Were the argument well-constructed and based on fact, perhaps. Instead, it's full of points that desperately [need citation] and base assumptions and broad strokes painted upon the consumer base based on what he's gleamed from the loudest voices. There's far too much "we all know this to be true, don't argue it" in this piece to give any of it value.
Exactly, it's the epitome of TL;DR. It's a bitchfest fueled by anger and frustration, due to the dev's failures and coming shutdown. It's the equivalent of a toddler's temper tantrum, or a moody teen posting cutting pics and "woe is me" monologues on Facebook. What makes it hilarious what the dev has said about it (read below).
The funny thing is they are locking any thread referring to this in their games forums.
http://steamcommunity.com/app/93200/discussions/0/35221031799291987/
This ones a good one because they claim to have made this kind of game before anyone else. I'm pretty sure tower defense existed long before 2011.
Comedy gold. Allow me to highlight a few gems from the dev.
"
It's not a rant, it's an essay."
I feel like he doesn't even know what an essay is. Just for the hell of it...
es·say
noun
ˈesā/
1. a short piece of writing on a particular subject.
Essays are "short" because they're meant to convey a message in a short, pointed manner. I actually had a problem with essays in school, because I would go too in depth on my essays. It would take me too long to complete them, they'd be so full of description and information that by the time I was done, they wouldn't even really be essays.
What the dev wrote is indeed a rant. He's taking out his frustrations on his keyboard and declaring it to the world (or the handful of computer nerds who will actually take the time to read it), and because of that, any point there is within the piece is lost in the maelstrom of incoherent ramblings and written fits of anger. He's a child acting out on what he perceives to be unfair, and [customspoiler=pretending it has nothing to do with his company]"I'm not even discussing Puppygames, or our games, in the article."[/customspoiler], which is hilarious, because you don't need to even mention your company or your games for everyone to know that the article is 100% about your company and your games, which is going under because of the "problem with the industry" that you have gone on a crusade about.
"
The fact I'm even bothering to talk to you at all on the Steam forums should be considered remarkable - not because I think I'm so wonderfully important, but because for any developer, it's a total waste of valuable and expensive time which no matter how well-intentioned will never make a return on effort."
In case none of you were aware of this yet, this dev is an asshole. There's a saying in business called "Hug your customers". What does it mean? Pretty obvious, be nice to your customers. When you make your customers happy, and create quality products, they will come back for more. News flash: If you actually make good games, you don't have to put them all in bottom feeder Humble Bundles full of shitty games. The strategy is pretty simple.
Step 1: Make a solid game that shows off your talents as a developer, put it in a cheap bundle, get people playing your game, acquire fans.
Step 2: Be nice to your customers. Show them that not only do you make fun games, you also are a human being and worth supporting.
Step 3: Take your games to the next level and don't devalue them by putting them in dollar tiers of indie bundles. Players who like your games and like you will actually buy your games, as many other devs have proven, and suddenly your customers won't be only with $1 to you, because YOUR games won't be only worth $1.
But no, rather than actually take logical steps that require effort to carry out, this dev would rather blame everyone else and the "industry" for his own failings, and bitch at customers when they speak to him. This last bit is both sad and hilarious, see the comment given from this individual on the Steam forums, and the dev's reply.
Matster said:
Would recommend you not to make such rant posts when you are basically bankrupt and that is a know fact even confirmed yesterday on rockpapershotgun news thread about you closing doors in two months time:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/08/18/puppygames-battledroid-basingstoke/
Also never disclose information that almost all of your games are making you a loss and no income as you did here in your blog from March 2013:
http://www.puppygames.net/blog/?p=1369
Some advice for the future if you survive the shistorm coming - do it like Arcen games did in 2010 when they were also almoust closing down:
http://arcengames.blogspot.com/2010/09/love-ai-war-andor-tidalis-we-could.html
Make a friend of your customers not enemies and never answer to any trolling, attack on you or rants in the threads - it does not work it makes everything only worse.
I do own Revenge of the Titans from you but your post on the blog does not make me wan't to buy anything from you at the moment. You try to fix what you are saying at the end of your blog but most of it is extremely anti customer oriented.
Okay, that's a bit harsh, but pretty on point. The dev is flailing at the moment and pulling a lot of moves he shouldn't be. Everything Matster said is right on the money. The dev's reply?
"
What I don't need to do, ever, is take advice from you, the customer. We do what we do; you do what you do. We don't tell you how to run your lives and businesses because we don't know anything about them."
And with that, it's not all that surprising that Puppygames is going under. Good luck running a business in the future, Mr. Caspian Prince.
you customers, you suck, we hate you and we don't need you (but really we do, we're in denial so let us have this angry bitter rant. JUST GIVE IS THIS ONE THING)
