[KevinTMC]

This thread, together with the agony expressed during the early hours of overloaded servers yesterday, is actually making me think a little.

Let's grant that perfection should always be our goal when creating something; but also, that perfection is most always unachievable in this world. If these propositions are both true, then almost everything that we create is going to fall short and thus be at least something of a disappointment. How do we deal with that?

Specifically, just how short of perfection does something have to fall before we are right to be greatly disappointed--enough so that we complain about it publicly? On the other hand, how close to perfection does something need to come before gratitude is not only an appropriate response, but even required of us? Finally, how does the fact that we paid a certain amount of money for the creative product change the equation (if at all)?

Tough questions in the abstract, to be sure; but easy enough to answer in certain concrete cases. Such as the case of OOTP. If you ask me, this game has been labored over lovingly enough, with enough dedication to detail and to the desires of the user base, and with such a high quality of result, that it is only right for me to express gratitude. Even more so since the price is so reasonable, particularly considering the vast hours of enjoyment this game can provide--if OOTP doesn't give the customer more than his money's worth, I don't know what does.

So, to Markus and the rest of the team (including the beta testers and other dedicated users who helped): THANK YOU!

(And keep up the good work, because we all expect and eagerly anticipate an even better product with OOTP 10.)