What grinds my gears!

[Stupot]

The movie "Crawl" REALLY ground my gears.

Especially because it has an 83% critics rating and 75% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes...

Here is what I wrote on their audience critic section (SPOILERS)
It

Spoiler

Now, I realize movies aren't supposed to be 100% realistic, but when I see someone chomped on by gators, on arms and legs, shoulder and torso, like 5 times but they can still swim and move at full speed, without any broken bones, nerve damage, torn muscles, or just body parts freezing up from the shock of the injuries, I just have to assume that their skeleton is made of adamantium and their wounds heal about as fast as Wolverine's do too.
At this point I know they are going to be just fine no matter what happens to them and all suspense is lost.
Which is a shame, because I really cared about the two characters at first, but once I realized they were indestructible, that all went out the window.
Movie, less is more.

[close]

Spoiler

Holy crap! Was that guy Jason Voorhees?
I don't expect a movie to be realistic, but there are limits, especially when it comes down to what the main characters can survive. 
(Unless it's done for comical effect of course.)

[close]

Yeah. Sometimes they really test the limits of suspension of disbelief.

I mean I love The X-Files more than anyone I know... but one thing ground my gears...

Spoiler

https://youtu.be/DuLVzKSxj_Q
https://youtu.be/cfapO4nluNw

[close]

[Mandle]

Well,

Spoiler

it was hinted at a few times that cancer man had augmented himself with alien DNA to be a "fast healer", so I can forgive that. He is Wolverine.

What I cannot forgive is the final hug between Mulder and Scully when they don't know what happened to Skinner yet. Professional agents would run off immediately to assist their fallen team-mate, but they were both just "Yeah, screw that, let's exit on a touching moment for the viewers."

And they even KNEW he was being shot at because Mulder pointed out that Skinner was in danger when he heard the shots.

[close]

[Matti]

Well,

Spoiler

it was hinted at a few times that cancer man had augmented himself with alien DNA to be a "fast healer", so I can forgive that. He is Wolverine.

[close]

Spoiler

He got a missile shot in his face! With all his body parts lying around he must be a "fast healer" like the T-1000, not Wolverine.

[close]

[Mandle]

Well,

Spoiler

it was hinted at a few times that cancer man had augmented himself with alien DNA to be a "fast healer", so I can forgive that. He is Wolverine.

[close]

Spoiler

He got a missile shot in his face! With all his body parts lying around he must be a "fast healer" like the T-1000, not Wolverine.

[close]

Spoiler

We only saw his skin peeling off, not his body parts blowing apart.

[close]

[Laura Hunt]

So *I* am supposed give *you* money for the privilege of testing your game so you can save yourself the cost of hiring beta testers? Did you go to the Tom Sawyer Business School?

Am I the only one who finds this mind-boggling (and gear-grinding)?

(Disclaimer: I don't think the dev in question is identifiable from this, but in any case this is meant to be an example of a tendency I'm seeing all over the place, and not me pointing my finger at any specific individual. In fact I actually like their games a lot.)

[lorenzo]

Haha, I agree.
It reminds me of those great offers: "Pre-order our game now at a higher price and before the reviews are out to access the beta, and beta-test the game for us! What a bargain!"

[Laura Hunt]

Haha, I agree.
It reminds me of those great offers: "Pre-order our game now at a higher price and before the reviews are out to access the beta, and beta-test the game for us! What a bargain!"

Haha yeah, it's the reason I haven't jumped on the early access for Curse of the Dead Gods, as amazing as it looks. Besides not wanting to pay to work as a beta tester like we've already mentioned, what's the point of playing an incomplete game for, say, a year, so that when the whole thing comes out you're already bored of it? If it was free then I'd certainly consider it, but not for 15â,¬ lol

[Mandle]

This would only really grind my gears if I was being forced to buy the game in this way or I could never play it.

While I would never pay to play an incomplete/buggy game, there are tons of people who will it seems. If that helps finance some games through to the end then we get more games and I'm fine with that.

[Jack]

This seems to offer the chance of affecting the game's content.

I can imagine some games that would be so highly anticipated that this would seem like a good opportunity. But for the average crowdfunded game, neh.

[Danvzare]

So *I* am supposed give *you* money for the privilege of testing your game so you can save yourself the cost of hiring beta testers? Did you go to the Tom Sawyer Business School?

