Why do they take seasonals away?

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skydog71

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I was a late arrival to the game, so I missed the first few seasonals... but what exactly is the reasoning in having them expire? It seems really strange to me that game developers would go to the trouble of creating new content, only to turn around and take that new content away a couple of weeks later.
 
I assume to give you a desire to play sooner rather than later. "I only have till Thursday" is a lot better than "I can do them in a couple weeks time" in the developer's eyes.
 
Well, you wouldn't have a winner if it didn't close, right?
 
Based on their name, "Seasonal Events", it was implied from the beginning that they will inherently expire. Beyond that who knows.
 
They are "Seasonal Events" not "Permanent Events".
 
Oh no, you asked a legitimate question, prepare for an influx of elitist forum users trying to push out new members of the community.

And its a good question, especially considering the lack of permanent A-Spec content. However, the only answer to your question is that no one 'really' knows why they are not permanent. We place faith in the fact that they said they would release weekly updates, but the fact of the matter is we are getting bi-weekly updates, and half the time they aren't very well polished (opinion).
 
They are seasonal...
 
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freight48
They are seasonal...
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You want to start problems, fine. Don't start them with me, its a good question to ask so why don't you step back and quit instigating. I was looking forward to intelligent discussion on a forum of like minded gamers like this user was attempting to create.
 
DylanWhite
Oh no, you asked a legitimate question, prepare for an influx of elitist forum users trying to push out new members of the community.

And its a good question, especially considering the lack of permanent A-Spec content. However, the only answer to your question is that no one 'really' knows why they are not permanent. We place faith in the fact that they said they would release weekly updates, but the fact of the matter is we are getting bi-weekly updates, and half the time they aren't very well polished (opinion).
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Hahaha, it's ok. I'm sure I'm not the first person to ask this question.

I guess the thing that perplexes me is that in the end, GT5 will have much more content than GT4... but 90% of it will exist in the form of "expired" seasonal events. The only content that will be available to the player will be the small number of permanent A-Spec events and whatever is the current seasonal. That seems really silly to me. In many games, you can come back from an extended break to experience all of the new content that has been added since you have been gone. But in GT5, all of the new content would have expired.

It's not a big deal... just questionable game design, at least in my opinion. It's like they used the same philosophy with the seasonal events as they did the UCD. They've created over 1,000 cars, but only 30 of them are available to purchase at any given time. Similarly, maybe they've created 100+ seasonal events, but they only let you race 5 of them every 2 weeks.
 
DylanWhite
You want to start problems, fine. Don't start them with me, its a good question to ask so why don't you step back and quit instigating. I was looking forward to intelligent discussion on a forum of like minded gamers like this user was attempting to create.
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I'm not starting anything except to explain why they take events away. A season is a section of a year, as defined by the dictionary. PD wanted to make events that expire so that there is something new and something that presumably won't overload the server with 10,000 events (Seasonals are online). Therefore, a seasonal event expires, just like seasonal items (fruits, decorations, etc).
 
freight48
I'm not starting anything except to explain why they take events away. A season is a section of a year, as defined by the dictionary. PD wanted to make events that expire so that there is something new and something that presumably won't overload the server with 10,000 events (Seasonals are online). There for a seasonal event expires, just like seasonal items (fruits, decorations, etc).
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Apparently people see stating the obvious as elitist.
 
Yeah, it is questionable game design. As someone else said, it keeps users interested in coming back and actually spending time with the game, and thats awesome. However, their is the flip side of the coin like you mentioned with the events expiring and that is a lot of content. They haven't exactly found the right way to please everyone with the events either it seems, as in the first several rounds of events it was very challenging, paid very well, and had a lot of hardcore racers on these forums excited and happy. They are now catering towards the casual audience, which is completely different in terms of game play. With new updates, we are able to change our cars stats to become underpowered and more pleasing to the hardcore enthusiasts. Its nice, and it feels more akin to A-Spec then the original seasonals too which leads me to believe that these events could become permanent content eventually, but thats a tad too hopeful.


freight48
I'm not starting anything except to explain why they take events away. A season is a section of a year, as defined by the dictionary. PD wanted to make events that expire so that there is something new and something that presumably won't overload the server with 10,000 events (Seasonals are online). Therefore, a seasonal event expires, just like seasonal items (fruits, decorations, etc).
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Thats more down to earth, but your 'tone' if I can say that is still uncalled for. Perhaps I worded it a bit awkwardly, but what I and what I believe this entire topic of discussion is leaning toward is why are they even seasonal at all. Are you having a bad day or something?
 
