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Recently, the community manager of a well-known online franchise blasted game fans as "stifling the creativity of game developers" with their constant barrage of complaints. In this week's column, MMORPG.com Lead Writer Bill Murphy analyzes the charges leveled by the community manager and offers a few thoughts along the way. Check it out and then add your reactions to the mix in the comments below.
I suppose the argument could be made that developers feel pressured to cater to these loud and often obnoxious vocal minority, and to be honest if that’s the case than those developers deserve to feel creatively held back. True creativity in any medium takes brass balls, and if you’re too busy worrying about what forum member “L33tHaxx0r” has to say about one of your design choices than you probably don’t deserve to be making games in the first place.
Read more of Bill Murphy's column, Are Cranky Players the Problem?.
Comments
If the Devs listended to forum whiners, many of their games would be better. We forum whiners are the subscribers who actually care about the game enough to help it get better. When the forum quiets down then you know you are doing something right as people are too busy having fun to go complain on the forums. its the silent majority of sheeple that are the real problem here accepting whatever kill 10 rats quests the devs give them.
Don't flatter yourself.
The vocal majority should never be listened to. All you end up with is crap.
forums like this are the perfect example. The majority of people here simply shit on anything that comes out that doesn't perfectly cater to their specific wants in a game. And anyone who says anything nice is either a fanboy or being paid.
Some people just want to feel important, I guess. *shrug*
Just like with everything else, there are no absolutes. Sometimes devs should listen to the whine, sometimes they should just ignore it; it all depends on context.
However; blaming whiny players for the lack of creativity in games is flat-out retarded. The lack of creativity comes from developers wanting to capitalize on existing success through the Magic Of Cloning, or from investors being unwilling to take a risk.
I think the problem is that most forum whiners assume that they are always right and represent the majority of players which is actually a rare thing. Some of them act like gamer divas which has to be pleased or else...
One of the success of Wow is the ability based on its subscription numbers to middle finger forum whiners and actually take decisions based on a less noisy players feedback.
I have seen forumnites going into rampages and crusades to destroy the main evil of this universe aka, the developer company that pissed them off. Many of them are actually jumpers that see the unrealeased game as the mesiah and the recently released game as the biggest disappointment.
So I agree with Bill, feedback is useful but without diva postures and blackmails of quitting and other manipulations usually perform by the heavy forum whiners.
When you have so many whiny ass bitches, and no matter what new creative idea comes out there's always a group screaming and crying and shitting all over it... how exactly does that promote creativity?
It doesn't promote creativity. It doesn't stifle it either. It's completely, 100% neutral to the creative process. Anybody who knows anything about working with people should fully expect a certain base-level of whinging, and be fully ready to ignore it when necessary, and work with it when necessary.
So once again, blaming it on 'whiny players' is a retarded excuse, when the source of the problem is the developers or the investors being unable or unwilling to come up with something unique.
they all want WoW clones
The thing is... You will NEVER please everyone..
Don't throw WoW subscriber numbers at me either, that doesn't make it "right" for everyone.. It is obvious that the sheeple effect had a role in that ("Well, my friend played it and it was my first time sooo..")
When these companies learn that you ONLY want the people genuinely ineterested in your product, NOT the people who play follow the leader and make decisions based on who else is playing the game..
When EvE came out, it was not seeking old eq players.. Not even AO players.. It wanted its OWN players.. It started off slow, but once they attracted all the people they wanted to attract, the sheeple naturally wide eyed it and many joined in (Yes, AFTER the launch of WoW in 04, however EvE came out slowly in 03)
Darkfall... Everyone ripped darkfall a new one on these forums when it arrived... News... It is still fighting the good fight... People (mainly PvP based guilds) enjoy the game now.. It has a stable sub base (just like EvE in its infancy) and chances are it will only grow from here..
If these companies will stop trying to make a game for EVERYONE, then EVERYONE will not have reason to argue or complain.. I know, they probably will anyway (it was soo funny at how many PvE specialists and elitist were actually COMPLAINING about Darkfall and how stupid it was, like it was made for them..), but these Devs just need to /ignore some of these idiots and just focus on making their artistic vision a reality first and foremost..
So that's his excuse of producing the worse Call of Duty experience up to date ? I suppose fact they delievered one of the most expensive, buggy shooters of the year 2010 has everything to do with fact that some people refused to buy or play that garbage...you SIR ARE DELUSIONAL.
Maybe if developers stopped releasing games early with a lack of content and missing features that have been in games for years like an auction house, player housing or a real crafting system we would not have to whine so much.
Players are not cranky!