Am I the only one who finds this mind-boggling (and gear-grinding)?

(Disclaimer: I don't think the dev in question is identifiable from this, but in any case this is meant to be an example of a tendency I'm seeing all over the place, and not me pointing my finger at any specific individual. In fact I actually like their games a lot.)

Well in their defence, they probably need the money just to be able to complete the game, and probably don't have anything spare to hire proper beta testers.
Besides, if it's a game you're really looking forward to, and you're going to buy it anyway, wouldn't you want to help in its creation?
Of course it depends on the game, but still.

It's when big budget AAA titles do it, that it really grinds my gears. And the problem is, all big budget AAA titles seem to do it nowadays, and everyone considers it the norm! As a matter of fact, I've had people call me out for being the weird one when I complain about it!

[Cassiebsg]

That is the weirdest thing, to be honest. I often offer to Beta test if I have the time free, both for free and commercial games. I consider my "pay" the knowing that I helped making a game better and with less bugs, and if it's a commercial game, then I got to play a game I would likely not play, since in my current financial situation I can't afford the money.
But paying to be a beta tester?          (but hey, if there are people willing to do that, then by all means, why not? there's a sucker born every minute, they say...)

[Laura Hunt]

So *I* am supposed give *you* money for the privilege of testing your game so you can save yourself the cost of hiring beta testers? Did you go to the Tom Sawyer Business School?

Am I the only one who finds this mind-boggling (and gear-grinding)?

(Disclaimer: I don't think the dev in question is identifiable from this, but in any case this is meant to be an example of a tendency I'm seeing all over the place, and not me pointing my finger at any specific individual. In fact I actually like their games a lot.)

Well in their defence, they probably need the money just to be able to complete the game, and probably don't have anything spare to hire proper beta testers.

Then offer some actual reward to backers, which is kind of the point of Kickstarter and Patreon, and with that money, hire beta testers. Simple. But don't make them pay for the "privilege" jfc.

Besides, if it's a game you're really looking forward to, and you're going to buy it anyway, wouldn't you want to help in its creation?

Um no? "Help in its creation" is a sneaky way to say "work on the game", and if you work on the game, you're part of the team and if you're part of the team, you should be paid as such ¯\_(ãƒ,,)_/¯ Taking advantage of fans' enthusiasm is at the very least ethically suspect from my point of view.

[Laura Hunt]

That is the weirdest thing, to be honest. I often offer to Beta test if I have the time free, both for free and commercial games. I consider my "pay" the knowing that I helped making a game better and with less bugs, and if it's a commercial game, then I got to play a game I would likely not play, since in my current financial situation I can't afford the money.
But paying to be a beta tester?         

Exactly! If you want to do it because it's your thing and you enjoy it and you get satisfaction (and maybe a game!) from it, all the more power to you! It's the "paying" part that's, to quote,         XD

[Stupot]

People who think that just because something is designed or marketed for a certain purpose, you only use that thing for that purpose. No where is this more apparent than Japan (don't get me started on umbrellas - yes, there is a tiny drop of rain and yes, umbrellas are for rain, but you don't all have to all open your massive two-man umbrellas in an already crowded street just to get from the station to the coffee shop 10 metres away!!!).

What's ground my gears today was going into the drugstore and seeing the totally empty handsoap shelf and then looking at the perfectly healthily-stocked shelf next to it on which is an abundance of body soap.

IT'S THE SAME STUFF!!! If people are so desperate, why isn't the other soap also sold out? Just buy the body soap and fill up a hand-soap dispenser with it.  I promise you won't go to hell for it. That's exactly what I'll do if I can't get hold of any more hand soap when we run out. Now again, I'm sure the chemical make-up of body soap is slightly different from actual hand soap and it's not exactly the same stuff, but basically the main difference is the noun on the bottle. It's not going to burn your hands off.

[Laura Hunt]

IT'S THE SAME STUFF!!! If people are so desperate, why isn't the other soap also sold out?

The answer might be extremely shocking to some, so I'm going to put it under a spoiler tag:

Spoiler

People are incredibly fucking stupid.

[close]

[Danvzare]

So *I* am supposed give *you* money for the privilege of testing your game so you can save yourself the cost of hiring beta testers? Did you go to the Tom Sawyer Business School?

