That's such a nice figurehead on the title . . . are there two stout pieces of timber being readied?
One at least a thousand feet long (we'll need a ton of relics if we're going to make some money out of this.)
That poor Photonrider . . . whose name is almost always thusly spelled by plagiarists of one sort or another, whose gospel will eventually be twisted, mutilated and fed mangled to the masses that follow, without having read the original (let alone enjoying the humour that led a few score or more to cheer 'Thumbs up!') . . . I shake my virtual head at his virtual fate.
However - that 'Photonrider' to come will not be me - being photonrider and more simple in nature than the grandiose figure so capitally nailed up in the title of this thread.
While I appreciate the good intentions behind it, I fear that it bodes no good for this 'Photonrider' fellow.
I'm photonrider.
What I say comes from my keyboard - not from the keyboards of others - or re-translated shaded by the programs of yet another set of neurons.
My OP in the thread being mentioned is not a complaint about complainers - it is about being told what to do and not to do in the game; these comments usually coming from people who rove the threads and are visible more for their acerbity than their conviviality.
Constructive criticism is what all producers look for. I have nothing against this; in fact, I encourage it. Speak up. Every voice must be heard.
And, we have more than enough places in the Forum for this.
We have the Review, Feedback and Suggestions sections.
We have the option to create specific threads for concerns ('Customer Complaints') even in the GT6 General Forum - the entire thread, every post - can be strongly negative if wished.
We have the chance to even create a thread critiqueing the Photomode features of Gran Turismo in the Photomode Forum.
We have no problem even creating a thread in the Photomode Forum about the Photomode Forum, even critiqueing that.
We can create threads solely focused (each thread) on a particularly bad job PD did with something or another in their particular Forums - whether Tuning, GT Academy physics, Online failures, anti-aliasing problems, console shortcomings, menu design, music, whatever - there should be no problem picking a problem to focus on, for any poster - and creating a 'I have concerns' thread in any appropriate part of the Forum.
It would be churlish, of course, for some one to drift into, say, a thread griping about the choice of music, and tell all the posters there to wise up and enjoy it and stop complaining and be grateful that PD gave them any music at all.
This would be destructive to that thread's aim; to bring these shortcomings to the producer's notice - in fact doubly destructive if that thread is in the right place to catch the producer's attention - say, the Feedback and Suggestions Forum, or even duplicated in the General Board as a separate thread about the shortcoming.
In fact, people overly enthusiastic about the game might open their eyes to the shortcomings and having seen the light, may then add their own concerns to that topic, further reinforcing the fact that such shortcomngs have been perceived and are less than welcome reality in the game.
Only a troll, or misguided player, would walk into that room and tell people to shut up and enjoy the game and stop 'complaining' when the thread was specifically built to address a particular concern (and hopefully have it fixed.)
And vice versa.
Vice versa?
Yes. The other way around.
People enjoy different activities in the game - granted it is a huge game, from arcadic to simulative - and those who have uncovered every inch of it know fully well that the content, and variety of content, is phenomenal for a 'driving' game; there is much ado about a lot to do - and quite rightly.
This is not a game to be completed and put away - one can complete certain areas of the game - but the game can be utilised thereafter for many other on-going activities.
Every Forum in the GT6 Arena (putting aside the best places for critiques - the Review, Feedback and Suggestions Forums) whether Drifting, or Tuning, or Photography - will have a mix of these threads - ones that address some concern to its most detailed and fullest - and ones solely focused on some working or enjoyable aspect of the game (such players working with the material at hand in its present evolving form.)
To cross-polinate these threads is where the problem begins - and the cross pollinators themselves must be obvious to those occasionaly stung by such 'anti-thread/ anti-poster' behaviour - these people would be shown up by the posts they make. Continually. They come and go. Some tenaciously will hold on. New ones appear. (Or are they the same old? )
There are several 'customer complaint' threads out there that work very well in both - appropriate forums geared to that area - and in the Review, Feedback and Suggestions Forums (the latter Forums, IMO, being the best place for such 'feedback' threads.)
There are also complaint threads in the GT6 General Forum, (while not the best place, IMO) still attractive enough to garner attention.
In fact, I myself, have adressed issues - whether the Credit system is on the money now, or whether GT6 is morphing into something else other than the game we were used to - (level up, collect cars, race, tinker, tune, toy-with and photograph, etc, etc,) and is now but an enigma. And I have voiced my concerns with others in these discussions - they are still active.
So these complaint threads should be full of complaints - not posters telling complaners to shut up and get on with the game.
And vice versa.
Remember that part? Let's get into the vice-versa part.