We players are CUSTOMERS...and just like any customer doing BUSINESS we expect to recieve what was advertised, for the product to be in good working order, and of good quality.
Unfortunately, most MMORPGs are of poor quality, don't meet advertised features, and do not work properly.
Lets face it, if most MMORPGs where single player games, i.e. Mass Effect, Dragon Age, the MMORPGs would have dismal reviews. But because the games are MMOs, there is some sort od warped standard that we customers are supposed to accept and expect flawed products.
Just look at most of the MMOs advertising on this website...most are junk.
In addition, we customers purchase a product and ALSO subscribe for a monthly fee to play games that the game designers created not to be fun...but to decieve you into thinking its fun and then baiting you with carrot and the stick forever.
This is why most players only subscribe for a month at a time. It is only in rare cases such as EVE, WoW, EQ/EQ2, etc. that you see any subscription longevity.
Thus, maybe us cranky customers should whine less and vote with our dollars.
But despite that it is our right to be cranky because we made our bed and now we have to sleep in it. If we would all take a step back and not impulse buy games that players report suck...or better yet wait for Gamespot to review the game before buying it, we will all be better off.
Spending even 1 month on a sub, and buying the product only to find out it sucks still makes the MMO money to keep it going. Just look at WAR as an example.
Yeah, just look at WoW, such a waste of my time and money. I want it all back....
Developers listen to much to buisness developers - that is the problem
When game sole purpose is to maximise profits - you have problem.
And than players complain, and they blame players ...
Laughable.
I'm part of the vocal minority. Devs should not listen to me for voting purposes. Instead they should poll players, in game. I might post on official forums in ways that are helpful for the detailed solutions, but better distributed polls are better.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
I think the big issue is that developers, more often than not, don't really have a clear sense of what king of game they're making. Blizzard started off on the right foot when WoW released, saying that if players burned through the content and reached level cap quickly, that was their problem. The shift came, I believe, when Vivendi, having a taste of the kind of money their new cash cow could bring in, wasn't so enthusiastic about losing those subscribers. Once the focus was lost, the game transformed, gradually enough that people simply rolled with the changes.
Right now, I'm watching an upcoming game flail around trying to keep a vocal segment of the fanbase happy by shifting focus and making changes that are affecting the entire game. Unlike Turbine, who stuck to their guns and said, "this is the game we're making" with LOTRO, this developer is trying to be all things to all people and there's plenty of reason to doubt that they will end up pleasing anyone.
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"People love groups. Its a fallacy that people want to play solo all the time." - Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer, Rift
Odd, we've always been told Developers never pay any attention to whiny forum posters such as us, yet now one of them says we're to blame somehow?
I can assure you that if some developers had listened to some of my posts we'd have more variety in the available pool of MMORPG's yet the endless march of WOW clones clearly shows that its not my viewpoint they're catering to. (not saying mine's better, but you can't blame me for the current crop of games)
I agree with OP, Developers have to decide what sort of game they're going to make and go out and do it. Sure, they should look for constructive community feedback, and try to get it in the early design (looking at Mythics initial design decision to focus combat around BG's instead of open RVR in WAR, and later trying to reverse themselves)
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
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"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
When Devs Don't listen to the community input, you get a game like Shadowrun ended up to be, nothing like canon, or even much fun save for the arena fighter niche. That one a lot of old shadowrun players took personally.
That's bollocks.
Something like that isn't a result of 'not listening to community input,' it's a result of a conscious decision to not follow the canon.
It's not like developers are monkies in a cage who just couldn't comprehend the awesome subtlty of Shadowrun, because it's not that complicated. It's a conscious decision to not follow established canon.
(Though Shadowrun itself was only half-good. The silly magic that they had to shoe-horn in for some inexplicable reason was just ridiculous)
I totally disagree. If you're a competent developer that has a history of at least one successful game, there's no need to listen to the whiners. In fact, there's never a need to listen to the whiners. On the other hand, people who are just adding constructive criticism that bring ideas to the table, might be worth the time. But whiners are never worth the time because of the way they deliver their message.
But again, if you have a job as a lead designer, you should be able to get 90% of the way their without listening to fans.
Oh. and I forgot one last thing. The reason creativity is being stunted is because of money. All investors care about is making money, they don't care about what a product does. All they want is a return on their investment. So with that said, there's not much room for creativity because most companies simply choose to play copycat fromsome other company's success, which means tagging on to an existing genre with the same game mechanics.
Creativity typically comes from low budget situations. People who have dreams and not much financial backing. 99% of the time they fail, and 1% of the time they get lucky. From there, they might be able to build a reputation that brings in some income, and that's when bigger corporations follow with copycat tactics.
well yes, hearing the complainers too much is bad for you and for your game, you need to keep the focus and have balls to do wht you want, and that is anything, and like you said Mr. Murphy anyone who is weak/wimpy and get scared with anything will fail.