Am I the only one who finds this mind-boggling (and gear-grinding)?

(Disclaimer: I don't think the dev in question is identifiable from this, but in any case this is meant to be an example of a tendency I'm seeing all over the place, and not me pointing my finger at any specific individual. In fact I actually like their games a lot.)

Well in their defence, they probably need the money just to be able to complete the game, and probably don't have anything spare to hire proper beta testers.

Then offer some actual reward to backers, which is kind of the point of Kickstarter and Patreon, and with that money, hire beta testers. Simple. But don't make them pay for the "privilege" jfc.

But the ability to play the game or games early IS the reward. I know it's hard to believe, but a lot of people for some weird reason, like to play games early (even though they're incomplete buggy messes).
Now I'm not one of those people. I like finished working games. But even I'm able to understand the very simple concept that that there are a lot of people that like playing games they're looking forward to, as early as possible.
The thing is, if you're playing a game early, you're technically a beta tester. There's no way around that. That's the entire concept behind early access, and is one of the reasons why Minecraft became as successful as it did! (I still remember a Dwarf Fortress thread where people were complaining about this new "early access" thing that an increasingly popular indie game called "Minecraft" was doing, and why it was so stupid. Little did they know everyone would start doing it.)

Ok, assuming you somehow still don't understand the concept. Let me reframe it, so maybe you can.
Let's say you have a Patreon. Ok. And you get demands that some people want a reward of having early access to an incomplete buggy version of the game. (I'm not saying that this has happened for the guy in the example you gave, but I'm sure it's happened for someone.)
Would you do it?
If you do, you're technically making them into beta testers that are paying you for the privilege to be beta testers? (The thing that grinds your gears.)
If you don't, you're not giving your patreons a reward that they're actually asking for, and you may be losing out on some extra cash flow as a result.

Now it's not that I don't agree with you. Paying for the privilege to beta test someone's game is dumb.
But people like playing games early. And while I don't agree with those people, I can at least understand that concept. So why can't you?

Now I know we're talking about Patreon, which means people aren't just paying for the privilege of being beta testers. They're paying continually for that privilege. Which let's face it, is pretty damn stupid. But even then, what I've said still kinda applies.

[Laura Hunt]

Ok, assuming you somehow still don't understand the concept. Let me reframe it, so maybe you can.

I stopped reading right here and I don't care what comes afterwards. Next time you might want to keep the condescendence in check if you want people to care about anything you might have to say.

[Stupot]

You have to ask how many of those backers/subscribers actually end up helping with testing and how many just wanted to see an early version of the game because it makes them feel special.

[Danvzare]

Ok, assuming you somehow still don't understand the concept. Let me reframe it, so maybe you can.

I stopped reading right here and I don't care what comes afterwards. Next time you might want to keep the condescendence in check if you want people to care about anything you might have to say.

Sorry about that.
It's not much of an excuse, but you annoyed me with how you completely glossed over the point I was trying to make earlier, because it seemed like you didn't understand something that seemed obvious to me. So I over explained it as a result.
As for what came after that part you stopped reading. It was exactly the same as before. Just repeated three times in different words. So there was no reason to read it if you already understood what I meant in that first paragraph, which I think you did. 

Also, just so you know (because you skipped it), I agreed with you.

You have to ask how many of those backers/subscribers actually end up helping with testing and how many just wanted to see an early version of the game because it makes them feel special.

That's a very good question.
I guess you could include the stipulation that "I'll ignore any bugs you point out, so you're not technically beta testers!" but that would just be stupid.
I get the feeling that most people won't actually help with the testing. Other than pointing out some game breaking bugs, I suspect everyone will just play it once, then forget about it. But I've been wrong about these kinds of things before. So only the people who does this kind of thing can actually answer that question.

In my opinion, it's a bit of a nuanced subject. I've seen some people offer a free trimmed-down early access version, usually with less content or crappier graphics. So you aren't paying to beta-test, as that's free. You're just paying for an early version. That is the only time I can say that early access isn't synonymous with paying for the privilege to beta test. But it's hardly applicable for most games.

[Mandle]

Panic-buying really grinds my gears... People should NOT be going out and hoarding shit they are not going to use within the year. Other people need that stuff too.