The results are in, and you get a thumbs down, RSC.
I've been silent for a while now about the state of Railsimulator.com... But after watching this latest repeat of failure, I am completely disappointed in RSC. I realize a lot of users are annoyed by RSC and / or steam lately, but its even more frustrating to us who create things for the Railworks platform. I cant imagine how bad it is for those who make money through addons for it. The future of this platform seems to be getting progressively unstable. If they keep this up, I think there is going to be an impact. Knowing that something isnt accurate is one thing. A profit driven compromise was made. Its not right, but its sometimes forgivable. But everyone, casual gamer to extreme railfans alike, will
all be upset when something doesnt work at all. There might be one botched release anticipated in a game company's history. Its not anticipated that it becomes the norm.
If RSC keeps doing the same thing over and over again, and it keeps resulting in making more people upset than it pleases, one would think that would mean something. It doesnt matter who's to blame. If steam is causing headaches, drop it, and figure something else out. If they're bungling code, hire better programmers. I just dont understand what Paul Jackson is thinking. He's either too involved, or not involved enough...
Do they even test these things before pushing them out? Do they send a proof to steam to download and evaluate PRIOR to pushing the release copy? How hard, really, would it be to send out something as simple as a "fix log" or "update log" several days before each and every update or release, that clearly details everything that download will touch or fix, and why they're doing it. It would at least give us some idea what to expect.
It seems as of lately, every little thing they release or optimize breaks more functionality than it improves. The bigger they get, the more they sell, they get more impersonal, reduce the attention to detail, and more of what we've created as a freeware community just gets stomped flat. I'm 80% done with my B&O Subdivision Route, and some new repaints, but I'm quickly losing faith in this platform altogether. I'm really losing interest in working on this stuff...I dont want it to be released partially done (just add to the
unfinished quality of the game). I'm not sure I want it donated to someone and have my name floating around out there associated with a platform thats loathed.
This simulator had promise, and its fading. The end user having to fix the occasional screwup is okay. But its coming to the point I'm paying RSC for something, and then I spend more time doing their job for them to make it useable (often times having to re-fix fixes I already fixed when they break them again), than I am creating or enjoying.
Since they dont appear to have the motivation to shape up on their own, I suggest we all just keep kicking them in the pants - posting our
legitimate gripes and complaints on their social media pages. If it gets censored, re-post it. If they block you, create a new account. Over and over again. Fill the boards with our complaints. Something good will have to come of it, whether the constant headache forces them to rethink, or they'd just throw in the towel completely. Which may sound bad, but it would give other developers the fan base and market space they need to grow.
I'm going to check back in a few months or so and see whats going on in the Rail Simulator community. If RSC is still around and doing well, I guess that means they learned their lesson. If not, it will be exciting to check out the new company that took its place!