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Tough Love Done Right

Tough Love Done Right

IGN recently reported that former Respawn and Sony developer Glenn Fielder criticized the network model of Tom Clancy’s The Division . Fielder, who describes himself as a “game networking expert,” published a blog post about the problems The Division has with cheating. Fielder suspects that The Division might be relying on a trusted client model, which he thinks makes the network unfixable for PC. According to Fielder, only a complete rewrite might be able to fix it.

As he’s written in his blog , his outlook on the The Division is bleak. Although Fielder makes some digs at some “overly smug glitchers” who nitpicked some glitches for the sake of pissing off a QA department, he quickly shifted the brunt of his criticism towards The Division when he watched a video by Hillerix3D. This YouTuber was using a cheating method that highly concerned Fielder, despite the understanding he showed earlier about how some people can nitpick for the sake of nitpicking. Thankfully Ubisoft has since implemented an anti-cheating method to combat this YouTuber’s tools, but this is a temporary fix to what Fielder seems to feel is a much bigger problem.

I can only imagine how embarrassed the team behind The Division must feel to be criticized publicly like this, but I think Fielder’s words are exactly the ones they need to read. I respect Fielder’s approach because it’s harsh but professional. He refrains from using swear words, let alone creatively stringing them together in elaborate insults – you can look up many a YouTube reviewer for such angry reviews (that would most likely cover the whole gamut rather than a focused interest like networking). He educates as well as offers an informed opinion or possible solution, even though he seems appalled at how this situation could happen. And despite this, he’s hopeful that Ubisoft can turn The Division around.

So while I can see how this can make anyone working on The Division feel embarrassed by Fielder’s words, I can only say I somewhat sympathize with them. From the sounds of it, however (I have yet to play the game), they screwed up badly with the PC version. Fielder called them out on what sounds like a fundamental oversight, and showed them what some might call tough love. I would be somewhat wary of applying for new jobs, lest potential employers read Fielder’s words.

Tough Love Done Right

I personally enjoy when game designers – or anyone involved with the creation of the game – take to their keyboards or webcams to publish criticism. It’s a breath of fresh air for me, as I can gain insight to how those who actually work in the games industry think. I’m glad that Fielder is still on The Division’s side, and I hope Ubisoft can consider his points now that they’re apparently cracking down on cheaters.

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