The Online BWT petetion

[EdgeKrusher187]

You know it can be done since playing online with a full band is already implemented. This is the start of the petition to get BWT online for those of us folks who want to play BWT with friends anywhere in the country. In my case I don't have friends who come over everyday, one reason is because I'm married and just getting this game irritatted my wife and second is that the people I play with live all over the country (2old2play Rocks!!!!!!), and I'm defenitly not paying for their plane tickets so we can play BWT.

So this is where everyone and their grandma can say to Harmonix "You guys did a great job on the game, but comeon where's the Online BWT?!"

I bought this game because GH3 sucked, and I was under the impression that you could play BWT online.

Voice your dissapointment (in some cases unfounded outrage) and let these guys know what we want.

Rock on Player... Rock on.

[MasterOfMetal]

This is a great idea! Could one of the Mods make this a sticky? Thanks

[EdgeKrusher187]

bump, need to keep it up top.

[DesiredFX]

I would have preferred an additional option that said "I really want it, but I'm okay with waiting."

[terRize]

I would have preferred an additional option that said "I really want it, but I'm okay with waiting."

I voted I want it. But I completely agree with the above. I'm okay with waiting. Get any other bugs/issues worked out first.

[Kingfish]

I would have preferred an additional option that said "I really want it, but I'm okay with waiting."

100% agree and since i didn't have that option, I had to vote for a "pass"...there will always be a "Rock Band 2" or "Rockstar;The Band Simulator" or something...

[v0lum3]

They announced before release that BWT would be going online at some point... and that's referring to during this Rock Band, not the next... so a petition to impliment something they already said will be implimented is kind of useless... ;)

[EdgeKrusher187]

They announced before release that BWT would be going online at some point... and that's referring to during this Rock Band, not the next... so a petition to impliment something they already said will be implimented is kind of useless... ;)

Yes I've heard things like that before. ;)

[KingNuclear]

Originally Posted by v0lum3
They announced before release that BWT would be going online at some point... and that's referring to during this Rock Band, not the next... so a petition to impliment something they already said will be implimented is kind of useless...

~This is an incorrect statement, they stated Band Would Tour would not be put into place in this version of Rock Band~

[Kingfish]

They announced before release that BWT would be going online at some point... and that's referring to during this Rock Band, not the next... so a petition to impliment something they already said will be implimented is kind of useless... ;)

And I've read several articles/posts that's used nebulous wording..."we'd like to add this feature" & "sometime down the road" or "in the future"...it just looks like HMX is trying to make sure they don't write any(more) checks their butts can't cash. No more painting themselves into a corner.

But, I'm not gonna fight with anyone on this. Basing any speculation on future additions or patches after all we've seen come to pass in the last couple of weeks with the faulty equipment and now the postponed PS3 patch...to say the future is 'fluid' right now, I believe, would be an understatement.

But to each their own...

[shoombabi]

You know it can be done since playing online with a full band is already implemented.

Please stop right there.

I'm going to assume you've never pieced together a piece of software. As a computer science major, I cry when I read things like this.

[Ultrace]

Please stop right there.

I'm going to assume you've never pieced together a piece of software. As a computer science major, I cry when I read things like this.
That was one of the shortest, best replies summing up the challenge of getting online BWT going that I've ever seen. Nice.

Just because the framework is there to play a song online doesn't mean that the entire concept of forming the band and moving it about the various venues and even more would be as easy. That's something the armchair programmers have to come to grips with.

[HeXcoda]

There's really no point to this "petetion". HMX is well aware people want to do BWT online; a number of people voting for it is not going to change that fact. But software development takes time to get it right and no matter how much someone stamps their foot and yells "I WANNIT NAU" it's not coming any faster.

[Grey_Street]

Please stop right there.

I'm going to assume you've never pieced together a piece of software. As a computer science major, I cry when I read things like this.

As a software developer I disagree. The most difficult part is already done...synching 4 players together to play online. Most the rest is just saving data appropriately. All of the logic is there. I don't see where the difficulty comes in.

[DesiredFX]

Just because the framework is there to play a song online doesn't mean that the entire concept of forming the band and moving it about the various venues and even more would be as easy. That's something the armchair programmers have to come to grips with.

I think the real issues have less to do with the programming and more to do with a practical way to get it to work that wouldn't suck for most of the people playing it.

Think of it this way: all the code is written for BWT, and all the code is written for online performance, including using the messaging system to invite friends. The real issue is marrying the two existing pieces of code in a way that is practical and practicable. Who gets control of the interface? Just the leader, or anyone who's in the band? How much would it suck for three people in various parts of the country to have to wait while the leader decides what the next move is? For that reason alone, online BWT should wait until Harmonix gets voice chat implemented in the PS3 version.

What about shared band resources? Can I go into online BWT and modify my character using the band's money? If so, how does it stay recorded that I used that money...does it end up on my drive and then go update everyone else's drive the next time we connect? That can't work because then it would be possible for each band member to spend more money than the band has...

