Well that certainly seems to have stirred up some sediment. Not my intention but there you go I suppose; that was my error; I don't possess any psychic-reading powers (unlike some it seems; that's a good trick; where can I learn how to do that? I don't think I want to go so far as beating people though.)
It was intended as a piece of very tongue-in-cheek, light-hearted jest, slightly provocative perhaps, but has been taken far, far more seriously than ever intended. I wonder if that's the key perhaps; to me this is just a website forum about a computer game. A Game. A very, very good one in many, many respects, but a game nonetheless and it has only very slight connection with the real world. It's a consumer product and I make much the same demands of it as I do of any other consumer product. It's computer software and I make much the same demands of it as I do of any of the other computer software I use. Sometimes weeks or months go by and I don't even think about Silent Hunter.
The comments about design team continuity etc. are fairly made but those type of issues are not new to the games industry and established methods and procedures exist to guard against them; I'd go so far as to suggest that it's standard business practice - or it certainly should be in an industry that now grosses more than the film industry.
My original comments relate to frustrations and disappointments directed towards the industry as a whole and I stand by that. The unprofessional standard of the written communications within the games and in the instruction manuals suggests that they are produced by people who either -
- have a level of literacy that is not of a level I believe we have a right to expect in professional copy writing.
Or
- Do not have the necessary quality checking and controls in place, such as is provided in traditional media by editors and sub-editors.
Or
– they have a cynical disregard for the consumer / end user and a "what the hell?" attitude.
Absent from the list above is the packaging for games, which, in my experience is more often than not the only aspect which demonstrates that professionals familiar with textual communications have had a hand.
Finally, if, Sailor Steve, you found my "hung by the neck until dead" remark offensive to your friend, that was not my intention and I really can't believe that you thought I was serious. I still find that screen to be very visually cluttered and unclear and although the "new interface" comment is well made, that screen does not encourage me to persist to the point of familiarity. That's my opinion; your and other peoples' opinions are different; fine. I note that you state you have had many years naval service "before most of you were born". That will, clearly, colour your views. Similarly I have had more than forty years experience in and around the publishing industry and that colours my views.
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