Quote:
Originally Posted by Spindel
Only $5 off preorder? If it was $10 I'd do it.
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Hey, nothing personal against you Spindel. I understand that when money is tight, difficult decisions need to be made.
I am far from rich, but I have no problem shelling out whatever money Markus, Andreas and the other members of the team are asking. This excellent product is developed by a very small team. They put in a ton of hours.
The development of this product is obviously very important to them at a personal level. I guess what I mean is that they put their heart and soul into the project, in addition to their blood sweat and tears (not to mention the hours of overtime involved).
In contrast to the development teams of most games, whose primary goal is to complete the application, get paid, walk away and make dough, Markus and crew really care about the state and value of the product.
For starters, how many lead developers actually read the forums where users gripe, ask for the moon, and have beginner type questions and misunderstandings? Markus frequently responds directly and interacts with individual consumers on the forums about issues.
Not that any of that should really matter to us as consumers. We should buy the best product available on the market at the best price, regardless of whether it was developed by one man in his mom's basement or a mega billion dollar conglomerate.
It's because of the devotion of the development team and their goal of providing the highest quality product, that the game is what it is. Each year, immediately after release of the game, the team focuses on bug fixes. They immediately address issues that are typical following software releases. There is a flurry of bug fixes and patches that improve the product in a better than reasonable time frame. Those patches continue until most of the glaring and major bugs have been squashed.
There is also a movement and focus on assuring that everyone who purchase the game is actually able to use it successfully. Sometimes problems are extremely difficult to isolate, and identify the root cause, and determine a work-around. Fixes and solutions may not come as quickly as any of us would like. But I know OOTP Development stands by their product and tries to make sure the game operates as desired for each consumer. They make a better than normal effort to track down and resolve each individual problem a consumer has. I am pretty sure if they can't get the game working the way you need, they will gladly refund your money. But I think that only happens in extremely rare cases.
Once the product upgrade has been stabilized, and problems have been addressed, the team immediately gathers feedback and starts planning the improvements, new features, and addressing remaining inadequacy for the next version. The team gathers feedback directly from the users of the product. Real life gripes, issues, and wishes from real life users. The development team does not sit in their office, trying to imagine what the users of the game might like. They seek actual requests and find out what is most important from the perspective of the game player.
Then the cycle of improving an already excellent product begins. Before each version is released, it has already gone through a robust beta testing.
I don't know what more a person could ask of a development team. But the ultimate factor in a potential user's purchasing decision is already covered. This is the best product in its class, which is available at a very affordable price. This is a game playing system that is continually and actively improved.
When I add up the hours of enjoyment and excitement I get from this game, it is a an easy purchase decision for me. My money is spent on other products and services in my life that don't come anywhere near the satisfaction and fulfillment level that I receive from OOTP Baseball.
If money is so tight that the decision to enjoy hours, weeks, or months of enhancement to what might be one's favorite hobby, comes down to $5, then my heart goes out to you. I know some people aren't sports enthusiasts, not baseball fans, and don't have the yearning to act as owner/general-manager/on-field-manager and control the destiny of a baseball organization. If that's not your thing, then so be it. Spend your $5 on something more rewarding to you.