OMG im on a trip out in Vegas and I just saw Notch at the Hard Rock Casino/hotel, he is lounging by the pool with a giant guitar shaped drink, surrounded by girls, and is wearing a shirt that says "Screw SMP".
OMG im on a trip out in Vegas and I just saw Notch at the Hard Rock Casino/hotel, he is lounging by the pool with a giant guitar shaped drink, surrounded by girls, and is wearing a shirt that says "Screw SMP".
You forgot the part where he was playing Civ 5 on a laptop.
Oh good for you, remember when maps weren't even infinite? Probably not, because half of you haven't been played MC that long. It was worth $13 then, and it's worth $13 now. Suck it up.
1) Versioning software is completely arbitrary. Calling something an "Alpha" has zero meaning. Minecraft could be in "Dingleberry" phase and it would still be just as useful as calling it "Alpha". Therefore making comments like "You can't complain about an alpha" is pointless since there is effectively no different between calling something alpha, beta or release. A bug is a bug, regardless of what phase of development the game is in.
2) Paying for a game doesn't mean you have any say in the development process. I mean, you can whine and complain all you want, but it's up to the developer(s) to work on what they feel is important. Your complaints don't carry anymore weight than any other person's and since I have yet to see a 100% consensus on what everyone feels needs to be fixed first, all Notch can do is review the complaints and make a decision from there. I don't need developers to be my best friend, I just want them to make good games. If a developer is getting sick of people asking the same question or making the same complaints over and over, I have no problem with them stating as such. I don't need developers to treat me like a 5-year-old and avoid trying to hurt my feelings.
I don't need developers to treat me like a 5-year-old and avoid trying to hurt my feelings.
Slightly more than half the forum is (literally) between the ages of 11 and 16 - hence, Notch needs to use small words with them.
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Quote from ZombieWeasel »
Well this is just me but... Water moats are so wet and dirty and annoying.... Real men make moats of liquid hellfire forged in the bowels of the earth and torn from the teat of the unholy adminium. Real MANLY Men create a LAVAFALL of death.
New plan: Whenever someone tells me to "fix smp" or similar, I will work on something else for four hours!
Quoted from Notch's twitter. Discuss.
Edit: Since you all seem to have gotten so mad, you should realize that it was a joke, and that he is actually working on SMP.
Honestly, I think most people know its a joke, but they CHOOSE to misinterpret it simply for the effect of drama. Some people like the 'my group is so oppressed X authority figure sucks terribly' etc etc
The issue with Notch is, he's new to running a business. He might make a wonderful developer, but he now has to learn how to run a business. You never talk down to your customers, even when they are wrong. We have centuries of experience in this and the power of a disgruntled customer. The old customer service adage "1 angry customer costs us 10 new customers" isn't just corp speak, it's a pretty dead on statistical 'fact' (as far as statistics go...) We've seen it daily for instance at sites like Amazon and Newegg on the weight of negative reviews on products versus positive reviews.
Fact: The largest and most frequently requested feature for SMP (Damage working) has been stated time and again to be low priority and reserved for Beta.
Fact: Those that bought Minecraft at this point are now customers; alpha, beta, or production is irrelevant to them as customers at this point. Notch has now positioned himself in a position to have to tell customers (rather then potential customers) that their priorities are not his in the development cycle. To a customer, that is a hard pill to swallow.
Fact: The perception of the damage prioritization is two fold: it comes off as "I want to reserve that part to get more money during beta by charging more" and secondly "rather then adjust my priorities to meet my customers needs they'll get it when I feel it is the time." Arguing who is right in that is meaningless.
Profession Opinion: From a testing standpoint no one can test anything game balance wise in SMP until that works. Notch is wasting potentially months of play testing. Defect resolution is one thing (duping, lag, etc.) but play testing in SMP is non-existent. Single player is easily adjusted in contrast to multi-player since we know there is only 1 player. We have no idea scaling issues with N-number of players. We have no way of regression and combination testing for mobs, no way of adjusting and scaling any interaction in SMP without damage since it is the only tactical metric that changes on the player (I suppose armor counts but since there is no damage that metric is inert). The sooner a feature is enabled the earlier it is tested.
The bulk of testing should be in Alpha (also called System Test 1, Phase 1 testing, in some industries) prior to feature freeze. Alpha is when you should be adding and removing features to better define the game play. Once you hit feature freeze by date or by design then you lock up the features and hammer out the remaining defects. Then you can process all of your early play test data during beta for tuning and cleaning up outstanding defects. Leaving damage till Beta might be the worst decision I can see because it robs so much testing time (on Notch's side) and limits players ability to test game play and at the very least get a feel for what issues need to be addressed early in the development cycle on the very nature of how SMP plays out WITH damage. No metrics on deaths from spiders versus zombies versus creepers. No metrics on how often players are engaged by monsters during the day or at night. No metrics on damage per player as the number of players rise and how those scale. If the DPP is 9 per hour of game play with a single player but plunges to 2 damage per hour with 2 players you have a serious scaling issue that I would hope is easier to resolved earlier rather then later.
