Phentari

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Please show me where in this thread someone said give us isolator but keep the others special.

I would like to see who said that myself.

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I'll be honest, I really don't want to go back and hunt through thirty-plus pages of thread; several people have tried to argue that the event badges are "different" when asked why they shouldn't be brought back. Though most of them haven't outright said, "We don't want you to have them," the strong implication is there in some of the posts.

That said: this debate doesn't exist just on this thread, and I have heard many people make this argument in the game proper. Heck, there was a raging debate over this on a certain badgers channel which shall remain nameless back at Halloween, when it became apparent that the Halloween badges would not be offered for a second year. Some of the gloating and self-high-fiving among those who had the badges was...well, juvenile, to say the least. And many of them are the same people who complain about Isolator not being available to them.

Needless to say, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

I have no problem with someone saying, "I think all players should have a fair shot at all the badges." If someone's saying that, I don't have an issue with them. Nor do I have an issue with someone who believes that NO character should be able to get all the badges.

It's when someone thinks that HE (or she) should be able to get all the badges...but that the same shouldn't apply to others...that I have a problem with it.

You are, of course, free to disagree, Rad; that doesn't change the fact that no really valid reason has been given yet for why characters who were around before I2 deserve the opportunity to obtain all of the badges, and those who came later should not.

Now, me--I don't care one way or the other if Isolator is made available; I simply believe that all players should have the same opportunities.

Those who are saying, "Give us Isolator, but keep the event badges off-limits, because they're different" are practicing elitism, pure and simple--and elitism tainted with more than a whiff of hypocrisy.

Here's another way of looking at it:

Any well-run company is going to take the actions that it thinks will be most advantageous to it in the long run. Generally, these actions involve keeping the largest number of customers possible happy--hence the badly-misused addage "The customer is always right."

In this particular case, the Devs have the following facts to consider:

1. A vocal group of players want them to make a certain badge available. This will make them happy.

2. Another, equally vocal group of players do not want them to make that badge available. Making the badge available would make them unhappy.

So: no matter which way the Devs go on this, one group of players will be unhappy and the other will be happy...and most of the playerbase simply won't care one way or the other.

How, then, does it profit them to invest time and energy in making the change? Where's the gain?

Now, I know, you could say "But these are the most loyal players, the ones who have been around since before I2, and therefore their wants should be considered!" There are a number of ways of looking at that, from a business perspective:

1. These players are already hooked. If they weren't, they wouldn't have stuck around this long. Not adding one badge is unlikely to make most of them quit.

2. This game, like most games, has a finite shelf-life; players buy it, play it, enjoy it, and eventually move on. The focus has to be on attracting new players, not retaining older players forever.

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Ah but in all those cases of the events those are created after badge was available to be obtained. That is worth repeating they are created after the badge was available to be obtained. Isolator is different in that characters created before are denied but, the badge itself is still available. Whereas, with those events those created before the event could obtain the badge by participating in the event. But, we have covered this before.

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Well, yes, and the logic is still weak and still boils down to, "It's different because it's different." And it still boils down to a convenient rationalization for those who believe that they should have an opportunity at all the badges in the game, as older players, but that newer players should not.

The event badges are still in the game. The code hasn't been removed. There's simply no way, at present, for a character to acquire those badges--just as there's no way for your level 50 to acquire Isolator.

The "difference" is invented, and certainly not a particularly valid reason for claiming that one should be awarded and the other should not.

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spoiled badgers!
I want I want!
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Ok you all may continue with the I want I want, screw the little guy screw the little guy

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Hmm. I'm not quite sure why you chose to respond to my post with this, seeing as I basically agree with you; perhaps it was just a case of clicking on the most immediately available post.

The point is a valid one, and I have yet to see anyone offer a rational rebuttal of it: the majority of those saying "Pre I2" badgers should be given the opportunity to collect all the badges will NOT say that post-I2 badgers should have the same opportunity. They believe that Isolator--and presumably any other new low-level badges introduced to the game--should be made available to them, but when asked why newer players shouldn't be allowed a chance to get the Halloween badges, for instance, they evade the question with a vague, "The Holiday badges are different."

Why are they different? Well, the rationalizations are generall vague, but for the most part they boil down to: "Because we have them and the newer players don't, and we like it that way."

In short, the argument boils down to "Older players should get preferential treatment."

Me? I say that's bullpucky. I couldn't care less whether all the badges are available or not, but it should be all or nothing. Either everyone gets a chance at every badge, or we just accept that characters from different time periods in the game will have different badges.

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Yet there's some incredible bias against allowing people to subsequently pick up Isolator without any real reason put forth. Just curious and scratching my head.

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What I dislike about it is the ever-present double standard. Those who are calling the loudest for Isolator to be available in the name of "giving badge-hunters what they want" are, in many cases, the same ones who shout down any suggestion that the Halloween badges should be made available to newer players...because, after all, those badges are "special," and should only be available to those players who were clever enough and skilled enough to be playing the game at that time.