We can and will eat the difference as per the GBOR.

Sure, contact [email protected] if I remember correctly.

Given that it's quite playable for most and they are rapidly and transparently working to increase the number of people who have it working, yes.

Legit effort = patch released that causes crashes on non-connects....in a multiplayer game riddled with them and almost no word on it?

Yeaaaaaaaaah. I'm gonna go and and say that's not entitlement when I expect to play the game I paid for. I didn't pay to beta eh?

Also quite playable for "most" isn't true either. The forums won't activate for a bunch of people due to errors, so you can't see them get upset, and a LARGE part of a user base *never* goes to forums. Unless you have legitamate data to back it up...BS.

@ schlista,

Will be interesting to see.    At the very least we shall be expecting you back here in these same forums, proclaiming SD's customer service with at least as much vigor and effort as you've spent spouting off on them.

People who are quick to assume (as you were since you ASSUMED that Stardock was like every other software developer), always end up with their tail between their legs and a sheepish look on their faces. 

Pride doesn't change that, friend!  (I know, I've had to eat my words a few times in this lifetime......kids have a way of making one eat one's words...hehe)

We'll see if you'll be back........ hehe

Trust me I will.  ANd when/IF they get this fixed and I buy it again...with twice the vigor in playing the game.  I love the game, but until it is playable I'm a hater.

What is GBOR?

Gamers Bill of Rights!   look it up.........

They are paying us back as we speak by working to solve the issues.  Some of you people just don't understand anything....!!!!

-Phal

Mmmmm, now I'm hungry, I'll have pepperoni AND olives please! 

Here's what I found on GBOR:

http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/08/29/stardock-releases-gamer039s-bill-rights-pax

Looks pretty good to me.

As an industry, we need to begin setting some basic, common sense standards that reward PC gamers for purchasing our games. The console market effectively already has something like this in that its games have to go through the platform maker such as Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony. But on the PC, publishers can release games that are scarcely completed,...

There are more there (which all look really good to me).  So it looks like Stardock is trying to make things better, but they did fail on releasing a game in a finished state. It's cool they will support a refund policy as such.  Hey a buggy game happens it's nice to see they will stand by their customers.

Question: How should Stardock make up for the "Fiasco"

Answer: None

Counter Question: How should Gamespot make up for starting the "Fiasco"

Answer: One free current-gen (xbox360, ps3 (the Wii is a shit system, so it doesn't count)) game or 3 free last-gen (Ps2, xbox, gamecube) games

@OP - WTF? Are you on crack?

SD is the most supportive developer & publisher on the planet that I know. Moreover it gives lots of FREE updates for its products over thier lifecycle and then some. In my opinion asking such a question here is a big huge slap in the face to the developers and their commitment to us - the customers.

Uh... its not that big of a deal man. The game works at least 80% of the time. In fact it works nearly 99% of the time if you're playing small games like 2v2 and 3v3. I don't think they owe us anything other than fixing the bugs in the netcode.

I'm guessing you never played an MMO at launch. Demigod has a few bugs, but its certainly not unplayable. Look at games like Age of Conan. That game was absolute garbage at launch. You want to talk about a pay to play beta... the game only had 50% of its content actually in the game.

Anyway in short, quit your bitching, it will get fixed when its fixed. Until then deal with it, its not that bad.

Really?  Did you read their GBOR?  They didn't exactly release a ready to go live build of DemiGods.  Hey mistakes happen, but to act like they are perfect is silly.  And yes they did dig themselves a hole.  This is the first stardock game I ever bought/played, so in my book they aren't doing very good (yet)...of course if they give me a refund it will help.

Wow 80% of the time for you?  I keep getting stuck seeing no games available or when doing the skirmish online it gives me 1 human player against 2 AI bots. Which is pretty much worse than single player because at least I can put the AI on nightmare for SP.  2 humans vs. 2 garbage AI = not fun.

I understand they are working on it, and good for them.  I'm just holding them to their GBOR (now that I know about it). So really Stardock agrees with me and that's nice to know they stand behind their customers when they release a game that doesn't work.