When a member makes a thread for instance to gather members to come together in the spirit of competition, and fun, and enjoyment, and participate together in an Event being posted by PD, then it would surely be churlish for a 'complainer' to go in there with the inevitable 'This Event sucks, PD sucks, Kaz sucks, the AI sucks, the format sucks, the sounds suck, the course has jaggies, the cars are standard, I'm done with these Seasonals, where is Course Creator, camber is broken anyway, why do you guys even bother, where is GT7, WTF are you doing using SRF, noob? You should win stock. Go play an arcade game!' cry.
As I noted before, there are plenty of places to practise that freedom of speech - one doesn't necessarily have to be a wet blanket in either 'whiner' or 'enjoyer' threads.
And this was the catalyst that initiated my observations on this phenomenon of certain people wanting us to take the fun we're having (whatever was fun individually for us) and shoving it into a cold dark place because having fun of any sort was anathema in GT6.
The OP actually addresses a certain incident that developed in an Event thread (and coincidentally the same behaviour exhibited in some other threads not focused on a specific complaint) that was created for these Seasonals.
These Event threads are a hub for the people involved in the event - especially those who immerse themselves in the event. And are involved in many redos.
We talk about the course, braking points, apexes, nasty corners, visibility, (these are not complaints - they're analysis of the challenges offered) cars, compounds, timings, tyre wear, prizes, type of event, and so on. We'll talk even (some might say silly) about taking an amphicar or Midget II to the event and trying to beat an NSX. Or about different driver settings and what choices we prefer.
And we talk about the AI.
A lot.
This is their arena and we are challenging it; their behaviour excites and intrigues us for they are the real opponents - not the fellow members each playing their own game at home trying to gold the event.
We trade information on the AI - how best to beat them, who to watch out for, who rabbits off and makes it difficult - or if too easy, how best to get a good race out of them.
To have a member waltz in and out of that thread with only some form of criticism or elitism to offer, and then finally 'forbid' the posters to talk about the AI was beyond belief. It was beyond sensible.
Yes, it happened - and it is all those members involved in that incident who will truly understand the OP in the thread I made concerning that issue. Yes - I made a thread to address a concern - see, I do that, too.
And yet, strangely, this is the kind of 'wet-blanket' activity that flies ever so subtly beneath the radar; one may say we are held hostage by technicalities.
Critics abound.
The OP in the thread I made about taking the FUN out of Gran Turismo was about this phenomenon.
I wanted to make it clear that I was aware of this and who was responsible for it (I'm sure these fake 'gurus' of Gran Turismo (who, one may notice more often than not have technical difficulties proving in any form that they actually still play the game) are visible to all) - and would not permit such people to spoil my fun, and that I would take measures to point it out when it happens.
If I want to talk about the AI involved in a certain event, I most certainly will talk about them in the thread made for the particular event, whether calling them Bobs, AI, pixels, electrons, or Rabbits. Some players know what these terms stand for - the same players to whom 'grind' means something other than what is defined in the OED.
For some member (worse - one who has not once posted a timesheet) to impudently tell me 'no more rabbit-talk in here' was, as I said, (to put it as politely as possible) beyond sensible. Let alone sportsmanly, gallant, comradely or just funny.
My OP was generally to say STFU and go complain in the complaint threads, and please don't tell players what to do and say, about the game, that falls within the AUP of this particular Forum. We're going to enjoy ourselves. Shamelessly. While the game undergoes the periodic improvements it does. And we'll play it until the next instalment. And onwards.
But it was also an opportunity to expose what is happening, and give those who felt the same way a platform to show their agreement to my exposition via a thumbs-up.
Which was done.
GTPlanet has a virus. And we are aware of it.
I added to this by saying (or did I parody that overly?) that I find those who insult Kaz, PD, their families, etc, etc, in the name of 'constructive criticism' distasteful, and disruptive to the good name of this site and our relationship with PD.
That may have gone above some readers' heads giving the impression that I was the one insulting PD.
Quite the opposite. I was saying to take it where it belongs.
Don't crap on the restaurant table. We're dining.
If one wants to insult Kaz and his family I'm not stopping anyone taking the next flight to Japan.
If one is done with the game, well, be done with the game.
And If I - or for that mater any other players enjoying this game are enjoying it - guess what - they paid money, too. They have a right to enjoy it. Rabbits and all.
The above is not what you in here are talking about.
You have your own 'problems' - and your own solutions.
Players who are enjoying the game have a wealth of enjoyable threads in which to do so. No complaints. Except about the complainers who mistake these threads (in some strangely unperceptive way) for threads in which to complain.
About the same things, of course.