Why this release schedule?

[Roland]

You just said there is no data.

I said there was no public poll or data. The developers have data. They are not proceeding just based on feelings. Rick Huenink is very driven by data.

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 1:29 PM

Where am I screaming? I don't think I did that

I only echoed your same words back at you. You characterized the people on this thread as randos who were mindlessly screaming. Should have I included the word "mindlessly" to your screaming?

Nobody is screaming but you introduced the word so I was using your own language.

 

[-X-]

I said there was no public poll or data. The developers have data. They are not proceeding just based on feelings. Rick Huenink is very driven by data.

And that was my question all along - which was unanswered. You keep talking about what was 8 years ago (2018), which is not relevant for this discussion.

8 years ago I was still using E1/T1 lines as a transport instead of IP. Telling me that something got decided 8 years ago when I'm repeatedly stating that times have changed just does not make any sense.

Are there any relevant data (not necessarily public) that analyze this and that are up to date? Again, 8 year old data are not.

If you don't know, just say so and leave it for someone who knows to answer this.

I only echoed your same words back at you.

Ah, so we just "echo same words back" now. I literally haven't seen someone do that since kindergarten

 

[Roland]

I completely agree with you, I have the same mindset/problem - and since I play mostly cooperative multiplayer, it is especially time consuming. There really is no option to play "30 mins here and there" since all/most of us have to join etc.

Even if I just play with my girlfriend, it is not automatic that both of us will have the exact same time window during work week unfortunately. On the weekends, however, we usually do

Oh! So you are making the choice to only playing multiplayer and not boot up a single player game just to checkout the new options. That does sound more believable with the limitations you are imposing on yourself. But the fact remains, that if you wanted to boot up the game during the week just to check out whats new in a single player short session game....you could do it if you wanted to.

You keep proving my point: someone made the decision in the pre COVID era when things were very different. We are not in 2018-2020 era, but in 2026. And you are arguing over and over that decision made 8 years ago is still valid - which is something I'm not too sure about.

lol....You're assuming they discussed this once in 2018 and never evaluated the returns of every single streamer weekend afterward. That is a fatal flaw of an assumption. My point in referencing 2018 was not to claim we made the decision then and never have done evaluations since. It was to clearly let you know that you have not added anything new to the conversation that began 8 years ago and has continued. All of your concerns have been considered.

In 2025 (five years post COVID) they reeavaluated the entire way they were doing the streamer weekend event and started their current streamer partnership program and hired a director to oversee it instead of having me and then Crater Creator run it out of the forum. They had certainly considered all of the modern objections in the years since COVID and still decided to go big with this.

And given the fact that - as you said - this has been posted and reposted many times over, I'm clearly not the only one with this opinion and therefore it should be discussed.

Sure, the same arguments, envy, and frustration comes back each time but markedly less. You keep pointing out that there are only 10 of us in this thread mindlessly screaming counterpoints to your arguments while ignoring the glaring fact that there is only 1 of you in this thread. So if 10 of us cannot possibly be representative of the 32K who are playing right now then neither can the 1 of you somehow be a representative stat that most people can't play on weekdays. There will always be dissenting voices and people who object but that doesn't mean they are the voice of most of the players.

Especially as time goes on. I'd guess that most Gen-Xers and some Millenials probably don't like streamers or streaming and would rather play than watch. But some Millenials, and many Gen-Z, and Gen-Alphas love streams and really go for youtube, twitch, and tik-tok. The streaming event is just naturally going to become more and more popular as time goes on and new generations of gamers get older with no predisposed dislike of watching internet celebrities play games.

 

[meganoth]

Ah, so we just "echo same words back" now. I literally haven't seen someone do that since kindergarten

I think it is a very nice and polite method to show someone that he is doing something to which he would object if it were done to him.

 

[Roland]

Ah, so we just "echo same words back" now. I literally haven't seen someone do that since kindergarten

Sure. If you don't want someone characterizing your arguments as screaming then don't introduce that kind of language yourself in the first place. You know who doesn't take responsibility for the words they use? Kindergarteners....

 

[Adam the Waster]

Rick Huenink is very driven by data.

He's a Robot!!!! Can he run my auto turrets?

 

[meganoth]

I think it is a very nice and polite method to show someone that he is doing something to which he would object if it were done to him.

