@ltjohnnyrico: First, I've known a lot of children and none have done *that.* Second, child do lots of things not all of them bad--giving hugs is how children show affection. What makes childish ways of getting attention bad is just that there are better ways of doing it. And, here, there's not.
@thejash07: We're talking about how gamers relate to a giant company, not a person. I don't see why they're required to be cordial to a company, especially if being cordial hurts their chances at getting what they want. And especially when you feel like the company is adopting customer-unfriendly practices.
Second, negative reviews will deter future sales. And negative reviews will generate press in a way a petition just won't. (Notice what the story led with.) Now, I will say I wish they'd written negative reviews that didn't say "F--- you Rockstar." But I don't begrudge them review bombing. Their within their rights as customers and a tactic that actually has a shot at working.
@thejash07: But then your response doesn't address my claim. My point is that I don't see any better way for the players to get what they want. If they're acting within their rights as consumers--and they are--and doing so in the way most likely to get them what they want, then what's the issue? That Rockstar's entitled to ignore them is neither here nor there.
@ltjohnnyrico: The petition is linked in the article came from the article. And as for the reviews, sure some of them include profanity, but what Rockstar (and Gamespot) is likely to pay attention to is not the content of individual reviews but the dramatic drop in review score. And I don't see any better way to get their attention.
There's three problems with the "your house" analogy. When I go to your house, I do not pay an admittance fee. When I buy a game in a series that has been making use of a mod for 10 years, that's part of what I expect. If you start charging me admittance to your and then remove expected features, we're going to have words.
Second, even in your house, it's perfectly reasonable of me to try and persuade you to change your rules if I find them really unpleasant. If you ask everyone to remove their shoes, but I'm really sensitive about my feet, there's nothing wrong with me pulling you aside and asking you to reconsider for my sake. But there's simply no way to pull Take Two (or any other dev/publisher) aside. Gamers have to make a stink to get their attention.
Third, business relationships are just different than personal ones. Take Two is as big as they are because of their customers. If you own your house because of me, and depend in part on me for continuing to own your house and if your house is material to an ongoing business relation between us, then I think I do have the right to pressure you to use it in ways I find agreeable.
Put this another way: what should these gamers do instead? Just "vote with their wallet?" Well, (1) There's not a ton of places to take their money. But (2) and more important, that's not something Take Two would even want. By throwing tantrums, gamers let the company know they're upset and that gives the company a chance to win back their customers.
@thejash07: No one's denying their legal right to decide how their game operates. But then again, it's the gamers legal rights to leave bad reviews or write petitions.
@ltjohnnyrico: Here's what the petition says: "For 10 years now the Grand Theft Auto series has been edited and modded by people to make the game more enjoyable. Hundreds if not thousands of people have bought one or all of Grand Theft Auto: SA, Grand Theft Auto IV, and Grand Theft Auto V just to mod it. The modding of these games have been done mostly in singleplayer and with the help of OpenIV, a software that lets you get into the game's files and replace vehicles, scripts, textures, etc. The closing of OpenIV leaves 10,000s of people without access to be able to mod their games, and leaves 10,000s of people without the ability to continue their hobbies. All modding used by OpenIV is for singleplayer use only to make the game more enjoyable, the software OpenIV was never used to mod multiplayer or Grand Theft Auto Online so it does not harm anyone. Myself, and other members of the LSPDFR and GTA modding community ask that OpenIV be allowed to continue distributing and running as a modding software, and that the modding of the Grand Theft Auto series, including SA, IV, and V be deemed legal again as Rockstar Games has said in the past. Thank you."
Quick question: if you're upset about gamers throwing "temper tantrums" online--and apparently not aware of the irony--just tell me how are they supposed to get Take Two to reconsider? Write a politely worded email? Every time a dev screws over their player base, I see a ton people--usually unaffected by the Dev's actions--calling the upset players "babies" and not one suggesting a better way of changing the devs mind.
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