Consortium Agent
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Posted - 2011.06.07 14:03:00 -
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I've been telling CCP for years to pad their downtimes during client updates. Setting client expectations is a key part of your business. Running an MMO requires near constant attention to details, one of which is setting client expectations.
I've also recommended a number of books for the powers-that-be at CCP to read. Surely if English is the issue you can get a copy in your own native language - title like CMMI for Development, Winning with Software (or pretty much anything else written by Humphrey) - all of these books describe the same basic principles behind driving a successful software development organization. All of these books talk about setting client expectations and understanding the repercussions of slipped deadlines.
Continuing to release crappy, untested patches full of bugs that are self-evident on the testing servers, followed by a lackluster approach to resolving the issues created by the crappy patch, do not bode well with the Eve community at large. Remember - we're your clients and setting our expectations to be 'CCP is surely going to f*ck this up' and 'yeah, 13:30 my @ss!' isn't in the best interest of CCP, yet you continue to do it every single GD time you patch. 'Oh yeah, it'll only take us a couple of hours to deploy a patch' can't possibly cross the minds of anyone who works there unless they're criminally insane. History demonstrates that CCP never releases a bug free update, never releases even the smallest patch on time or within the deployment window CCP calculates and provides to their clients and never clearly communicates with their primary stakeholders - your players. You're sleeping at CMMI Level 1. These are symptoms of a failed process. So, again I suggest someone over at CCP pull their head out of their #ss and pick up a couple good SEI/CMMI books. I know it will again fall on deaf ears, but it makes me feel better having said it, so nyah! :P
Seriously, love the game - hate the executives forcing developers to release crappy untested patches. We expect this kind of behavior from the likes of Microsoft, not from the likes of CCP.
Oh, and one last note since it's kinda pertinent - releasing Dust514 exclusively for the PS3 (and excluding your entire Eve Online PC/Mac user base) is f*cking ******ed. Seriously. It's the worst decision I've seen CCP make since they tried to fix nullsec and made it worse. I understand why you're doing it, it's much easier to focus on a single platform and take advantage of all of it's strengths while avoiding it's weaknesses... but it's a stupid GD reason and you're alienating hundreds of thousands of Eve Online players all over the world. Just my two cents on that.
Who the hell is running that place these days anyway? Fire his @ss! He's not doing CCP any favors. Clearly.
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