My Response to Sessler’s Response to L4D 2 Critics

Via GamePolitics, I saw Adam Sessler’s response to the online petitioners of Left 4 Dead 2, Valve’s sequel to one of last year’s best games.  Head there to watch his response.

Here’s the GP excerpt of part of his response for the lazy:

We’re going down that path again – this shocking, amazing sense of entitlement that always manifests itself in the gaming community… Valve does not have a habit of screwing people and if there was ever a developer out there I would just kind of give them the benefit of the doubt…

They don’t owe you anything. It’s a business… Where were you brought up and in what environment where you hugged so overwhelmingly that you feel that you need to be served as the only person that needs to be considered when other people are making commercial properties? It really is a little bit on the naive side and slightly embarrassing… It’s kind of juvenile… The Internet, when it comes to games, can be such a nation of whiners…

I usually agree with Sessler… this is not one of those times.

Valve is a company, and like all companies they provide a product to the consumers.  When they announce a new product (like Left 4 Dead 2), it sparks talk among the consumers.  Sure, Valve doesn’t necessarily “owe” the fans anything.  Of course, completely ignoring your consumers tends to result in producing a poor product, which, in turn, leads to you ultimately going out of business because you aren’t selling anything.

Consumers have every right to complain or “whine” just as much as they have the right to NOT BUY YOUR GAME.  And, there is nothing more powerful than the consumer’s purchase power. 

Some petitioners believe they have been “sold out” by Valve.  I find this viewpoint to be extreme.  A company wouldn’t just sell out its consumer base, thus negatively affecting sales.  However, Valve did promise DLC for the original Left 4 Dead.  And, despite an extra game mode and added Versus Mode to a couple maps, there hasn’t been much. 

I don’t think that Valve would have to place all the new content from L4D 2 into a single, free DLC package.  In fact, I’d gladly pay for a hefty expansion pack instead.  Why they didn’t choose that route… I’m not sure.  Perhaps they are taking a page from the folks at Infinity Ward, who deliver a new Call of Duty game just about every year?

I’ve also seen a number of people in both camps throwing around the “freedom of speech” argument.  Look, regardless of how you feel about Left 4 Dead 2 or Valve, freedom of speech does not mean freedom from criticism.  Valve announced a new product, and as far as I’m concerned, there is nothing wrong with criticizing them for it.  Conversely, there is nothing wrong with vocally supporting them or criticizing the petitioners. 

What we are seeing unfold isn’t, as Sessler stated, “a nation of whiners,” but a free market system doing what it does best, promoting competition and improving the quality of consumer goods.