Let me tell you a tale. It's a sad tale concerning the death of an MMO (no, not this one! 
), and how the news of that death was delivered...
It all starts with a single phrase, one which to this day will cause some MMO players to cringe and curse under their breath. This emotive phrase came from Korean software giant NCsoft when they decided, seemingly out of the blue, to close the long-running MMO City of Heroes :-
"In a realignment of company focus and publishing support, NCsoft has made the decision to close Paragon Studios."
The only thing close to a reason they gave the players (for whom the game had been a part of their lives for seven years!) was this :-
"The continued support of the franchise no longer fits with our long-term goals for the company."
...and that was it. NCsoft was immediately inundated with emails from CoH players asking why, begging the company to reconsider, swearing they'd never buy another NCsoft game, etc etc...you can imagine how it went, even if you weren't there to witness it.
NCsoft were shocked, but said nothing. And they continued to say nothing. But the players...oh yes, the players still had a voice! The emails continued. Game jounralists were contacted. Packages were mailed directly to NCsoft in Korea containing photos, symbolic hero masks and heartfelt pleas... And eventually NCsoft posted this on their Facebook page :-
We wanted to let you know that your voices have been heard and your concerns have been taken into serious consideration. We appreciate the overwhelmingly constructive and positive messages in the emails, notes, and packages you've sent in support of the game. It has not been an easy decision for us to close Paragon Studios® and prepare to shut down City of Heroes. We've exhausted all options including the selling of the studio and the rights to the City of Heroes intellectual property, but in the end, efforts to do so were not successful. City of Heroes has a special place in all of our hearts, and we want to ensure its reputation and the memories we share for the game end on a high note.
And once more the players were outraged.
Why?
Look again at all of those comments. What's missing?
THE APOLOGY!
Never once did NCsoft apologise to the players. Perhaps it was a Korean thing. Perhaps it was just corporate complacency. But whatever the reason, NCsoft did not then, and have not to this day, issued an apology to City of Heroes players for closing the game they had invested so much of their emotions and creativity into over the seven years the game ran.
You may ask, "Would an apology really have made a difference to the players?"
I guess we'll never know. But at the very least it couldn't have made things any worse, could it?
Now. Back to Elite Dangerous...
I have read Newsletter #49. I have read the zillion+ page thread about SP offline. I have read all the developer comments about the topic. I understand the reasons for the decision to exclude an offline mode. And I can certainly empathise with how hard it was to make those decisions.
But what I have not seen is the slightest hint of an apology.
Unlike with NCsoft's nebulous corporate statement, I can see much more clearly the nature of the tough decision FD had to make, and I understand it. It's also obvious they never intended for things to go down like this - to all you conspiracy mongers I say simply this : if you were running FD, would you wait until just four weeks before your most treasured game's release date to drop a bombshell like this? Of course you wouldn't. It's clear FD's motives were for the good of the game, and it's also clear this decision has truly pained them.
Which is why it puzzles me all the more that we've not seen an apology from them about the matter.
Right since the Kickstarter I've been impressed at the sense of community surrounding this project. Frontier have shown on numerous occasions that not only do they listen to the Elite community, they also act on what they've heard - we were all in this together! That was the message I got. A strong community makes for a better game after all. The happier both the devs and the community are, the better the game will ultimately be.
Yet here we have a situation where the devs are hurting (that much is obvious) and instead of turning to their community for support, the only message we're getting right now is a dismissive one. It's a done deal, case closed, move on says the message.
It's trying to sweep the problem under the rug and hope it's quickly forgotten.
But alas this isn't going to go away. Already we've seen anger, ragequits, calls for refunds, and even people lashing out with their frustration in the direction of games media outlets, an action which (while understandable) will likely harm Elite Dangerous itself as it rolls on towards launch. And those who feel so aggrieved will not forget. This will simmer & seethe inside them, and they will probably never trust FD again, and that is a sad outcome indeed
It's like NCsoft all over again.
But FD still have the chance to avoid the same fate. There's still time to put out a statement to the community. Add a sticky post to the forum, send out a special one off newsletter...whatever it takes. Explain the reason for the decision and most importantly apologise to those for whom the prospect of offline mode was such a big deal.
Will it make a difference? There's only one way to tell, isn't there?
There is goodwill at stake here. And whether that goodwill is to be lost or gained is entirely in FD's hands.
FD I implore you - please don't be another NCsoft.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
EDIT 19-11-14 : Newsletter #50 (dated 19th Nov) has within it a detailed explanation of Frontier Developments' reasons for removing the offline SP option, and also includes the following statements from David Braben :
"I am really sorry this has upset people"
and
"In retrospect we should have shared the fact that we were struggling with this aspect with the community, but we were still trying to find a solution."
In that these statements certainly constitute more of an apology than NCsoft ever offered the players of City of Heroes, I consider this thread's core concept to be fulfilled.
