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The Daily Grind: Do developers troll their fans?
Sometimes I honestly wonder what goes on in the minds of the decision-makers at Sony Online Entertainment. Case in point is the recent decision to add wings to EverQuest II's cash shop. I'm not opposed to cash shops per se, and I'm not opposed to flying mounts or the formerly nifty race-specific quest that allowed Arasai players to earn a pair of functional wings at high level. Now, though, any old ratonga, iksar, or troll can fork over 20 bucks and take to the skies with angel's wings on his back, and while the EverQuest universe has fairly inconsistent lore on occasion, I can only conclude that someone at SOE thought it would be funny to mess with franchise fans a little bit. If not, surely there are more fan-friendly ways to go about designing cash shop items or new means of transportation. This isn't the first time SOE has indulged its baser shark-jumping instincts, either. Ask a Star Wars Galaxies vet about the infamous Ewok-themed Valentine's Day if you need another example. And therein lies today's Daily Grind. Do you think that developers troll their fans? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Because iFarting is serious business
We were just fine with letting this story dissipate right into the air like so many bad smells, as it's not exactly the most impressive thing to ever happen in the App Store. But in the interests of completionism, we'll bring it to you anyway. First, there were two apps that made fart noises, called Pull My Finger and iFart. Then, there was allegedly some inappropriate twittering (and shady iPhone reviewing -- we seriously doubt that tons of people want to give five stars to an app about MC Hammer), $50,000 of damages were requested, a "Social Media Expert" (read: "tool") got angry, and eventually a lawsuit was filed, and now every blog and website everywhere is posting that two apps about flatulence are suing each other. Like we said, not the story out of the App Store that we're most proud to report. But Apple did get mixed up in all of this early on -- Gizmodo reports that the Mothership was approached for a solution, and that it was decided to let the devs fight it out. Maybe if Apple had said early on that applications on the App Store had to do a little more than make fart noises (or that there was already enough farting going on in the store -- what do those other 29 apps have to do with any of this?), the iPhone wouldn't now be known as the premiere device for farting. But we suppose there's money to be had -- someone out there is buying either or both of these idiotic apps, and as a result, both of these guys are willing to go to court over software that reproduces the sound of passing gas in the hopes of getting even more money, despite the fact that you can simulate the same effect with the human armpit. Can we cut the lawsuits and get to producing some actual software for the platform, please?
If customer previews were all you had to go on
Imagine if video game sites and magazines didn't do previews on upcoming games. That'd be a terrible world. But just think of an even more hellish existence, where these customer previews were all you had to go on before buying a game: Ghost Rider "This game looks stupid, if this game is as good as the movie, it will still suck! " Call of Duty 3: Roads to Victory "Call of Duty is so cool for the PSP. It has great graphics and is a best shooter and war game for the PSP. It has great leavels and they aren't to hard and they aren't to easy. You will all be exited when it comes out." Continued after the jump ...