To be fair, there was one user in this discussion (not the OP) who went a little over the top and could have been characterized as screaming. And many posters with a different opinion can look like a screaming mob just by their numbers to someone.

 

[-X-]

Sure. If you don't want someone characterizing your arguments as screaming then don't introduce that kind of language yourself in the first place. You know who doesn't take responsibility for the words they use? Kindergarteners....

You can just say you don't understand what I meant There's no shame in that. By screaming I was describing repeating the same nonsensical point over and over without addressing what I said in the first place.

If I see 4 people stating "that's how it's always been", then from my point of view they are just screaming the same phrase over and over like a bunch of bots.

edit: meganoth got the meaning/intention behind that exactly as I meant it

Oh! So you are making the choice to only playing multiplayer and not boot up a single player game just to checkout the new options. That does sound more believable with the limitations you are imposing on yourself. But the fact remains, that if you wanted to boot up the game during the week just to check out whats new in a single player short session game....you could do it if you wanted to.

I could also go to the Mt. Everest. How is that relevant and how does it change what I wrote? People around me don't have the time to play during work week and they chose to play on the weekend - I have said that multiple times that all my arguments are framed by my point of reference / experience / life.

I don't see the big gotcha you probably think you have here.

lol....You're assuming they discussed this once in 2018 and never evaluated the returns of every single streamer weekend afterward. That is a fatal flaw of an assumption. My point in referencing 2018 was not to claim we made the decision then and never have done evaluations since. It was to clearly let you know that you have not added anything new to the conversation that began 8 years ago and has continued. All of your concerns have been considered.

In 2025 (five years post COVID) they reeavaluated the entire way they were doing the streamer weekend event and started their current streamer partnership program and hired a director to oversee it instead of having me and then Crater Creator run it out of the forum. They had certainly considered all of the modern objections in the years since COVID and still decided to go big with this.

Nice, finally some relevant info - they re-evaluated this in 2025 and decided to keep doing it Thanks!

Sure, the same arguments, envy, and frustration comes back each time but markedly less. You keep pointing out that there are only 10 of us in this thread mindlessly screaming counterpoints to your arguments while ignoring the glaring fact that there is only 1 of you in this thread. So if 10 of us cannot possible be representative of the 32K who are playing right now then neither can the 1 of you somehow be a representative stat that most people can't play on weekdays.

None of us is relevant. And no, you are definitely not representative of the 32k players - math is quite simple in this And I said I'm not either specifically just to prevent someone to think that it would be smart to try point that out.

Especially as time goes on. I'd guess that most Gen-Xers and some Millenials probably don't like streamers or streaming and would rather play than watch. But some Millenials, and many Gen-Z, and Gen-Alphas love streams and really go for youtube, twitch, and tik-tok. The streaming event is just naturally going to become more and more popular as time goes on and new generations of gamers get older with no predisposed dislike of watching internet celebrities play games.

That's what I was wondering about - the numbers that I found don't really say that 7DTD streaming is getting bigger in any way. Most of the GenA will watch GTA6 or Valorant or something like that - but most certainly not 7DTD from what I saw. But maybe those numbers I saw were somehow wrong? I just picked the first google result, so maybe

 

[bdubyah]

You keep proving my point: someone made the decision in the pre COVID era when things were very different. We are not in 2018-2020 era, but in 2026. And you are arguing over and over that decision made 8 years ago is still valid - which is something I'm not too sure about.

You're right, streaming is even bigger than it was then and makes even more sense to do now. Glad you cleared that up.

 

[-X-]

You're right, streaming is even bigger than it was then and makes even more sense to do now. Glad you cleared that up.

A swing and a miss

 

[Roland]

You can just say you don't understand what I meant There's no shame in that. By screaming I was describing repeating the same nonsensical point over and over without addressing what I said in the first place.

If I see 4 people stating "that's how it's always been", then from my point of view they are just screaming the same phrase over and over like a bunch of bots.

You could have just said you didn't understand what they meant by "that's how it's always been". I understood their points to be that TFP has chosen over and over and over again to continue with the streamer event with consideration to the objections and since none of your objections were anything new over what has already been stated in the past, there is nothing compelling in your argument to change what has been working well as it always has.

If you were to come up with a new argument that hasn't been discussed before or considered then there might be a reason to reconsider. But TFP has already considered everything you offered up and still chosen to go forward.

