Blog FeedBug Tolerance
Despite being in the middle of my exam period, I ordered Civilization 4 the other day from my favourite online vendor. Even with the shipping costs it’s cheaper than buying it from a retail store, the only downside being the added waiting time. I’ve played every previous Civ game for hours on end, even Civ3, though it did have a tendency to make me grit my teeth. I’d read the reviews and hadn’t found even one giving it less than 9/10 (still haven’t), so that plus my affection for all the previous titles had me sold early on. It was shortly after I placed the order that I decided to check up on the finer details, so I took a stroll around some of the major Civ-related forums on the web.
Now, I thought I had learned my lesson from buying my motherboard earlier this year- that you should always read the forums before making the purchase. Of course, game experiences are more subjective so perhaps that’s why I didn’t, but once I did find my way to many a Civ-related forum, I saw the number of bug reports were huge. Many stability issues with ATI cards (like mine), terrain bugs, sound bugs, you name it. It got me quite worried. Of course, I am well aware that bug-report forums are often filled with the minority of players. To their credit, Firaxis has already developed a patch which ought to fix the most serious issues, and it’s due to be released shortly, but the whole ordeal got me thinking about how buggy a game would have to be before I would actually refuse to buy it.
I do suppose it depends largely on two things: how much one wants the game, and just how bad those bugs are. I have been wanting Civ4 so badly that I must admit, despite the bug reports I had no intention of cancelling my order, even before I was aware a patch was soon to be out. Were this to have been a different game though, it’s entirely possible I would put off getting the game and waiting until patches had been released and the community in general had given the all clear. I think with ever more complex games, and ever more rushed development schedules, situations like this are going to become more and more common. I don’t, however, think it’s acceptable. Age of Empires 3 had a patch out even before the game hit retail. Surely the additional testing they did to realise a patch was needed should have been done before the game went gold?
20th November | Reply
The only bugs that really put me off are the ones that screw the entire experience up, like freezes and such. Other than that, I have a bit more patience with bugs that I actually have with people.
21st November | Reply
Yeah, I am almost ashamed to admit that I can overlook a lot of bugs with my desire to enjoy the game. The perfect example being Star Wars Galaxies. A broken launch, a buggy game, however I still played (and enjoyed) it for the first 3 months.
MMORPGs are a little different though because if something is bugged you can generally go and do something else (like if you cannot beat that quest due to a bug or something). The more potential and ambitious the game is the more I am likely to stick with it. Black & White is another example. There is something that makes me feel if I stick it out with a buggy yet genious game it will be ‘proven’. Then the sequel or next game in that style will be all the more polished because the dollars will be there to back it up.
21st November | Reply
Bugs and additional patches are a further reason why I tend to stick to console games. Console games get no patches (exclusing recent online games) and so the good ones are tested the hell out of before being released. As such, they may still hgave a few bugs, but its nothing that will effect your overall enjoyment of the game (some can actually add to it).
22nd November | Reply
Sadly enough that might not last long Thornhillboy. I wouldn’t be surprised if Xbox 360 games start to get ‘patched’. However, a priority and automatic patching service seems to eliminate most of the negatives of game patching. Except for the whole ‘pushing games out fast and patch later’ negative of course.
23rd November | Reply
I don’t know that sticking to console games is a surefire way to avoid bugs, Thornhillboy. I’ll cite the example of KotOR 2 here as proof that no matter what the platform, developers will be rushing games out if publishers demand it.