November 15, 2007 -
PC World Canada has a great piece out this week, 10 Worst Consumer Tech Trends.
We love it when author Erin Bell lays it on the line in her opening sentence:
I don't care about corporate interests or revenue streams. I'm the consumer, and as far as I'm concerned it's all about me.
While the article is about consumer tech generally, several issues identified by Bell affect gamers specifically. Like #9: Over-promising and under-delivering:
We're still waiting to see the PlayStation Home (the MMORPG-like social networking platform that Sony announced for PlayStation 3 users).
Nor is she crazy about fanboys, who, collectively, weigh in at #8:
Why do people feel such fierce loyalty to a corporation? You can rest assured the corporation doesn't feel the same level of loyalty towards you.
But we really loved her thoughts on #7, region encoding:
Historically, if you bought a video game in Japan, it wouldn't always work in your North American console... Add to the fact that not all movies and games are released world-wide, the only chance a North American gamer might have to play certain Japanese titles is to import them.
It seems strange that companies would rather deny consumers the right to experience games or movies altogether simply because they haven't been officially released in that consumer's country.
And Erin's #1 consumer gripe? Digital rights management (DRM):
This is a no-brainer. DRM... the industry's answer to piracy, has probably incited more consumers to pirate content than anything else in the history of consumer electronics... The most tragic thing about DRM is that it's alienating ethical people who would otherwise pay to download songs, but who resent the restrictions that these songs come with.
Comments
That is the same reason why the Wii was such a run away success. The average consumer could care less about cutting edge technology. Both the 360 and the PS3 went the route of the hardcore gamer. Nintendo decided they couldn't compete for the hardcore market as well, so they branched out and found success with people who don't know frame rates from picture frames.
I agree with your stance on HD formats. The average consumer could care less. Because the average consumer is still watching TV on analog CRT television sets. The minority of people who own true HD televisions are the ones who care. They are also the ones who can afford an HD player as well.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
35-40 lbs sledgehammer? That's pretty heavy. I don't think I've even seen one over 15 lbs...
@linenoise
Yeah, I use adblock and noscript now and have been for a while, but back before I got these handy add-ons web ads made browsing some sites painful enough that I just stopped going to those sites.
The hacker/piracy problem is probably caused in a significant amount by DRM since I know if I had the skill and got told by some malfunctioning DRM I can't use the product I just paid for I'd just hack it out. Like if I had actually bought C&C3 and hit the DRM in it I'd have hacked it out if I could, as is I'd probably complain to their support daily for as long as I can drag the call out until they released a patch to their bad DRM that lets my machine play it (and I do have the free time to do this too so companies reading this, note that PowerDVD is not a piracy tool, and fear me should I have to call :P ).
I dunno about making flash skip a video ad, but using noscript might help cut down on the number you see since a lot of video ads are called in using scripts. You get so see these funny chopped off urls on the side of pages and know that those urls are all ads (that got past ad block) that noscript finished off. I also wish you the best of luck should you try to hack out EA's in-game advertisements.
Agreed. I used to hate Microsoft for going into the console business, now I won an Xbox and love it.
Nail on the head, if you know what I mean.
Truer words have never been spoken.
----
Papa Midnight
I believe #5 (bluray vs hddvd) will soon be a non issue. This format is just a stop gap for the format the studios really want - direct to end user distribution. Cutting out everyone from disk manufacturers to stores and keeping all the money to themselves has not happened since the trust busters made the studios get out of the theater business.
However, #6 is something that I disagree with. If an artist (or otherwise a musician) does not want to license something or wants to get paid a lot for a license... then good for them. A recording is their property.
"Try to trick me to click through by showing a fake "close window" button"
People who make stuff like that should be fired....out of a cannon into the sun.
Regional coding, hell yes; that stuff sucks!
Format wars, I'm in that "wait and see" thing, too. I'm not going to buy two different players just to watch a handful of movies.
Annoying web ads, I think we can all attest to that, but I'd like to make my own. They should also never flash so fast in various colors, like those YOU ARE THE WINNER!! banners and stuff I see. Black, blues, red, yellows, greens, whatever, going through a cycle with each color lasting a fraction of a second. They can actually hurt my eyes, and I'd have to stare away or refresh/close out and reopen the page. And as for that audio one, that's partly why my PC is always on Mute. Then yeah, you have those massive ones that take up the whole page; both still and animated.
DRM. Yeah...I don't think I need to say it.
I aggree with Chris Wallace, that the music liscensing issue is really not an issue for technology. So I don't think it really should have had a place on this list. But it probably stims from the idea that this writer wants to hear the original band not some bar band doing a cover.
