Laminar is all systems go on in sim marketplace.

[tonywob 4,769]

Pretty interesting the reactions over this store that I'm reading. Some people are afraid it'll kill the X-Plane.org community and move people away. 

These stores have had multiple opportunities over the years to innovate and move with the times, e.g. by creating an application to manage their products, but haven't, and the place has pretty much looked the same for as long as I remember it. However, I've never really had any bad experiences with the store itself, apart from dead-links on old products no longer working. The fact that software such as Skunkworks updater exists should have raised eyebrows with the store owners that something was needed.

Either way, LR isn't forcing anyone to use their store, and developers can continue to publish wherever they like. 

5 hours ago, GoranM said:

Janov simply refuses to be part of a forum where he is silenced, warned and suspended for posting an opinion.  

Whilst I also miss Janov here, he also had a way of provoking users on the forum. He would often post exactly what he thought (e.g. If he thought the question was stupid and too simple), and it would come across as sarcastic and rude, often provoking a lot of anger and complaints from users. He does the same over at X-Plane.org as a moderator and I've seen a lot of complaints about that as well. If X-Plane.org are worried about losing their community, they should also work on this as well.

[GoranM 3,772]

8 minutes ago, tonywob said:

Whilst I also miss Janov here, he also had a way of provoking users on the forum. He would often post exactly what he thought

Well, he is German.  And many people from European countries get straight to the point, without mincing words.

In saying that, I've seen quite a lot of that from the "other side".  If you know what I mean.  😛

[Franz007 497]

5 hours ago, GoranM said:

It's a real shame, as he has very valuable insights in aviation (He was a captain on 737's and was type rated on the A319/320/321 a few years ago).  He also consults for several add on developers and is a tester for many add ons.

If i'm not mistaken he is now even a Cpt on a B747!

[tonywob 4,769]

7 minutes ago, GoranM said:

Well, he is German.  And many people from European countries get straight to the point, without mincing words.

Indeed.. when I first met my partner (She's Polish), she was also very direct and didn't butter things up, I'm used to it now, and it's just a cultural thing, but it was definitely jarring to start with and we had a few funny arguments over it 

[GoranM 3,772]

7 minutes ago, Franz007 said:

If i'm not mistaken he is now even a Cpt on a B747!

I think you might be right.

 

[BostonJeremy77 519]

I think this is news I am taking with a grain of salt. It has an opportunity to be absolutely game-changing for XP as long as it's done right. There are a ton of MSFS users (myself included) who started with the MSFS store from the get-go only to make a decision that I will never purchase anything on that store again as long as I can purchase it elsewhere. The lack of speed on updates (updates coming sometimes months behind other stores), the lack of purchase receipts as you are only purchasing Steam credits and there is no record of you purchasing a specific product, etc have made that store insufferable to the point where I'd rather use multiple other storefronts or download updates on my own from developers' websites than have to put up with the lack of timely updates on MSFS storefront. The lack of quality control on products offered there (all the lowest-tier devs like MScenery and Bredok3D and CaptainSim have most of their products as MSFS Marketplace exclusives now because how easy MSFS makes it for them to peddle their rubbish)... it's just a textbook case of how NOT to do the in-sim Marketplace. So my hope is that LR is learning from all of those mis-steps and is going to have a more graceful implementation. I would LOVE for them to have a nice in-sim shop. 

[Franz007 497]

@BostonJeremy77

Laminar stated that they aim for quality and will check before an addon is being offered there. It will have to reach some (higher) standards.

[turbomax 3,286]

1 hour ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

because how easy MSFS makes it for them to peddle their rubbish

similar to some other non-MSFS stores that have been offering boat loads of rubbish for years.

[brinx 276]

10 hours ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

There are a ton of MSFS users (myself included) who started with the MSFS store from the get-go only to make a decision that I will never purchase anything on that store again as long as I can purchase it elsewhere.

My experience is the opposite of yours. I started off purchasing from external sites and now I purchase exclusively from the in-game marketplace. For me and many others, the benefits outweigh any negatives. One click to update all addons, purchase once to use on multiple platforms(PC, Xbox, Cloud), etc. The only negative is that it is slow to get updates from developers due to the review backlog. They have a marketplace team and they had to hire more people; yet the backlog is still in the 100s. If the quantity of addons for LR is large enough, they'll face the same issue. They'll have to hire people to test the addons and manage the store.

 

10 hours ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

The lack of speed on updates (updates coming sometimes months behind other stores), the lack of purchase receipts as you are only purchasing Steam

The steam version uses steam credit, if you have the Microsoft store version you can use other forms of payment like paypal or credit card. I'm going to bet the LR store will be the same. I'm guessing steam needs a cut of all transaction.

The issues you mentioned are just the nature of the game. I expect the same for LR too, but for me the convenience outweighs the negatives.

[Randall 82]

On 2/8/2024 at 2:41 AM, GoranM said:

Well, he is German.  And many people from European countries get straight to the point, without mincing words.

He’s refreshingly straightforward. I’ve met him and found him friendly and helpful. 
 

We have gotten very sensitive when reading the written word. The tone of voice, facial expressions, gestures, that make up so much of human communication is lacking. 
 

We also tend to assume our opinions are correct and “respect” is defined as only being supported in our opinions rather than being corrected. 

[Bjoern 1,157]

 

On 2/8/2024 at 9:41 AM, GoranM said:

Well, he is German.  And many people from European countries get straight to the point, without mincing words.

Now imagine if Janov was a Berliner, who are perceived as direct and rude even by german standards...heeheeheee...

[The Seawolf 18]

On 2/8/2024 at 10:14 PM, Franz007 said:

@BostonJeremy77

Laminar stated that they aim for quality and will check before an addon is being offered there. It will have to reach some (higher) standards.

Although I don't understand it as such, curated addons in the store would be fantastic.

One of the big problems in X-Plane is that good addons are sold alongside many others where you don't even know if the developer is still living or anyone even has a working phone number.

Laminar could learn a lot from DCS. Much less addons, much more complex and expensive and almost guaranteed to be working.

 

[tonywob 4,769]

33 minutes ago, The Seawolf said:

One of the big problems in X-Plane is that good addons are sold alongside many others where you don't even know if the developer is still living or anyone even has a working phone number.

I agree. I purchased an addon a few months ago on X-Plane.org that was said it was supported on Mac OS. It didn't work unless it was emulated using Rosetta which slows the sim down. The developer has gone awol and hasn't responded to any support requests from anyone in months, and IMO the product should be removed from the store. Hopefully a properly curated store will listen to user feedback and remove products like this, or the ratings will be unbiased

[blingthinger 649]

3 hours ago, The Seawolf said:

Laminar could learn a lot from DCS

That's effectively what's happening. The org store isn't affiliated in any way other than getting interviews from Austin from time to time. Org does its own thing. XAviation does things differently and doesn't have these problems.

Hopefully org forum functionality doesn't suffer from this. 

[peroni 541]

I would not use x-aviation as a benchmark of how to run a store.
I'm sure Laminar can do its store thing better than most if they really believe in it.