hello there,

just wondering why there is so few official response in the skyrim forums.

i'm as a player of eve online used to get response on a lot of threads,

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=topics&f=258

c'mon bethesda, you earned more with skyrim alone as ccp ever will with eve.....

some more forum precense from some devs (or at least moderators) would be highly apriciated.

Old news long since covered several times recently. This is Bethesda's site. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

(Don't you like using a Search function?)

...Old question, this is a forum, Adjust your expectations accordingly.

I don't think that's correct, EVE Online has been around since 2003. I do not know the actual numbers, but when you consider that they've had subscribers paying a monthly fee for over eight years, my guess is the actual dollar figure would be higher, maybe considerably higher.

FYI, I also play EVE and have since 2006.

EVE Online is an MMO
Skyrim is not

With an MMO, a development company hopes to continue you make money from the same product through either subscriptions or a steady release of desirable microtransaction products. And even though Skyrim may have some form of cash store based downloadable content, Bethesda's primary source of revenue is box sales or digital purchase through steam... They've got all the guaranteed money they are going to get from all of us who are posting here about the issues we are having with the game.

When your livelihood is based on regular revenue from subscriptions or microtransactions from the public, a public presence is mandated, so naturally EVE and other MMOs like it will have official interaction on its forums. But Bethesda is probably looking forward to moving on to some other game and probably cannot wait until they have fixed the game enough that it will at least work according to what is indicated on the box... Even if they don't, they will stop actively supporting it once they get burried in their next project and Skyrim will be what it will be. Same thing happened with Oblivion and Morrowind.

The responses we get from Bethesda will come in the form of patches. That's just how it is.

i completely understand those facts, but there could be some devs here and there anyway.

if its only, hey we are still on it, patch day will be next week, we listen to you guys, interesting poll, things like that.

at least it looks they have their eyes on the modding folks, because a lot of good player ideas from mods found their way into skyrim..... (weapon racks, companions, random encounters on roads, horse carriage... and so on.....)

+1

Yes but a company that proves it puts out a multiple bad products, then does not provide feed back doesnt get repeat business.
This may be my last bethesda game. Fallout:NV on PS3, crashed every 5 minutes had to put it away for a few months before it was playable. Skyrim PC, crashes every 5 minutes, so far still nearly unplayable. I have to agree with the OP, a little customer service no matter how insincere goes a long way.

Maybe true..but also irrelevant IMO. There are many Single player game developers that uh..actually post on their forums and try to communicate with their fanbase. Yeah, so we aren't entitled to that...but it just shows the difference in a company who cares and one who doesn't. Or at least, gives the appearance of such.

OP is definitely right. Customer support for Bethesda is horrible...and community relations is even worse. How hard is it for one dev to skim the forums..reply simple answers..or even just post an update once a week or something saying what they are working on or that they are aware of or ?

Bethesda has your money.

They see no reason to talk to you.

They shud make from games as Skyrim a multiplayer option like the Diablo series, it is possible not hard to make, its just to late to add that now but maybe next series..

Sad, but true. They know mods will take over..people will fend for themselves..so they don't care. Also why I won't buy another game from them. I know they don't care about that either...because others will..but not getting me again.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Skyrim-Multiplayer-Mode-Now-Available-Through-a-PC-Mod-241170.shtml

Like I said Bethesda doesn't care, it's up to modders now.

Bad business model right there. Trying to think of another company that took that approach.

First one to come to mind. Netflix and thier fairly recent one finger salute to customers resulting in a what was it 15% profit loss and 5% drop in stock shares? (and in Netflix case 15% is an absolute gob of money)

Truth, but Bethesda knows they have the support of millions of fanbois to keep buying their crappy, broken games. Just look at all the people in denial about the problems of Skyrim on this forum. Just because their game works (mostly) they refuse to accept others are having major problems. Even when a devoted fan acknowledges a problem they try to blame it on the platform and not the game.

That sounds to me like an obscene amount.

Hmmmm you know congress always wants new ideas for legislation.

Software right to own (coughnomoresteamcough)
Minimum acceptable working standards (BBB?)

Would be cute if software companies actually got held accountable by law for putting out junk


Obscene much better word. I was trying to be PC and mind wasnt letting me so went for random words

If its a PC, then the platform can cause problems.

If a console, then there's nothing you can do anyway.

Honestly I think Bethesda give a lot to the customers.

Supporting 3 platforms in such a complex game can't be easy.
They are also giving the community the creation kit In january.

It's frustrating to many that they came up short when a little extra polish could have created a gaming masterpiece. But then look at 3drealms and their wid policy. With a game like skyrim you could work forever trying to polish it.

The main thing they missed - ps3 aside- seems to be shadows linked to CPU, direct x11, 64bit support, 3d support, low Rez textures - pretty big misses I think.
If they had given those options for pc users, it would have pleased a lot more people and would no doubt have gathered even more praise from the press.

For xbox 360 owners they pretty much nailed it.

If you using a graphics card from the approved list. A OS from the approved list. Meet all the minimum+ requirements (im past the optimal in all areas). Then the platform should work out of the box. Which ironically, it did! 1.0 Worked flawlessly never CTD, no BSOD, but then again i did have random corpses showing up at weddings which i never did..... 1.1+ forcing Steam connection caused tons of CTD. So the platform being Steam causing the problems, i guess your right.

was making a working product on 25% of machines passing thier litmus test.

Hmm interesting but the mod looks crappy, would be better if bethesda makes an official online mod. Besides it would get more sales as well, see WoW, or any MMO. When that happens than also the amount of bugs would be much less since they cannot rush such a release since its played online.

Sad but so true. We should know better than to shell out $60 (not even $50 like normal) on a game from a company that is famous for releasing broken games with outdated engines. I/We can say we'll never buy a Bethesda product again, but you know that's not really gunna happen. We love games. We want to play the latest games that interest us and hope for the best. I actually preordered the game like a fool and believed Todd Howard when he said the Creation engine was completely new and made from scratch. What a lie. It's just the same really old Gamebryo with shadows and a few new tricks. No wonder people with amazing PCs can't get the game running like it should. I doubt Bethesda will ever make this right, let alone say hey we're sorry all you folks have issues let us fix them. They have our money. End of story.

My only comparison is when Bioware was making BG2. There was good interaction with Gaider going between the devs and the forum members. I specifically remember an incident wtih a weapon request that he took up; gave the forum a couple options, and then "made it so".

My guess is that more of the devs will pop out when the CK comes about; if I remember, they can be a bit helpful with programming

I miss MSFD; he was a trove of inside info and leaks

Release game on cool date, go on holidays, win game of the year, drink more wine, let modders fix game, start on fallout 4.

i wonder if it has anything to do with the general lack of congeniality from most of the people who post on this forum? i am completely amazed they still try to help at all. i mean jeesh, the common theme here is, "your game crashed/ i found a bug you better fix it but i know you wont cause your game svcks! you svck! go kill yourself!!!".

I'ts like people never heard of tact...