I know I’m not the first to post something like this, but I just want to express to ArenaNet how grateful I am for an official Mac client.
I’ve been a gamer since I was 3 years old. My first video was “Duck Hunt” on a Nintendo that was on display at a local Wal-Mart. Ever since then, I’ve been hooked. Now I’ll admit, I was never the “hardcore” gamer type. Nevertheless, video games were something that’s always been a love of mine and has no doubt affected who I am today.
In 1st grade, which was back in ‘88, our school got a computer with learning games for the kids to play. It was some type of Apple computer that was marketed for schools, and I was young so didn’t really pay attention to what model it was, just knew that it was an Apple. It was my first experience with computer gaming. By the mid-nineties, my family bought it’s first computer. WinTel systems were all the rage at the time so we got a Packard-Bell PC with DOS and Windows 3.11 for Workgroups pre-installed. Thus, I “became a PC” and learned to love computer games as much as I did my console games. Over time, I nearly forgot about Macs until they began making a comeback and coming out with other products like the iPod. I bought an iPod and that was the “gateway drug”
that brought me back to Apple. A year later, I purchased my first Mac and never looked back. I even found gaming to be surprisingly easy on it, since I wasn’t a hardcore gamer.
Then I discovered MMOs. The first MMO I played gave me many enjoyable years. I won’t say the name of it, but the fact I was playing on a Mac should give you a hint. But for reasons I won’t go into, I moved away from that game. Then a MMO that I was really looking forward to came out last year. But it was only for Windows. So I bit the bullet and installed Windows on my Mac so I could play it. That game turned out to be a huge disappointment for me. Oh well, live and learn.
But now I found myself without an MMO to enjoy. Then a friend of mine told me about Guild Wars 2. I looked into it, and immediately fell in love with the game. Not because of all the great features (in fact, this game has more features for no subscription than most MMOs have for charging one), but because I could tell the developers of this game actually really do care about the people playing this game. They invest in the equipment necessary to maintain it’s servers. They listen what the players are saying. They test new builds over and over. Seriously, you’d be surprise how many companies don’t do these things.
So, when I saw that this game was also for Windows only, I didn’t mind so much as I knew it’d be worth it. The last game, I petitioned for months for the developers to make a Mac client and all they did was give the routine “we’ll think about it but don’t hold your breath”. Which is fine, it’s their game, and they can develop it however they want. So, when Guild Wars 2 came out, I didn’t bother hoping for a Mac client as I was content with such a great game.
For whatever reason, I am an all-or-nothing kind of guy. I couldn’t stand using Windows and Mac at the same time, for whatever reason. I know that sounds crazy as lots of folks do it. Maybe I’m just OCD or something. But the more I used Windows to play Guild Wars 2, the more I used Windows for other things (since I was already logged into that particular OS). Still, all of my data was on my Mac partition so I decided it would be easier to just get a PC and move all my stuff over and use it only. I still had not made my purchase yet as I knew I would miss my Mac. I began trying to justify my position, saying “oh Windows as such a larger market share, I’ll be able to play more games” and “Windows 8 is coming out soon, I could check out some of the apps for the new UI”. I couldn’t admit to myself it wasn’t what I really wanted.
Then something happened today. ArenaNet announced, quite unexpectedly too, that they were not only working on a Mac client, but already had a beta for download today! Something happened to me when I read that. I was happy. I, a grown man, actually cried tears of joy when I read that, and saw a picture of Guild Wars 2 playing on a Mac. Why? It’s just a game after all. I think it’s because of two things: 1. I didn’t need Windows anymore, and I finally realized getting a PC was not what I wanted. and 2. Just when I though the hard-working folks at ArenaNet couldn’t get anymore awesome…BAM…here’s one more reason to love them!
I still can’t believe there’s a company out there that actually believes in customer satisfaction. ArenaNet, thank you. Thank you for all the hard work and long hours that you give. Thank you for making such a great game. And thank you for thinking of us Mac users as well as our PC brethren. You are, without a doubt, my favorite gaming company, if not my favorite company period.
Signed,
A loyal customer and fan
