Turbo Demon

As I said above, I´m (foolhardily) going to try to explain what I think this is *really* all about! (Of course, I can only really speak for myself, but nontheless, I will assume that I´m speaking for the majority of us "Whining Europeans"...) And what I´m referring to as "Whining Europeans" is of course us "hardcore" European CMBO fans, not the entire European market! Also, this is my first post here (altough I´ve been lurking for a year or so), so please, be patient, and kind, with me! Anyways, here goes: What I think this boils down to, wether it´s conscious, or not, is that we, ("we" meaning "Whining Europeans" henceforth ), feel that we are being relegated to second class customers. We are, for instance, no longer *allowed* to deal directly with you, BFC, whom we, despite our whining, actually like, respect, and trust. Instead we are *forced* to deal with a company whom, I, personally have no opinion of, but many seem to dislike. But regardless, we´re not *allowed* to deal with you guys, even when, and, if, we want to. Maybe my emphasising of certain words here seem a little melodramatic, but it is actually true, you know... As to the slightly more "euphimised" art and text, I don´t think that it, in itself, is the problem, but rather compounding the aformentioned feeling, while perhaps being easier to put one´s finger on, so to speak, in giving critisism. And by compounding, I mean that, altough seemingly insignificant, we are in fact getting a *slightly* more inaccurate version of the game, and, as such,it must be considered to be a *slightly* "less great" game than what is offered to our friends in the rest of the world. So again, we are being relegated to second class status as customers. Now, this reasoning is of course based on emotion, rather than the kind of intellectual reasoning required to forge a business deal,(And I didn´t mean to be sarcastic with that last remark!), but it doesn´t make it wrong for us to get these feelings, in my opinion! It might however explain the "clash", in that both us and BFC, feel somewhat "betrayed", us because of the above reasons, and BFC because the feel they made a genuinly sound and cunstructive business deal that should prove to be positive for all of us, and end up getting a load of crap for their efforts! You have to remember that we feel as part of the "gang" here (dispite never posting before, as in my case ), and most of us bought CMBO directly from BFC, once, a long time ago... So getting this "special" treatment, does stir up some emotions, as I hope you understand... Anyway, I´m not trying to blame BFC for their actions, as I belive they were, in essence, unavoidable, but I dont´t like the effects these actions have had on me, personally, and I really wish that I, and my fellow Whining Europeans, would have had the chance to be excluded from being cosidered part of the European market! (Unrealistic as it may be, that´s what I wish ) I also don´t tink that BFC, in their wildest dreams, could have anticipated this reaction, they´ve gotten, from some of us! And I´m *really* hoping that BFC sees, and understands, our point of view, and that we all can agree, that while unavoidable and, hopefully, in the end, profitable to all of us, this deal did not please all parties involved. Because I´m positive that BFC never wanted, or, as I said above, even imagined, that some of us would feel this way over the CDV-deal! Right, BFC? (Not that I´m insinuating that they would have done differently, had they known, because, unfortunately, us Whining Europeans are hardly even a fraction of the European market!) But I would like to think that we´re part of the select group that BFC is *really* trying to please, (apart from themselves, of course!), with their games, and that they really do care about the way that we feel about their products! (Or so I hope! ) Anyway, I would be sad to see relations on this forum getting sour, jus because we don´t understand each others points of view. And on how many forums do the developers actually participate in the discussions like they do here? It´s an atmosphere to take care of! (The first thing that went through my mind, when I realised I wasn´t going to be able to order directly from BFC, was, in essence: F@€k, F@€ketty-F@€K, F@€k!!! Seriously, I´m *not* kidding! It usually doesn´t make for a pleasant discussion, writing when you´re upset...) Ok, now I´m finished! I probaby repeated myself ten times, missed half of what I wanted to say, and the rest has probably already been said on the forum while I was writing this, or, even more probable, nobody actually agrees with me at all, and I´ll get flamed, but, hey, what´s a guy supposed to do... Regards, TD [ July 10, 2002, 08:44 PM: Message edited by: Turbo Demon ]