I'm not sure it is difficult to grasp what the concept of early is.
Why Does Some Think Python MKII Is Only Being Sold For Early Access?
- Thread starter Greasetrap42
- Start date
Valve uses it, Blizzard uses it, FDev uses it, others I'm sure use it too. I'm not aware of anyone making any entertainment product that uses the nomenclature of "delayed access" however, outside of discussions like these which don't have the luxury of rewriting the context chosen on a store page.
But what does "early access" actually mean though? Just because multiple organisations use a term doesn't mean that they all define it the same way.
I suspect that they avoid calling it "delayed access" because of the negative connotations of the term "delayed", such as when a game's release is delayed.
Early access to a .jpg and some written fluff.
12 years on...
...with no mention of when it will ever become a released product! (I've had it for several years, being the eternal optimist & all that...)
At least with the Python Mk II it is only a mere 3 months..
Obviously, but they aren't wrong. The people buying in do have access before an arbitrary date under the control of the creator in which the game or content is officially fully released.
Access to something earlier than other people who otherwise do not have said access to the thing. Everything else is irrelevant. What other companies do, how one feels about it, weather or not one thinks it is an "okay" thing to do in current year, weather or not one can afford to pay for the access, or weather one has to pay for it at all are all not relevant to what makes early access, an early access. Not all icecreams are made the same way but they are still all icecream.
Means usually one of 2 things
1) Access granted before something is officially complete or while base launch content is still being developed (eg: steam early access) or
2) Access granted before a stated general release for a fee or higher price of entry, like deluxe editions, or membership/backing of some type, for some form of content (eg: premium game editions or expansions with early starts)
The latter has been used in multiple cases my more devs that I can be bothered to recall. And it's consistent with our situation.
If someone makes an icecream but then I'm not allowed to pick it up until 10 minutes have passed or I pay an extra pound, I would not consider paying to be getting it "early". It would be earlier than the artificial delay, sure. Earlier overall? No. Exactly the normal time I would have previously expected, now with an additional fee.
And yes, I know you already said personal views on this don't matter. But unless you have been appointed the one in charge of such matters, your message also looks a hell of a lot like an opinion, so I apologise for sharing mine as well. There is nuance here, even if you think that's irrelevant.
We're not talking one guy's opinion here. It's been an established convention for a while.
Seriously, has ED been the only game any of you followed in the last decade?
early adjective - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com
Definition of early adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com
access noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com
Definition of access noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com
Nothing to do with my opinion on the matter, which you assume to know. Weather or not I would prefer to have access to the ship right now without paying for it is something I am able to put aside, along with my emotions on the matter and the practices of other companies and the price of semiconductors in South Korea.
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So, to use the definition you've provided of "arriving, or done before the usual, expected or planned time" - you're saying that there is no nuance there and I'm not allowed to consider the "usual" or "expected" time to be the time that we would get the ship if they didn't introduce an artificial three-month delay? You know, like for every other ship.early adjective - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com
Definition of early adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.access noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com
Definition of access noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
Nothing to do with my opinion on the matter, which you assume to know. Weather or not I would prefer to have access to the ship right now without paying for it is something I am able to put aside, along with my emotions on the matter and the practices of other companies and the price of semiconductors in South Korea.
I don't see how other games should affect my opinion that paying to bypass an artificial delay is not getting it "early". That to me would suggest getting a better deal than what would happen without the "early access". But if Frontier didn't go with this plan, the release date of the Python Mk2 would just be May.
No. I'm saying all of these hypotheticals you are doing mental gymnastics over have no bearing on weather or not the ship is early access or not. People who paid for access to it have access to it earlier than those who didn't. Anything else is coming up with a reason to justify complaints about the matter which are 2 entirely separate things. You (presumably) opened the thread to ask a question of what early access means. People have told you. Either you take that information and move on if you opened the thread to actually ask a question, or you don't if you only opened the thread to complain and actually don't care about the answer to the question you asked at all, and just continue to complain I guess, for whatever period of time until the thread dies and people eventually move on to the next big thing to be upset about.
If you chose to actively ignore nomenclature used commonly and extensively you of course have every right to do so. But that doesn't change the fact that you are chosing to ignore that convention which has become the accepted normal use of the term.
And the logic presented doesn't make early access an invalid interpretation because the actual date of release is arbitrarily chosen rather than being mandated as soon as the content hits a functional state. They've simply chosen that date to be in August. But if you want it before that, you can pay to use it earlier.
A store is selling a product right now. It has been developed and is released to anybody that wants to buy it. It might be known that at a later date the price will be dropped, or given away for free. It doesn't matter. It is available for intended use right now.
Regardless of the payment amount or method for a later date, it is most certainly fully available for intended use right now. Regardless of what the product is. It could be shoes from store, a new DVD movie released at Walmart, or donuts from the bakery that get sold as day-olds tomorrow. Calling the sale of these items "early access" simply because we know they will sold cheaper at a later date is not normal.
If some gaming companies call the the sale of a their product "early access" when its not actually early access (ie: it is being sold openly in unlimited quantities to the general public) that is obviously just marketing. If gamers feel special cause they got "early access" that's great. I can't think of any other industry that sells a product in umlimited quantites openly to the public and call the sale "early access".
True! But not earlier than we would otherwise expect the ship to be available, because the only actual change to timing was the introduction of an artificial delay. So looking at the bigger picture, where the ship releases normal time for those who pay and later for those who don't...well, I don't consider that "early". Yes, normal time is before later. I just think that "early" would come before "normal".
You are free to disagree. There is nuance here as to which context you look at it in - but please understand that I am not arguing "people who pay for it don't get it before those who do". I know thats a significantly easier argument to debunk, but its not mine.
Incorrect, I opened the thread because it had an interesting title that related to some thoughts I had already been having. I then read the OP's message, saw they were noticing a similar distinction to me, and decided to share my opinion on the matter. I trust that this is an acceptable reason for you. If it's not, sorry.
I think it being a "convention" is only really relevant to how easily the practice is accepted, not so much what it practically means. If you're used to it, I can see how it would be much less of a deal for you, and it's certainly not an invalid interpretation to go the other way. I just prefer to compare to the previous state of things in Elite, rather than the current state of things in some other games. Agree to disagree.
Correction...I'm wrong... crappy internet adds do this all the time. And late night adds on commercial networks selling ginsu knives, body massagers, and kitchen blenders. And we all know this is just cheesy marketing.
It is not available for the intended use to those who did not pay for it.
Oh okay, so you just want to have a cry sesh about what you feel is acceptable or not and are not actually looking for confirmation on what is or isn't early access. Yea that's acceptable to me as long as we're being honest about why we come into threads.
No, it being a convention has nothing to do with acceptance and everything to do with it being a defined practice with a consistently applied name. It has nothing to do with how much I like it (see my posts in the P2W thread, I don't) and everything to do with the fact that trying to recontextualize the term does nothing for the argument against it. So much so that even those in the greater gaming space arguing against the practice still all call it the same thing.