Metrics you need, phrased as questions:
A: How much damage does a player take over the course of an hour on average?
B: How many of each type of blocks are players mining per hour? Do you need more or less diamonds, coal, clay, etc.
C: How often do players place a given block?
D: What is the average play session of a player?
E: What is the average number of players on an SMP server?
F: How far of a distance does an average player cover per X hours of game play?
G: What is the % time players spend underground versus above ground?
H: What are the causes of death of players (killing blows)?
I: At the time of death how much damage did a player take in the preceding 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 90 seconds? (This common metric can tell if your players are getting WTFPWNED and gang-banged more then wore down for instance. e.g. too many Creeper stacks rather then a slow wear and tear).
For those examples A,E,F,G,H, and I cannot be answered until damage is turned on. So it comes at no surprise that people are bitchy about the whole SMP thing. My question directly to Notch is, "Are their complaints warranted? If so, is the direction I am taking what is best for the project, myself, or my customers?" One of those is the wrong answer.
It's a hard lesson to learn. Many a project manager struggles with that. Now throw in being lead developer, project manager, business line rep, AND run a business... I can sympathize with his frustration but not the behavior if that twitter comment is legit. The professional thing to do is keep those frustrations to yourself; customers, by and large, don't need to know and many don't care.
Times have changed with the advent of the Internet and new pressures and hurdles have emerged. This is a great example on the difficulties of bringing players in too early. It can work for and against a develop. Lets hope the best and wish Notch well, but remember that consumers should be respected, even when they are wrong.
Oh look some terms and conditions you agreed to at purchase. Suck it up kids, he doesn't have to complete it.
There is no refund on it, you as a customer are expected to know what you are purchasing and I don't think he can make it clearer. You can't buy it, play for 3 months then go "HEZ NOT UPDATE FAST ENUF, CHARGEBACK LOL".
Further to all this given the average age of a MC customer I'd say none of you have ever worked in your life, let alone on something that can get very tedious if you make a mistake or are trying new things and failing a lot (like coding new features). You can't expect him to work 24/7 - not only is he entitled to pick when he works, he is entitled to TIME OFF for any arbitrary reason. A good work/life balance is essential if you don't want an exhausted developer taking a week off every two weeks due to stress.
If it was me, I'd be happy with 15 people per day buying my game (150 EU per day works for me) and me being able to push out most of the features they request than a boom in popularity and suddenly the whole internet wants xyz done but you only have a few hours per day to work on it.
I find this hilarious coming from someone who clearly makes money from his work.
I can offer some free map and save-file hosting, just PM me! 1GB/Unlimited Bandwidth/FTP Access. More on request!
You forgot the part where he was playing Civ 5 on a laptop.
"But I'm a paying customer!"
Oh good for you, remember when maps weren't even infinite? Probably not, because half of you haven't been played MC that long. It was worth $13 then, and it's worth $13 now. Suck it up.
I'm gonna whine about whiners!
1) Versioning software is completely arbitrary. Calling something an "Alpha" has zero meaning. Minecraft could be in "Dingleberry" phase and it would still be just as useful as calling it "Alpha". Therefore making comments like "You can't complain about an alpha" is pointless since there is effectively no different between calling something alpha, beta or release. A bug is a bug, regardless of what phase of development the game is in.
2) Paying for a game doesn't mean you have any say in the development process. I mean, you can whine and complain all you want, but it's up to the developer(s) to work on what they feel is important. Your complaints don't carry anymore weight than any other person's and since I have yet to see a 100% consensus on what everyone feels needs to be fixed first, all Notch can do is review the complaints and make a decision from there. I don't need developers to be my best friend, I just want them to make good games. If a developer is getting sick of people asking the same question or making the same complaints over and over, I have no problem with them stating as such. I don't need developers to treat me like a 5-year-old and avoid trying to hurt my feelings.
Slightly more than half the forum is (literally) between the ages of 11 and 16 - hence, Notch needs to use small words with them.
Honestly, I think most people know its a joke, but they CHOOSE to misinterpret it simply for the effect of drama. Some people like the 'my group is so oppressed X authority figure sucks terribly' etc etc
Fact: The largest and most frequently requested feature for SMP (Damage working) has been stated time and again to be low priority and reserved for Beta.
