Steam Early Access: Begrudging Rant

I just felt angry enough to let my pals here know what I think, and this post is too long for the OOC, so it gets its own thread. After the wall, feel free to walk away if you've got nothing to add...or make a video, if you're a regular uploader at a video sharing site.

So two games I currently have my eye on are "early access" games. Basically you buy the game and get to play the product in its unfinished state, at full price, but you get to be part of the what I'd call the "unofficial" playtesters. That's great and all, but if the game's not finished, is still buggy, and some key features are still under construction, why are you asking me to pay full price? Basically they gave a release date, released the beta version on said date, and the full version of the game is slated for "when we're done". You'd think that by this point they'd be able to say Q4 this year for the release of their full game.

Take Wasteland 2, for instance, and one of said games I've been interested in purchasing. The release date for the Steam version was December 13th of 2013. The following is taken from their store page info: "What’s missing? We still have UI to improve on, more skills to add, more player choice, more SFX and of course more areas to explore and we will hone these elements based on your experiences." "More areas" means that the game world isn't finished! How about, since you've sold 400+ copies for 60 bucks for a total of $24000+ on Steam alone, you give me a release date for the finished product, the "full game" let's call it?

I hate seeing it there, released as a "full game" in early access with no projected release date for the finished product. It bugs the hell out of me, I feel a little pressured to just buy it and be done with the indefinite wait time, but not enough to overcome the feeling of being insulted. It certainly doesn't help when I read reviews crying foul about being banned or silenced, and info being edited changed to more favorable wording, see Dead State's store page for Steam user Jynxx's review.

I get the concept, but to put this as an analogy:

My friend Bob called up and asked me if I'd like to hang out and do this really cool thing, maybe a party with all the works, or going to a restaurant with all the friends on someone's birthday, and he's offering to be my ride, but first I'm gonna have to walk to his place. So I say why not, after all, this is months away, and I could totally plan for a stroll from one side of the town to the other, or, more likely, a long bus ride. Every week or so Bob keeps calling me, and sometimes I call Bob because I'm super excited about it. When the day finally comes, I've arrived at Bob's place, and for some reason Bob's having trouble with his mom, wife, SO, roommate, landlord etc, and he's throwing a rope out the window of his unit four stories up, climbing out partially nude, and I'm standing there at the bottom looking up with a perfect view of Bob's ass, wondering if he'll reach the ground before everyone at the party starts wondering where the mastermind of the whole thing is, or if I'll have to catch him if he slips and falls to his potential death.

Not that that's ever happened before...

Well, i didn't even know the practice existed till right now. I've to say that in principle it wouldn't bother me that much. Hovvever, when dissenting voices and reviews are banned, silenced or distorted, THAT is bullshit right there, and i'd throw a rock at the head whomever had a hand in making that policy, if knew where they live.

From now on, I usually wait for the full game to be released before I buy it. Which I am doing with Wasteland 2 despite the temptation. I am quite happy to know it will come out in august and I won't have paid a cent to participate in this massive betatest. I'm not the kind of guy to get angry at a concept like Early Access. But any game developer that tries to manipulate the reviews are making sure that I never pay for their damn game.

Oh, August? I didn't notice that, thanks for pointing out that very obvious thing to me. But still, I'm less frustrated now.

The only early access game I enjoy is Gnomoria, which updates fairly regularly and has a team of one. Very impressive operation.

I've actually been staying away from the Wasteland 2 beta. I'm confident I'll like the product enough not to have to spoil things for me by playing an unfinished game. <Shrug>

Early Access. Shortened, it becomes EA.

It's a Templar plot to cause another videogame crash so that Ubisoft will stop publishing their secret history. That internet meme makes it so obvious!  

3 dots in a row.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/218900/Steam_updates_Early_Access_FAQ_to_say_games_may_never_be_finished.php