Rust developer wants bored fans to 'stop playing'

Garry Newman is getting a bit tired of the 'ping pong loop.'

18

Every game will get its praise and critiques. Developers will listen to feedback, make changes, and in turn, appease some and piss off others. At what point does the cycle stop for the dev, or does the player get what he paid for?

That seems to be at the crux of a reddit post from Rust developer Garry Newman, where he suggests that people who are getting bored with the three-year-old Steam Early Access title just "stop playing it."

"I'm noticing a pattern, and we need to address it. It's something we need to get past as a community, not only because it's getting boring but because it has wider implications," he said. "We're stuck in ping pong loop. We release an update, you love it for a month, you get bored, blame the system, bitch for a few months, then we release another update—and the same thing happens." 

Newman posted the following flowchart to illustrate his comment:

Newman went on to say that the company keeps reacting to the feedback, but needs to move on. "If we want to leave Early Access then breaking this loop has to be part of that plan. We have a pretty good idea on how to push forward with Rust, but none of it is going to make the game more appealing to people that have spent their last 1,000 hours hating it."

If you look at a lot of the Steam reviews, some players have given it bad marks, even though they have hundrerds of hours invetsed in the game - some even have more than a thousand. "If you're bored of the game then just stop playing it," newman said. "But before you get angry about it consider whether we have given you enough entertainment over the last 3 years to justify pocketing your $20."

However, one responder - who seems to be getting a lot of agreement from the reddit community - said that the game has strayed from its original formula. "You guys have taken this crazy home invasion simulator that rewarded creativity and ingenuity and turned it into a gathering simulator with guns. Creativity and ingenuity are being snuffed out, grind is being increased, rewards are being reduced."

Earlier this year, Newman and Facepunch took the unconventional step of having Rust randomly assign gender to new players, a move that was not received well by fans, and caused complaints of a lack of communication on the part of the developer.

Interesting debate, but another illustration that no matter how good your game may be, it will not always make everyone happy all the time. 

Contributing Editor
From The Chatty
  • reply
    December 19, 2016 10:41 AM

    John Keefer posted a new article, Rust developer wants bored fans to 'stop playing'

    • reply
      December 19, 2016 10:43 AM

      i feel the same way about wow hatersubs. they pay the monthly fee, complain there hasn't been a good expac since wotlk, and basically just sit in trade chat shitting on everything blizzard does. stop fucking paying and fuck off somewhere else then!

    • reply
      December 19, 2016 10:48 AM

      The mentality of appeasing complaints seems like a dead end no matter what - I'm surprised they went that route in the first place. It also kind of indicates they didn't have a clear indication of what they wanted the game to be, if user complaints could drastically change the developments of the game.

      I haven't played Rust, but I was super interested in it when it was first released/announced. After reading that though, I will probably not give it the light of day until it gets a real release so as to avoid this cycle or any form of it going forward.

    • reply
      December 19, 2016 11:00 AM

      Three year Steam Early Access! That's your problem right there.

      • reply
        December 19, 2016 2:01 PM

        Space Engineer has been in EA for over three years now. Minecraft took longer before 1.0. Mount & Blade took a while to finish. It isn't uncommon.

    • reply
      December 19, 2016 11:24 AM

      I dont care for rust, but it kinda funny how the shitlords will dump hundreds of hours into games like that and just review it as "game sucks ass, full of faggots, fuck the devs".

    • reply
      December 19, 2016 11:58 AM

      This is the problem with any game that is primarily played online. People get their fun out of it, then they get bored and start coming up with ways the game could be better for them. Then they get angry that these things aren't in the game and blame developer for being lazy, favoring one faction over the other, balancing the game for PvE over PvP, whatever.

    • reply
      December 19, 2016 1:02 PM

      * E A R L Y A C C E S S ' D *
      I bet he doesn't want to give them back their money though.

      • reply
        December 19, 2016 1:07 PM

        Why should they? Early access means not finished. If a game pivots 180 degrees in early access, so be it. Perhaps that's not what everyone will want but that doesn't entitle you to a refund.

        • reply
          December 19, 2016 1:45 PM

          He wants them to 'stop playing' the game they paid for.

          • reply
            December 19, 2016 1:47 PM

            If you're not happy with the direction it took, you've given your feedback, and the team has decided they're not going to go in that direction then yes. Stop playing it. No you don't deserve to get your money back. That's a risk you take with early access.

