In this thread I will attempt to explain to the AoS community why it is vital that we fight back against Jagex and their backward policies.
Let me begin by discussing the history of Jagex as a company- how they go about their business, their previous and ongoing projects, and (most of all) the future of AoS.
In December 2010, an investment company named Insight Venture Partners (IVP) secured a 55% stake in Jagex, granting them control of the company. What followed was a slow and arduous liquidation of Jagex' most popular project to date, Runescape. Micro transactions were introduced into the popular MMO for the first time. Players were outraged, but as it turns out Jagex flourished under an immediate and massive soar in revenue.
Runescape is Jagex' flagship. They've kept up the game for over a decade, and it's generally agreed upon that it reached its peak around 2006. Recently though, Jagex has been investing in a flurry of new projects- all of which have utterly failed.
First came Funorb. Funorb was a casual gaming site much like Miniclip which featured dozens of minigames all connected to a currency 'Orb Coins,' which carried sort-of 'bragging rights' whose quantity would be compared to other players' quantities of Orb Coins in an internet game of whose-seen-the-least-sunlight. Some minigames were free, but others required a subscription to play or to access higher-level content. The subscription fee was $5.00 USD. Funorb launched February 27, 2008. After being branded a commercial disaster, largely due to the fact that other websites of the same genre (MiniClip, AddictingGames, etc.) allowed their players to play their games at no cost, the project was abandoned. The last update to Funorb occured on September 15, 2010.
Next came 8Realms. 8Realms was a browser-based MMORTS which featured an epoch system consisting of advancing through eight 'ages' of the game: ancient, classical, feudal, renaissance, imperial, industrial, modern and future. It included all the typical browser-based MMORTS elements that are found in any Evony clone: resources, buildings, wonders, armies, etc. The game launched May 5, 2011 and promptly closed July 1, 2012, after bringing in only 10% of its projected sales revenue. The game was heavily criticized due to its generic MMORTS content.
(i.e. AoS in a few years)
Here and there, Jagex published a number of commercially unsuccessful titles. War of Legends was yet another MMORTS published January 19, 2010 and now makes a graveyard look appealing by comparison. Jagex also bought Planetarion, Undercroft, and a few other titles whose playerbase is now so large you could theoretically fit every player in a double queen size hotel room and there would be no complaints regarding the invasion of personal bubbles. And then on November 1, 2012 Jagex officially announced they would publish the relatively unknown indie game Ace of Spades.
But by comparison, these were petty fiascoes. Jagex' biggest blunder came in the form of a little game called MechScape. Mechscape was Jagex' first real dip into the swimming pool of "Runescape but with guns;" it was planned as a sci-fi MMORPG that featured titular 'mechs' which the player would (presumably) control in epic battles against other mechs. While development was well under way, the project was suddenly and abruptly scrapped on October 29, 2009. The game, in its development state, was said to be a sheer disaster. The CEO of Jagex, Mark Gerhard, sums it up perfectly: "oops, it didn't do all of those things that we wanted it to." The haphazard project cost Jagex tens of millions of pounds. And where is Mechscape now? It's still under development, under the new title Stellar Dawn.
It's almost as if Jagex simply does not know what they're doing. The situation reminds me of a young Pixar Studios, whose initial success with Toy Story, their uncontested masterpiece, was feared to meet an end with their next feature film A Bug's Life. As with most starting companies who produce an outstanding first product, it is often the case that they do not know exactly what made their first product so great; subsequently their second product is an utter disaster. Obviously, this was not the case for Pixar, as their second product A Bug's Life was both a critical and commercial success, but I'm afraid the same cannot be said for Jagex. I believe we as a community can very safely assume that Ace of Spades will choke and die approximately 450 days from now (the average life of a Jagex-published game). Every game Jagex has ever developed/published, with the exception of their first product, Runescape, fails in a matter of months.
One thing that strikes me as odd is that Jagex not only actively suppresses criticism towards the quality of their business but in fact seem to not want to be judged at all. One finds it amusing yet troubling that the phrase "Insight Venture Partners" (the current owners of the company) is completely censored on the Runescape forums. It appears only as ******* ******* ********. Is it only a matter of time before we see the phrase "buildandshoot" or perhaps even "BnS" appear only as an ugly mess of asterisks? Perhaps equally disturbing is that Jagex does not realize that the act of censoring seemingly innocent phrases such as the one mentioned above (at one point in time, the word "crap" was censored in Runescape) only serves to anger its playerbase further. It is as if Jagex constructed a perfect replica of Queen Victoria made exclusively out of their own feces, polished it to perfection so to the unwary onlooker it appears only as an inconspicuous bronze bust, and then shot anyone who got too close to uncover the horrible (and smelly) truth.
Let me now offer you a handful of company reviews, submitted by employees of Jagex themselves. Perhaps these anonymous reviews will convince you of the lack of candor that exists both internally and externally at ye ol' Jagex Towers.
http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Jagex- ... 322592.htm
http://www.ratemyplacement.co.uk/compan ... /jagex-ltd
The reviews essentially boil down to this:
- Communication problems within the staff
- archaic organizational methods
- concerns with business direction and expansion
- concerns with upper management
Jagex customer support? No need to explain, here it is in a nutshell:
Here's what I'm saying: Jagex is genuinely not a good company. They do not produce good games. They do not employ professional business practices. Their quality of customer support is comparable that of telemarketing firm. But they can change.
What can we do, as a community? How do we put a stop to the downfall of our precious game? It would seem logical to simply fight back against Jagex.
Fighting Jagex' policies has worked before. Take Runescape and the appropriately named 'Rule 7 Riot' that occurred January 2, 2007 protesting Jagex' rule change to disallow the use of third-party clients to play Runescape. The ingame protest was bitter, filled with years of pent-up rage aimed precisely at Jagex. The riot was so influential and its members so outspoken that Jagex ended up modifying the rule to fit the needs of the protesters shortly after the initial update. It was a historic day for the players- it proved that Jagex could be swayed, and yes, even cave in to the needs of its players.
Take this as proof that your voice does matter. Never stop criticizing the company that now holds the reigns to our game, for it is only by carefully crafted, constructive criticism that developers change for the better. Let your voice be heard. Do not let them censor your opinion, and remember this - you can jail a revolutionary, but you can't jail the revolution.
Links:
Jagex Games Studio home page
Jagex wikipedia article
Runscape home page
Funorb home page
8Realms home page
8Realms reaches only 10% of its projected active player quantity
8Realms failure causes layoffs; Jagex stalls financial report
MechScape is completely scrapped; Jagex loses tens of millions of pounds
List of Runescape riots
Jagex' justification for micro transcations
Jagex censors the phrase "Insight Venture Partners"
Insight Venture Partners claim majority ownership of Jagex
