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Valve's fake, rigged, waste of time Progress Quest troll Portal 2 ARG
- Thread starter V_Ben
- Start date
Jex
Member
I know this has brought up before but it still puzzles me that a company filled with bright, talented people would construct an ARG with an endgame this poorly thought out.
I mean, the people who designed all the interesting and clever parts of it are clearly very talented, so it's odd that they'd let the last leg of the journey be so weak by comparison.
Valve have at least one psychologist working for them and they're no stranger to dealing with community outrage so it almost doesn't make sense that they'd allow such a thing to happen.
I mean, the people who designed all the interesting and clever parts of it are clearly very talented, so it's odd that they'd let the last leg of the journey be so weak by comparison.
Valve have at least one psychologist working for them and they're no stranger to dealing with community outrage so it almost doesn't make sense that they'd allow such a thing to happen.
DeBurgo said:
And in the grand scheme of things, aren't video games a colossal waste of time as well? I didn't buy the Patato sack because I already had half the games and I knew I didn't have time to fully participate in the ARG this weekend. However, I did enjoy the couple of extra levels of Defense Grid that I got to play. At the end of the day, the ARG was playing some (mostly) great indie games that had been overlooked.
webrunner said:
And this is why I don't understand people's complaints. I got to play Portal 2 for a few hours last night instead of having to wait another day to do so. Sure it wasn't 4 days ahead of time, but I sure didn't LOSE anything due to the ARG. And for people who did, that sucks but nobody forced you to buy indie games and play them
Shake Appeal
Member
If you were expecting Valve -- or any US-based developer for that matter -- to give the smallest shit about EU timezones, you were always going to be disappointed.
That's not really the point though. The point is that for some people this whole thing was an absolute waste of time and that Valve is telling their customers that supporting them with day one pre-orders on Valve store is a bad idea.Shake Appeal said:
Not really the kind of message someone should be wanting to pass to their userbase.
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
Except almost none of them are crap. I feel bad for the indie devs because so many of the people who participated in the ARG are never actually going to bother enjoying their game now.TheSeks said:
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
I'm pretty sure most of them were doing fine...DaBuddaDa said:
TheRagnCajun
Member
Stallion Free said:
I'm sure they are. I wonder much much they really got out of all this. Would the potato sack bundle have been as sucessfull without the ARG? Did the ARG really help word-of-mouth much?
Edit: The way I look at it, I've purchased indie bundles before, but usually on for a few games, and the rest remain undownloaded in my libary. I'm sure this is the case for a lot of people. THey aren't playing all the games they purchase.
So the potatosack, it baits you with lot of good games, and throws in some unpopular ones as well. But then it gives you incentive to play them all with the ARG. So its the less popular indie games that benifet the most here.
Dr. Zoidberg
Member
JaseC said:
What? Valve is just another company concerned with sales and marketing? They aren't gods to be placed high upon a pedestal?
Don't get me wrong. I love Steam and Valve's games, but I'm consistently surprised at how naive GAF can be about characterizing Valve as a benevolent god that will never deceive or abuse it's children. I see people who mock console company fans act that same way about Valve. I see people people who decried Oblivion's horse armor buy games they did not really want to get hats. Fucking hats!
This whole potato sack thing reeked of bad deal and bullshit to me and I'm glad I stayed away. Sorry for the rant.
CrookedRain
Member
Eh, there were still many people who actually did play the games and have a good time. It was especially good for getting people to start digging into their backlog. I know that the ARG finally got me to pick up The Ball and I ended up playing through the Portal content as well as the main campaign. I also went through TWEOTW and got an A+ on all the levels and finally started playing through Amnesia which I have really enjoyed.Stallion Free said:
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
It did the same for me (The Ball was great and TWEOTW was good fun with my own soundtrack), but I read way too many posts of people saying how they exploited shit just to get the potato and then quotes like the first one I responded too just brushing the games off as crappy indie games.CrookedRain said:
CrookedRain
Member
Potato Sack is an amazing deal. I already had 10 of the 13 games in it though before the ARG.Dr. Zoidberg said:
CrookedRain
Member
What?!? The music in TWEOTW is pretty awesome.Stallion Free said:
Dr. Zoidberg said:
I don't think you're understanding his point. Obviously they are a business and therefore want more money via Steam sales. No one is contesting that. People are upset because there was a direct call to action to purchase the Potato Sack to "help portal 2 release early". Indicating more sales = increasingly earlier release. This was patently false.
