Especially if real-life prizes are awarded  (not discount coupons )

Every time I read your posts, my head hurts.

However, I agree with your general idea - GPG should be letting the community know whats happening. These two Demigods were supposed to be based off of our ideas - it'd be nice to be kept in the loop about how they're going. Even if it's just theory talk.

See one of the recent trailers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vKpfxHU6oc

Once you get used to the style, it's really nice, especially after they put those black outlines on the characters. And the spell effects are great.

Dear Frog,

Thing is, we're not talking about SD. We're talking about GPG. They are faceless and it frustrates us. They very rarely come to the forums and respond. The whole "we have to persuade them" issue is very problematic. Don't they understand that we want to recommend the game, but can't simply because of the whole lack of support from GPG?

In the beginning, I had no doubt that SD would fulfill their end of the bargain. This is why I got my friend into the game. Finally, after being able to play with people without connection problems (90% of the time) it is logical that we look to upgrade/change the content of the game. This is where GPG should step in. You took care of your end. Now it is their turn.

The difference? You talked to us, informed us, held our hand and continue to do so even though this is not your responsibility. Kudos to you! BUT, it is THEIR game. You have the most connections to these guys and YOU need to persuade THEM? Big big no no. This is what frustrates us and demoralizes us.

Heck, I don't think we would even mind that they take certain maps and make them for different sizes. A whole copy-paste-fest if you will. Valve did it with TF2. They put in community maps. They don't invent anything new. Just copy>paste>tweak. Why don't they take Cataract and make a 4v4 map out of it called "Cataract (4v4)"? We just want a sign that things are happening. Having the idol exploit taken care of in such a long time really shows the lack of support on GPG's side. Exploits are bad mmmkay? Why were they given such low priority (even after fixing connectivity issues)? They have the Impulse system. They can release a patch whenever they want to when they feel it is ready.

I hope things get done. I really love this game but am truly disappointed. Maybe other companies have already raised the standards too high for GPG to match? I don't know. I just hope I am wrong and will be proven wrong.

Thanks for listening.

I'm glad to year your input FrogBoy and the ethical role you've chosen to take about other titles.

I'm a community leader for both League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth titles that are coming out, as well as the owner of the largest in-house DotA League on battle.net for the last three and a half years.

I completely see what the community is talking about with the cut throat mentality of the dota community, we get it alot on the League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth forums about "Which game will kill the other"

Like frogboy I favor his approach, and ultimately hope to expand the genre as a whole, I've even created a community for the MOBA Genre (Mulitplayer Online Battle Arena) called MOBA Gamers. I hope the players of the MOBA community can gather up and enjoy all the games in the genre.

There is something interesting to note, there are tons of First Person Shooter games, and communities. You never hear any of them say "This game will kill counter-strike" they know that they are releasing a game that players will like, and adapt to since it maintains the same principle of the game. Walk around, shoot stuff, free hostages, capture flags etc. For the first time ever there are games that have a strategic mission to kill a base using 3-5 heroes on each team, minions spawn toward the other base with towers in the way, and heroes controlling the lanes to dominate later when they level up.

DotA, Demigod, Heroes of Newerth, and of course League of Legends, all function on this principle.

Instead of beating up other games verbally which I find many of the dota/demigod/MOBA community in general doing, let's gather up and stand beside the genre. Let's face it, we want to have companies some incentive to keep making games in the genre for the future of fun we need

I've even got the makes of League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth to provide some beta keys for a "Give-away" contest giving the dota community the chance to write 200 words or less what they love about dota to experience both of the new titles in the genre.

Speaking of all the MOBA Genre: Check out our video! http://youtube.com/watch?v=LY1Q0IsWWYE

This is my first post, I hope to be more involved in the Demigod community But that's my input at least.

i agree with dead and maxxy   this is GPG's  problem  all they have told us is that they are making 2 new ones that is it

all the rest is speculation none off it is full info  i would be happy even with 4 pics of the 2 new demis  standing still on a map

so we can see what they look like and  then start guessing at abilities  then this would put less  off a drain of people out the community and more people will stay  just by know a few simple facts

so i surrgest  that you get info on the new things they are making  for demigod and then tell us about them and if they give you pics post them on the forum  for everyone to see  and then you will shut up people like me and maxxy so we dont worry and proclaim the end off demigod and encourage others to get it

frogboy it is simple what this game is  it is a rps role playing stratergy  simple as adnd i would recormend the  game to all my friend who are doing the gaming course  that i am and recormend it on every website and forum i am on regulary if i had proof  that GPG is working on the demis  it is that simple  i know that SD has promised us  it but so far i havn't seen anything from GPG

Heh you say you've been around since the BBS days Frogboy, you should know better. I too have been around since those days and spent far too much time on forums, involved in a myriad of gaming communities etc etc. Of course I have not been involved in a forum community where I am involved in the creation of a product/s that the community is based around though I have seen communities wriggle and writhe and frankly, I would be surprised if there was actually a community out there that was 100% friendly, 100% positive, 100% of the time - and no I don't count carebearworld/forums.

