Musings on the Battlefield: I am NOT insane. Why I have decided to give up my beloved Lancang Dam (for the time being). POST PATCH UPDATE!

So that patch thingy? Didn't help. Nope. 07/09/14.

So after weeks and weeks of avoiding Lancang entirely (I even dropped out if the map switched to LD), I finally decided that after this past week's 600+MB patch I would give it a go. Well, I hate to say it but, THE BOYCOTT LIVES ON! The pic above was only one of several moments where the game hung. Something that I will be writing a post about soon, once I figure out what the patch was supposed to do, other than give everyone more content (Dragon's Teeth)?

06/18/14

I am not a complainer by nature, especially when it comes to software. I know that most software comes out half-baked at the time of release, and that rule applies to all of it: OS, app, games, etc. It goes without saying, however, that in the last decade, release cycles have shrunk to the point that the problem of what I like to call "user-led debguging" has been exacerbated. The so-called "alpha-stage" of the S/W development cycle is a myth. What you see on the day of release is little more than an advanced Beta at best.

In other words, things are getting worse, not better. Take for instance BF4. I think I have demonstrated on this blog as well as in the number of hours that I have played the game, that it is my favorite franchise. But no matter how much I may praise its glories, it is only fair if I also point out its glaring weaknesses.

Case in point: the number of online updates. As a PS3 user, I know that there have been at least three since February, not including the DLCs (as expected, the Naval Strike DLC contained several bug fixes and code updates as well as new content). If online reports are accurate, the number of updates for the PC and PS4 have been two or even, threefold.

Then there's the server issues. My last count was four separate server "updates" and the game isn't even a year old. That means that the problem isn't only software, it's hardware as well, a cross-departmental miss.

But perhaps the most galling is the frequent and predictable glitching, when the game freezes and there is no recovery besides a hard boot of the device (I would love it if some angry PS3 user one day proved that BF4 damaged their PS3 due to all the hard reboots**). It is the glitching that continues to be the BF4 Achilles' heal.

Glitching or "freezing" is perhaps the oldest of software failures, and one of the most difficult to troubleshoot. Is it the customer environment or the software? Is it the network or the hardware? The areas of investigation are limitless, and even more so with a game like BF4 and its multiplayer mode.

Still, there comes a time when even the factory, level three support engineer, has to go back to the programmer and say, "This is us, not them." Which they have clearly done, forcing EA to respond with an apology and admission of the errors with the platform.

Yet, despite EA's mea culpa, (a rare acknowledgement from a traditionally "take it or leave it" industry), there are lines that must be drawn if changes are to be made. And while my decision to stop playing Lancang Dam, a map I thoroughly enjoy, may be like a gnat buzzing in a giant's ear, "BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!" I say to the giants EA DICE and Activision!

"Why?" you ask, have I become so incensed? What could possibly have led me to this extreme course of action? Simple, I am not insane.

If "insanity" is defined as "the repetition of the same self-destructive behaviors in the hope of an improved outcome" then my answer is succinct and on point. In just the past month, I have played multiplayer-BF4 a dozen times or more. For some reason, the game has froze at nearly the same point, in the same vehicle, three times in just the past several weeks. That my friend is what you call "a pattern."

Prove it.

Done. Take a look at the above screen capture*. Note it is in Lancang Dam, near the western end of the map. I am in driving the tank. I glitched in the parking lot as the enemy with the bomb advanced. Now, take a look at the captures below.

06/13/14

06/12/14

They look very similar, because they are: same map, same area, same vehicle, almost same view. It's uncanny and interesting but it is also RIDICULOUS. From a programmer's standpoint, this pretty much eliminates my PS3 or network from being the source of the issue. In other words, it ain't me sister.

The irony of course is that I am still going to play the game, just not the map. That's the sad result of a market that has made its own bed. We would rather play a glitchy game now, than give the programmers time to put out a finished product later.

So while my stand may be only half-baked, it seems a perfect response to the half-baked world of contemporary gaming software. Take that you lot, "BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!"

*For other examples of when the game goes wrong, check here: BF4 glitch screenshots
**I was informed by a BF4 forum user that several have already demonstrated a link between a failure with their PS3 and BF4 requiring so many hard reboots.