>>152
Crossposted from gg2
Boycotts, Yes, Maybe, No?
Yes, absolutely on a personal level.
Collectively, Yes with caveats.
But I would rather that thorough criteria are applied to avoid reactionary boycotts. This way a developer knows that if they misstep they will be penalised. It avoids a sense of 'minefield' customer service; which although correct is neither fair to customers who find themselves re-evaluating the developer on the fly nor the developer who doesn't understand what's happening.
Value of Boycotts to Consumer
A developer who misbehaves in various ways is an externality on the consumers pocket.
They will in one form or another achieve either extraordinary value due to malpractice, such as not paying their coders or artists, or using their connections with press gangs to drive a higher market price point and number of sales than their game merits. This externality is passed onto the consumers pocket directly.
Value of Boycotts to Developer/Industry
Bad devs use their connections to achieve extraordinary value over and above that of their competitors. If an artist working for one company isn't paid, then they will not go on to establish their own projects. If a company uses their media contacts to win a competition then they steal that contest from another developer who has done the work and deserves the award, prestige and market.
Ultimately there is a point where a boycott is in the mutual interest of both the wider developer community and the consumer and there are some cases where it is exclusively of value to the consumer.
Thoughts on the Effectiveness of Boycotts
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