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- RacerPaul65
A very interesting post Kurei, thank you. I'm registered at the pCARS forum and I've seen lots of the nastiness flying about, as you've describedSuppose this is 'the most appropriate' place/sub-forum to bring this up, kinda...
I had thought about bringing this up for the Community Spotlight, or just the front-page news as it's something that, in my opinion, needs to be more directly addressed, as the longer time goes on, things keep getting 'deeper and deeper' with a certain game and it's development studio personnel.
That game being Project CARS, and it's head-of-studio Ian Bell, and his increasingly... upsetting/disappointing behavior towards any confrontation or criticism of the game, on and off the official P.CARS forum.
I'll be blunt, a lot of this came to me through Pretend Race Cars, a site I didn't even know about, until YouTuber Empty Box left a link to it, in a video, that started to unravel a lot of truth behind the scenes for P.CARS.
Granted, some of the postings are done out-of-context, but nothing is stopping visitors from checking the full threads themselves, and bringing back some of the context, but that doesn't change the fact that something is going on here/there/everywhere with this game, its bugs, its studio, and their approach to community concerns & critique.
That original link brought up multiple, genuine concerns in a number of areas, from website 'sell-outs', to repeated & recycled 'news' re-hashing, and even showing just how easily 'P.CARS defenders' would get upset over revealing the game was a mess, even so close to a final release.
Empty Box even makes a note about such, mentioning how he had people messaging him, a guy who knows a bit about sim-racing and has played the game, how he was doing things wrong and that the game was This kind of game, rather than That kind of game. (it's all in that video)
But where things really became interesting, was the responses that could be seen of how Ian Bell addressed these concerns and/or criticism himself, brought up in later articles further down the road.
The thread over at RD was more or less the door opening, and be sure to read it, as it gets interesting with Ian Bell trying to guilt-trip site owner Bram over 10 alleged 'free copies' of the game, only to have Bram turn right around and show his Steam purchase confirmation for the game, all of this after RD users bring up issues with the game, some that were covered at the official forums, some that were not. It eventually turns to a history lesson of sorts, and recalls a time that Bell threatened a lawsuit towards RD over open-criticism, more or less.
After some bickering and back-n-forth, Bram makes the point that Bell has only returned to 'stir things up' as he did years before P.CARS was even close to 'competent', and after that ?, well I haven't seen much of him at RD. Some say users were :censored:ing down his throat, Others point out he never even made an attempt to address the serious questions, focusing on the internet-fight instead on a personal bias more than looking to help the greater whole with direct answers to the questions.
I'll admit, some of what RD users did was hard-hitting, but after 4 years of development for this game, plus everything in the past he had been involved with, Bell should at least be aware of the 'nature of the beast' that is the Internet IMO.
Reiza Studios doesn't seem to have an issue helping out players, who are experiencing FPS stutters, even getting involved and suggesting things to try, and asking for feedback after players try those tweaks, so why can't Bell ?
I've seen mention here of WMD members working with P.CARS players, in a similar manner, to investigate issues between the PC & Console versions of the game, which is all fine and well, this post being more focused on Bell's handling of situations, rather than 'the whole' of SMS/WMD. Bell just appears to avoid the issues and sticks to his 'nah that is a preference, not a issue' guns.
But it only gets more absurd from here.
Questionable warning/infractions towards users with genuine concerns
Sacastic or general-belittlement of community concerns
What I'd call straight-up forgery on their own forums
And a whole lot of other incidents, that I could go and find/link over and over, but I'm not here to waste your time, I just want to bring up what I've seen, what others have seen, or at least bring you up to speed with the whole 'situation', such as this article from yesterday.
Check the article yourself, but here's a quick breakdown:
-Bell closes a decent 5-page thread about the issues players are having with G27 wheels, because calling the game what it is 'hurts feelings' apparently. (but not before having another jab at a user himself)
-Then bans said member, another in a long line of players with unaddressed concerns being silenced out-right.
-Only to have said member come back, point out what he did was no ground for such action, only to have 1 mod state a 'sudden' Zero-tolerance mood being part of it, only to have Bell come in, and like a little child, tell the user to 'Shut up you Idiot'.
You can read the rest for yourself if you wish, but basically this all seems to paint a picture that Ian Bell just can't handle the responsibility of his position for the game in a professional manner.
'Zero-tolerance', why ?, for what ?, the truth ?, the reality that it was a pretty 🤬 game at launch, and still far from finished ?
Why add the 'idiot' insult ?, where is the 'sorry for your issue, we're working as fast as we can' professional-type response ?, is he not capable of such ?
Imagine if this was Mr.Yamauchi treating GT players like this, would that suddenly be acceptable because he's 'Kazunori-san' and it's Gran Turismo ?, or would GTP be in a uproar ?
Would you be cool if Mr.Yamauchi treated you in such a manner ? (Q&A aside)
I supposed I'm just rambling at this point, but I just felt a need to bring this up in some fashion, rather than just let Bell have his way with customers that payed for the game and it's 'supported' equipment, who just want their concerns addressed. Some will agree with me that Bell's behavior is far from appropriate or proper, and it needs to see a change, others will see the PretendRaceCars connection and instantly go into some sort of odd, freaky 'offense-mode'.
Something funny about that end^ bit though, one of the PRC writers mysteriously received an unexplained ban from iRacing, after publishing an article the site did on one of the game's beginner series. When the iRacing defenders came out of the wood-work to try and discredit the writer, they made numerous claims, many of which ended up getting disproved to a notable extent not long after.
(Not P.CARS related per se, but something that shows how people can blindly defend/attack things when PRC comes up elsewhere)
Anyways, there you have my 'P.CARS' whinging/crying post, not because I have an issue with the game atm, but because I can't say I approve of the head-of-studio's behavior, as it is.
For clarity, I'm not a WMD member. Just a racing game fan who has bought a retail disc copy (X1) of pCARS. I've played many, many racing games over the years, both on console and pc
I can't remember in recent times (360, PS3, X1) a game that has released bug free. But honestly, pCARS is the most buggy upon release driving game that I've experienced on the bracketed consoles above
I've not worked myself into a frenzy over it because I figure I'll carry on with it, see how the patches go, etc. That said, I'm pretty sure in my opinion that pCARS wasn't fit for release when it went on sale
I don't need to list the bugs I'm sure, they're very well documented, both here on GTP and elsewhere. It's my opinion that WMD members aggressive defending of the game is down to plain, simple embarrassment
They put their money in and then went and sold it by word of mouth (as mentioned by EmptyBox in the youtube video you linked to) as the best thing that was going to hit the driving scene on this gen of consoles
Oooops. And everytime its shortcomings are pointed out, it hurts them in a deeply personal manner. Simple as that, imo
As for Ian Bell's performances on the forums? Wow, just wow. I bet he hasn't got a PR person. If he does and I were they, I'd have him to one side and tell him that his way isn't the way to go if you ask for peoples input
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