dra6o0n wrote:Two-timing a game development is not good for do business AND for it's customers (players in this case).
They developed HnH to around alpha, then switched to developing Salem, and now everyone's impatient with bug fixing and all...
The Dev's own personal preference will toll on his work eventually.
HnH's number of fans were mostly from the whole "hardcore survival" aspect now that I look at it.
I only played it mostly because of the creative customization of the game world and a PVE situation where the environment can work against you, not because you're pitted against griefers and mass murderers that defy laws of physics and rules...
EDIT: I think I figured out what kind of organisms the parts of community of HnH and Salem are...
They seem to be the stress loving type that needs to be challenged when it comes to games, and needs a reason to challenge themselves, or in some cases, others.
This is why you see more people putting entire griefing efforts just to cause other people grief here, maybe because it also rewards them for it (intentionally or not, via game functions).
This excludes some of the hermit and peaceful players who wants to go Harvest Moon or play the game in a PVE sense, only to meet this other part of the group.
"On this side of the ring, we got the grass munchers! And on the other side, the bloodcurdling carnivorous NEETs!!"
This game isn't Harvest Moon online, it's more like Age of Empires. You can't just call the police if someone starts destroying your farm. You either fight, work for someone who fights, or work just to lose everything you created. That's how things are, hell that's how history is like, and that's what this game is inspired on. This game isn't just about creating, it is about giving people the freedoms they don't have in any other game. Other games add restraints to make everything "fair", this game doesn't. Despite the name, sandbox isn't about creating, it's about freedom. Why do you think that GTA is classified as a sandbox game?
What you describe is like a kid who builds a sand castle in a crowded playground and goes home, but expecting to come back and find whatever he built intact on the next hour, because he relies on the benevolence of other kids. Obviously if you get too many kids in this playground, someone will destroy or take over the kid's castle. And what does the child do? He either moans, whines and cries or he goes there and fight for what he believes to be rightfully his (or calls his bigger brother to help him get it back for that matter). That or he accepts it and starts over. If he can't fight he can't have it back. If you can't fight for what you built, or if you don't have anyone to do that for you, then you won't keep it. This game is mainly about freedom, not building. Building is a part of the freedom aspect. Obviously it's not a game for everyone.