This flaw kills games dead.

There are numerous reasons why someone might HATE a game. Often, it's just not a good game. Sometimes, it has potential which is never fully realized and in some small cases, you make an amazing game that has one or more flaws that will not only ruin the experience for some players, but will provoke them to actual anger.

In my top-ten list of games, Red Dead Redemption is in the top 3. When I first played through RDR back in 2010, there was a moment that killed me.

You probably know it. It's when you cross the river and ride into Mexico. Out of nowhere you hear "Far Away" by Jose Gonzalez. It's an epic, cinematic moment and it cemented the fact that this game had an actual story to it and created immense emotional impact. For me and many others, that moment made not only the game, but made gaming history.

So here's the thing. Four years later, my original copy being all scratched up, I buy a new copy. I wanted to replay it, mainly to again experience that moment. I cruise through the first parts of the game, fight my way across the river and as Irish bids me adieu, I hop on my horse and ride off towards that moment that took four hours of gameplay. I get up the gully, onto the path and it doesn't happen. I circle back and try again, still nothing. I ride off into the canyon and nearly a half hour later I start to wonder, did I miss a step? Maybe that moment came later so I kept on riding, all the way to Chuparosa and still, the moment never came.

My first thought was that perhaps this newer version of the game had removed the song due to licensing issues. A quick Google search of "Far away not playing in Red Dead" revealed that this was a known problem that had provoked the ichor of many, MANY fans. The problem, evidently, is that if you get on the *wrong* horse on the other side of the river, the song doesn't play.

I was infuriated. How could a game that has been out for as long as this not have corrected a known problem that breaks one of its most defining moments? It felt malicious; to think that I bought a new copy of the game and spent hours playing it just to relive that moment only to find it denied. I could load an earlier saved game and play forward an hour or so but the thought of having to re-do all that work just wasn't fun. I turned off my console and put the game away; my deep, abiding love for RDR now tainted by the capricious manner in which this reward had been withheld. In short, Rockstar had violated a brokerage of trust; that effort expended would be rewarded justly. In short, I and numerous others were cheesed off, big time.

When you look at a game as an entertainment experience, it is important to challenge the player without ripping them off. The ROI on time spent playing through a game has to be paid back with interest and when your game demands a large investment, forgoing the payoff will do more to breed resentment towards your game than most anything else.

If your game fails to pay off invested effort, especially when it is expected, you're going to have problems.