But the rest, DRM, audio formats, region coding, format wars all annoying.
I think the issue of Fanboys is really the top cake though. I hate them with a passion. They are annoying and can easily derail a great discussion.
What is even more annoying is when an otherwise good blog is staffed by fanboys (Joystiq I'm looking at you). These site bug the crap out of me. They put out the appearence of a being unbiased and then through out articles that are obvious flame bait.
Advertising is really bad as well. I will echo Nekowolf and say that flashy advertisement should die along with their creators. I am fine with a little animation as long as it is waranted and done with respect for the eyes of the viewer. Audio should never be used in web ads, unless it is in a transition video ad. Those ads should never be longer than 5 secs. I wholly agree with that. I hate going to a site and having to site through a minute long ad. Next ads should be non intrucive. My local news site has an ad that pops up right over the main article. You can't move it. You have to click to close it. It is almost enough to make me not go to that site, if it weren't the best local news in the state.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
F*CK FANBOYS
Critical hit.
Triple twenty.
I can't add anything, except about the closed source thing: the succes of that thing was the unifying factor, I swear at the unxpected controls in most open source programs. Then I get used to them. This is not limited to controls but also to formats and interprogram compatibility.
This is gonna get fixed with time though.
And what about those ads that go over the text, say that you need to click the (x) to close them but instead use that click to activate multiple pop-ups that thanks to your clicking get past pop-up blockers. The people who make those ads really should die painfully.
Any ad with audio should require confirmation from you that you want to hear it in the form of first needing to click a play button, then answering OK on an alert that asks if you really do want to hear the ad. I keep getting these ads on forums I visit with that annoying "Ad speech to your web site" that start talking if your mouse even goes one pixel over the ad, and nothing wrecks listening to a good song like their crap voice coming up loud and clear right in the middle of it.
Oh snap, wrong topic.
Well at least someone cares about the consumers.
Hopefully the proposed amendments to the DMCA will fix that. Although I doubt they'll pass. Basically they allow breaking of encryption if the purpose is to make a private backup copy, or to transfer it to another media device you also own. Other copying and encryption breaking will still be illegal.
Or hearing "Congratulations, you have just been selected to win a free Apple Ipod/Iphone."
THOSE piss me off to no end.
Basically it would finally break the possession = intent myth.
Oh man, those are even worse, I think I actually blocked the memory of them out of my mind when I was writing earlier. About the only group of people I wish a small meteor would fall on. Obviously if I had my speakers on it was to listen to your ad with it's horrible voice and not something better like because I was listening to some good music while I surf the web.
If they ever outlawed ad blocking software(I won't be surprised if they try) I WILL lose it.
"let it run its course so the majority of consumers will pick the better format instead of jumping on a sinking ship."
I disagree with this, because the will of the consumer can be wholy subverted by the industry. Take the recent HD-DVD studio pay offs to ensure exclusivity. Because of that, a consumer no longer gets to make that choice, regardless of what they think about the quality of the format, and it has nothing to do with the 'majority' of previous consumer purchases.
Competition is a double edged sword for the consumer and I think more importantly, when business practices (and not the quality of a product) dictate the winner, the consumer usually loses.
then again, how many people actually consider themselves fan boys? How many people consider themselves racists, 'below average' intelligence, poor, repressed, or unfair?
I know a couple of computer science people who are pea-in-the-pants Microsoft supporters -- if you ask them if they've played anything recently, they answer by complaining about Sony and how bad the PS3 is. At the same time, they consider themselves fair and balanced. Comically, some of them don't even own XBoxes.
On the other hand, some consumers are stuck in the 'lesser evil' camp. For example I refuse to purchase a 360, because I went through several original XBoxes due to hardware failure (literally days after the warrantee expired). Since I had a totally different experience with my PSone and two PS2s, I support Sony. I don't think they are a better company, nor more loyal to me as a consumer. Just personal experience has dictated: stay the $%#& away from Microsoft products (except mice) for reliability issues.
Does that make me a Fan boy, even in a small way?
As I said earlier, ESA's inaction on CSM's admittal says to me that they are only interested in the 'little man', people who they can tread on easily, and certainly tempts me to emulate CSM and start illegally downloading software.
However, because Nintendo want to region-code, I'm not allowed to do this. The corporate thinking is this - marketing can be targetted towards different regions and "maximise" profits. The thing is, games often come out in Europe much later than the US due to translation into 5 languages that I don't speak. So, when I see the ads, reviews, etc. online, I should be able to buy the game when I want it. But, I can't. I have to wait for the translations that force me to wait for a game (9 months for Super Paper Mario!) by which time, I might not be interested in the game any more, and so don't buy it.
