Managing Expectations

I'll make no secret: The Secret World had some serious launch issues. Chat was broken, missions were bugged. The only thing it did not have was crash to desktops or server queues. For an MMO launch, it was decent. Average. That is faint praise, but I am not trying to damn it. Despite the many faults, it really is a fine game.

They delivered on their world. They gave us a fun, engaging environment. The skill wheel is amazing. What's more important, they developed a relatively new, strong, IP. That is something that happens very rarely in a world that thought it was high time to remake a Spider Man origins movie. It was a risky move, and they deserve kudos for not only taking that risk, but delivering. One thing work has taught me is that managing expectations is important. If you're going to promise the sky, you better be able to deliver the moon.

Challenge, accepted, I guess, over at Funcom. This is something I always like about designing games and fiction worlds. You get to aim big. The gaming community, as a whole, is rather forgiving of some failures. It is also rabidly aggressive and borderline psychotic about some successes. It's like a microcosm of the real world, only we get to blow up robots and zombies.

... Our world is better.