I also see some people saying the games would be better if they always listen, then I ask better for who? for the whiners? who is normally less then 10% of all player base, then make the game unplayed for these 90% of the game?
Please i heard complains in a lot of games I gonna use Aion for instance now since i'm playing it as my main now. several complains are stupid some are right but like always it can be worked. mains complains I ever see,
it too grind(right tell me ONE MMo who don't have a grind, even WoW who whiners love to mention have annoying grind things for equips)
game depend on RGN (random generate number) same thing tell me one mmo other then fps who don't use rgn?
X class is too over and X class is too weak(yes he play a rock class and fight against a paper class, itslike the saying please nerf rock, paper is fine, sign scissors)
if you don't like the game just move on you don't need to complain and annoying EVERYONE playing the damn game because you don't like, you can give opnions and all that and sometimes it will be welcome but complaing because you can't use a sword if you roll a mage is stupid.
Developers need to listen to their players but only in the context of what they are trying to achieve.
Too many players want x game ot have y features which doesn't make sense in every game.
If a game decides not to have a tutorial, wants to plunk you down in an open world and you have to fend for yourself and there are players who like that sort of game, then they shouldn't be listening to the players who would want to turn that game into a themepark.
Same goes with predominantly pve games and adding pvp or vice versa.
If developers want to make a perma death game and there is a loud continent screaming against it then they should not be listening to those players.
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Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
The one time I tried to forum mod, I didn't last long. I quickly learned you can't moderate people who do everything in their power to be rude and ignorant; that's part of their fun and they're going to find a way to do so. Banning then and removing their posts just makes them smarter, as they make new accounts and search for loopholes. Nevermind that they're like gremlins, one spawning a dozen more.
So I agree with him, players are angry and entitled these days. Sometimes that anger manifests in intelligent discussion and constructive criticism, but more often than not it comes off as the entitled ramblings of a crass child. That doesn't get anywhere, except bad, as the mob mentality kicks in and more people join the chorus.
However, I don't have a lot of pity for him. I dislike rude, obnoxious zealots as much as anyone else, but they are not ruining the creativity of games. I'd point out games like Cave Story, Portal, Seed, and La Noire as just a FEW examples of games which thought outside of the box and managed to wow people. These games (perhaps with the exception of La Noire) focused less on hyping themselves and more on simply being themselves. Word spread not by advertisement, but from one impressed playet to another. They didn't make empty promises about their games, and didn't hype themselves to levels they couldn't possibly reach.
Then you have games which have success based on those vocal players. The best example being Mortal Kombat. After the crapfest that were the Vs. DC games and a good portion of the 3d games that came before it, they're finally regaining their original momentum with the newest incarnation due out in the next few months. The community is practically frothing at the mouth over the return of brutal fatalities and some fun new elements, like the X-Ray attacks. If those players hadn't spoken up about MK Vs. DC, that progress would not have been made. In many interviews, they even specifically stated that after the outcry over that game, they wanted to return to what made them great in the first place.
So despite the trolls, the actual anger is not a bad thing. People don't often represent it the best way, but then companies don't often represent their product honestly, either.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
Amen to this.
Between this and your latest five mistakes made by companies lately with thei launches you have really been hitting the mark. Or at the least you and I seem to be on the same wave length.
Granted some I know would probably warn you that isn't a good thing hehe
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
I bought Call of Duty: Black Ops.... it lasted 5 hours on my computer.
It was a horrible experience for me, it bearly worked. Horrible frame rates (hd4870), massive latencies and people hacking everywhere. To me, the game was a scam and delivered nothing, because it is still unplabale due to hackers. Was over a friends and noticed they fixed some of the performance problems, but they do not provide a cheat-free environement.
So... I am "cranky"... does that lead Developer understand how retarded and ignorant his commets are. Or, are they secretly happy I am not playing, because I bought his product, but don't play... so I don't stress their servers.
Which is a WIN/WIN for Treyarch.
If you do not provide a fair game play, then your product is moot (ie: lost it's value to the customer & you need to repay the community that lost value) This Developer is talking out his bung hole and doesn't realize that making money the wrong way is going to haunt them for a long time. That Developer is a lyer and a theif.... and he knows this about himself.
Man up, we are your customers and expect when we pay $60 bucks for something, for it to work.
"No they are not charity. That is where the whales come in. (I play for free. Whales pays.) Devs get a business. That is how it works."
-Nariusseldon