So let me ask you what you meant by "mindlessly" screaming? I feel like it was intentionally dismissive but since there's no shame in asking, please explain.

I could also go to the Mt. Everest. How is that relevant and how does it change what I wrote? People around me don't have the time to play during work week and they chose to play on the weekend - I have said that multiple times that all my arguments are framed by my point of reference / experience / life.
I don't see the big gotcha you probably think you have here.

Well, going to Mr Everest is not relevant which is why I didn't bring it up. Also with your work schedule I wouldn't have imagined you doing just a weekend trip there anyway.

What you wrote is that you cannot play during the weekdays. When I threw some shade on that statement and ruffled TheFlu's feathers on your behalf, you doubled down and emphatically reiterated that you absolutely cannot play Monday-Friday and how dare I have the nerve to tell you how to live your life. Then later you revealed that what you meant by playing was coordinating a multiplayer game and/or getting you and your girlfriend's schedules aligned for a 2 hour session which could only happen on the weekend.

The fact, however, is that you actually could boot up the game and play a bit of single player here and there during the week and it would not actually be impossible for you to play the new experimental build before Saturday. The relevance that THIS particular scenario holds over your trip to Mr Everest is that most players play this game single player.

So it stands to reason that if a guy like you with a crazy work schedule could, in fact, play single player during the week but just chooses not to do so, then most of the players who do choose to play single player probably will be able to find time this coming week to try it out and it will mainly be people who are self-selecting to not play single player at all who will be choosing to wait until Saturday.

It's not really a gotcha. It's just a realization that you really are choosing not to play and in no way are you being forced to wait until next Saturday to try the update. And since the clear majority of players play this single player the "problem" of the work week schedule is just non-existent for most players.

Nice, finally some relevant info - they re-evaluated this in 2025 and decided to keep doing it Thanks!

Glad that helped.

The numbers might not be that great in the states because the game is a 13-year old game now. It's obviously not going to have the same power as a newer AAA game. Abroad, it is definitely growing. But as has been previously stated, the event is not simply for hype and marketing. It is also a soft launch and works extremely well in that capacity. Monday morning there will be another pass to fix things that were seen this weekend to make the public experimental launch better. The experimental launch in turn will make the stable PC and Console launches better.

I mean, are you going to lose any sleep over the 1000s of console players who can't play this next weekend while you and your girlfriend play with all the new custom settings? Are you giving them the finger by enjoying yourself next Saturday while all they can do is read about it and watch video clips about it for the next few weeks?

 

[jadMurray]

And you ignored the part about how releasing an update to the masses on a Friday is a stupid idea. There have been times where there were nasty bugs found during the streamer weekend that gave them time to try and fix them before the full EXP release. Just saying it doesn't make sense or whatever doesn't change you are just whining about nothing.

Probably helps servers too if we're being honest. Most updates that land on a Fri-Sun suffer from server issues from too many people trying launch at once and TFP isnt in a state where they can fix that easily.

 

[-X-]

You could have just said you didn't understand what they meant by "that's how it's always been". I understood their points to be that TFP has chosen over and over and over again to continue with the streamer event with consideration to the objections and since none of your objections were anything new over what has already been stated in the past, there is nothing compelling in your argument to change what has been working well as it always has.

This interpretation is nonsensical and I don't know why would you say this if you wanted to argue with me in good faith. I mean you have to see it, too. Nobody, who was not part of this discussion in previous iterations, could possibly have interpreted this in this manner. And given my profile, I don't think you could argue that I should have known that this exact topic has been discussed.

If I knew, I would not post it in the first place.

So let me ask you what you meant by "mindlessly" screaming? I feel like it was intentionally dismissive but since there's no shame in asking, please explain.

I explained it in my previous post. Is it not clear and should I re-phrase it?

Well, going to Mr Everest is not relevant which is why I didn't bring it up. Also with your work schedule I wouldn't have imagined you doing just a weekend trip there anyway.

Well, playing on evenings is exactly the same for me. Not relevant and I have no idea why you'd bring it up. If I could, I would, right? For some reason you tend to chose the worst possible interpretation or presumption and try to strawman it to something else. First you argue that it is not possible for me to not have time (wtf?) then you argue that I can play in the evening even though I clearly stated I can't and people around me can't (also wtf?).

