The Parable of Taleworlds and the Skins Update

[Hans 77]

There once was a game called Bannerlord, and in one of its patches, it featured a slew of cosmetic changes, centered around new skins available for purchase with in-game currency.

The loot required for purchasing these skins was acquired through playing Skirmish and Captain mode. The thing is, the servers for these game modes didn't work, either the match would immediately crash, or people would simply sit in queue for hours on end, never getting into a match in the first place.

Skins and loot and unlockables had arrived, but ironically, the game was still in a mostly broken and unplayable state.


Now allegedly there's some sort of message in that fable, about putting the cart before the horse, about releasing superficial cosmetic and "gamey" features before the core gameplay was fully optimized and running smoothly.

Allegedly there's some sort of lesson in there, but I haven't quite figured it out yet...

 

[FearSpear]

Once there was some game developing Turks
They tried but their game never worked
And when the players complained
Ignorance they did feign
So forever on the forum the players lurked

 

[ChristopherR]

I played Bannerlord
I never got bored
Tried to queue
Is this a haiku?

 

[Marquis de Montalban]

There once was a game called Bannerlord,
Its gameplay left the players all quite bored
There wasn't much they could do
outside of post on the forums and spew
Now they'd much rather being playing as a Nord.

 

[Mad Vader]

It's okay to get the cart before the horse, as long as the horse is coming and you are in no hurry, because you have other horsed carts to drive around recklessly for family.

 

[cruzader79]

thing is... that horse is the BEST horse in any PC game, not for honor, not mordhau not chivalry 1 2 or 3 come close to this game, but all in all the more reason for the developers to make it perfect