It's funny if you step back and watch the forum activity as a whole, they tend to follow the same patterns. Better yet is when a developer is game enough to stick their neck out and get involved in it - while they always start out positive it's inevitable that it gets to them - it's impossible not to get invested in something you care about. These community representatives either eventually crack the sads or just outright change roles, they come and go - I am thinking about Warhammer Online's head here - who has currently disappeared from the limelight due to the never-ending battle that is trying to keep that particular product's community happy.

Game in early development - excitement, speculation, general friendly conversation and introductions.

Game pending release - increased excitement, pre-order talk, speculation, countdowns, hype

Game release - 50% love it, 50% hate it. Those that hate it vehemently bag it while those that love it vehemently bag those that hate it.

First few weeks - Evolve from hating the game to loving it once understanding how it plays, balance talk, flames, fanboys labeling any non-positve comments as whiners, theorycrafters start showing up.

News of first patch - back to excitement and hype phase, positive talk and praise of developers

First patch - Total suckfest, developers suck again, complaints about issues caused from patch, random love for patch features, community divided into lovers and haters again.

After first patch - Generally content with product, now want another patch. Longer it gets between patches more haters that appear.

News of second patch - Developer praise, hype, excitement

Second patch - It wasnt the second coming of Jesus, focusing on what wasnt promised thus not included =  developer hate

yadda yadda yadda yadda -  it goes round and round and round and round. Could probably write a best selling novel just based on internet gaming forum communities though you'd likely want to shoot yourself by the end of it.

League of Legends looks gay - too cartoony.

I think Deepjay has nailed the general shift of the online communities based around these kinds of games. The combination of the "I'm better than you" attitude that competitive games both attract and bring out in people, as well as the wonderful anonymity of the internet, always generate forum communities where the whiners scream louder than the people who are happy with the game.

I guess I'd just like Gas Powered Games to be as open as Stardock is. I've just been impressed by the manner of which Stardock has conducted itself throughout the release of Demigod that I now expect other companies to meet these new standards that Stardock have set. See what you've done Frogboy? Damn you and your awesome business practices, damn you!

Eh, I agree GPG need to talk to the comunity more about what they're doing. Right now we have no details about what they're planning and can't give even the slightest feedback, if we wait untill after 1.1 to finally give some input it's far too late to make any kind of significant changes.

They did the same thing in the beta, every update was full of suprises that they kept as a little club secrets untill the last minute for craps and giggles. Including the generals; no specific details had been released about what they were doing with generals untill they were released almost finished and when people were disapointed with how little they did with the concept it was too late to change very much because they'd already done so much work without seeing if anyone even liked their ideas.

The populist approach works with games, they're there simply for entertainment and at the very least people know what they enjoy, if not how to actually make it happen.

I think *any* game is competition to Demigod and to each other.  Being that I'm not a 15 year old that can play games 10 hours a day I have limited game playing time.  Right now it's Demigod. 

But guess what comes out in October?  Dragon Age from Bioware.  So Demigod will be dead to me in 4 months honestly.  Then by the end of the year will be Fallout 3 Game of the Year and everything will be dead to me but that.  Then Elemental will be out next year at which point that will be my focus.

And can you believe that Civ 4 just got another patch, nearly 4 years after release?  Needless to say the community was surprised.  I'll probably move back to Civ 4 sometime this summer as I get burned out on Demigod and to "refresh myself".

And since we are talking community, what keeps me going back to Civ after all these years?

1) Very active coummunity at civfantatics and apoly.  Heck, there are still tons of people playing Alpha Centauri 10 years later.  Now this is a different genre, turn based strategy, but still.

2) Civ Hall of Fame.  A community based "ladder" of sorts where you submit finished games with certain parameters and you get ranked in the HOF.  They also have a couple competative ladders called quattromasters that make it difficult to achieve having to submit dozens of games to get it.  That alone kept me busy for nearly a year pretty much until Demigod came out

Anyway, my point is that one single game, LoL, isn't a threat to Demigod anymore then all the other games coming out are.

Why do forum goers have this need to know what's happening on a second by second basis?

I don't mean to provoke or be mean, but seriously guys, you need to find another hobby. No company gives updates everyday, especially for patches. Frogboy has been constantly informing us of the processes going behind the scenes, what to expect and other things, and yet people say it's not enough or people are dissapointed.

He has a personal and professional life, people. He doesn't live on the forums. He's not going to be constantly answering question just because you cannot wait a while longer for a morsel of information. People then make discouraging remarks against his person or his company, and then you wonder why he doesn't come here as often as you like. You can argue that no community is 100% positive, while this is true, but would you want to return to a place that ridicules you because of somebody has a bug up their butt about something that isn't being resolved right this second?

This is a game. Get over it. Your life isn't going to end because you didn't get your patch to fix what ever issue your complaining about that is somehow ruining the game for you, but others seem to cope fine. I'm not saying not to report problems, I'm saying be reasonable when you post. Don't exagerate, calmly describe the problem to the best detail you can.

Fixes and upgrades take time. They need to identify the problem, find the best way to fix, test, repeat if necessary, test again and then release.

And please don't start with the "I'm a consumer, I demand support!!!" Asking for support is one thing, but constantly harassing and belittling somebody is just childish.