Another victory for the internet! An e-mail went out today from the higher ups in Microsoft to the low downs that detailed how Microsoft’s vision for the next Xbox includes players being able to do “everything they would expect to do”, including playing single player games, while the system is not connected to the internet. We did it! After weeks of watching the reaction to the news, Microsoft has made the changes to the system we are asking for! They know that without the support of the internet, the system will fail.
Except
What changes? It seems everyone is using this e-mail to prove that changes were made based off the following logic: it’s never a company’s policy to just e-mail something saying “everything is still like we said it was” so this is clearly an e-mail communicating an update or change. The problem with that logic is that it’s
· wrong
· flawed
· stupid
Companies that are in the media spotlight send out “on course” reminders all the time when the media picks up a story that isn’t true (or is true but not public yet). They need to; since they generally communicate nothing to the lower level employees, many will take what they hear in the media as gospel and go on repeating it to people, who assume they are more informed because they work for the company. It’s the circle of bullshit; the media misinforms “experts” who repeat the misinformation to other media outlets who misinform other experts.
Not telling low level employees anything about anything is the policy that you really should be looking at here. Anyone who worked at McDonalds can tell you that you find out about the price change or the new sandwich the day it goes live and there is never an e-mail to prepare the masses for the high level change they have no say in. Microsoft has no reason to tell anyone outside of the design team anything about the new Xbox, and this e-mail isn’t a clarification - it’s the first any of these employees have heard about it. It was only sent to counter the negative press they are getting based on wrong information.
Another good question is why would they lie? If this really was a reaction to customer feedback, why hide it in an e-mail saying it’s always been the intention? Why not use this to showcase how “in touch” with the internet you are, and say “we love our customer so much, we are changing this to benefit them!”. There is no negative in that; I’m surprised they didn’t do it even if it isn’t true.
Still not convinced? Consider this. The Xbox press conference is in less than 20 days, and the system has been in development for (best guess) 5 to 8 years. Do you really think they were able to make low level software (and likely hardware) changes to the system to showcase offline features in less than a month? Do you think they are willing to go to that press conference with anything other than a build they have tested, retested, and mega-tested to ensure it is perfect? Hell, the footage we are going to see was likely pre-recorded long before the "always on" issue hit the internet.
So what’s the deal?
Operation Rainfall was an online petition that brought 3 extremely popular and successful JRPGs to the West and is heralded as one of the biggest victories of the internet gaming community. It’s a classic underdog story and a fantastic example of people coming together to get things done, and it's also completely made up. In an interview, the publisher of “XenoBlade”, the first game in Operation Rainfall said he had no idea what Operation Rainfall was, and the lead designer admitted he only heard of the Operation after the localization began and it was never mentioned in the decision to bring the game to the West. This was mirrored with the two other Operation Rainfall games, with developers and publishers alike saying it was great to hear they had such a dedicated fan base, but the decisions to port that games were made at high level and had nothing to do with anything other than lines on a graph. Yet the very same websites that did the interviews that confirmed Operation Rainfall had nothing to do with the release of these games ran stories about the role the fan based played in getting them published.
We all love a underdog story, especially one that makes us feel empowered and important. That’s what happened with Operation Rainfall and it’s what happened with the Xbox. The internet is taking credit for changing the mind of a multi-billion dollar behemoth and we are eating it up because we want it to be true. But everyone knows you can’t listen to the internet. Big business tried with "Serenity" and again with "Scott Pilgrim" and learned its lesson. Design things for the masses and try to sell them to the internet, but don’t ever design things for the internet and try and sell them to the masses. The masses aren’t interested, and the internet isn't going to pay for them when you’re finished. The internet is the home of the vocal minority, and the vocal minority is never your key demographic.
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