Gaming on a Prayer

Article first published as Gaming on a Prayer on Technorati.

Gaming on a prayer...

So Diablo 3 is out today and after a long, long wait I can proudly say...

I'm going to wait a little longer...

See, Diablo 3 is one of those cornerstone games like Battlefield and Mass Effect that define a genre.  As such you rarely get a discount and can pretty much be assured that paying a premium for having the game on release day will only garner you frustration.

So it was with the launch of Diablo 3 today...

It wouldn't be the first time that an anxiously awaited title fell flat on its face.  Think back a few months to the Battlefield 3 launch and you see my point.

Does that mean I think these are bad games?  By no means but it is bad faith.  In the case of Diablo 3, It's the first game in the genre since Dungeon Siege 2 that has any hope of an entertaining co-op.  World of Warcraft doesn't count by the way.  That game's so mainstream they might as well sell it in the same place your mom gets her Nike running shoes.

 The problems are the same that have plagued the game industry since its inception.  Simply put, careless planning and sloppy execution.  Considering that popular games tend to be a niche market with  easily obtained metrics there's no room for the excuse of the "overwhelmed".

I can't think of any popular platform title that didn't have huge glitches on launch day in the past decade.  I suppose developers and publishers aren't students of their own history.

In the end that kind of carelessness usually translates into avid fans wondering what their pre-order premiums really bought them.  Then comes the wailing and vows to never be fooled again. 

Ah, but they will.  With games like Diablo 3 there's just enough time and hype (maybe too much) between sequels to forget the disappointment.  It's like those fond memories of youth when you'd sneak out of your room to go to a party.  You remember the party, you just chose to forget being grounded for a month when you got caught.

It's those same rose colored glasses that publishers bank on.  They assume their customers will put up with almost anything just to have the bragging rights of being amongst the first.  It's a classic case of early adopter syndrome and gamers have it in a bad way.

So with such a adoration and faith you'd think that developers and publishers would invest in some stress testing before subjecting paying customers to the dreaded Error 317002.  

There's certainly no lack of tools available for the purpose both commercial and open source.  With so many pre-orders it's a simple proposition to get a fairly accurate  estimate of your zero day users and plan accordingly. 

Instead, the early adopter gets to be the final beta tester and pay for the privilege.  The final act of faith and indignity.

Me, I think I'll wait for a few patches and an Amazon sale....