If you implement it similarly to the implementation of BWT, then one machine will keep track of all the data for the band, and anyone who wants to play in another band will have to either join or create another band. This makes it difficult to sustain any one band long enough to fully explore the BWT experience.

These are just a few things off the top of my head that have absolutely nothing to do with how to get the software working. Online BWT is, by necessity, a different animal from local BWT.

[Ultrace]

These are just a few things off the top of my head that have absolutely nothing to do with how to get the software working. Online BWT is, by necessity, a different animal from local BWT.
You obviously have no idea what you're talking about... Just read the other posts here! It's clear that implementing online BWT is easy and just something that Harmonix is holding out on in order to create excitement/piss us off/extort more money. Yeah, that's it.

[DesiredFX]

You obviously have no idea what you're talking about... Just read the other posts here! It's clear that implementing online BWT is easy and just something that Harmonix is holding out on in order to create excitement/piss us off/extort more money. Yeah, that's it.

hangs head in shame

I always forget that a mob of angry people on the Internet will always know more than I do.

[Grey_Street]

You obviously have no idea what you're talking about... Just read the other posts here! It's clear that implementing online BWT is easy and just something that Harmonix is holding out on in order to create excitement/piss us off/extort more money. Yeah, that's it.

No, what he is saying is basically what I said, implementing it completely as local BWT mode isn't that hard, nor is the coding for how to save the data. The tough part is where to save the data, and the overall design of BWT. Not being able to code it and not having the design complete are too very different things. It just came down to deadlines so something had to go...not the most difficult to code, but the *potentially* most difficult to design.

[EdgeKrusher187]

SOB! Seriously?! Let's bash on other people cuz it makes for a peaceful world. Hey you're a ****ing moron because I read it somewhere. No your a *** because I said so. On and On.

[Frederf]

Online BWT would really only require that all the band stats be saved to the leader's machine. I mean everything else is there, playing together is done, it's just the meta-game stuff like venues and jets and junk.

It should be pretty easy to make a BARE BONES online BWT, but I imagine HMX has loftier aspirations than that.

The fact it didn't get included / hasn't been added yet probably means that HMX wants to put a lot more effort into online BWT than strictly the bare bones.

[DesiredFX]

The fact it didn't get included / hasn't been added yet probably means that HMX wants to put a lot more effort into online BWT than strictly the bare bones.

That's sort of what I was getting at when I talked about the non-programming complications: think of the few small issues people have with BWT (not counting Fan Cap) and magnify them by the square of the number of different machines that are working together in online BWT. I really do think it will be that big a hassle for many people if they try to implement it as is without compensating somewhat for the minuses of being separated from your bandmates.

The biggest issue to me is navigating the screen, which is generally done in local BWT using a sort of chatterbox Democracy. It would be much harder to do online even with voice chat in place.

The most logical thing to me for an online BWT would be to allow a sort of pre-mapped BWT mini-tour session that the band would meet up and play, and then divide up the money among all four characters and allow them to use the money individually when they're not playing together.

Essentially, the game could have canned tours instead of canned songs and sets: as a group, you decide what tour you want to go on, ranging from four to 20 songs, and then the game just takes off, changing venues where appropriate and giving each individual player an opportunity to change things up between gigs/venues/cities: a 30-second break between gigs for changing your clothes or guitar, a two-minute break between venues in the same city (stretch your hands, legs, clear your throat, grab a drink), and a five-minute break between cities (potty time). This would be done to compensate for the fact that online play doesn't really have a pause menu.

Now I don't know that this not-particularly-planned-out idea is an improvement on what they have--it just seems like it's the sort of thing that would cancel out some of the small aggravations of BWT that could magnify tremendously online.

[JackBNimble]

It has already been said that HMX wanted to but will not be bringing WBT online for RB.
It's as simple as that!Maybe for RB2,who knows?

[sporkBrigade]

If you printed this petition out, and brought it over to the Harmonix offices, the developers themselves would sign it. They already agreed it's important, they already agreed to impliment it as soon as possible. Getting them to agree is not the problem now.

But if this thread makes certain people feel like they have a voice, I guess it's not all bad... Just wish people could see the bigger picture now and again.

[MPeters]

bwt shouldn't count to leaderboards, maybe let the online players do features in the bwt but it shouldn't count towards scores. there is NOTHING about a rock band playing at different places at the same time. the boards belong to the local multiplayer rock bands who meet at one place to put on a concert. and there is no way you can disagree with that, although the band world tour would be fun to let online people go through the career. if the online counted to the leaderboards, there would be bands made of only the top players (who were never even friends to begin with) just to climb leaderboards. this is the most biased thread too, one option is Yes I Want It, Give It To Me Soon!! and the other is I Don't Care. bottom line, don't make it count towards leaderboards because thats not a band.

[hazlettXx]

I want BWT

[JackBNimble]

bump....................................it would be very COOL to have WBT online!