Have you tried downloading a big games demo or patch lately?
I just tried to play cossacks online. its now impossible without the '1.02' patch, so i am advised to download it, then told to get it, I need to subscribe to 'fileplanet'.
screw that.
after 10 minutes, 15 different websites and a lot of frustration i realise the company arent going to let me patch their game without signing up to some crap...
so here I am, username F**ckThis, born in 1900 in albania, saying no to two whole pages of marketing bull, before they allow me to go to one of 4 pages full of clicking before I get to the download.
then I need to install their "download manager plugin for IE"
no thanks.
4 more clicks and I finally get a direct .exe link.
What with this, and Sony Online kicking me out of their forums for suggesting that unskippable logo screens were a bad idea... I'm begininng to think that its the norm now for big games companuies to treat their customers like dirt.
Which is superb.
Because I treat my customers well, which is why my sales are chugging along nicely I guess.
Just thought I'd vent that!

Vent understood.

I won't go near FilePlanet after experiencing the tortuous hoops they make you jump though. If a developer makes a demo exclusively for FilePlanet then I don't bother with it; that developer has lost a customer.

You remember companies that go out of their way to help you, and the ones that make a special effort to frustrate you. No prizes for guessing which get my business.

Customer support can be one of the great strengths of being an indie.

I've spent countless emails talking through people's problems and never got a single sale from anyone I've helped :/

...this might not be a coincidence!

Typical question:

"help your game say i need opengl plz help me"

So I dutifully sort out their problems, the resolution of which is usually that their machine is so old and cranky I offer them a free copy of the game if they buy a new graphics card, or no reply.

I suspect this is because those users that don't have OpenGL already on their systems aren't gamers, and my game's a real gamer's game. So even when they get it to work - they don't like it. Sometimes you just can't win :P

Cas :)

For all those websites that make you sign up, just visit BugMeNot (http://www.bugmenot.com) and use a bogus account. :)

I also don't like having to go through fileplanet. Is it really that difficult to provide the patch on the official site?

Fortunately for me (and so therefore not for a lot of people), my DSL service at home is part of a Gamer's package. With it I also get a free subscription to Fileshack. This means that I get seemingly exclusive access to patches and demos, which means really quick downloads.

But I agree. It really doesn't make sense to tell your customers to sign up for another business' services to get a patch for your game.