1.4 beta 2 patches. They logged these hours in playing the first release, 1.1 and 1.2 patches, because the game was/is fun and because there was promise of the issues being fixed. Since logging their first hour of game time, the game has only gotten worse and for many, who suffer from CTDs more often than others, the game is completely unplayable. I congratulate them for making their voice heard.
In the end, all I am trying to say is that these mistakes by EA are slowly killing one of the most powerful gaming franchises in history. BF2 still has years of life left in it and it may surpass the lifecycle of Bf42, but only if EA fixes the issues the community has reported and they begin working closely with the third party developers. Then and only then will BF2 continue to rise to the top like BF42 did and until that happens BF2142 is nothing more than a glorified mod in my opinion. I know... I know.. opinions are like armpits.... everyone has a couple and they usually stink.
Thanks again.
Radar
First and foremost I am a fan of the Battlefield series. I have played the series since BF42, before the first patch and continue to play BF2 and SF to this day. I am a fan of BF2. I love the game for many reasons including the teamwork, the rank system, the versatility and the dynamics of the game. I will continue playing BF2 until there are no servers left, and will probably continue playing against bots after that.
As a shameful side note, I still play BFV and BF42, RTR, FH and DC. Each game, and mod for that matter, is different. The game play for each is different. The physics for each are different. The strategies for each are different. I like having the variety which is why I keep them all installed and ready for a game at a moments notice.
Now a few of you have accused me of various things, but the one I want to address is the accusation that I know nothing of general software development. I am an Information Architect that develops enterprise level software solutions day after day. I use the project road map mentioned in the planning and development phase of any given project. More importantly I communicate up front with the customer/end user what that road map is, why it is and the time lines for delivering these "enhancements/features" included in the road map.
EA, if they are following a road map, has failed completely to communicate it to the end users. This makes their "new features" seem more like an attempt to sedate the masses, who are unhappy with their product, until they can figure what is actually wrong with their product. If I were to release patches, beta or otherwise, to the products I have developed that were anywhere near the quality, or lack there of, of the 1.3 patch I would be collecting unemployment and playing more BF2 (not such a bad idea).
Another thing I do not do is sell a product to a customer that is not complete. Known issues are always fixed before the product is released and money exchanges hands. I also never work on the next stage of development before all of the newly discovered bugs are fixed. This is a best practice in the software development industry, but seems to be lacking the game development industry, this includes EA, Valve, UBISoft, Blizzard and others.
I will offer up the admittance that there is no way to release a bug free application. In many cases when a developer beta tests his or her own software they know the logic of how it should work and have a hard time stepping out of that logic when testing, so everything may seem fine. This is until the product gets in the user's hands. This is why companies like Microsoft have beta programs for products like IE 7, Windows Vista, Windows Defender and just about any other product. They provide the software for free to allow real-world testing and bug reporting before making consumers pay for it. This is what the gaming industry should be doing. One question I have is how can one sector of the gaming industry get it right the first time (console games, they can't be patched and more times than not work out of the box) but the other sector of the industry (PC games) struggles to get right after the third, fourth or fifth try. Sure there are hardware variations in the PC platform that are limited in the console platform (Nintendo, Sega, Sony), but these variations are handled by standards that 95% of the hardware manufacturers comply with. Could it be because the console industry performs beta testing in the form of focus groups? Maybe, but I don't work in that industry and don't know. But the console industry does something that the PC industry doesn't.
As for the response about bugs, "the only bug I can't understand EA/Dice not fixing quickly is the crashing introduced by 1.3", I have this to say: BF2 has had issues since it's release with the "Red Tag Bug" in which gamers, like yourself, are TK'd because the guy TKing you sees the red enemy tag over your head. This makes the game more frustrating for you when you are being killed by your own friendlies and makes the game miserable for the other guys because he gets punished, maybe not by you because you are such a wonderful and empathetic human being, but by others for the TK and will eventually get kicked from the server for it. That is only one of many bugs that should been fixed before any new content was added to the game regardless of the road map.
EA has burnt many bridges with third party developers since BF42. These developers include not only mod developers but admin tool developers. They have shut these individuals out with nearly each and every patch. Each time EA released a patch they failed to work with the developers and the patches always broke the mods and admin tools. This was not limited to BF42, but included BFV 1.1 and 1.2 patch and BF2. The impact on the community was direct and critical. For nearly a week after each patch, gamers had to wait for a new patch of their favorite mod to be released to fix the break. Server admins also had to wait for the next release of their admin tool, meaning managing smacktards was taken back to the stone age of command line entries to kick and ban players acting unruly in the servers.
With the way EA handled BFV and the community by dropping all support and future development for the next best thing (BF2), EA the following clear and blatant message to the community; "We will work on improving our products until the next thing comes along." How was the community supposed to react to announcement of BF2142? Were they supposed to jump up and down with joy while getting their wallets out and at the ready? I say no. And for those of you who think EA will do it differently in the future Iaks this: What happens to BF2142 when BF3 begins development for release in a year and a half? Will they continue to support BF2142, fixed or not? Based on their actions with BFV I would say no and if they repeat the BFV to BF2 action with BF2 to BF2142 I would then assume the worse.
The people some of you are heckling for having several hundreds of hours of game time in and yet they still complain have every right to complain. That time was an investment which was supposed to pay dividends in the form of unlocks, preference for the commander position and such. They did not log hundreds of hours in the game playing on the 1.3, 1.4 beta 1 or 1.4 beta 2 patches. They logged these hours in playing the first release, 1.1 and 1.2 patches, because the game was/is fun and because there was promise of the issues being fixed. Since logging their first hour of game time, the game has only gotten worse and for many, who suffer from CTDs more often than others, the game is completely unplayable. I congratulate them for making their voice heard.
In the end, all I am trying to say is that these mistakes by EA are slowly killing one of the most powerful gaming franchises in history. BF2 still has years of life left in it and it may surpass the lifecycle of Bf42, but only if EA fixes the issues the community has reported and they begin working closely with the third party developers. Then and only then will BF2 continue to rise to the top like BF42 did and until that happens BF2142 is nothing more than a glorified mod in my opinion. I know... I know.. opinions are like armpits.... everyone has a couple and they usually stink.
Thanks again.
Radar
One Of The Most Advanced Second Post In The Same Thread I've Ever Had The Fortune To See. Please Continue Composing These Very Well Thought Out Posts. I Believe That
You Are A Very Dedicated Composer Of Forum Posts. I Would Also Like To Honorably Mention That I Am A Fan Of BF2 As Well So Your Not Alone. Again, Best Regards To You And Your Family And Your Aquantences. Please Be Sure To Post I Can't Wait To See More. I Am Your Fan So You Will Be Watched By Me At All Times Regarding Posts. If You Have Any Further Questions Feel Free To PM(Private Message) Me At Will.
Leave a comment: