BLR is a "fake" game?

[SeaLabCaptn]

Valve wants to purge "fake" games from their store, rightfully so. My question is what constitutes a "fake" game? Do you feel BLR in it's current state is such a game, and why/why not?

I believe that BLR should be taken off Steam because of many factors.

In it's current form, which is highly unlikely to change in the future, BLR is a low quality game. Running the game is difficult for many users, bugs that render the game unplayable occur frequently and appear in a variety of forms, devs show no interest in improving these bugs or game play, nearly all game modes are played identically, maps are poorly designed and glitchy, and there is basically nothing remarkably positive about this title. I'm fairly certain very few players would pay to own a game that is such poor quality, and being F2P should not be enough justification alone for this title's existence with such issues.

I feel BLR could be considered an "asset flip" by a loose definition of the term. Assets are not available for purchase to the general public, but HSL acquired the assets from Zombie studios and made a markedly worse game with them. Post-parity BLR feels like a cheap knock off from the game that preceded it. Practically every aspect of the game diminished in quality and it feels like a poor substitute now.

The publisher runs contests offering real world currency equivalent as prizes but never rewards them. When confronted about the rewards a year after the contest opened the publisher (who held the contest) deflected responsibility to the developer's seemingly dead support page of their site. http://steamcommunity.com/app/209870/discussions/1/135513901710948555/

I feel that the owners are not using legitimate methods of earning income, but relying on dubious practices to make an easy buck with little actual effort involved. Current economy model heavily encourages "pay-to-avoid-grind". This wouldn't usually be an issue, except the GP pricing of all items recently skyrocketed, and it seems that the publisher is just trying to make easy money by setting the cost of in game items so ridiculously high. Purchasing items with real world currency doesn't net the player anything that majorly affects game play, nor does it unlock special abilities like trading passes or custom server mutators used to. Steam trading cards are still available IIRC, not available through hours played but only through real world currency purchases, and also provide nothing of substance other than avoiding grind. I also suspect the publisher makes the most profit from this game by selling user's information to third parties.

BLR utilizes outdated or incorrect selling points to sneak onto search categories in the Steam store. Achievements are broken and do not work properly. Steam trading cards are seemingly just a cash grab. Map editor exists but user made creations will likely never make their way into the game. If you search the store for games that have these attributes BLR will come up despite these functions not working properly. http://steamcommunity.com/app/209870/discussions/1/135513549092382835/

Staff show little interest in policing the community and enforcing the rules on everyone. A majority of the time staff allow gamers that advance development to break community rules, and at the same time actively enforce the rules with a heavy hand against players that have negative things to say about the title and their "efforts". http://steamcommunity.com/app/209870/discussions/1/135513549091655355/

What do you think, should BLR be removed from Steam store until these issues are remedied?

[PowerWinter]

lol youre right but I want to play the game

[SeaLabCaptn]

You could still play if the game was removed from Steam, use the Arc website. I'm not taking your (gross) cookies, I just don't like the false advertising in a store I use.

[Magestior]

I want to play again too, but sadly HSL killed it.

[Monarchco]

"Valve wants to purge "fake" games from their store, rightfully so. My question is what constitutes a "fake" game? Do you feel BLR in it's current state is such a game, and why/why not?

I believe that BLR should be taken off Steam because of many factors."

Spacebase DF-9 is still on steam and able to be bought.

Your entire argument is dead.

As well, I have no idea what you're yammering on about.

Zombie, never owned anything, they were just the studio who worked on it. Hardsuit labs purchased the rights to Blacklight from Perfect World Entertainment.

In 2015 the 2 owners of Zombie(who were contracted to work on Blacklight by PWE), retired, and 2 previous employees of zombie started Hardsuit labs, where they decided to purchase the rights to Blacklight.

Since then, the game was almost entirely abandoned on PC. And then they came back, released a ♥♥♥♥ parity patch, and abandoned it again.

Technically speaking, Playstation version of blacklight, still has support.

You can read more about that in their post on the playstation forums, here;
http://community.us.playstation.com/t5/Blacklight-Retribution-General/BLR-updates-for-2017/td-p/46146452

From what I've gathered, the crap they left us with after parity, they went and removed a large portion of it from the PS version of the game, effectively screwing them over as well.


tldr; 2 punk developers with no previous experience leading a company decided to screw everyone over for a cash grab. Pushing "premium"/real world currency items and stuff, and then almost immediately removing them altogether, or making them free.

[SeaLabCaptn]

Originally posted by Monarchco:

Off topic stuff

You probably have no idea what I'm talking about because (I have to assume) you failed to follow the last link in the OP, and didn't watch the videos from Jimquisition and Total Biscuit. Their videos explain what Valve's intentions are, and loosely define what Valve considers a "fake game". Many of the terms they used are addressed in the OP, and ignored in your post entirely.

You also failed to convince me my argument is dead by mentioning an unrelated game, while ignoring the valid points I made.