No one cares that Valve is a business, everyone knows it, and as you noted, most people here on GAF are happy to throw their money at them. It was the deceptive and false wording that I think people are pissed about.
badrockjones
Member
What annoys me is that some people here don't understand the difference between "it's annoying that my 'hard work' was basically unrewarded as a consequence of my being a longtime fan" and "ZOMG VALVE OWES ME A FREE LUNCH WHARRGARBL!"
It's legitimate to say that given the cross-section of likely Golden Potato holders (Valve fans given to OCD/power gaming), the vast majority would already have the vast majority of the prize being handed out. It's also legitimate to say that this is/would be a disappointment to most of said cross-section.
I'm not going to stop buying Valve things or start talking smack about them as a developer, I'm just unlikely to participate in further ARGs/pre-order 'incentives' as the level of effort required for this one was obscenely disproportionate to the reward ("early" release when working adults typically sleep/a few random missing golden oldies from Valve).
Show me someone who tries to explain to me where my position (or anyone else's of "measured disappointment") is absurd, and I will show you a willful idiot.
It's legitimate to say that given the cross-section of likely Golden Potato holders (Valve fans given to OCD/power gaming), the vast majority would already have the vast majority of the prize being handed out. It's also legitimate to say that this is/would be a disappointment to most of said cross-section.
I'm not going to stop buying Valve things or start talking smack about them as a developer, I'm just unlikely to participate in further ARGs/pre-order 'incentives' as the level of effort required for this one was obscenely disproportionate to the reward ("early" release when working adults typically sleep/a few random missing golden oldies from Valve).
Show me someone who tries to explain to me where my position (or anyone else's of "measured disappointment") is absurd, and I will show you a willful idiot.
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
I got tired of it lol. I just put my collection on random and it worked really well. My fav was Bonnie and Clyde by Jay-Z. It was inspiring.CrookedRain said:
And lol at this hard work stuff. Did anyone get the Cogs potatoes legitimately? I mean do all of the level prior to the potato instead of using someones save?
Most of the titles in there have already sold 100k+ copies. Audiosurf, Amnesia, Killing Floor, Super Meat Boy and Defense Grid all had PR releases, interviews, whatever stating they were already extremely successful titles.TheRagnCajun said:
Agreed. Resentment at Valve is understandable, but taking it out on the games in the indie sack is pathetic. You're given 13 titles ranging from decent to classic. The only titles I put more hours into than Killing Floor this gen, are Halo 3, League of Legends, and Team Fortress 2.Stallion Free said:
Nope, that's a very reasoned in measured opinion. For my part, I probably will still participate in future ARGs and events, but maye not pre-order any more Valve games with the understanding that they might be part of the prize.
The wildcard here though is that I did get an extra copy of Portal 2. I just checked my purchases log and it is listed as "Portal 2 - Potato Champions Comp." I seem to be one of the only ones though.
If this is part of the intended reward and the only problem at the moment is that most people haven't received their free copy yet, then I totally and fully support this and have no qualms about pre-ordering.
The wildcard here though is that I did get an extra copy of Portal 2. I just checked my purchases log and it is listed as "Portal 2 - Potato Champions Comp." I seem to be one of the only ones though.
If this is part of the intended reward and the only problem at the moment is that most people haven't received their free copy yet, then I totally and fully support this and have no qualms about pre-ordering.
CrookedRain
Member
I am a little bitter that I got nothing for getting the golden potato after they teased about a reward. Sure it was fun completing some of the challenges and all, but finding out that I could have gotten the game for free but instead got absolutely nothing because I already owned every Valve game kinda sucks. I'm not asking for a free game or anything, but some kind of reward for those who get no games from the Valve complete pack would be nice.
fallengorn
Bitches love smiley faces
I'm in the same boat. The usual solution to this problem is hats.CrookedRain said:
I understand it from a dollars-and-sense perspective, but it seems really backward to me to basically reward people who don't own Valve games and who didn't pre-order Portal. That is the ideal scenario in terms of maximizing reward, whereas I would think why not reward the uberfans more. Not necessarily in terms of literal games or money, but just something that they would appreciate like a collector's item or even a digital one.
CrookedRain
Member
I think I got close to 200 stars and then gave up. Those puzzles were a bitch though, even when using dial pad strategy. The ARG made me realize that the game isn't for me and I won't ever play it again.Stallion Free said:
badrockjones
Member
Hawkian said:
Yeah, I don't have that or any giftable copies. I'd be absolutely thrilled with that as a reward, though. And without that? My life moves on, save expressing disappointment on a forum full of people as nerdy (or potentially nerdier) than me.
