This one speaks for itself.

In the past, I've been shot down by Zwillinger for speaking out against the fact that there is absolutely no evidence of proofreading done in this game. Granted I was very harsh, but come on. This level of lack of polish is unacceptable, especially for someone like myself who spent years working Quality Control for Google Maps.

But really, why am I be?

*listens closely*

I hear nothing.

I think the voices are in your head.





Yes, they should fix the typo's when reported. They don't always do that.










As for Google Maps, or any other mapping, don't get me started. Quality Control is a joke. Someone made a typo at some time in the past and what should show as Rd on a map to my house shows as Dr instead. The county maps show it clearly as being Rd all the way through, but not the online services. I've been trying to get that fixed for well over 10 years. It makes it impossible to get to my house using any online mapping service or any GPS units. Quality Control my donkey

On top of that, someone got really sloppy when writing my address down by hand and the person entering the data read 213 as 43 instead (go ahead, write 213 down really fast so that the lines might cross, someone can read it as 43). I'm still trying to get that fixed. Where's the Quality Control? Right, there isn't any.

I assumed he was just trying to sound Jamacan. Poorly. As in, normally.

We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.

Just as in this game, problems reported to the map outfits don't get fixed as soon as they should and some are still not fixed. As I said, I've been fighting both of those for well over 10 years.

You've been told that they work to correct the errors reported to them but make rant posts when you find something that hasn't been fixed.

Someone points out to you things that haven't been fixed in the industry you brought up having experience in and you blow it off as if it were totally different from what you are complaining about.

It's not different.

EDIT: I'd say that the standards should be even higher in the map business in getting corrections made. Errors in addresses can cause delays for emergency response units, electrical company repair units and many more areas that need accurate addressing and mapping. I've had experience with delays from emergency vehicles due to the address errors in the mapping products. This was after they were told that not to use the GPS for the address as it was wrong but were given explicit directions by their dispatcher.

EDIT2: Whether Samuraiko or anyone else has offered to do the proofreading is irrelevant. Especially if it's someone that keeps trying to get hired. I know of several people that would be willing to do it for free, I'm one of them. If I offered to correct errors in any of the mapping stuff they wouldn't give me access to it unless they were hiring me to do that specific job. Still irrelevant.

Were I not now heinously busy with a new job, I'd have done it for free.

Anyway...

At the last Pummit, I asked around as to what the deal was with City of Typos. Among the answers I got, depending on who I talked to:

a) before he was bumped up to full-time writer status, part of Viridian's job was typo-QA type stuff. Since then, no one has officially taken over those duties.
b) the importance of typos, when compared to, say, decimals being off in powers calculations, is obviously lower on the totem pole.
c) spelling errors do get addressed, if not necessarily in the order they are perceived.

I wish I could remember which dev openly gave me a disbelieving look when I asked about the need for tech writers in the gaming industry...

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I'll be honest, I never noticed this typo, and I usually do notice them. Although I agree that the game's long-standing typos (although this isn't one of them) should just be fixed, this is hardly the straw that breaks the camel's back, and taken by itself makes "unacceptable" a hilarious overstatement.

Typos are small, easy to miss, and if they get fixed no one will ever know unless the devs themselves say "See? We fixed this typo!" which, imo, isn't worth a spot on patch notes.

So chill out. See a typo, bug it, move on. It's not the end of the world. It's not unacceptable. **** happens.

If typos killed people, then apple would be on the top of the list of companies to sue considering how often their texting app screws up. Atleast, that's what I see on FB atleast 100 times a week. Besides, how many bodies do you think they actually dedicate to typos?

The Devilfish badge text is a train wreck, but even as someone who notices typos, I can get past the fact that they exist and move on to actually playing the game. When you think of the sheer volume of text that they have to work with, I'm happy it's all close enough that I can figure it out. And a lot of it is actually written pretty well. Not easy to do when you consider all the different things NPC's can say and all the missions in the game, etc.

Writing in CoH is the main vehicle for presenting content. Say what you want, but simple typos provide an opportunity for their customers to develop a perception that the developers are sloppy and unprofessional. As with all business communication - these simple mistakes should receive critical attention.

And I think that is the only real point worth trying to be made any time these discussions come up... again, and again, and again.