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Post by Deveon on Dec 18, 2009 14:51:38 GMT -5
Stupid Client Quote #7276
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Bob | posted 08-19-2009 | Number of Votes: 1007 | Current Rating: 4.26
Potential Client: Hi you guys make online flash games right?
Me: Yes we do.
Potential Client: Ya I saw your games on your site, pretty good stuff. We need a decent game for our site.
Me: Great, what would you guys like to do?
Potential Client: We have an idea that could be viral. Our budget is about $1500. I know it's not the biggest budget but but we think this idea could cause a real stir.
Me: Okay, no problem. Whats your idea?
Potential Client: Have you ever played a game called ... (I can hear papers in the background) ... World of ... Warcraft?
Me: I'm more on an FPS guy, buy ya, I'm well aware of it.
Potential Client: [trying to figure out what FPS means] Ya anyway, that.
Me: (Pause) You want to re-make WOW in Flash? Are you serious?
Potential Client: (confused tone) Well it's popular so I thought why not just adapt something like that to a flash? Like Tetris, remember that game? I use to play it years ago. Now I have found sites where you could play it in a browser. So we'd like something like that for our company's site, but with a more contemporary game.
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Post by Tallaith on Dec 18, 2009 15:02:31 GMT -5
*blank stare*
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Post by amerlynn on Dec 18, 2009 15:13:24 GMT -5
*blinks*
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Post by oronberg on Dec 18, 2009 15:47:34 GMT -5
*shrugs* The request wasn't insane at all. In fact, it's been done. RuneScape.
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Post by amariedan on Dec 18, 2009 17:28:52 GMT -5
*shrugs* The request wasn't insane at all. In fact, it's been done. RuneScape. um no. runescape is a flash mmo, ya, but it is NOT wow, and certainly not a 'wow clone' it doesnt even compare to the complexity that goes into a true mmo like wow or lotro etc. what you are thinking/saying is that ya 'a flash game mmo can be made'- to which i concur a la your already mentioned example of runescape. HOWEVER, to *re-create* WOW as a flash game would take an insane amt of time, and resources FAR GREATLY EXCEEDING the MEAGER $1500 budget the potential client quoted! hence why the request IS insane, and why the potential client is a true idiot (when it comes to gaming) to not be able to understand what he is asking for and why the company could not do it (especially on such a budget!) (and of course i'm not even going to go into copywrite law issues!) simply, CAN it be done? Yes, but NOT at all under the circumstances/limitations provided... so YES the request was insane!
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Post by amerlynn on Dec 18, 2009 18:12:42 GMT -5
You know... A thought occured to me from this... It's sort of unrelated to WoW Flash, but it just seemed to strike me from the topic... I can't help but think it's probably kinda frightening just how many people who play MMOs don't even realize how much time, effort, and resources it took to make it a reality. Point in case; the fact that any mainstream MMO's official forums are flooded with whiners and complainers demanding to make their Paladins kill more. People always have this sense of entitlement like they deserve something magical for spending $15 a month, even though they have no idea the kind of difficulty programing sucha massive and complex game really is. Sure, spending money on a service does entitle you to something, but that's merely to play the game in it's current form while the developers work their hardest to improve the game at their pace. I can't help but think that if someone is able to pull off something like WoW or LoTRO, they're entitled to alot more respect than alot of their 'loyal playerbase' gives them.
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Post by amariedan on Dec 18, 2009 22:30:14 GMT -5
You know... (snippage) I can't help but think that if someone is able to pull off something like WoW or LoTRO, they're entitled to alot more respect than alot of their 'loyal playerbase' gives them. i couldnt agree with you more, ESPIALLY of late now that i am into my own developement of a private freeshard version of DAoC... learning a lot about C# and mobs and loottables and classes and abilities and WHEW!~ a week into it and i've only JUST now successfully created my first real boss mob with complete loottable that works and drops as is meant to... now if only i can figure out a way for him to auto-spawn on server startup so i dont have to keep manually placing him! lol
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Post by Tallaith on Dec 18, 2009 22:45:42 GMT -5
*agrees as she uses a spatula to pry Amari off his keyboard*
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Post by magnollia on Dec 19, 2009 10:31:48 GMT -5
l.o.l. 1500 budget... I get clients like at all the time. "What do you mean you cant build me a full website for 500$? I've got nephew in a computer class that makes websites... and what do you mean flash is extra? cant you just do it in... powerpoint or something?" You should post this on Clients From Hell: clientsfromhell.tumblr.com/
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Post by oronberg on Dec 19, 2009 17:22:51 GMT -5
The request was "Well it's popular so I thought why not just adapt something like that to a flash?" He was asking for a flash based MMO, not a flash version of WoW. Completely doable, and has been done, as I mentioned before. And RuneScape isn't the only one. There are lots of these things popping up. And they do quite well.
