Valve Want Free Console Content

[Evo]

In a recent chat with Eurogamer Doug Lombardi talked about how Valve would like new content for Team Fortress 2 to be free on consoles. The interview can be found here.[br]

Asked whether that still meant for free, Lombardi said: "Oh, for free, definitely, as much as we can. You know, we don't have full say over that, but we have some say over how that works.[br]"So, for us, for free is the way to go. The gamers play the game, they want to keep playing the game, so we've collected their fifty bucks at the start, and once they're in the park, they can ride any ride they want in the park. So, for us that's been the philosophy."

This obviously won't go down well with Microsoft who generally require all content to be paid for regardless of developer plans. Time will tell what happens with this, but for now read the rest of the interview here.

 

[Iron_cube]

Uh-oh :O

 

[knut]

When it comes to games, I understand how much effort has to go into the game itself to make it how it is, so I much prefer to pay if I know I'm getting grade A excellent material. But if the person is comfortable with giving it away for free, that's cool.

Either way, if it's for a game I like, I'll be getting it for sure, whether it's 5 quid or for free.

 

[giant384]

stupid microsoft, they already get so much from the subscriptions they are so greedy and cant just go with the developers decision. i agree with valve's philosophy fully.

 

[V-Man339]

This isn't exactly new (the fact that Microsoft loves to make you pay for more) considering half of the games they come out with have expansion packs, with nothing more than stuff they should've added in a patch.

 

[FatboyTim]

Well played Valve.

 

[theotherguy]

I hate being a grammar Nazi, but god damnit!

"Valve want"

What the hell!?!? Is this a British thing or something? I see this all the time on news posts and in the forums, and it makes no sense to me. Valve, like all corporations, is a singular legal entity and should be referred to as a singular noun.

"Valve wants"

If you must use a plural, talk about the individuals who work for Valve:

"The employees of Valve want"

Otherwise, a company is and should be treated grammatically as a single entity, and not only that, but a legal person.

 

[McGooTheWise]

In a recent chat with Eurogamer Doug Lombardi talked about how Valve want new content for Team Fortress 2 to be free on consoles. The interview can be found here.[br]

Asked whether that still meant for free, Lombardi said: "Oh, for free, definitely, as much as we can. You know, we don't have full say over that, but we have some say over how that works.[br]"So, for us, for free is the way to go. The gamers play the game, they want to keep playing the game, so we've collected their fifty bucks at the start, and once they're in the park, they can ride any ride they want in the park. So, for us that's been the philosophy."

This obviously won't go down well with Microsoft who generally require all content to be paid for regardless of developer plans. Time will tell what happens with this, but for now read the rest of the interview here.

Valve should make their own consol. All in favor, say no.

 

[Crispy]

I hate being a grammar Nazi, but god damnit!

"Valve want"

What the hell!?!? Is this a British thing or something? I see this all the time on news posts and in the forums, and it makes no sense to me. Valve, like all corporations, is a singular legal entity and should be referred to as a singular noun.

"Valve wants"

If you must use a plural, talk about the individuals who work for Valve:

"The employees of Valve want"

Otherwise, a company is and should be treated grammatically as a single entity, and not only that, but a legal person.

I'm sure there is real debate on this point in linguistic circles. I don't think it's so black and white, since there are arguments for both sides.

What about this one? By your rules "The Jackson 5 has got back together for a comeback tour." is correct. I personally don't think that sounds correct, and that there is room for leeway when using plurals with group nouns, provided it is clear that the plural can apply.

In Evo's example, "Valve want new content for Team Fortress 2 to be free on consoles" can easily be interpreted to describe a general consensus at Valve. Furthermore, considering how Valve have a truly decentralised management structure, it seems to be particularly apt.

What I would disagree with, would be if the full business name "Valve Software" (which clearly refers to the corporate entity and not to its people) were used in conjunction with an exclusively human act, like that of 'want' (an emotion). In that case, the sentence would need to be re-phrased to "several management figures at Valve Software have said they want...".

 

[theotherguy]

I'm sure there is real debate on this point in linguistic circles. I don't think it's so black and white, since there are arguments for both sides.

What about this one? By your rules "The Jackson 5 has got back together for a comeback tour." is correct. I personally don't think that sounds correct, and that there is room for leeway when using plurals with group nouns.

Yep, that's correct. Unless you're talking about the people themselves, "The Jackson 5" is a single entity that needs to be referred to as a singular. If you want to talk about "The Jackson 5" as a plural, you're talking, literally about "those five people", not the corporate entity, Jackson five.

It's definitely true of corporations like Valve, which, since they are legal people, should be referred to as singular people. A team is a singular. An entity is a singular. The only time you should refer to plurals is when you are referring to lists of individuals or the pronouns "they", "we" and "those".

 

[McGooTheWise]

Before this thread (already did) gets derailed, can we please stay on topic? I don't think grammar is the key subject at hand here. hell, the guy could have made a typo, it is quite easy to miss that darn "S" button, the little rascal!

Now lets stfu, and keep talking about Valve's rebellion. (Redundancy ftw)

 

[L3TUC3]

Wants.

 

[kineaesth]

Good old Valve. I loves them.

 

[MorganFreeman911]

That's good for Valve, they should get it, in my opinion.
No this was NOT a +1, I just wanted to say something!

 

[Druckles]

I hate being a grammar Nazi, but god damnit!