And that is the point we are trying to let you know about schlista.  Those of us that have been with Stardock for a long time are very (!!) loyal.   There is a reason for it.   Give stardock a chance to fix the problems.   Believe it or not, many of us can play MP just fine.  It is very unfortunate that not everyone can play.

The fact is, that Stardock and GPG are just as frustrated (probably more) that the game doesn't meet expectations.   What other developer/producer releases so many patches within a week of launch?  None.    I was in the beta, and honestly we just didn't run into the MP problems that are being seen now.  It wasn't that they didn't test it, they just flat out under-estimated the resources that were going to be needed.  

Sure the game isn't working as intended, but I don't think you can ask for anything more than to have them fix it as best as possible.   If you don't agree with that, and it doesn't work on your computer (have you tried all of the suggestions in the tech support forum), then get your refund and get on with life.   Giving grief to a developer/publisher over what is truly a mistake is counter-productive, especially when they have been so open and honest about their plan to fix the problem.

However, If you have a little patience, I would recommend sticking with Stardock, you won't regret it.

I may try sins of a solar empire with my refund.  BUt not sure I want that in depth of a strategy game at this point.  DG really appeals to me for it's simple to pick up gameplay, but is complex enough to keep improving on your strategy. So they may end up selling me 2 games before it's all over with.

I can honestly say I've never had any issues like that. I can understand your frustration, but all stardock really owes you is a refund if you can't wait for them to fix a few bugs. I don't think they owe anyone anything other than that, or alternatively a game that works 100% of the time. I support stardock, as they've always stood behind their products in the past. They don't just release a product and move on, they continue to improve upon it and evolve it over time usually releasing new content for free or for a very minimal charge. I think if you wait another week or two for them to implement their proxy server solution you'll be able to enjoy the game with the rest of us. I think demigod has some excellent potential, and I believe in stardock/gpg to realize that potential and make it a truly excellent game.

As far as I have seen, Stardock has been right up there with TF2 for support, and if they release the content like they said they would, then I am certain any problems will be forgotten. The game works, is playable, and fairly stable. They even dont mind the network game LAN licening, which is rare for a company these days (Just look at EA). Any negative folks out there should really give Stardock and GPG a lot more respect, and patience. This game is great. Once the MP is up and running 90% smooth, all will be good.

Probably the best way to make it up to players would be add a number of demigods without charging people.  More than just the 2 we heard about pre-release.

Torchbearer figurine-lighter.

Aside from that:  its not like we LOST anything that would warrant any form of compensation.

This is not hellgate londond after all... O how i loved that debacle, especialy because i've been running around yelling "are you stupid?!" to them for live subscribers

In the face of that, the demigod hickup is pretty anticlimatic, realy. They have already adressed major issues and will most likely polish this up to diamond-shine.

 booooh. no source for hate here.

i feel lonely.

i'll take one copy of sins and its expansion... and... a cabinet full of bees.

You mean Gamestop as in the store right?

That's probably what he means, but Gamestop didn't really create the problem. They inconvenienced Stardock's people and a lot of pre-orderers, sure, but lots of people would've slammed the servers anyway and the same people who are having connection issues now would be having them if Gamestop didn't break the street date.

This is Stardock's first launch of an MP-centric game, and the first with Impulse integration, so they missed the mark on some stuff.

But at the same time, people who scream that they've paid for a beta, or that it should've stayed in beta don't really understand. The beta would not have uncovered these issues. As in any game beta, the sample size of people is nowhere large enough. That's not to say everyone could connect in the beta, but they've always been forthcoming that there are some router setups that give them problems. And the core of the problems that popped up after launch could only have popped up after launch, spending another month in beta wouldn't have made them realize that proxy servers for (predominantly) Europeans would be good, for example, since there weren't many in the beta, and even fewer that were vocal and helpful with connection debugging.

Which happens a lot if you tie a beta to a preorder....