DylanWhite
They haven't exactly found the right way to please everyone with the events either it seems, as in the first several rounds of events it was very challenging, paid very well, and had a lot of hardcore racers on these forums excited and happy.
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And they never will. It's a lot harder to please 6.3 million users than you think.

DylanWhite
Thats more down to earth, but your 'tone' if I can say that is still uncalled for. Perhaps I worded it a bit awkwardly, but what I and what I believe this entire topic of discussion is leaning toward is why are they even seasonal at all. Are you having a bad day or something?
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If you can hear or see me while I type then you can call my tone into question. Words do not translate tone properly and I'm not about to spend more time proofreading my posts to please other members because my tone may be off.
:)
 
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freight48
And they never will. It's a lot harder to please 6.3 million users than you think.



If you can hear or see me while I type then you can call my tone into question. Words do not translate tone properly and I'm not about to spend more time proofreading my posts to please other members because my tone may be off.
:)
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Agreed, a middle ground is what they are looking for, and the updates they have came out with seem to have made most users happy. I used to be a forum moderator at Project Reality, and we used to respond to users who constantly created problems by the 'tone' of their posts. Forums are difficult to moderate because a lot of what is written is up to interpretation. I interpret your 'tone' as being mildly harassing. Though I do appreciate your attempt at civil conversation right now.
 
freight48
I'm not starting anything except to explain why they take events away. A season is a section of a year, as defined by the dictionary. PD wanted to make events that expire so that there is something new and something that presumably won't overload the server with 10,000 events (Seasonals are online). Therefore, a seasonal event expires, just like seasonal items (fruits, decorations, etc).
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Hmm, I didn't think of that. If the seasonal events are stored serverside, I guess they'd have to get rid of the old stuff to make room for the new.

But that being said, when apples go out of season, the grocery store doesn't gather all of their apples and start a bonfire out in the parking lot. They still sell the out-of-season apples, just in lesser quality and quantities, and sometimes at a higher price. Similarly, it seems like PD could just move the seasonal events to a new off-seasonal section of the game with reduced payouts. Or put them in the PSN store for purchase in downloadable packs. I'd love to try some of the old seasonal events that people have been talking about... I'd even toss a few dollars their way for the opportunity. And I'm guessing other players would as well.
 
Yeah, thats one possibility. Thats a pretty good idea to utilize the PSN anyway, it would just be free advertisement for them be it free DLC or not. I guess the word is that Kaz doesn't want to charge for DLC though, but don't quote me on it. Its just what I have heard around here.
 
DylanWhite
Yeah, thats one possibility. Thats a pretty good idea to utilize the PSN anyway, it would just be free advertisement for them be it free DLC or not. I guess the word is that Kaz doesn't want to charge for DLC though, but don't quote me on it. Its just what I have heard around here.
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Ah ok, I guess that's kinda noble on his part. Milking the consumer dry seems to be the status quo these days.
 
freight48
I'm not starting anything except to explain why they take events away. A season is a section of a year, as defined by the dictionary. PD wanted to make events that expire so that there is something new and something that presumably won't overload the server with 10,000 events (Seasonals are online). Therefore, a seasonal event expires, just like seasonal items (fruits, decorations, etc).
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I doubt much online activity actually happens when you drive a seasonal race.
 
I think that's a great idea and a fine suggestion. A-spec is already too short. Why create expiration dates for races in a game already starved for content?
 
In order to play Seasonal Events, you have to be online. Making them expire will force you to log in. That's the purpose of SE, to make you keep coming back to play the game at least once a week.
 
The point of seasonal events is to keep people coming back to GT5 by adding new content and by having an expire date you can't just "do them later...".
 