CrookedRain
Member
Yep. Just give me an item and I won't care anymore.fallengorn said:
Zomba13
Member
Except wasn't it going to come out on a Tuesday on steam anyway?mxgt said:
I just want some vanity item and I'll be happy. Hopefully Valve gives us shiny gold bot skins (that can't be hard right?). Either that or let me transfer my Potato Champ pack to my cousin. It's such a waste me getting it.CrookedRain said:
CrookedRain said:
I love Cogs. I also hit 180-something before giving up on doing it manually, but I felt good about reverting to my original save after I got the potato. Looking forward to playing them all for real one day.
The description you made about the ARG revealing that a game isn't for you was my experience with RUSH. Holy crap I do not enjoy that kind of puzzle.
darkpaladinmfc
Member
That has nothing to do with this ARG, it was launching on Steam simultaneously worldwide any ways,mxgt said:
I unlocked the levels legitimately, but I ended up putting a sticky note on my screen with numbers written on it for the two potato levels.Stallion Free said:
Although, honestly, I think I could have done them myself. After earning 400 stars, I got pretty good at the 3x3 puzzles, at least. I think using the dial-pad strategy actually SLOWED ME DOWN sometimes.
It is hard to imagine them sitting around a table and deciding to lie to their customers, and yet that's pretty much what must have happened. They probably justified it to themselves in terms of the "greater good" of getting indie devs exposure or something along those lines.Jexhius said:
And they probably thought they were being their usual tongue-in-cheek selves with the phony "help reboot GlaDoS" concept, but the community obviously took it somewhat differently.
fallengorn
Bitches love smiley faces
Same here. If the potato collecting was the end game, the ARG would've ended on a great note.Baha said:
jaundicejuice
Member
Even though I own half of the potato sack games I didn't bother to participate, but as a bystander, I think Valve's mob sourcing is pretty damned brilliant. Moreso this time because they managed to involve so many partners and really push some brilliant games rather than just getting the community excited about their own new release. Valve are really maximising the strengths of Steam in interesting ways, and it's not just Valve or the indie developers that benefited from this, the users did too. I mean Amnesia: The Dark Descent got an episode (expansion, campaign or whatever you want to call it) because of Portal 2. Just stop and think about that, it's absurd and awesome.
Dr. Zoidberg
Member
Twig said:
It was a bad deal, considering that most people interested in Portal 2 are already on Steam, and have had numerous opportunities to purchase the majority of the included games for cheap. If they had included some more recent games that had not already been on sale for $3 to $5 (some of them numerous times) it might have been okay. As it was I already owned anything out of the pack that I wanted, and what was left was hardly worth the price.
Trickster
Member
Twig said:
It was a bad deal because they bassically told people to buy and play those games if they wanted portal 2 out early. But we pretty much know that was a load of crap by now, and all the people playing those games bassically wasted their time tryin to get portal 2 out early.
The deal was great for people that wanted the indie games. but I'll bet you that the vast majority that bought the potato sack did it because they wanted portal 2 out early.
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
People with discerning tasted owned the majority of the potato pack already. The potato pack was created so that people who didn't have discerning taste in indie titles could fix that.
jaundicejuice said:
The way Justine relates to the Portal universe is brilliant, too. It's almost unbearably clever. I'm hoping
Justine's backstory in some way parallels the explanation for GlaDOS's behavior that is being hinted at in the early stages of Portal 2.
edit: Weird that you got a copy of L4D to gift.... what's going on here? Do you get a random game? Can anyone else confirm they got a giftable copy of Portal 2? Or are the any guesses as to why I am so special?
dave is ok
aztek is ok
I got absolutely nothing to gift out. I had already gifted copies of HL2 and HL2 Ep1
No. You are objectively incorrect. Stop talking. "I already own everything!" is not a valid complaint, and never will be.Zoidberg said:
Same to you. A shitty ARG doesn't suddenly make a great deal bad. Go away.Trickster said:
Of all the things to complain about, you pick what is arguably THE BEST FUCKING PART. Jesus, your parents must have spoiled the shit out of you. I am almost jealous, except then I'd have to be as miserable today as you clearly are!
Prophet Steve
Member
I even never had done that and still did not receive giftable copies.dave is ok said:
EDIT:
Twig said:
What, why not? You already have all the games you are interested in, get those you are not interested in (or not even that). And you call it a good deal? Or are you just saying that we should not complain because we at least got something? It doesn't seem that spoiled for all the effort. And it would not be a problem if we could gift what we get double as we can normally.
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