[bf1942] OT: Communication with and from DICE Canada

[Miguel Filho]

Well, good words, I agree with you, but the comunication from Dice Sweden is gone just because
there is no more development on bf1942. Just take a look, linux server is relese canditate 2 for almost 
4 months. EA has alredy packed BF1942, RTR and SW for 39.90.

http://eastore.ea.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=947&itemType=PRODUCT&ProductID=947


Did you see the BF2 videos from E3? I think that they are deep inside the development of BF2.

Dice Canada/EA will release a patch for Vietman "soon", and IMHO the only one, or maybe two.

We must live with that, the game is done and EA is not like Valve, that after 5 years, still updating
half-life.

Miguel


On Thu, 20 May 2004 23:51:47 +0200, "Martin Steiger" <martin at steigi.com> escreveu:

> De: "Martin Steiger" <martin at steigi.com>
> Data: Thu, 20 May 2004 23:51:47 +0200
> Para: <bf1942 at icculus.org>
> Assunto: [bf1942] OT: Communication with and from DICE Canada
> 
> Dear DICE/EA
> 
> Since today was a "more busy day" on this mailinglist (I already thought, I
> misconfigured my mailclient), I'd like to spend a few words about this
> mailing list, the forums and the general way of communication of DICE
> Canada.
> 
> Let me start at the beginning: When BF1942 was ported to linux, it was Ryan
> C. Gordon who made the whole thing and started this mailing list. Every
> input was (more or less) appreciated by Ryan, who never hesitated to answer
> to any issue as fast as possible.
> 
> Then, BF1942 moved to DICE Sweden. Personally, I believe, Andreas sometimes
> wasn't so happy about following this list, but that's another story... :)
> Fact is, he took our complaints serious and, after Steve started the
> lightcubed-forums, he was even a frequent visitor there.
> 
> At last, BF:V was given to DICE Canada (for whatever reasons) and since
> then, communication was dead. No stop, I'm wrong: I remember having much
> traffic on this list, when Peter Chang did it, asked for our opinion and
> bugs and finally fixed them. His way of communication was sometimes sloppy,
> but heh, at least we got some informations... :)
> 
> Ok, so far for history, now let's juggle some numbers...
> 
> Facts are gone now, the following numbers are only my assumptions: I assume,
> this list has about 1'000 members. About 500 of them are "active" and wrote
> at least one email. That would be IMHO about 500 more or less serious
> admins.
> 
> Now let's go to the forums: ~1800 registered users until now, let's be brave
> and take 900 as serious admins. That would be 1'400 until now... Let's be
> modest again and say, every of them runs only one 20 slot server, or even
> more modest and decrease the numbers of serious players to only 10 per
> server.
> 
> We have the numbers, lets do the math: 1'400 * 10 = 14'000 (!!!!!!!!)
> 
> Now for the conclusion: I know, EA has their own forums for bug reporting,
> and I'm sure, they have thousands of posts every day with people,
> complaining about the same thing every time.
> 
> On this mailing list and the forums, you have these 14'000 opinions
> _concentrated_ on a "few" mails and a "few" posts. Additionally, more
> experienced admins are helping the less experienced out, so that's also
> saving a lot work (and money) for your support people.
> 
> I know you heard this a thousand times already, but please keep in mind,
> that WE are running the servers, that make YOUR game so successful.
> 
> We don't expect you to release your business plans for the next years or any
> release dates, but IMHO, the lack of communication at the moment is
> "inacceptable". The statements of "EA Mike" are just not enough to keep our
> players happy.
> 
> Thanks for your time
> 
> Martin Steiger
> (a "proud" member of the BF-community... ;)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>