This time of the year really heats up for me, vocationally, so I apologize for the lack of posts. I still have another post on Project Gorgon to pop out, and some other things floating around, but they will just have to wait. For now though, I got a chuckle from bhagpuss‘ comment on TAGN’s latest EQ2 nostalgia offering:
One thing you could never accuse SoE of is consistency, which is almost top of the list of why they’re my favorite MMO developers.
I thoroughly agree with SOE’s inability to handle any sort of consistency, but I’m not sure that is quite what endures me to them. I suppose its the almost puppy-like sense of enthusiasm and the way in which the entire group seems to consist of “FIRE, AIM, READY” people, which is very much part and parcel to my personality as well.
Harbinger Zero 
Yes, the SOE approach of “LET’S GO DO THIS THING NOW!” has lead to both good and bad. There have been any number of times where I have shaken my head and wondered if they couldn’t have figured out “totally obvious consequence X” if they hadn’t just sat down in a conference room and brainstormed potential bad scenarios for 20 minutes.
On the other hand, I do not think any MMO company has tried so many things, and I think that apparent lack of introspection allows SOE to launch into these situations without talking themselves out of them.
And, sometimes, it works.
Overall I’m pretty happy. You could say that I’m only here now writing a blog because of it. Their willingness to export EQ to the PS2 allowed me my first tentative steps into online gaming. Not to mention some great hours in the otherwise flawed realm of Vanguard and much happiness pirating in PotBS.
And here is the difference between SOE and EA/BW – when Sony falls of a cliff of insanity, they acknowledge it, offer up some kind of peace token to the playerbase and keep on trucking. Bioware denies that they are falling off the cliff, even as they lay in a broken puddle at the base, insisting that they did the right thing all along and that we should have all jumped off with them!
Oops, sorry, just remembered that you are not a big fan of analogies, lol. tl;dr – SOE cops to their mistakes, BW tries to pretend they don’t exist.