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Post by amerlynn on Dec 19, 2009 21:22:06 GMT -5
Even if it is just a request for a flash MMO, similar to WoW or not, I still think it's silly. See, to me, the request just sounds so bland. The guy asking for it has no idea what he's asking for. So if someone were to undertake this project, they would need to put alot of effort creating a world, setting, history. Everything. That's just too much intelectual property to create and sell out for a meager $1500; or at least that's what it seems like to me.
I don't think I'd bother thinking of all that just so someone who doesn't even understand what he's asking could put it on his represented company's website. See, the really killer here is the part where he brings up Tetris. Now as important to gaming as Tetris is, it's still a remarkably small game. This guy clearly doesn't have any idea of the scope toward what he's asking.
Just about the only thing concievable is for them to make a bland fantasy world where you kill goblins and such with virtually no structure, or background. And I can't imagine many people would play that, since there are already plenty of F2P MMOs out there that do actually have better backgrounds stories. (Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Online comes to mind... Or better! Dungeons and Dragons Online!)
It just seems like alot of work for something doomed to fail, which would probably just get you suied anyway due to the employers ignorance regarding what they're asking. Basically, you hand them a pile of trash that amounts to what they paid for, and they feel you cheated them by their own ignorance.
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Post by amariedan on Dec 19, 2009 23:27:57 GMT -5
Even if it is just a request for a flash MMO, similar to WoW or not, I still think it's silly. See, to me, the request just sounds so bland. The guy asking for it has no idea what he's asking for. So if someone were to undertake this project, they would need to put alot of effort creating a world, setting, history. Everything. That's just too much intelectual property to create and sell out for a meager $1500; or at least that's what it seems like to me. I don't think I'd bother thinking of all that just so someone who doesn't even understand what he's asking could put it on his represented company's website. See, the really killer here is the part where he brings up Tetris. Now as important to gaming as Tetris is, it's still a remarkably small game. This guy clearly doesn't have any idea of the scope toward what he's asking. Just about the only thing concievable is for them to make a bland fantasy world where you kill goblins and such with virtually no structure, or background. And I can't imagine many people would play that, since there are already plenty of F2P MMOs out there that do actually have better backgrounds stories. (Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Online comes to mind... Or better! Dungeons and Dragons Online!) It just seems like alot of work for something doomed to fail, which would probably just get you suied anyway due to the employers ignorance regarding what they're asking. Basically, you hand them a pile of trash that amounts to what they paid for, and they feel you cheated them by their own ignorance. /concur you said it even better than i thoguht it amerlynn! *A* request for a flash-based mmo is not, in and of itself insane. what makes it insane is all the other factors involved in this one particular request- the guy has no idea what he is talking about/asking the sheer scope required to create a GOOD one the limited budget for such a project that is offered the LOL factor of the guy just being a total idiot comparing Tetris to WoW! etc add all these together and you have an insane request that makes for some good LOLs to those of us who truly understand why it's insane
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Post by khrys on Dec 20, 2009 12:59:42 GMT -5
The guy asking for it has no idea what he's asking for. Bingo. He wants WoW, a multi-million-member social gaming arena with content that inspires subscribers to think outside the box and create their own artistic (and capitalistic) experiences. What he's willing to pay for is this: He's a dillweed and Deveon had me snorting out my nose when she posted the OT about the request. ;D
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Post by brendur on Dec 20, 2009 15:50:56 GMT -5
The final reaction of the customer is what gets me, we're so consumer driven these days that "the customer is always right" isn't just the tune on everyone's lips, but the unspoken norm that everyone expects. Like Amerlynn said early guys like this expect money in and masterpiece out. Boo to the consumer!
"I can give it to you two of three ways, Good, Cheap, or Fast."
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Post by Tallaith on Dec 20, 2009 15:56:51 GMT -5
The customer is NOT always right. My industry is ample proof of that.
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