RM Milner on Fallout fans again

[Snackpack]

Congratulations on not having friends that think for themselves, then.

I only have a couple friends that would consider themselves hardcore gamers, and they're in the same boat as I am as far as fallout 3 goes. The people I was speaking of are 360 owning casual gamers, who would probably buy fallout 3 unless someone advises them not to. Regardless, my point was that one persons opinion can affect sales, and any marketing guy knows that.

 

[Per]

Regardless, my point was that one persons opinion can affect sales, and any marketing guy knows that.

All right, then. I don't think anyone has actually challenged that. It just looked like you were having an issue with BN's view on boycotts, and what you've been describing isn't a boycott.

 

[Seymour the spore plant]

That, or a lot of us think a boycott, especially an official one, is a stupid idea.

As far as the official boycott is concerned, I certainly agree. Though I would love to see this game crash and burn, it's not my place to tell others what to do with their money, they should do as they see right.

But personally, I'll be boycotting Fallout 3 without a doubt. I have no interest in the kind of games Bethesda makes, and the morbid curiosity of seeing exactly what they'll do to the franchise is not enough to justify actively supporting them. You said it yourself earlier on this thread, BN, their wallet is the only thing they hear, and I'll have no part, however small, in further convincing them. I take it as a matter of principles not to support either their treatment of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout or what they stand for on gaming as a whole, so here I believe a boycott is in order.

I don't see how spreading word-of-mouth to help inform people's choice on wether to buy it or not is more valid (though larger in scope) than this "personal boycott" thing, since it's kinda the expected end result when we're talking about how we can hurt Beth.

 

[Snackpack]

All right, then. I don't think anyone has actually challenged that. It just looked like you were having an issue with BN's view on boycotts, and what you've been describing isn't a boycott.

They don't care about our purchasing power at all, either in what we can add or what we can detract in personal purchases.

That's what I was arguing. I think the fact that Pete Hines FO3 presentations to game "journalists" include a mention of the "rabid" fanbase as surely as they include demonstrations of vats would suggest the opposite.

And how is what I've been describing not a boycott? From dictionary.com: To abstain from or act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor or as a means of coercion

As far as the official boycott is concerned, I certainly agree. Though I would love to see this game crash and burn, it's not my place to tell others what to do with their money, they should do as they see right.

Like I said I also agree that an official "sign-up" or some such thing on NMA for a boycott would be silly and only make us easier to discredit. Also, I would never throw paint on someone wearing fur or insult someone who did buy fallout 3 with some term like "console cattle" However, telling my friends why I think they shouldn't purchase FO3 is a bit different.

 

[TheWesDude]

i wont boycott fo3, but i wont buy it for more than $30

reason is i figure by then there will be enough mods to make it at least reasonable.

 

[Brother None]

Explain why Bethesda would be at all concerned with fallout 3 detractors being impossible to ignore if they were not worried about bad publicity affecting their bottom line.

That's exactly the reason they're worried; bad publicity affects their bottom line.

I agree that some kind of "official" boycott would be as immature

Good, so we agree and my point stands: anyone declaring and trying to gather people under the flag of boycott is not hurting Bethesda. People being individually convinced to think about their purchase works. This is not the place of mass protest.

as immature as calling your peers "slavering retards"
(...)
*inserts a double-space to make room for unbridled college-kid-esque smugness*

Whatever problem you think you have with me, stick it under your hat. I'm not interested, and your behaviour is bordering on trolling, which is not allowed.

If you think attempting to affect change in a free market by abstaining from purchasing something is "stupid", you're wrong.

Good thing I never said that.

 

[SuAside]

i don't think "we" will affect FO3 sales much, if at all.

i'm caught in a Catch 22 myself...
if i don't buy the game, people will say i can't judge it. but if i buy it, i'm giving Bethsoft a thumbs up by filling their bankaccounts a tiny bit more. not to mention that i couldn't play Killap's & Timeslip's attempts to mod the suck out of the game.

 

[nimeni]

heh, we all know there is a middle way for it ..

 

[whirlingdervish]

I assume you are referring to watching someone else play it, who was dumb enough to buy it, since we wouldn't want to mention anything that is even near the borderline of illegal.

 

[Makagulfazel]

I'm going to judge it through all of the gameplay videos they will be releasing!

Oh wait...

At least there'll be videos on youtube to make fun of the AI.

 

[Brother None]

I assume you are referring to watching someone else play it, who was dumb enough to buy it, since we wouldn't want to mention anything that is even near the borderline of illegal.

You can rent it.

Or - better yet - second-hand purchase.

 

[Wooz]

Or play it at a friends' house! Or borrowing from a friend.

 

[generalissimofurioso]

I know that's what I'll probably do.

 

[winterraptor]

Good, so we agree and my point stands: anyone declaring and trying to gather people under the flag of boycott is not hurting Bethesda. People being individually convinced to think about their purchase works. This is not the place of mass protest.

Excuse my sarcasm if I am considered for inclusion in the subject matter of that first sentence: of course, there is no formal, literal organization here aside from those under the banners of various news groups, the head counts of which perhaps frequently do not exceed a total of 1 anyway.

As to protest, a collection of individuals in a literal sense can be a mass, and the voicing of strong negative opinion can be protest, but of course it is little more than semantics and two words having attached imagery involved that blur the base assumption. But! ...food for thought and all that.

I think we are all under an overall flag, so to speak, if it could be considered a campaign banner under which we march to the hoped defeat of an opponent sworn to a certain ideal in re-building a great monument of the past on our doorstep, for which we have wholly different ideals for. We may not have the tools needed, but we have a first-hand history they appear to have shunned, and an admiration for the principles and meanings involved different from theirs, concentrated on the form and imagery.

If we all march a good distance from one another, so what. If we all appear to be generals with an army of 1, what does it matter? The banner is flying, and obvious enough to be recognized by the opponent and others.

Too bad they have helicopters and tanks and we have slings and clubs...

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

I am still trying to convince a friend of mine that he really shouldn't buy Fallout 3, or wait until it is in a budget bin.
Unfortunate the Bethesda propaganda seems to have gotten to him.