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The Constant Update Crunch of the Game World


Rafi

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I know we like to gripe about updates for frequently being poorly quality controlled or not of the desired quality or content, but this article provides some nice insight into the flip side of that in the gaming world. 

 

Thought I’d share since the topic comes up a lot, but feel free to discuss! 

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I actually read that article last year so I only skimmed over it again just now. 

 

I remember when RS was updated every single week with new content (and not just "ninja strikes") and I was always amazed at how Jagex could keep cranking out content at that pace. I know some people want massive amounts of new content but I'm actually happy to see Jagex has a team dedicated to quality of life improvements. After nearly 20 years of content updates eventually a lot things will need to be polished up again. I'm not sure if Jagex is on the same sort of schedule as studios that are owned by major publishers like EA & Activision but I know a lot of bad games are a result of being rushed by the publisher. I've read other articles about game devs sleeping on cots in their office because they're on such a time crunch they don't even have time to go home between shifts. Being a game dev sounds like a dream job to some people but when you go behind the scenes things don't look so nice. I guess the same could be said about a lot of jobs though. 

 

 

Edited by Moto Bro
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Especially in today's world of mobile gaming, I think you need to always be pushing out new content in order to attract new customers. But for gamers like me who can't even keep up with Runescape's new content, I hate to see buggy, hastily-developed content just for the sake of expansion. I'd rather continue playing old, well-made games over and over again than play new, half-finished games. But, many people won't mind a few hiccups for the constant new content to explore!

 

But damn, I feel bad for a lot of these contract workers. It seems downright miserable unless you get hired to a full time position with a studio. Movies like Grandma's Boy makes working on video games look like so much fun!

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To be fair, I imagine constant updates to Runescape were significantly easier before they moved to Runescape 3 in 2013 with high end graphics and more complex game mechanics to deal with. 

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On 10/17/2020 at 9:39 PM, Rafi said:

To be fair, I imagine constant updates to Runescape were significantly easier before they moved to Runescape 3 in 2013 with high end graphics and more complex game mechanics to deal with. 

Oh for sure, no doubt that EoC made the game much more complex, especially because they kept changing it until they settled on the current system. I remember when the combat formula was changed and all armor had a lifepoint bonus, then both of those major changes were reversed (thankfully). 

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On 10/17/2020 at 10:39 PM, Rafi said:

To be fair, I imagine constant updates to Runescape were significantly easier before they moved to Runescape 3 in 2013 with high end graphics and more complex game mechanics to deal with. 

The issue is that while revenue/profits have gone up the actual content releases have gone down in favor of 'event' type content that is usually temporary. (Yak Tracks, The Beach, etc)

 

And then you have to weigh that against the content that does come out - maybe it's larger and more infrequent updates, but really as a player I can't say that there has been an even trade off.

 

Jagex has shelved tons of promising updates due to just not having the time, resources, and apparently the talent.

 

They understand that 'engagement' through temporary content is more valuable to them as it gets people playing more and encourages paying for upgrades to the temporary content in order to complete it in time. It's following the mobile/gacha/etc methods of monetization.

 

Only jagex, unlike other games that monetize with these methods, hasn't made runescape free to play. It's still subscription based, while also capitalizing on various MTX fronts.

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