So, due to region coding I'm prevented from buying the games I want, so that they can effieicently marketed to me... Dumb. Add that to the fact that they screw me with the price when it does come out (a UK game is up to $40 more in the UK than the US version), and I know I buy a lot less (and generate less profit) than as if I were allowed to import games.
Anyone remember some interview done with a bearded Microsoft employee that touted the Xbox 360's multiple layers of hacker-stopping security? He said something like, "This is the first hack-proof console." Then, two weeks later, games burned to DVDs were being played on it. Sorry I have no clue who it was, but I watched it on G4 one evening... about a year ago...
I'd venture a guess that if this guy had not spouted off a the mouth, fewer people would have cared.
And then, Sony's DRM fiasco with the Foo Fighter's CD (among others)... Boy, that was a PR nightmare for them... I think the media corporations are doing themselves in.
To further this... and I'm no Apple fanboy... NBC, and others have, or are threatening to pull out of their iTunes agreements. Dumb idea. They get revenue from the sales. When enough of them pull out, you watch as Apple turns the Apple TV device in to a DVR. Then everyone will still be using their Apple devices to copy network shows and the networks get no revenue. Don't they realize that Gordon Gecko was a fictional character?
Off topic slightly, I know, but this DRM stuff really gets going.
*gets tackled from soap box*
However, to actually add something relevent to this, the DRM needs a complete overhaul, region coding needs nixed, and as for over-promised under-delivering.....see Peter Molyneux for that one.
You're dead right that no one thinks that they're a fanboy. They're just "telling it like it is." Then again, it's hard to express an opinion like "I've not bought an Xbox360 because the hardware failures have scared me off" or "There's just not enough critical mass of games that I want to play for the PS3 for me to invest in the system" or "motion sensing doesn't really do much for me as a player" without getting labeled a fanboy.
As for real fanboys, I think part of it is wanting to belong to something, even if it is something as silly as console format. The lulz factor probably come in as well - there are way too many people on the Internet who really get off on starting crap without having to fear any repercussions. Sometimes people just want to start fights, plain and simple. I don't get that, but I'm not bothered that I don't.
If that isn't caring I don't know what is. :P
Even if you don't like the console, the chances are you are going to defend it in the hope that your money wasn't wasted.
Agreed. They're basically the reasons why i don't have a 360 or PS3 yet. (Keyword: YET. I WILL get a PS3 at some point and time) A percentage of failure upwards of 30% for one (and the for amount of systems out there, that's pretty damn high) and a price tag higher than my current laptop for the other. Both have awesome games, it's just not in the cards for me to buy them at this point to get the system yet.
Yeah, I had an Xbox 360, it really was the stereotypical hunka junk that the anti-360 fanboys quote. Ate disks, red ring'd, just stoped working for no good reason. I let it at home when I moved out in exchange for some games on other systems I owned half of (bought in combo with various brothers), and without having even bought another system I was shouted down as being a PS3 fanboy simply cause I left the 360 at home and didn't buy a new one... seriously, wtf is up with that.
It's just plain impossible to disagree with the view of one fanatic group without instantly being labeled as a member of their opposite by them.
@GoodRobotUs
I guess I sorta stand in defiance of your point, though I did trade the 360 to the family for other games so I didn't really waste money on it. Then again I also don't hope it fails, I just hope it gets all the hardware problems fixed before I'll buy another one.
As a consumer, a gamer and one that listens to music (ie everyone here and a nice chunck of the population) I have run into these annoyances before.
Fanticks on game sites. Such should be IP hunted and have their keyboards hit with a hammer... oh I dont know a 35-40lb sledge would be good.
Regional coding has prevented me from being able to play some games of interest (not that many really) but also blocked alot of anime, well until it is licenced in the U.S then slapped with the DRM... scowl.
The whole HD-DVD~BlueRay. It is the VCR~Betamax for this year I guess. It makes no sense though, CDs are writtable/playable on a DVD-RW, DVDs are readable (have yet to see an HD-DVD or BlueRay RW) on either format, all is good to that point. THen they decided to toss in a wrinkle where the 2 formats do not/cannot talk to each other. Gods belows just pick one of them and back it.
And the bloody DRM. Always saw it not so much as protecting anything or anyone as much as a way to suck more blood from the marrow of the consumer.
Could just see the two guys with the cheese heads talking "Hey I have an idea. Lets add software that will limit the number of devices a disk can be installed on or times it can be copied. Then they will need to buy it again... Brillant!"
Now that I think about it.. I wonder if the hacker and piracy "problem" are really a reaction to ads and DRM? If a large portion of your customer base are programmers of one sort or another, and you piss them off enough, wouldn't the natural reaction be "screw this, I'll just hack that out".
