This is a bit of an unusual request and I did not find another topic wishing for this so here goes:
I wish for MS and/or Asobo to curate the marketplace!
One main reason why:
MS always goes on about how they want to bring the best sim experience to their customers, Kudo’s for that! But the quality of some marketplace products is below average to say the least and tarnishes this sentiment (e.g. Eurofighter has 787 instruments grafted haphasardly in it, Aerolight is no longer supported even though the mandatory Sim Updates regularly change the flight dynamics, and the list goes on).
The decision not to curate the marketplace is in my oppinion wrong. MS sells the Flight Sim as their product and with it comes the marketplace. Choosing to update and polish the sim but leaving out quality control for their marketplace baffles me frankly! At least put a big disclaimer à la ‘use at your own risk’ at the front door. There is no way to demo the products, no transparent refund policy, no real possibility to review the products properly.
So. I please ask that the marketplace should have a certain standard pertaining not only to product quality but also concerning the developers. Hold them responsibel for continued support of their products. At the very least remove those who do not offer support anymore.
Perhaps its more a question of degrees? For example, if I were a 3PD, and I released a plane on the store which had as one of its liveries some offensive language on display, say a rude tail number or the like, I very much doubt that would get published.
So I’m assuming they do curate what they allow, but how in depth they look I can’t say . But you could infer not very given the state of some that make it to the store.
No system is perfect! You’ll always get ■■■■■■ being ■■■■■■, it’s much easier to disregard those obviously stupid reviews than it is to disregard a 1 star rating with no context.
But I was more thinking of the way they summarise “mostly positive” “very positive” etc and also give a separate header for “recent reviews” as that would help account for version updates.
True. At least some context is better than none, even if it is a non constructive one, you can always decide for yourself.
I think MS has to at least acknowledge that poor DLC on their marketplace reflects poorly back on their product. If you buy c*ap software from some website it looks a whole lot different than when you buy poor DLC from their official third party store!
While I’m not usually in favour of quality labels and such, some overview of implemented MSFS features would also help; something that was highlighted with the recent CRJ release.
E.G. uses Tooltips on buttons, has MSFS native checklist; works with ingame ATC / world planning, adheres to vertex count guidelines for aircraft, textures being at least of x resolution / pbr.
I’m not sure how things like the Bredok 737 cockpit mashup should be classified - or could be classified. Either enforce some quality control to prevent items to appear in the store, or at least give classified specifications (that are not written by the developer)
MS has no real interest in stopping you from buying addons in the Marketplace. It’s quite the oppositte since that is revenue for them.
Also having a huge number of addons is great marketing as you can see with their emphasis on the sheer numbers of new and in-the-making addons for the sim.
For me, I don’t bother checking the marketplace, and the issue with missing reviews is one of them. If the Marketplace doesn’t offer me advantages like curated content, proper product description, non-misleading Screenshots, reviews etc., why bothering?
I check the forums and find other sources which provide updates much quicker and have even more benefits.
MS could do so much more to make the Marketplace the way to go, but since release there were literally no efforts on doing that.
There seems no “technical” reason why one could not EVALUATE a product on the Market place, and be able to try it out for a limited period.
If after that Trial Period, and the plane gets DISABLED by the MS store, you then wanted to go ahead an purchase it, then an easy click, and its now purchased, (and not returnable.!! )
The Technology in a Online Store, with its control, opens up a variety of easy methods to allow purchasers (a one time) evaluation of any store product, before the commit to payments.
So that’s why I will always but DIRECT from the developer, and not through the MS Store, despite the MS Store’s convenience of parting you from your money.
many other secondary reasons.
Get updates quicker, direct from the Developer, rather than waiting for them to finally get approved and put up on the store.
No fsarchive !!
Most developers, if you have a legitimate issue, will refund. Good luck getting a refund from the MS Store… if you finally do, it ends up taking more work than it is worth.
Just because it is on the MS Store, does not seem to be a measure of a higher quality product
Transparency is another topic. No way to see your purchase history, you only see some Flightsim currency being used but no proof of what you bought.
There were already huge issues for people not getting the content but also having no proof of what they purchased, that were escalated via Community Managers until MS resolved it for them.
What a pain for something that we have to pay.
Third parties offer a great service, experience and customer support on their shops. It simply blows my mind how bad the experience in the Marketplace is.
The only thing I can see as a benefit from the market place are automated updates (while being delayed, at least automated) and availability for XBox once it’s released (if someone cares).
True! Actually the automation of updates would be the only incentive right now for me to buy on the marketplace.
I can imagine buying from 6 different stores and looking for updates all the time gets tiresome. Reminds me of the good old days where games were on CD-Roms or even floppy disks.
How would the marketplace be curated? Maybe a 10 year old who bought a plane doesn’t care if it uses another planes instruments. Who decides what is acceptable?
Ultimately like with everything else you buy, you do your research. Lots of forum posts and YouTube videos will give you a pretty good idea what to expect.
I think in the long run the market will sort itself out and the bad developers will disappear, no need to regulate. What we could do in support is to only buy products that have been reviewed. Considering the potential revenue from a scenery or plane sale in msfs2020, our quality expectations ought to be very high.
