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pterrok -> RE: Battles In Normandy Goes Gold! (9/14/2004 8:57:31 PM)
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OK, the problem with comparing a computer wargame to a board wargame leads to a disturbing fact...I bought many, MANY board wargames and did not play them all. I bought some because they were interesting looking and I could add it to my collection. I can still go back and easily read the rules and enjoy the board and counters and charts and tables...
Lo those many years ago I bought many, MANY computer wargames, all of which WERE played at least once and usually for at least a couple of weeks. If my brother hadn't thrown them all out (why oh why didn't I take them with me?) it would still be cool to look at the box and manual and player aids even if I no longer had a computer system which could run them...
So...
The problem isn't the price so much as you don't get to lay your hands on a physical object--just a stream of bits running around inside your computer. I have a vague interest in WitP and I MIGHT have purchased it if I could get a box and manual and charts because I could COLLECT it. I KNOW I'm not likely to have much time to PLAY it. (Blame KP!)
If Matrix ever came up with a scheme where I could go to the website and order a boxed computer game I WOULD pay a premium price to do so in some cases. Since the order would be directly to Matrix they would get 100% of the sale and split that with the developer and cut Digital River out of the loop.
If we had to pre-order so you'd know how many manuals/boxes/charts to get printed up, that would be fine as you should be able to get some pricing discount over my doing a one off at Kinko's. Heck, make it clear that you have to sign-up to get the collectors edition and once they're gone, you're out of luck--digital download only after that!
Shipping is the bug-a-boo, as usual, but you pay for what kind of shipping you want.
So how many others would pay more, maybe a LOT more for the collector's edition?
Boardgames are expensive because of the cost of the materials and the printing costs, but people understand what they're paying for since it's a physical object. Those who think that computer games should be cheaper since there is no box, board or manual don't see the catch: In a board game you find an exploit and it might be a simple matter of inserting a two sentence rule into the manual to fix the exploit. In a computer game there is no telling how much code will go into implementing that little two-sentence rule--it could take minutes or it could take days or it could almost literally require a rewrite of the entire program.
In theory, the same amount of research is needed and the same amount of artwork (though you may argue that getting the artwork in the limited confines of a computer screen is a bit harder than having free reign to come up with large charts and fold-outs with miniscule text) and the same amount of work to come up with the game design.
The difference is that in a boardgame you write a 10, 20 or 100 page manual; in a computer game you write 100,000, 200,000 or 1,000,000 lines of code to be the rules. Higher cost for a computer game.
When the game is put together it has to be tested--and this is more problematical for the computer game than the board game since not only do you need to fix the exploits, you need to fix the bugs! Higher cost for a computer game.
Some developers release games that are 'fairly' to 'very' buggy. A good Publisher will NOT knowingly release a 'very' buggy game but may go with a 'fairly' buggy one--what sort of rep does Matrix have? (Since all I have is KP I can't comment on Matrix; all I can say is that SSG made a rock-solid game in KP and that I expect BiN will match it simply because they didn't rush it out the door to make June 6th.) But that means a good publisher has to spend some of their own time testing the game to see what sort of shape it's in. Higher cost for a computer game.
So it's still a steal at $60 as far as I'm concerned...
If there is another computer game that you find more interesting at a cheaper price than your choice is clear. If it's by a Developer/Publisher with less than a sterling reputation than you may have to wait for reviews and your choice is less clear. If this is the only game dealing with your area of interest than your choice is clear if you need to get your 'fix.' If you're not an addict then maybe you can wait for another game on the same subject to come out and your choice is less clear...
If time is money then the issue for me isn't hard-currency--it's that I don't have the TIME to play all the games that are interesting and so don't buy them. I'll get GGWaW when it comes out but that's gonna fill up all the little bits of time that BiN won't be using!
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