What you wrote is that you cannot play during the weekdays. When I threw some shade on that statement and ruffled TheFlu's feathers on your behalf, you doubled down and emphatically reiterated that you absolutely cannot play Monday-Friday and how dare I have the nerve to tell you how to live your life.

I call BS on this - I just went through the thread and your first post was clearly saying "And also….I don’t believe for a second you won’t be able to find some time to play sometime during the week. ... you probably need to spend time with your family on the weekend instead of hours playing a video game…"

And aftet that you proceeded to throw doubts my way even more: "If that isn’t hypnotic BS, then they represent a very very small portion of the community."

I rightfully called that as I felt it. What I "probably need to do" is none of your bunsiness and since you know nothing about me, it is comical to think that you are in any position to comment on my life. I called you out and you are not some "victim of a mean -x-".

You did not ruffled anyones feathers on my behalf - exactly the opposite. TheFlu replied to you "Accusing your opponent of lying, without any evidence, is not exactly kind, or useful.".

You were in the wrong and trying to present yourself as a victim in this conversation is also wrong. You are not a victim and this attempt to frame yourself as one is really pathetic. Sorry.

It's not really a gotcha. It's just a realization that you really are choosing not to play and in no way are you being forced to wait until next Saturday to try the update. And since the clear majority of players play this single player the "problem" of the work week schedule is just non-existent for most players.

It's not. It's just stupid. I play this game in certain way. But how does that invalidate the point that I can't play like that during the workdays? It doesn't. It makes no sense.

That's just like saying "You can't travel to your destination, but it's your fault as you can still travel anywhere else and plenty of people are traveling somewhere else, so there is no problem". That's not how world works, this argument was made in bad faith and we both know it.

The numbers might not be that great in the states because the game is a 13-year old game now. It's obviously not going to have the same power as a newer AAA game. Abroad, it is definitely growing. But as has been previously stated, the event is not simply for hype and marketing. It is also a soft launch and works extremely well in that capacity. Monday morning there will be another pass to fix things that were seen this weekend to make the public experimental launch better. The experimental launch will make the stable PC and console launches better.

We've discussed the soft launch here several times - and there is multiple ways on how to achieve just the same effect and nobody was able to explain why it wouldn't work. But that's beside the point.

 

[-X-]

Probably helps servers too if we're being honest. Most updates that land on a Fri-Sun suffer from server issues from too many people trying launch at once and TFP isnt in a state where they can fix that easily.

To be honest, from my personal experience there is no such thing as "good time to upgrade the servers"

 

[theFlu]

and ruffled TheFlu's feathers on your behalf

Oi! Sometimes I'm just trying to teach you tactics

 

[Prisma501]

Despite all the strawman's. whataboutisms and gaslighting from OP, there will not be any change. Just let the "i work 24/5 crowd" join in and agree with him and stop feeding the troll. Including the "envy the streamers getting it before me crowd". The thread will die crushing hopes. Probably some hairpulling from OP but nobody cares. IMO.

 

[-X-]

...but nobody cares. IMO.

And yet here you are, trying and failing to resist the urge to post here one more time - contradicting yourself

Welcome back

 

[Prisma501]

And yet here you are, trying and failing to resist the urge to post here one more time - contradicting yourself

Welcome back

Yes. Swing and miss

 

[jadMurray]

I'm used to working on updates. My long week is Monday Tuesday, Friday Saturday and Sunday, and my short week is Wednesday Thursday. There are plenty of people like me who work weekends so no situation is ideal for everyone. While ita fine to voice your opinion them releasing on a Monday really isn't a big deal.

 

[Roland]

If I knew, I would not post it in the first place.

Great. Now you know.

I explained it in my previous post. Is it not clear and should I re-phrase it?

You explained that four people stating the same thing in response to your OP sounded like screaming to you. Someone else also made that point. I didn't want to just assume you added the "mindless" in there to dismiss an argument you don't agree with out of hand. You told me not to assume things about you so I asked.

Well, playing on evenings is exactly the same for me. Not relevant and I have no idea why you'd bring it up. If I could, I would, right? For some reason you tend to chose the worst possible interpretation or presumption and try to strawman it to something else. First you argue that it is not possible for me to not have time (wtf?) then you argue that I can play in the evening even though I clearly stated I can't and people around me can't (also wtf?).