Fact: Those that bought Minecraft at this point are now customers; alpha, beta, or production is irrelevant to them as customers at this point. Notch has now positioned himself in a position to have to tell customers (rather then potential customers) that their priorities are not his in the development cycle. To a customer, that is a hard pill to swallow.
Fact: The perception of the damage prioritization is two fold: it comes off as "I want to reserve that part to get more money during beta by charging more" and secondly "rather then adjust my priorities to meet my customers needs they'll get it when I feel it is the time." Arguing who is right in that is meaningless.
Profession Opinion: From a testing standpoint no one can test anything game balance wise in SMP until that works. Notch is wasting potentially months of play testing. Defect resolution is one thing (duping, lag, etc.) but play testing in SMP is non-existent. Single player is easily adjusted in contrast to multi-player since we know there is only 1 player. We have no idea scaling issues with N-number of players. We have no way of regression and combination testing for mobs, no way of adjusting and scaling any interaction in SMP without damage since it is the only tactical metric that changes on the player (I suppose armor counts but since there is no damage that metric is inert). The sooner a feature is enabled the earlier it is tested.
The bulk of testing should be in Alpha (also called System Test 1, Phase 1 testing, in some industries) prior to feature freeze. Alpha is when you should be adding and removing features to better define the game play. Once you hit feature freeze by date or by design then you lock up the features and hammer out the remaining defects. Then you can process all of your early play test data during beta for tuning and cleaning up outstanding defects. Leaving damage till Beta might be the worst decision I can see because it robs so much testing time (on Notch's side) and limits players ability to test game play and at the very least get a feel for what issues need to be addressed early in the development cycle on the very nature of how SMP plays out WITH damage. No metrics on deaths from spiders versus zombies versus creepers. No metrics on how often players are engaged by monsters during the day or at night. No metrics on damage per player as the number of players rise and how those scale. If the DPP is 9 per hour of game play with a single player but plunges to 2 damage per hour with 2 players you have a serious scaling issue that I would hope is easier to resolved earlier rather then later.
Metrics you need, phrased as questions:
A: How much damage does a player take over the course of an hour on average?
B: How many of each type of blocks are players mining per hour? Do you need more or less diamonds, coal, clay, etc.
C: How often do players place a given block?
D: What is the average play session of a player?
E: What is the average number of players on an SMP server?
F: How far of a distance does an average player cover per X hours of game play?
G: What is the % time players spend underground versus above ground?
H: What are the causes of death of players (killing blows)?
I: At the time of death how much damage did a player take in the preceding 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 90 seconds? (This common metric can tell if your players are getting WTFPWNED and gang-banged more then wore down for instance. e.g. too many Creeper stacks rather then a slow wear and tear).
For those examples A,E,F,G,H, and I cannot be answered until damage is turned on. So it comes at no surprise that people are bitchy about the whole SMP thing. My question directly to Notch is, "Are their complaints warranted? If so, is the direction I am taking what is best for the project, myself, or my customers?" One of those is the wrong answer.
It's a hard lesson to learn. Many a project manager struggles with that. Now throw in being lead developer, project manager, business line rep, AND run a business... I can sympathize with his frustration but not the behavior if that twitter comment is legit. The professional thing to do is keep those frustrations to yourself; customers, by and large, don't need to know and many don't care.
Times have changed with the advent of the Internet and new pressures and hurdles have emerged. This is a great example on the difficulties of bringing players in too early. It can work for and against a develop. Lets hope the best and wish Notch well, but remember that consumers should be respected, even when they are wrong.
See ya, going to the Single-player forums. They actually have fun threads over there.
Oh look some terms and conditions you agreed to at purchase. Suck it up kids, he doesn't have to complete it.
There is no refund on it, you as a customer are expected to know what you are purchasing and I don't think he can make it clearer. You can't buy it, play for 3 months then go "HEZ NOT UPDATE FAST ENUF, CHARGEBACK LOL".
Further to all this given the average age of a MC customer I'd say none of you have ever worked in your life, let alone on something that can get very tedious if you make a mistake or are trying new things and failing a lot (like coding new features). You can't expect him to work 24/7 - not only is he entitled to pick when he works, he is entitled to TIME OFF for any arbitrary reason. A good work/life balance is essential if you don't want an exhausted developer taking a week off every two weeks due to stress.
If it was me, I'd be happy with 15 people per day buying my game (150 EU per day works for me) and me being able to push out most of the features they request than a boom in popularity and suddenly the whole internet wants xyz done but you only have a few hours per day to work on it.
HTFU internet, seriously.
Mostly because those who complain are the same people who had to spend there 2 weeks allowance on the game =)
rest of us older then 12years old people understand its an alpha
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