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Well, here it is. The eve of Portal 2's release through Steam. At last count we have roughly 14 hours to go until its release, assuming the countdown through Glados@Home is what that actually means.
Since the beginning of the month, Valve, with the generous help of a number of Indie developers have provided gamers with an alternate reality game, commonly known as an ARG. The ARG contained multiple parts, most of which you are probably well aware of, that began on the first and has carried through until today. In fact, the ARG continues with gamers attempting to speed up the reboot process of GLaDOS by playing the games contained within the Potato Sack Pack.
This piece isn't really to discuss the ARG steps and the trials. Those have been discussed to death to the point a massive Wiki page was created, IRC channels galore, and various Steam groups and chats. The point of this is to discuss the community reaction to the ARG.<!--more-->
I can't help but notice how randomly upset people have gotten over the "conclusion" to this ARG. Rather, for lack of a better description, how "butthurt" many members of the community feel over this. The fact that they feel cheated or somehow owed an apology from Valve over the conclusion of the ARG is absurd, to say the least.
First up is the argument that people feel tricked by Valve into paying for games in hopes it would lead to an earlier than announced release. Cheated? The last I checked nobody at Valve forced you to purchase anything. Nobody at Valve forced you to even participate in the ARG at all.
That argument is entirely absurd. You act as if Valve collectively manifested itself into a physical entity, showed up at your doorstep and held a gun to your head until you clicked "purchase" on the Potato Sack. Yeah, that didn't actually happen, now did it? I thought not.
You also act as if they stuck around, lingering in the corner, staring over your shoulder until you made sufficient efforts into the ARG effort itself. Be it efforts placed into the first few phases by finding clues within the games or in the last phase by actually playing the games.
Again, this isn't the case.
The ARG was a strictly volunteer effort. To try and state otherwise is wrong. Flat out. Don't try and force some pity party on yourself saying anybody took away your free will at any point. If you honestly believe that, then I feel bad for you and there are certainly larger issues at work there.
Now, on to the subject of how people feel as though they are owed an apology from anybody because they were "lied to" about an early release. Really? You're going to go there?
Considering the announced release on Steam was set for Tuesday, April 19th at 7AM (PST), this is still an early release. Nobody ever claimed it was going to release DAYS ahead of schedule. Even a release of 10 minutes before the officially announced release is still an "early release."
It seems to me like the expectations of some got blown way out of proportion for absolutely no reason. There was never anything provided saying that a release was eminent. Does "early release" suddenly mean it has to be days ahead of schedule in your books to be considered "early?" You need to look up the definition of "early" if that's what you honestly believe.
Valve doesn't owe anybody an apology. Not you, not the guy that's been involved in this from the start, nobody.
This entire ARG was a volunteer affair.
Another argument is how console gamers either already have the game or will get to play it at midnight. So? If they have it already that means retailers have broken the street date, which is illegal. If they get it at midnight, big deal. If the ARG was done to completion, which it still may be, then the PC version may have also had it at or before midnight on the originally scheduled release day as well.
There's a bizarre sense of entitlement here that is birthed from thin air. Think of it this way. Console gamers of Portal 2 may get it a bit earlier but PC gamers will have the benefit of custom content and quicker patches. Ok ok, the PlayStation 3 version will have the same thing (since Steam is required for the PS3 version too) but come on, after being shunned by Valve since the Orange Box, PS3 owners are owed at least that much.
It's also amazing that people in North America are so up in arms over the lack of a super early release they fail to realize that people in other parts of the world still have days to wait before the game is released there for ANY platform! God forbid we forget that fact, or the fact that staggered releases are common throughout the world. And God forbid that other companies release the console game often time MONTHS ahead of any PC release. We're talking about a few hours (if even that), not days. Not weeks. Not months.
Get over yourselves.
Do I feel "cheated" from any of this? Nope. I opted not to buy the Potato Sack pack but I did participate in the festivities with those games I do have. It was enjoyable being involved in this mysterious game that led up to a game I've been looking forward to for quite some time now. The only thing I sort of feel let down by is the community. Once it became clear that the release wouldn't happen this weekend, a large number of the ARG community felt compelled to just pack it up and say "screw it" to the entire thing. Again, they felt as though they were entitled to a release that was days ahead of the announced release day, which again just completely baffles me. The release has apparently jumped up by a few hours which is just fine. It's still earlier than announced.
Beyond that, a number of gamers were introduced to a number of Indie titles that they may not have given a second glance at under other circumstances. I probably never would have installed games like Rush or Toki Tori or 1, 2, 3 Kick It had it not been for the ARG. But I'm glad I did. It also pulled me back into games I've already enjoyed greatly such as The Ball, Killing Floor, and AAAAAA! with new content that was Portal themed.
As it stands right now, the countdown seems to have sped up at the Glados@Home site. Potatoes are now being consumed at an alarming rate, thus speeding up the efforts of those still involved with the ARG.
Bottom line is this: Nobody forced anybody to participate in this. It's fun. It's a distraction to kill some time and enjoy some worthwhile Indie titles. Complaining over a release that is still early and complaining that you were forced into anything is just stupid. Stop it.
And look at that, in the time I was writing this, the timer decreased by another 80 minutes thanks to AudioSurf being completed.
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