Those "uber 1337 haxxors" finally get the chop

[Bolty]

First off, it's pretty unlikely that it was a programmer that claimed that GPOWs can be generated since as far as I know, since most of the programmers I know would rather pay fines than chat with fans.

Reading this thread (and cringing almost the whole way through it), is it any surprise why? I knew this would happen (bashing) as soon as you admitted you were a programmer. Sigh. You're putting a huge "kick me" sign on yourself for all the detractors to pile on.

A lot of people diss blizzard for horrible programming, and a lot of that is deserved.  However, in doing so people tend to overlook our accomplishments too.  Take a look at what the D2 servers are doing: ai for an average of forty monsters per player, path finding for all that, collision, countless missiles, all at most of the time 25 frames per second, and none of it exceptionally good ;) but there it is.  A couple of hundred thousand players at once, which is by the way, more than the number of people chatting on yahoo at the moment.  And all of it has to be done with a dense enough player to server ratio and low enough bandwidth in a real time game that we can avoid charging a monthly fee.  And we were stupid enough to promise to people that that's something we could do, even though we had no evidence that it would be even possible to do so.  So question our programming skills all you want, I'll admit that looking at some of the bugs that've come up it's deserved.  But I'll always know that we did some pretty damn impressive things amidst all of our mistakes as well.

That's a fantastic way of detailing my usual response to detractors - find another game out there that has as much gameplay as D2. And watch them squirm trying to find one.

I currently work in a multi-tier support job for a software firm, the kind that requires you to be a guru at just about everything (networking, Oracle databases, Java, web hosting, server hardware, operating systems, web design, you-name-it) and it's thrilling. But it also causes me to become intimate with the inner workings of the software my company designs, so much so that I assist with its design phase. The one truth is that the more you get to know any software program, the more you think it's terrible, because you get so used to seeing everything that works that all you notice is the stuff that DOESN'T work, and the nitty interface design issues that drive you nuts. Sometimes you have to back away, see the forest for the trees, and realize that you still have a damn nice software program on your hands, and the flaws found, while seemingly huge to you, are minor in the whole view.

The same goes for computer games. Here at the LL we have posters who delve so deep into the program and find problems with it that they forget, looking back, that it is indeed one incredible computer game. It's been described as a "behemoth," and that's what it is - a game so bogglingly huge and impressive in scope, that its stunning that it has as FEW problems as it does. You and I both know gamers are picky; we demand a LOT that is sometimes deserved, sometimes not. Developers know they've done well when the sales figures pour in and the reviews laud their efforts. But there's always going to be that element that is never satisfied, and, well, you'll always be able to find that element here, that's for sure! It can be a good thing, as you'll find plenty of suggestions from the Lurkers, but I don't always agree with the execution of the complaints. Destructive criticism will only serve to push away any interest a developer may have of coming here to hear our thoughts on the game. I wish various posters here (not naming names, but they know who they are) would see that and stop ripping on the Blizzard dev team as a bunch of incompetents. You are wrecking it for the rest of us who would like to offer constructive criticism.

-Bolty