tedivm
   |
Posted - 2009.02.18 17:41:00 -
[1]
CCP (and I hope some CCP staff are reading this) may end up having some problems they hadn't counted on because of this, but at the same time if they're smart they can turn that around.
Lets really look at what Eve is here- its the ultimate geek game. Its got a ridiculous learning curve, a large chunk of the game it mapping out skills and min/maxing ship stats, and lets not forget the premise of the game itself, which tends to appeal to geeks. Hell, you could rename this game 'Geeks in Space' and everyone would still know you meant eve.
The linux (and open source crowd as a whole) isn't just a bunch of random people, its a community (of geeks) with a lot of core members and a lot more fringe members. For instance, I am using the game on OSX most of the time, but all my servers run on linux. Obviously I'm not a person who is using the Linux client, yet I would most likely not be playing this game if it wasn't for the fact that there was one.
You see, the Linux community is already used to being vocal, so when they see something they like (or otherwise), they talk about it. When you throw out linux support, you're also tossing all that marketing.
Of course, that doesn't make you wrong. I did try out the linux client, and it sucks. I mean its bloody awful. Your mistake wasn't in pulling Linux support, it was in half assing it and putting out a crappy client, and then being surprised when people didn't use the crappy client.
Moving Forward
From here there are two places CCP can go. I'm going to start with the most likely, but also the worst thing CCP can do- absolutely nothing.
CCP can drop the client (as its done) and just leave it at that, but this would be a disaster. First, all of the OSX users (such as myself) are going to get nervous that we're next. See, even though this blog post specifically states that the OSX client is doing better, the lack of communication from CCP about the linux client up until they canceled it scares me. Am I just going to wake up one day, try to log in, and find some blog post telling me I'm no longer allowed to play because CCP doesn't like my operating system? There's no way of knowing because CCP botched how they handled this one.
When I stated this post I did say there was something CCP could do to turn this around. This has already been mentioned numerous times in this thread, but it bears repeating. Repeating in big bold letters:
GIVE SOME SUPPORT TO WINE USERS.
Most of the Linux users where using Wine to begin with, due to the crap quality of the Linux client. Many of the posts in the Linux forums are about getting Eve to work with Wine.
How much effort would it be to test new updates in Wine for problems before launch, or to add a few articles to your support documentation about using Wine? By taking some of the money you've been dumping into that god awful linux client and putting it towards better Wine support you will end up seeing a better return on your investment.
If this means actually supporting the open source project itself, all the better. This will bring you a lot more publicity (imagine having Slashdot posting about your support of Wine, as opposed to them posting about your drop of linux) and, as mentioned earlier, the open source community tends to talk.
|