WOTC: Making a statement is not making a promise

[evileeyore]

The expectation is based on particular people relabeling any statement made by the developers as a promise.

Maybe... but I see it as this:

The expectations are based on interactions with companies that do what they say.

WotC is not one of these companies. They do not reliably uphold their words.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The problem with saying a company lies is that most of the time, they are stating their plans. But they are not selling you these plans.

If someone would have said "We plan on having two classes for each role in the PHB", it is just not a lie or a broken promise if in the end, it turns out to be different.

It becomes a lie if you buy the book after someone says you: "The book contains two classes for every role".


The reason some people seem to miss such differences - It's because of the emotional investment. People are looking forward to the stuff promised by the company in question. This creates emotional investment. It's not the same as a money investment, but for some accounts it might actually be worse - disappointed emotional investment always hurts, while you might be able to write off the 30 $ spend on a game that doesn't deliver on its promises.

 

[Kzach]

Why is it that we hang so heavily on the words of WOTC, ascribing their plans as promises?

Because they hype them as promises.

 

[Rel]

Hey, Little Raven, anytime you want to drop the confrontational sarcasm, that'd be great.

 

[LightPhoenix]

You make it sound like someone forced the poor WOTC employees to point-blank lie to the fans.

While that is probably an exageration, it may not be entirely untrue. Employees probably had to (and always have had to) clear any statements regarding intention with WotC PR, who then have to clear it with Hasbro, or else get reprimanded. In the case of DDI, it may have been the case that WotC couldn't announce it until Hasbro told them they could. The consequence for such potentially being as harsh as losing their job.

 

[Mister Doug]

Because those words are used to manipulate consumer attitudes toward a product to compel interest in said product. As such, consumers begin to act accordingly, as in the case of selling 3.5 products to clear room and make money for 4e products or ending their campaigns (as per WotC's advice on numerous occasions) in anticipation of 4e.

When all of the promotion, hype and other words say one thing, and WotC carries through with something else, consumers get angry.

I really don't get this. WotC is bad for creating interest in a product to raise money for future product? That's kind of their reason for existence.

Any company that would release a product and say, "we think this product is great, but we have something else we are coming out with later, but are in early design, that we think is just going to be much much better, but we need to sell this product (which is great, just not as good as we hope this later thing is going to be) to keep us afloat until then. So, you know buy this thing now. But, you know, in six months we'll have something we hope will be cooler" is just shooting itself in the foot. They'll crash and burn and deserve to.

If you make a product, you hype and promote it. That's good business. If it's bad enough you won't do that, then spend your effort elsewhere. Use your business now to move on to your next ventures, and hope that your customers today like what you are producing today, and your customers tomorrow like what you produce tomorrow.

I don't know what's wrong with any of that.

 

[Hussar]

Because they hype them as promises.

See, no, they really don't.

What usually happens is someone reads something on a Dev blog or press release, posts a link to it and makes a couple of comments about how they perceive the information. Then the next person doesn't bother to read the press release and simply goes by what the poster said.

On and on and on.

Then suddenly it goes from, "Hey guys, we'd like to have this done by Gen Con" to "WOTC has absolutely concretely stated that they will have this done a week before Gen Con".

Yeah, they said we'd have those cheapie Pdf's. Something happened in the meantime and that hasn't happened. Doesn't mean that it will never happen. Doesn't mean anything other than it just hasn't happened.

It's like the posters who continually call the DDI vaporware because it is late in release. There's no real proof that it is vaporware. Development is presumably continuing, so, it's likely not vaporware, but, that doesn't stop people from jumping up and down and screaming that it is.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

Customers get angry because of broken promises? Heck, after following the 4e launch, you´ve had to realize that some people just get angry about anything.
Honestly, this thread is just sad. The OP tries to inject some perspective into a heated discussen, and suddenly the usual suspecs pop up and gleefully use the opportunity for finger-pointing and fist-shaking. The realities of the publishing industry? Reacting to market changes? Changing your plans when you realize that some things are just not working out? BUT WE WERE TOLD....
Oh well, internet.

 

[Vocenoctum]

Customers get angry because of broken promises? Heck, after following the 4e launch, you´ve had to realize that some people just get angry about anything.

And sometimes, the "internet rage" or "nerd rage" or whatever dismissive term is used, is simply someone airing a grievance because they're disappointed in something they were told that is no longer the case. Sometimes it's just a way for the opposite side of a discussion to belittle folks backhandedly, by saying that they shouldn't be mad, because what they were told wasn't really a "promise", so they shouldn't have had expectations to be spoiled.

Honestly, this thread is just sad. The OP tries to inject some perspective into a heated discussen, and suddenly the usual suspecs pop up and gleefully use the opportunity for finger-pointing and fist-shaking. The realities of the publishing industry? Reacting to market changes? Changing your plans when you realize that some things are just not working out? BUT WE WERE TOLD....
Oh well, internet.

The thing is, you've got to recognize both sides of this. If someone says "Man, barbarians are out? WotC promised us barbarians." They're simply expressing their disappointment of the lack of barbarians and their disappointment that the company didn't deliver what they were told.

Projecting a sense of entitlement onto them may make it easier to discard their opinions as "WotC didn't promise anything, get over it", but that doesn't address that the barbarian is missing.

It's the old joke about telling a cop to leave you alone, because you pay his salary. I don't see that from the postings, I just see disappointment that things are not as they said they were.

It's one of the things that soured me on Paizo, when they utterly failed with AoW Overload, and the rabid fans went after everyone that questioned it with "well, it's a free supplement, so shut up!". It doesn't address the issue of lacking the material that was supposed to be there.

 

[Kzach]

See, no, they really don't.

No, see, they really do.

THEY hyped a lot of things about 4e that never came true. They didn't say, "Oh, we're gonna try and deliver this, this, and that," no, they continually and repeatedly said, "OMG! This is SO awesome! You're going to LOVE it! We're bringing out THIS, THAT and, OMG! The OTHER! And it is SO COOL!"

I think a lot of people in this thread have forgotten (already) just how gung-ho WotC were with their hyping of 4e and associated products. They did, indeed, make promises. And they have failed to deliver on many of them.

If anyone wants proof, go to YouTube and watch some GamerZero, or go back and listen to all the podcasts. Or hell, do a google search on 4e. They were making promises, not announcing possible future directions, that may or may not come to be.