I brought it up because in your commiserative dialogue with TheFlu you altered what you said before. It sounded like you were saying that you can't coordinate schedules for a MP session on weekdays because that takes 1-2 block of time and a lot of juggling of schedules. Instead of outright telling me, "No, I don't even have time to do a quick 20-minute single player session just to check out the new features" you instead quipped "Well I don't choose to go to Mt Everest either". To me, that seemed like an admission that you could play single player but just choose not to.

If your schedule is so tight that you can't even play a bit of single player here or there then just say so. Don't deflect to Mr Everest. Is it really the case that even if you wanted to play single player you still couldn't find the time?

I call BS on this - I just went through the thread and your first post was clearly saying "And also….I don’t believe for a second you won’t be able to find some time to play sometime during the week. ... you probably need to spend time with your family on the weekend instead of hours playing a video game…"

And aftet that you proceeded to throw doubts my way even more: "If that isn’t hypnotic BS, then they represent a very very small portion of the community."

I rightfully called that as I felt it. What I probably need is none of your bunsiness and since you know nothing about me, it is comical to think that you are in a position to comment on my life. I called you out and you are not some "victim of a mean -x-".

You did not ruffled anyones feathers on my behalf - exactly the opposite. TheFlu replied to you "Accusing your opponent of lying, without any evidence, is not exactly kind, or useful.".

You were in the wrong and trying to present yourself as a victim in this conversation is also wrong. You are not a victim and this attempt to frame yourself as one is really pathetic. Sorry.

BS on what? I said I threw shade on your claim. Everything you quoted is the shade that I threw. I admitted it already. TheFlu calling me out on what I did is not the opposite of ruffling feathers. That's what "ruffling feathers" means and it was in your behalf. I was talking to you but he butted in to call me out. If his feathers weren't ruffled by what I posted he wouldn't have responded.

I already stated I was in the wrong so I'm not playing a victim.

But all of that happened before you and TheFlu talked about how a 30 minute session isn't always viable and you went on to explain that the way you choose to play is exclusively multiplayer. Sorry, but that is relevant You don't want to see that it is and I think you might be trying to deflect from that by rehashing all this stuff I already admitted to.

It's not. It's just stupid. I play this game in certain way. But how does that invalidate the point that I can't play like that during the workdays? It doesn't. It makes no sense.

That's just like saying "You can't travel to your destination, but it's your fault as you can still travel anywhere else and plenty of people are traveling somewhere else, so there is no problem". That's not how world works, this argument was made in bad faith and we both know it.

It's not stupid and it is relevant. It is a fact that the vast majority of players play single player. It is also a fact that it is far easier to get a SP game started and coordinated than it is to get a MP game coordinated and started. So you're assertion that because you can't play Monday-Friday and by that reason since other people probably can't either TFP should change their schedule.

Your entire premise hinges on whether people can play during the week or not and when you opened, I think everyone assumed you were talking about single player. I did. That's why I couldn't believe how you would not have any time at all during the week. But now we know you were talking about multiplayer and not single player. That is a huge difference.

Even if you still could not set aside any time to play SP during the week, I don't believe that that is typical and since most of the player base plays single player, most of them will be able to play Monday-Friday just fine and your argument doesn't hold up.

You say that I'm saying "you can't travel to your destination but it's your fault as you can still travel anywhere else and plenty of people are traveling somewhere else so there is not problem." But I'm not talking about travel at all and your analogy doesn't scan.

What I am actually saying is "You can't play multiplayer with friends during the week but most people play single player and can easily do so, so there is not really a problem with the current schedule" Based on what you posted, it led me to believe that you could also play SP during the week but simply choose not to do so. If my assumption is wrong then that's fine but I doubt a signficant portion of the player base has an equally restrictive schedule as you do.

We've discussed the soft launch here several times - and there is multiple ways on how to achieve just the same effect and nobody was able to explain why it wouldn't work. But that's beside the point.

I guess I missed where you outlined the multiple alternative ways to acheive the same affect of a soft launch where the developers and programmers can watch people play all weekend and read the reactions and feedback of the audience members taking notes for a final pass Monday morning before the build is released. I'm trying to think of a way but I can't. A limited release to approved playtesters would come close but the raw gameplay wouldn't be televised for the devs to watch and there would be no comments to read by regular gamers who tuned in to watch. I can't think of anything else. lil help?