Shadowbane: Built Too High

[Deyth]

Shadowbane's fans are the single largest threat to its success. They've been digging its grave for years.

I don't know how it happened. One day it was this obscure game concept, the next day people were interacting on message boards and IRC as if it were already out. Forming guilds, recruiting members, arranging alliances, guild politics, shit talking, roleplaying, analyzing game mechanics, declaring war.

How in the world can they be discussing game mechanics you might ask? Where did they get such detailed info? From FAQs. From dev posts. From their imaginations. Just ask any of the thousands of rabid fans and they will tell you without hesitation which guild type will dominate, which class/discipline combo is the most powerful, and why a certain guild will be better than another. They've never touched the game. There is no manual. The devs themselves don't know because the game is still in early beta stages.

Stop it. This sort of behavior builds expectations to an unrealistic level. We have very few options these days, we can't afford to sabotage what is our nearest hope. Shadowbane will be just a game, but hopefully a game with enough of its fantastic concept implemented so we can all enjoy it. It won't be like what we've all read, it won't have all those features on their mile-long wish list, the balance won't be perfect, there will be problems. The higher you build, the more we will all be letdown. So instead of enjoying the game it will be, we will be upset over the game that it isn't.

The best thing fans can do for Shadowbane right now is to stop digging that grave and find something to kill the time. Don't destroy Shadowbane with your zeal.

Discuss here.