I know I'm starting to seriously wonder if I can make Flash skip a video ad, or hack out EA's in-game advertising crap..
YES!!
I am FLAT OUT TIRED of buying the same stuff because of 'format' changes. Sure, it gets a little better each time, but it's not worth buying new electronics, new movies, etc..
I have a decent DVD collection, I'm not really interested in re-buying all this content again. *Particularly* when the technology exists to eliminate the need to buy the same movie because of a format change.
They say we also 'buy the digital rights' to the work, correct? If so, they should offer download of content we bought - that we can write to HD-DVD. Sound Crazy? Perhaps - but if so - it's a bit less crazy than buying all the content over again. That's a waste.
After all, if we have 'bought the rights' to the movie - shouldn't we be allowed to obtain that same work in whatever format since we have 'the rights'?
Why would it be so hard for these Media companies to put up Databases/Webservers - give us accounts to keep track of what we have bought and allow us to download what we have bought in a variety of formats and then write it to the media we desire?
That's what REALLY annoys me about all this crap. I'd be happy to buy the content... but I'm just not going to buy the same thing - over and over and over again.
This one is all about trust and reputation. Everytime someone or company makes a promise, that's a non-binding contract with the customer. Break this binding contract and you will lose respect. I see this a lot more with agresssive release dates. Everytime a game you anticipate is delayed, the less trust you have in the company. You also wonder what flaws are being patched. It's like every promise fulfilled gives your rep +1, and every promise failed takes 10 back from your rep.
It really has nothing to do with whether you can stand to wait the extra time.
the music licencing usually is handled by the recording company, not the artist (unless they are self published).
when i was studying animation, one of the guest speakers talked about the need to get licencing when using copyrighted music. she told of how on one animated short project there was a song she wanted to use. so she contacted the correct people (it was the recording lable, not the artist) about using it. her entire budget for the short was $3,000. to get the licence to use the song was a minimum was $8,000. 8 grand for a song that was close to 15 years old. they weren't willing to budge at all on the cost of the licencing. would the artist seen any of that money? probably not. most artists get their money not from the album sales, but from the touring. (just learned about that recently, cant recall where though.)
Some claim it's localisation, others say it takes a while to convert PAL/NTSC standards and blah blah. Most of the time it's prestige. Australia gets their release put on hold for six months, solely to allow American consumers to be the first ones to get it. And I understand the Japanese releasers do the same for Americans.
So by the end of the line, we Aussies can sometimes wait up to nine months for a game that could have been released the same day it was released in Japan. All because of prestige. Damn it.
Her only argument is that there were songs in GH II that didn't sound quite right. That's not a problem stemming from licensing fees, that comes from they didn't do a good enough job on some of those covers the second time around.
Nobody was complaining about the covers sounding off in GH I after all, in fact, I remember being floored by the fact that they were covers when I found out.
Look at moding and console/game sells,open up the system just alil and you will gain not lose from it.
9. Over-promising and under-delivering
I am so sick of games liek Jericho that offer game play of games 10 years ago hell even DOOM has better level design....
And don't get my started on Bioshock.....
8. Fanboys
Fanboys suck, rarely are they crazy enough to laugh at and they always drag convos into the ground.(Then again so do I >>)
7. Region encoding
So in order to protect SOME sells in country A we will block all sells in country B...that makes ahella alota sense....
6. Licensing Fees
This can go into the CP/IP argument,if CP/IP was 15-20 years one could give out a flat fee to the cartakers of it in order to put it to use.
But I think it would be better to simplify the Licensing system make it cheaper and faster!
5. Format wars
HDVD is cheaper and only 10GB smaller and in a year it will have a 51GB disc and by then BR might have 200$ players and in 4+ years might have 500GB or 1TB discs... its endless and pointless untill tis voer, but all format wars are ugly...
4. Proprietary File Formats
Oh yes it makes so much sense to block the portability of a file/disc, if you can't sell the ahrdware you are screwed...as BR is finding out...
3. Annoying web ads
I hate ninja audio and popups the most >>
2. High cost of wireless data plans
Also the price of DSL/Cable and what not tend to by 2-3X the price it is across the world, if they would offer slower plans at half the price it would go longer to getting every home ont eh ent and buying stuff off it.
1. DRM
DRM is pointless it costs more to make and maintain than all the real and fake pirates in the world can steal in a year
They must understand that DRM effects their bottom line more than piracy ,without the overhead to run DRM,patching its mistakes and loss of consumers to it they would be making a profit off it instead of not getting anywhere.