          • reply
            December 19, 2016 2:05 PM

            "If you're bored of the game then just stop playing it," newman said. "But before you get angry about it consider whether we have given you enough entertainment over the last 3 years to justify pocketing your $20."

            This is the quote you've chosen to characterize in that way.

            Honestly? That's kind of the problem with gamers - they're a bunch of entitled twats.

            • reply
              December 19, 2016 2:12 PM

              My problem is with infinite Early Access.

              • reply
                December 19, 2016 2:19 PM

                What difference would it make if it wasn't early access?

                • reply
                  December 19, 2016 2:45 PM

                  It would be done and he wouldn't still be in active development for release.

                  • reply
                    December 19, 2016 3:01 PM

                    So would it make you feel better if they changed it to being "DONE" and then continuing additional development for the game?

                    • reply
                      December 19, 2016 3:14 PM

                      I'm just saying if it had been released as a completed game, people would know exactly what to expect from it before spending money on it, and all that would be *required* is bugfixes.
                      If they just now put the game out on the market as complete, and people just now spent money on it, they could wish for things, but they couldn't complain that the things they wanted in it didn't come to pass.

                      It's difficult for me to argue specific promises vs what actually is in-game because I have no horse in that race. I just have an interest in horse racing in general, to stretch that analogy.
                      From what I understand, in this case it's not even promises per se, it's buffing and nerfing, adding and subtracting mechanics which exist? Which, sure, buffs/nerfs happen in patches after games release, but wholesale game-changing normally does not. Which seems to be the complaint.

                      Again, I'm mostly going on about Early Access as a concept, more so than Rust specifically. The "don't play it then" aspect is just particularly "Wait, wtf?" to me.

                      • reply
                        December 19, 2016 3:30 PM

                        There's an outspoken group of gamers who like to poopsock a game until they get sick of it, force themselves to play it some more until they're completely burned out on it, and then spend a ridiculous amount of time shitting on the game in webforums.

                        The dude's telling those people to stop playing it if they're not having fun. This is something they should be doing to begin with, but lack the mental maturity to do so.

                        The whole point of playing games is to have fun. If you're not having fun with a game then stop playing it.

                        • reply
                          December 19, 2016 3:42 PM

                          I saw a comment on Shacknews earlier about MGSV, something like "I got pretty bored of this game after 40 hours"

                          • reply
                            December 19, 2016 6:31 PM

                            Yes, but they weren't asking for the money back or in game bitching to people

                          • reply
                            December 19, 2016 9:28 PM

                            And?

                          • reply
                            December 20, 2016 4:39 AM

                            You must've missed the threads we've had where people say stuff like "Diablo 3 sucks. I know because I played it for 300 hours".

                      • reply
                        December 20, 2016 10:08 AM

                        I hate "Early Access" as well. It's nothing more than a developer asking YOU to pay for the continued development of the game they are currently making.It's kind of a joke in one respect.

                        I understand it as a business model from the devs perspective,but as a gamer,I NEVER get involved with any game that has "Early Access" attached to it because I know that more times than not,it's not going to end well for me.

                        Early Access to me feels like an extension of a Kickstarter.

                    • reply
                      December 20, 2016 2:33 AM

                      And then charged for DLC?

                  • reply
                    December 20, 2016 9:36 AM

                    That's not necessarily true. Lots of games continue active development well after release as a way to keep the game fresh and interesting going forward.

          • reply
            December 19, 2016 2:35 PM

            As I said below, anyone who has had the game for even a little while has likely gotten their money and then some. I bought into legacy Rust. It's a totally brand new game from the ground up and it looks gorgeous and has a lot of depth. What other developer has done that? Zero.

    • reply
      December 19, 2016 2:12 PM

      Rust is an amazing game and you can play it in many different ways. That reddit user that is getting praise is full of shit. I got my $20 literally hundreds of times over. Facepunch is an absolute credit to the gaming community and Early Access as well. They update their devblog every week, and the game every 2 weeks without fail. Their progress is amazing. They are transparent, and they listen to the community. Right now the game is a gem. There are a handful of minor issues that should be taken care of to get it out of early access, but most people wouldn't even notice them.

    • reply
      December 19, 2016 8:32 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      December 20, 2016 2:31 AM

      Wait, what's a home invasion simulator?

Hello, Meet Lola