Comments on: Broken Functionality

By: Gary160974

Gary160974 — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 13:51:56 +0000

All broken product should removed and refunded. Any functionality changes should be addressed and allowances made or refunds given. If I’m sold something that’s says I can do this and in 6 months time it can’t then I should be offered something even an apology in some cases would be good. The problem I foresee with this is if it effects so many items and spaces what will it do to development. Take the EODs in the UK that I bought expecting to be able to watch crackle, now that service is finished in the UK, there’s 5 personal spaces and 20 odd TVs that have lost the one function I use the EOD for, is it they fault, not exactly even though both are subsidiarys of Sony they are separate companies. Should they be penalized. Nope because these were forward thinking ideas pushing home to it boundaries. These items even though they are not broke they have lost the functionality I brought them for. The dilemma is I paid real money for something I won’t use now. But I don’t want cutting edge development to stop. Want do I want, just someone to say we are sorry but heres a sneak peek of our next best thing and because of issues you can buy a week earlier or something. Well done veemee for responses to this

By: Gary160974

Gary160974 — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 13:21:10 +0000

Couldn’t agree more, but I also know that there would only be a few developers left and any chance of brand new groundbreaking products would diminish.

By: Dr_Do-Little

Dr_Do-Little — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 09:23:59 +0000

Thank you, telling a friend what he does wrong is not easy.
I’m not sure about not letting devs publish anything until everything is fixed… We might be left with not even a handfull. But. A list of broken items and repetted offender, yes.

The specific case that worry me the most is Heavy-Water. I understand company can go down or leave. I bet on the wrong horse and now I’m left with only a shell of what Avalon Keep was. Problem is Avalon Keep is still in the store and people buy it. Unaware new users for a good part.
Every week we see a new thread on the forum from someone who bought it, called Sony.. to be told to go on the forum…
As if we (users) could fix it…

Broken/unsupported items should be removed from the store or given a discont as well as “disclaimer”.

By: ted2112

ted2112 — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 15:17:50 +0000

During the last bad winter storm in my neck of the woods, we lost power for several days. When you called the power company you got a recorded message saying they had no information when power might be restored. I know they were working on it, but the communication didn’t exactly leave you feeling great.

I feel this is what it’s like in Home sometime. Sure, they are trying, but in a communication void people will make up their own mind and all they know is they got broken stuff.

By: Jersquall

Jersquall — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 23:38:40 +0000

I like that a lot

By: John C. Ardussi

John C. Ardussi — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 19:32:40 +0000

If it were me running the show, I would have a list of reported broken things and not let developers release new items until all the old problems were addressed or a plan to address them was approved. The policy would be a lot more involved than that, but that would be the general rule that needed to be followed.

By: Jersquall

Jersquall — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 10:18:04 +0000

There are some up front devs out there and John you’re one of them. There have been many times that we as consumers wished for just enough transparency to let us know when things are getting fixed. We rarely see it but it’sunderstandable to a certain degree but I can count off dozens and dozens of issues and broken things that are still issues years later. Simple explainations would sometimes suffice in those cases but Sony wouldn’t have it. I have seen both sides of the coin and I know that bending would had helped keep a bunch of Home spenders around longer.
It is what it is and I honestly always pulled for communication, direct enough to at least let consumers know ”we are on it”and on the other hand I understand our forums more than anyone being there regularly since 2007. They are the best of the best and most passionate and then you have the few you can count on one hand who have to ruin everyones experience with rubbish that completely embarrasses the faithful.
Still, as you mentioned communication with developers is welcomed and appreciated much. Thanks for the likes of you guys.

By: John C. Ardussi

John C. Ardussi — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 07:27:36 +0000

With the client software changing to add more features, some things break that worked when they shipped. So having zero bugs all the time is impossible.

But once a bug is reported, the developer should do their best to fix it. Many items and spaces have been abandon due to financial considerations.

At Game Mechanics we do our best to fix all reported bugs and issues. If we can do it, the other guys can as well. The problem I see is that the public does not stop buying things from developers who don’t fix their stuff. There is little discussion of who the “as is” developers are and who are the developers who continue to advance items and spaces after they have been released. Without that kind of thing that effects the bottom line going forward, they are unlikely to change.

This article is a great step forward about a topic that should be discussed more.

By: Jersquall

Jersquall — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 04:05:27 +0000

FEMAELSTROM, Nice write up. From the heart and I like that. I would say that it was a plea for better service across the board more than anything else. Respectable journalism non the less.

By: Jersquall

Jersquall — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 03:23:37 +0000

I agree to that as well, Norseling
Also, It does not help that some raise issues by saying very little about their issues. They need to get in there and stand beside their Home neighbors and give drawn out indepth details that help identify the problem. The more details the better in these cases. Just do so in a respectable way please.

By: geomon

geomon — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 03:19:15 +0000

This is why I left Home years ago, because even then the writing was on the wall.

By: NorseGamer

NorseGamer — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 03:16:37 +0000

One thing I want to mention, now that I’m on the development side of things: there are way, *way* more moving parts to Home than anyone realizes. A lot of “Why don’t things work THIS way?” consumer questions — including questions I personally asked here at HSM over the years — are simply answered with, “Oh, *now* I get it,” when you see how things are behind the scenes.

This is not to excuse or trivially dismiss the points raised in this article. At all. But the truth is that it takes *time* to investigate and confirm an issue, identify the root cause, and determine the best method of correction. During that time, there’s usually not much more you *can* say other than, “We’re looking into this.” It can be a frustratingly neutral response, sure, because it doesn’t convey the reality that behind the scenes, a lot of people are working — hard — to figure out what’s going on.

Keep in mind it’s hard enough for one development studio. For SCEA and SCEE as the platform providers, the logistical magnitude of this issue is multiplied fifty-fold. This would, I imagine, present a very real challenge when it comes to satisfying user expectations in a timely manner versus the sheer scope of the tasks at hand. The best thing we can do, as consumers, is diligently (and politely) report an issue, with as many details and reproduction steps as possible, and allow the support staff to run their investigation process.

Granted, there’s still the larger issue of consumer confidence in a marketplace that periodically displays functionality issues, and that’s a topic I’m hoping will be discussed in a subsequent article.

By: Jersquall

Jersquall — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 02:50:47 +0000

As a longtime Home user I can agree with much in this article. It is the developers responsibility to put up a working item, estate, LMO and the like.
The issues within Home are Sony’s responsibilities. Here is what I have noticed over the years. Home users remember these things. They know the devs who make good and they know the ones that burned them just as well.
I would like to see developers taking on their issues with their products head on. Starting in the Home general and Home Support forums.
Just a side note, Some of the Evil Tree items have started to return, You can find out more in the Home Support forum thread; “If you’re missing Player Inspect items”.
Sony is currently working on PI missing items, Validation freezes and they are fixing Home Users manually on the latter. Looking for a patch at a later date.
Jers