Strong Concerns about Planetside 2 at Fan Faire 2011

[LZachariah]

I am a gigantic Planetside fan; it represents a major, defining moment of my gaming adolescence, and no game has ever captured the feeling of a living world and three armies that had numerous, actual roles. It was beautiful, the music was amazing, the freedom was extraordinary, and without needing to force them down our throats, it naturally created the most rich and meaningful narratives due to it’s organic, unrestricted gameplay. Nothing has successfully mimicked it. Planetside 2 is potentially the kind of game that you buy a new computer to play.

However.

I’m disappointed and have serious concerns about this “Informal Discussion” about Planetside 2 that’s happening at Fan Faire in July. Smedley has egregiously let us down once already, and his recent post stated that “a big Planetside announcement” is coming during Fan Faire. Now, if this “Informal Discussion” with the developers is the big announcement, I take it as a terrible sign. I have a number of reasons for feeling this worry and frustration.

First- This is referred to as an “Informal” discussion; it’s not even a presentation. This gives the developers a great deal of leeway to reveal very, very little. We already know some general information concerning the game, so let us consider what disclosures may happen:

1. The developers will say “We’re really excited at what a Triple-A game Planetside 2 is turning out to be; we’re pulling out all the stops and taking this game to a whole new level.” Well, isn’t that marvelous, a complete throw-away statement. Every company says this about their game- some are right, like the people who made Portal and Portal 2, and others are wrong, like the people who made Duke Nukem Forever. Any of these “this game will be worth ALL your anticipation!” or “our team has SO much heart!” statements are effectively worthless. No company in their right mind would EVER say the opposite: “Yeah, this game’s ok. We aren’t working too hard on it or anything; most of the day we just chill out on the computer and play Pogo.”

2. We have already been told “Planetside 2 will have every component from Planetside 1 [with the exception of BFR’s that have been omitted].” This means that it will be a waste of time for them to tell us about the Lasher, the Chaingun, Heavy Armor, MAX’s, or Hacking. If there are new elements or new facets within these topics, awesome. Maybe they have weapon customization (I’m hoping they do). Maybe there will be two types of currency in the game, Certification Points for skills and Authorization Points for equipment (to spend on weapon and vehicle upgrades, etc). That would be fantastic. However, disclosing that would take… what, one minute? Less?

3. The “Informal” nature of this discussion gives the team plenty of room to reply “We’re not talking about that right now, but we have lots of exciting plans,” or some other useless response. Remember, they are calling this a “discussion,” not a presentation, which means they aren’t necessarily constructing a presentation loaded with info, they’re going to sit back and respond to questions, many of which they can just deflect.


So, that’s my First concern: the disconcerting way that SOE is conceptualizing this as an “Informal Discussion.” Secondly, I am worried at the implicit measure of game-progress evidenced by an “Informal Discussion.” Will an informal discussion include screenshots? Videos? One would assume not. I certainly hope there will be, but given the title of “Informal Discussion,” I’m estimating a less than 50-50 chance that there will be any new media. This is a very bad sign.

So what is the crux of my worry? I shall present it concisely, now that you’ve heard my argument. When we heard Smedley disclose that “there is a big Planetside 2 announcement coming during Fan Faire 2011!” numerous posts appeared online assuming that it would be the major reveal of the game. A reveal would include a website, and preorder information, and videos. The game (or at LEAST a beta) was promised to us in March, and the director of The9 (China’s branch of the Planetside 2 game) said “The game is done; we are just improving the graphics.” However, the game has been a phantom, and basically no apology or acknowledgement of these incongruities offered to us. Now it comes out that the “big announcement” is just an “informal discussion”, well:

It is apparent that SOE is stalling, and it indicates to me that this game is not nearly as far along as SOE wants us to think.

Given the HORRIFIC fiasco that SOE suffered in the past few months, now is the WORST POSSIBLE TIME to make diluted promises, or worse, LIES, concerning a game with a strong, enduring fanbase. And Planetside 2 is NOT some peripheral side-project that a small team is working on. The Agency has been canceled, and SOE has said that its two major projects are “Planetside 2” and “Everquest 420 DiamondBlade Edition” or whatever damn incarnation of that game is next in line. So, Planetside is one of SOE’s two upcoming flagship games, and they are dicking around with us.

I hope, I hope, I hope I’m wrong. But I don’t think I am.


~Zachariah