Finally, you failed to sway my opinion due to your own lack of comprehension regarding who owns what. HSL purchased the rights to the intellectual property (IP) from Zombie, not PWE. This is why PWE isn't involved on PS4 at all. PWE owns distribution rights on PC for BLR; they do not own the rights to the IP. Check Wikipedia to confirm PWE has no hand in PS4 BLR. I believe a strained business relationship between PWE and HSL is a major factor in BLR neglect, but this is conjecture and not directly topically related to the OP.

If you'd like to discuss the points I brought up in the OP, I'm all ears.

[Monarchco]

Originally posted by SeaLabCaptn:

Originally posted by Monarchco:

Off topic stuff

You probably have no idea what I'm talking about because (I have to assume) you failed to follow the last link in the OP, and didn't watch the videos from Jimquisition and Total Biscuit. Their videos explain what Valve's intentions are, and loosely define what Valve considers a "fake game". Many of the terms they used are addressed in the OP, and ignored in your post entirely.

You also failed to convince me my argument is dead by mentioning an unrelated game, while ignoring the valid points I made.

Finally, you failed to sway my opinion due to your own lack of comprehension regarding who owns what. HSL purchased the rights to the intellectual property (IP) from Zombie, not PWE. This is why PWE isn't involved on PS4 at all. PWE owns distribution rights on PC for BLR; they do not own the rights to the IP. Check Wikipedia to confirm PWE has no hand in PS4 BLR. I believe a strained business relationship between PWE and HSL is a major factor in BLR neglect, but this is conjecture and not directly topically related to the OP.

If you'd like to discuss the points I brought up in the OP, I'm all ears.

PWE owned the rights exclusively. As far as mentioning an unrelated game?

LMAO. I mentioned DF9 because, as steam's definition goes; "derivative, broken, and poorly made titles churned out by potentially unscrupulous developers looking for quick cash"

It is the definition. Nevermind that it was the first game on Steam to fit the definition. As well, that it fits the definition SIGNIFICANTLY more so than BLR. And that ultimately, it hasn't been touched by valve.


But hey, go ahead and ignore it because you're a ♥♥♥♥♥ or something and don't want to aknowledge anything anyone else says unless it was your idea first.

[HOT DOG]

Originally posted by Bulmarth:

I want to play again too, but sadly HSL killed it.

Did they? What are they hiring new employees for?

[Monarchco]

Originally posted by INVISIBLE BRAIN:

Originally posted by Bulmarth:

I want to play again too, but sadly HSL killed it.

Did they? What are they hiring new employees for?

You're welcome to read the PS forums.

They made it clear they aren't going to be doing any new content for 2017 at all, even on the PS.

And if they did, it wouldn't happen on PC.

You're welcome to go and read the things they've done to the PS community after parity to screw them over.

[Neon Lotus]

BLR is a bloody great game, stop whining.

[Monarchco]

Originally posted by Glass Wizzard:

BLR is a bloody great game, stop whining.

You apparently haven't played since parity.

OR, you never played before it.

[Neon Lotus]

True, it's not as good as it was, but it's still the best FPS there is. Remove from steam my ass.

Edit: If they just stopped it from being a free game it would be back on top. The problems come from it being free, I'd pay thirty quid for a full functioning and more polished bug free BLR. I would indeed.

[Monarchco]

Originally posted by Glass Wizzard:

True, it's not as good as it was, but it's still the best FPS there is. Remove from steam my ass.

Edit: If they just stopped it from being a free game it would be back on top. The problems come from it being free, I'd pay thirty quid for a full functioning and more polished bug free BLR. I would indeed.

Yeah, the thing is, when they introduced parity, there was this thing called "prime"(aka premium for any other game).

Right after parity they offered a lot of lifetime prime packs, etc, on both pc and console. Apparently, a short few months after parity, they up and removed prime altogether on PS.

Remember how they changed heros from armor, weapons, etc on PC, to just skins during parity?

Well, shortly after parity, they just up and removed heros altogether on PS.

Get where I'm going?


You know those local restaurants you really like? Where the parents retire and the kids take over? And within a few months, or years of the kids taking over, they've run it into the ground and it closes?

This is that.

[Venom415]

I could list all the different things removed, Game modes, customization armor and weapon parts, recoil, heros, nodes, maps, mail, item trials after unlocking them when leveling up, level limits on items, sprint limit... ughh so much taken and all we got were a few more fancy hats and a gunked up ui. The only way to revive blacklight is to make a second one thats propper and optimized with the old game mechanics tweaked to be more optimised

[Monarchco]

Originally posted by Venom415:

I could list all the different things removed, Game modes, customization armor and weapon parts, recoil, heros, nodes, maps, mail, item trials after unlocking them when leveling up, level limits on items, sprint limit... ughh so much taken and all we got were a few more fancy hats and a gunked up ui. The only way to revive blacklight is to make a second one thats propper and optimized with the old game mechanics tweaked to be more optimised

Remind me who owns the rights.

And then remind me who is willing(has incentive) to buy those rights, who both has the cash, and the know how to make one.

[SeaLabCaptn]

Originally posted by Monarchco:

Originally posted by SeaLabCaptn:

You probably have no idea what I'm talking about because (I have to assume) you failed to follow the last link in the OP, and didn't watch the videos from Jimquisition and Total Biscuit. Their videos explain what Valve's intentions are, and loosely define what Valve considers a "fake game". Many of the terms they used are addressed in the OP, and ignored in your post entirely.