"Valve wants"

No.

hell, the guy could have made a typo, it is quite easy to miss that darn "S" button, the little rascal!

No.

Wants.

No.

Is this a British thing

For God's Sake. Do not call it "British" or I, or the Welshman above, will murder you in your sleep. Feel like being called Canadian? Hell, we could call you British.

Valve should make their own console. All in favor, say no.

no. Besides the fact that Valve develop software for computers and consoles, not hardware, they're too busy developing Episode Three .

As to the discussion at hand, I'm once again impressed by Valve's integrity. I think if they keep up with it, having such a large audience already, Microsoft will inevitably fall. Especially if other developers follow the crowd.

 

[FatboyTim]

For God's Sake. Do not call it "British" or I, or the Welshman above, will murder you in your sleep. Feel like being called Canadian? Hell, we could call you British.

What? The Welsh are British.

Odd fact of the day: before the 1920s, the terms British and English were largely interchangeable and could be used to refer to anyone from Britain (England, Scotland and Wales.) :cheers:

 

[Druckles]

Odd fact of the day: before the 1920s, the terms British and English were largely interchangeable and could be used to refer to anyone from Britain (England, Scotland and Wales.) :cheers:

Newsflash of the day: It's 2008.

 

[Vegeta897]

Compelling arguments, Druckles

I'm with theotherguy. Referring to groups as plural is in fact a British-English (as opposed to American-English) practice. Since Valve is American, it should be appropriate to adopt the American form when referring to it.

In before I'm called a stupid selfish American.

 

[freakyflor]

I want content now!!

 

[-Psy-]

Microsoft Windows Live vs Steam. Let da battle begin!

 

[Druckles]

Compelling arguments, Druckles

I couldn't be bothered arguing. I figured the arguments were all just blatantly obvious. But obviously not.

The original poster is from the United Kingdom, and therefore would adopt the so-called "British-English".

Similar the website is English.

Not going to go into an argument about how English is called English for a reason.

The fact remains that it's not a typo. So he's not wrong. You can type your titles however you want.

British-English (as opposed to American-English)

I don't get this...

 

[Cormeh]

Maybe you should all stop bitching and get your applications in for Content Writer.

Problem solved.

Valve, YET AGAIN, proving they're the number one developer for consumers. Free downloadable content, cheap game packages, new ideas etc etc etc.

I loves Valve.

 

[Asknoone]

Since Valve is American, it should be appropriate to adopt the American form when referring to it.

That really does make no sense whatsoever.

 

[Vidrio]

INTERNET!

I feel sorry for xbox players.

 

[jondy]

Microsoft Windows Live vs Steam. Let da battle begin!

The battle was over when Valve brought out, for free, what cost Live users 40 quid a a year :E

 

[Qhartb]

Valve, YET AGAIN, proving they're the number one developer for consumers. Free downloadable content, cheap game packages, new ideas etc etc etc.

Hold on there! Don't you mean "Valve, proving it is..." or "Valve employees, proving they are..."

:rolling:

(I'm being sarcastic about how ridiculous it is to derail a thread over a small grammar mistake. Please don't obnoxiously but ironically actually derail the thread from this post.)

Edit:

Since Valve is American, it should be appropriate to adopt the American form when referring to it.

Ouch. That makes absolutely no sense. Adhering to subtly different grammar depending on a real-life (non-grammatical non-phonetic) trait of a word is similar to Romance languages where each noun has a gender, only this is worse because you're actually changing the verb tense rather than just the article. It makes far more sense to keep a consistent grammar.

At least, unlike gender, groups work out elegantly. "Valve and the Thatcher administration are entirely unrelated."

 

[Druckles]

Maybe you should all stop bitching and get your applications in for Content Writer.

/me applies for Content Writer.
Oh wait, you weren't being serious?

My friend was asking the other day if he was getting the updates on his 360. I felt a great wave of pity come over me for him.

 

[ríomhaire]

I hate being a grammar Nazi, but god damnit!

"Valve want"

What the hell!?!? Is this a British thing or something? I see this all the time on news posts and in the forums, and it makes no sense to me. Valve, like all corporations, is a singular legal entity and should be referred to as a singular noun.

"Valve wants"

If you must use a plural, talk about the individuals who work for Valve:

"The employees of Valve want"

Otherwise, a company is and should be treated grammatically as a single entity, and not only that, but a legal person.

In British/Hibernian English it is acceptable and common to refer to a collective noun as being plural or singular. It is pretty much up to the writer/speaker. If you don't like it, tough shit. The British invetned the damn language.

 

[Xendance]

This thread now sucks due to theotherguy derailing it badly.

 

[Solaris]

I think the other guy is right here.

In retribution, we, the grammar correction alliance, demand Evo is stripped of editorial rights and executed at dawn by firing squad.


Only joking!!!

 

[Letters]

If you mean Valve as in the people who make up Valve then use the plural...

If you mean Valve as in the company Valve as a whole then use the singular...

Either way, it's the same word... Valve! It's just up to whoever doing the writing to use the right plurality to go with what they're meaning... too hard to grasp?

 

[Solaris]

Valve is a singular entity.

 

[Druckles]

Valve is a singular entity.

So is "the media". But funny, because it's a PLURAL.

 

[Crispy]

Valve is a most singular entity.

Fixed.

 

[phantomdesign]

Valve's philosophy is why I have never even considered "aquiring a demo version" & bought every release. Their support is so over-the-top that I kind of wish there was a place to donate funds.