), and how the news of that death was delivered...It all starts with a single phrase, one which to this day will cause some MMO players to cringe and curse under their breath. This emotive phrase came from Korean software giant NCsoft when they decided, seemingly out of the blue, to close the long-running MMO City of Heroes :-
"In a realignment of company focus and publishing support, NCsoft has made the decision to close Paragon Studios."
The only thing close to a reason they gave the players (for whom the game had been a part of their lives for seven years!) was this :-
"The continued support of the franchise no longer fits with our long-term goals for the company."
...and that was it. NCsoft was immediately inundated with emails from CoH players asking why, begging the company to reconsider, swearing they'd never buy another NCsoft game, etc etc...you can imagine how it went, even if you weren't there to witness it.
NCsoft were shocked, but said nothing. And they continued to say nothing. But the players...oh yes, the players still had a voice! The emails continued. Game jounralists were contacted. Packages were mailed directly to NCsoft in Korea containing photos, symbolic hero masks and heartfelt pleas... And eventually NCsoft posted this on their Facebook page :-
We wanted to let you know that your voices have been heard and your concerns have been taken into serious consideration. We appreciate the overwhelmingly constructive and positive messages in the emails, notes, and packages you've sent in support of the game. It has not been an easy decision for us to close Paragon Studios® and prepare to shut down City of Heroes. We've exhausted all options including the selling of the studio and the rights to the City of Heroes intellectual property, but in the end, efforts to do so were not successful. City of Heroes has a special place in all of our hearts, and we want to ensure its reputation and the memories we share for the game end on a high note.
And once more the players were outraged.
Why?
Look again at all of those comments. What's missing?
THE APOLOGY!
Never once did NCsoft apologise to the players. Perhaps it was a Korean thing. Perhaps it was just corporate complacency. But whatever the reason, NCsoft did not then, and have not to this day, issued an apology to City of Heroes players for closing the game they had invested so much of their emotions and creativity into over the seven years the game ran.
You may ask, "Would an apology really have made a difference to the players?"
I guess we'll never know. But at the very least it couldn't have made things any worse, could it?
Now. Back to Elite Dangerous...
I have read Newsletter #49. I have read the zillion+ page thread about SP offline. I have read all the developer comments about the topic. I understand the reasons for the decision to exclude an offline mode. And I can certainly empathise with how hard it was to make those decisions.
But what I have not seen is the slightest hint of an apology.
Unlike with NCsoft's nebulous corporate statement, I can see much more clearly the nature of the tough decision FD had to make, and I understand it. It's also obvious they never intended for things to go down like this - to all you conspiracy mongers I say simply this : if you were running FD, would you wait until just four weeks before your most treasured game's release date to drop a bombshell like this? Of course you wouldn't. It's clear FD's motives were for the good of the game, and it's also clear this decision has truly pained them.
Which is why it puzzles me all the more that we've not seen an apology from them about the matter.
Right since the Kickstarter I've been impressed at the sense of community surrounding this project. Frontier have shown on numerous occasions that not only do they listen to the Elite community, they also act on what they've heard - we were all in this together! That was the message I got. A strong community makes for a better game after all. The happier both the devs and the community are, the better the game will ultimately be.
Yet here we have a situation where the devs are hurting (that much is obvious) and instead of turning to their community for support, the only message we're getting right now is a dismissive one. It's a done deal, case closed, move on says the message.
It's trying to sweep the problem under the rug and hope it's quickly forgotten.
But alas this isn't going to go away. Already we've seen anger, ragequits, calls for refunds, and even people lashing out with their frustration in the direction of games media outlets, an action which (while understandable) will likely harm Elite Dangerous itself as it rolls on towards launch. And those who feel so aggrieved will not forget. This will simmer & seethe inside them, and they will probably never trust FD again, and that is a sad outcome indeed
It's like NCsoft all over again.
But FD still have the chance to avoid the same fate. There's still time to put out a statement to the community. Add a sticky post to the forum, send out a special one off newsletter...whatever it takes. Explain the reason for the decision and most importantly apologise to those for whom the prospect of offline mode was such a big deal.
Will it make a difference? There's only one way to tell, isn't there?
There is goodwill at stake here. And whether that goodwill is to be lost or gained is entirely in FD's hands.
FD I implore you - please don't be another NCsoft.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
EDIT 19-11-14 : Newsletter #50 (dated 19th Nov) has within it a detailed explanation of Frontier Developments' reasons for removing the offline SP option, and also includes the following statements from David Braben :
"I am really sorry this has upset people"
and
"In retrospect we should have shared the fact that we were struggling with this aspect with the community, but we were still trying to find a solution."
In that these statements certainly constitute more of an apology than NCsoft ever offered the players of City of Heroes, I consider this thread's core concept to be fulfilled.
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