I think the seasonal part is tied to the fact that the races communicate back to a server or they would be added permanently through patches, and in the future may become part of A-spec. The reason for expiration is that PD is likely capturing statistics from the cars used, and building profiles to measure variations in driver ability and tune levels that emerge from those who want quick money to those that want event challenge. Building these large databases requires extensive computer resources, and once you begin analysis of the data sets, you don't want them to continue changing. So every few weeks they put up a new seasonal event to start capturing a new set of data for a particular class of cars or era theme, etc. At least that's my theory on why they are using the format that they are for the moment.
 
budious
I think the seasonal part is tied to the fact that the races communicate back to a server or they would be added permanently through patches, and in the future may become part of A-spec. The reason for expiration is that PD is likely capturing statistics from the cars used, and building profiles to measure variations in driver ability and tune levels that emerge from those who want quick money to those that want event challenge. Building these large databases requires extensive computer resources, and once you begin analysis of the data sets, you don't want them to continue changing. So every few weeks they put up a new seasonal event to start capturing a new set of data for a particular class of cars or era theme, etc. At least that's my theory on why they are using the format that they are for the moment.
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This sound a bit too "Matrix" or "Minority Report" if you prefer :D. The main reason is they want we come back play the game at least once a week, true, but I'm not sure on the database of users favourite cars.

I'm tired of slow cars from the 80s what about a "Tuned Supercars Seasonal Event"?

I would like to have much more races for my tuned cars against competitive AI.. 600hp 700hp 800hp something like that! I don't care about slow motion races. With all the due respect.

In arcade mode if I tune my Mercedes McLaren SLR at 800hp the AI cars will be stock! That's no sense!
I want a place to race with this thing against tuned supercars at the same level.
 
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freight48
They are seasonal...
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Yes, and the "Yellowbird" is called "Yellowbird" because it is yellow. But ofcourse, the real question is why is it yellow in the first place. :dopey:

We all understand that these events are temporary because they are called "Seasonal events", but that's still not a good enough explanation for why they actually expire.

I think most of us understood that *that* was what the OP was asking about, not the inherent semantic implications of the label "Seasonal events".
 
brambos
Yes, and the "Yellowbird" is called "Yellowbird" because it is yellow. But ofcourse, the real question is why is it yellow in the first place. :dopey:

We all understand that these events are temporary because they are called "Seasonal events", but that's still not a good enough explanation for why they actually expire.

I think most of us understood that *that* was what the OP was asking about, not the inherent semantic implications of the label "Seasonal events".
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I think, as long as they continue introducing new events (however frequently/infrequently that may be) that they never wanted them to just pile up. It's supposed to be a dynamic part of the game rather than just additional permanent content that accumulates indefinitely. Like the paint chips and museum cards, it's a reward for playing frequently instead of just coming back to it on your own time.

Also, to be totally honest, there's a finite number of races they can configure. If none are ever taken offline, it's going to probably reduce the interest of the races they do put up. "Oh, another 80's make race. Which one should I pick from..."

I would love for additional permanent content to be added to the game, but I do like the transient nature of the Seasonal Events. It's kinda like the UCD, you know if you don't buy a car, it'll soon be gone. This makes it exciting when you see a car you've been waiting for (and you actually have the credits to purchase it). If the UCD just continued adding cars to the list and never taking them off, you'd have no urgency. You just let everything build up and then shop at your leisure.
 
Nikez
The point of seasonal events is to keep people coming back to GT5 by adding new content and by having an expire date you can't just "do them later...".
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this and also what i've noticed in some of them also, it makes you purchase cars you may not already own yet
 
Considering that we are not paying for the use of PD's/PSN servers, there will be limits in terms of what can be featured. It could be that in order to keep online features free of cost for us, there is only a certain amount of content that can be hosted at a time.

It may be possible to offer us more content, but would we be willing to pay for it? As the old saying goes, 'you have to pay to play.' Judging from the discussions around DLC in general, it appears that many in the GT5 community would not be in favor of paying for anything.
 
HKS racer
This sound a bit too "Matrix" or "Minority Report" if you prefer :D.
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It's very real and is called Data Mining and there are entire series of textbooks and university courses devoted to such topics.
 
adding expired seasonal events to PSN for download is a great idea. i'd probably pay for a few of them.
 
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