You also failed to convince me my argument is dead by mentioning an unrelated game, while ignoring the valid points I made.

Finally, you failed to sway my opinion due to your own lack of comprehension regarding who owns what. HSL purchased the rights to the intellectual property (IP) from Zombie, not PWE. This is why PWE isn't involved on PS4 at all. PWE owns distribution rights on PC for BLR; they do not own the rights to the IP. Check Wikipedia to confirm PWE has no hand in PS4 BLR. I believe a strained business relationship between PWE and HSL is a major factor in BLR neglect, but this is conjecture and not directly topically related to the OP.

If you'd like to discuss the points I brought up in the OP, I'm all ears.

PWE owned the rights exclusively. As far as mentioning an unrelated game?

LMAO. I mentioned DF9 because, as steam's definition goes; "derivative, broken, and poorly made titles churned out by potentially unscrupulous developers looking for quick cash"

It is the definition. Nevermind that it was the first game on Steam to fit the definition. As well, that it fits the definition SIGNIFICANTLY more so than BLR. And that ultimately, it hasn't been touched by valve.

Not that it applies to the topic in the slightest, but HSL owns the IP and PS4 rights, PWE publishing rights for the title on PC. If you think otherwise please provide evidence, as I have done. Edit: There's plenty more evidence supporting what I'm saying on Arc forum, I'm just too lazy to find it for you and I feel Wiki has the correct answer.

Whether or not DF9 is in the Steam store despite "fitting the definition better" has no bearing on why BLR can be considered fake. Maybe DF9 hasn't been brought to Valve's attention yet, maybe it has and they haven't acted, maybe it's as you say and there is no plan for it's removal. None of these "what ifs" play a role in why or why not BLR can be considered fake, and as such I do not see how bringing it up is related. Overall I think your DF9 statement holds too much opinion and not enough fact to be relevant at all.

Originally posted by Monarchco:

Originally posted by INVISIBLE BRAIN:

Did they? What are they hiring new employees for?

You're welcome to read the PS forums.

They made it clear they aren't going to be doing any new content for 2017 at all, even on the PS.

And if they did, it wouldn't happen on PC.

You're welcome to go and read the things they've done to the PS community after parity to screw them over.

I feel you are incorrect again. PS4 and PC BLR are meant to be one in the same. For the most part, any update one platform receives the other platform gets as well, this was a large part of parity. Additionally, I feel if you really want to be totally informed on BLR following just one forum is not recommended. You'd need to be on their Discord, Steam, Arc, PS4, subreddit, and following all employee accounts (plus some others) on Twitter to get a full perspective on what's really happening. I've seen every channel get exclusive news that has to be relayed to other channels, usually by community members, is why I advise this.

Originally posted by SeaLabCaptn:

I'm fairly certain very few players would pay to own a game that is such poor quality, and being F2P should not be enough justification alone for this title's existence with such issues.

Originally posted by Glass Wizzard:

The problems come from it being free, I'd pay thirty quid for a full functioning and more polished bug free BLR. I would indeed.

I feel my point here is holding up nicely.

Now I'm switching gears all together. To clarify here, I'm not telling anybody how to/not to post, or "back-seat moderating", I'm instead making observations on what gets moderated and how frequently. More directly, I am stating this to further illustrate the point of how staff show little interest in policing the community and enforcing the rules. I feel it's important to establish who exactly the mods here are; they should be the parties most interested in maintaining a good image of the title. All this information is public knowledge, I'm not outing any information you can't find yourself using Google.
Lordalf: HSL Vice President
Kripling: HSL CEO
Persef: HSL Producer
... Sean?: Former PWE employee, former BLR Community Manager, now a HSL employee
Derps: ADLT clan Admin, Arc Moderator, and all-around pretty swell human if I may say so

Originally posted by kAiSeR:

lol youre right but I want to play the game

This post was edited due to moderation. It marks the last observable point in time that moderators frequented this site, over ten days ago. Personally I feel the original message was similar to the following, but definitely not worse than the title (alone) of another active thread at time of posting:

Originally posted by Monarchco:

But hey, go ahead and ignore it because you're a ♥♥♥♥♥

I'm interested to see how long of a wait it will be before moderators show up again because as it stands now I feel they are doing the minimal effort required to maintain the Steam rules concerning discussion posts. If this is their attitude concerning community safety, I feel it speaks volumes about their commitment level to providing a quality user experience as a whole.

Originally posted by Monarchco:

Remember how they changed heros from armor, weapons, etc on PC, to just skins during parity?

Well, shortly after parity, they just up and removed heros altogether on PS.

I remember hero functionality changing very well, as it was the same time that PWE or HSL (not entirely sure who) decided to remove ~$140 worth of my unused, inactive items from my inventory without reimbursing me for digital goods totally changing purpose/vanishing entirely during parity changes. Thanks for bringing up another dubious practice I seem to have forgotten when I wrote the OP.