2 réponses à ce sujet

[Firky]

 

Hi All,

Remember the days when you’d write Lord British a letter in Runic and he’d write you one back? Communication between gamers and games industry professionals has always been exciting. As a 31 year old lifelong gamer who has, over the last few years, also had the opportunity to be employed as a freelancer in the games industry, I’m really aware of how gamers and games industry professionals communicate with one another, from both sides of the fence.

I came to this forum to tell the design team how much I enjoyed Dragon Age and how excited I am to learn about Dragon Age 2 but I couldn’t quite find the right place to post a comment. I thought I’d start a thread in the hopes some people might join me in sharing the love/anticipation while also having a dialogue about communication between gamers and games industry professionals. There are heaps of really positive posters around here and lots of really funny threads so I hope I haven’t misjudged the mood.

Here are three questions I’d like to ask to stimulate
discussion. (Feel free to add relevant questions.)

Is it OK to suggest/ask/demand things be included in a
sequel?

Is it OK to guess what a developer/publisher might be
thinking?

Is there a right/wrong way to criticise the game?

Also, another question based on later discussion - Is striving for a healthy gaming
culture is an exercise in futility?

Here is my contribution to the discussion.

Is it OK to suggest/ask/demand things be included in a sequel? Personally, I lean towards trusting the developers. They can’t provide everything for everyone but I do trust that they are putting a lot of thought into finding the best possible balance. And, sure, I want to know what happened to Morrigan. But I trust that, however, they continue the story, I’ll still enjoy it. And loose threads are good too, in a maddening kind of way.

Is it OK to guess what a developer/publisher might be thinking? Do we really know that such and such a publisher is trying to rush the poor downtrodden design team to make an inferior product quickly? Do we really think that designers these days are less passionate than an 80s backyard programmer/writer doing his solo thing? Our best guess may be correct but there is a very good chance that it isn’t. Having some insight now into how the games industry works from the inside, I’m surprised by how often otherwise perfectly logical speculation is wrong.

Is there a right/wrong way to criticise the game? I have to admit that I posted on another forum several months ago that I thought [Dragon Age NPC] was “poorly written”. After greater reflection, and mucking around with the Toolset and conversation editor, I’ve come to the conclusion that this was an unfair thing to say. I do occasionally get really immersed in a game and start throwing around emotionally driven criticism, like a lot of gamers. The NPC wasn’t poorly written though, I just “like” some of the other NPCs better. Also, although us gamers seem to think that writing for games is easy, because we’ve played so many, when you actually get your hands dirty, it’s really hard to do. So for me anyway, I’m going to criticise sparingly and carefully choose unemotional terminology.

 

Here is the feedback that I originally came to post. Thank you for this game/series. I consider it to be excellent value for money. I am totally intrigued by the qunari and the whole elf+human = human idea. So many implications! I had lots of fun playing the game and combat on the harder difficulties gave my brain a work out. I thought I would be disappointed having a party of only four but I grew to appreciate that choosing who to leave behind is as important as who you choose to take. Thanks again. I love the DA2 screenshot with the long bridge. Excited!

Modifié par Firky, 11 juillet 2010 - 11:09 .

[Mary Kirby]

Firky, we always appreciate feedback, positive or negative, that is expressed in a reasonable manner.



Just... please don't send it to us in Runic. Or Qunari. Either one will make us cry.

[David Gaider]

Firky wrote...
Is it OK to suggest/ask/demand things be included in a
sequel?

Suggest and ask? Of course. Demand? Well, I guess that depends on your sense of entitlement.

We're always willing to entertain suggestions, so long as people realize we're going to decide for ourselves in the end. Those suggestions will be listened to based on their merit-- as well as how they're presented. It's a strange internet fallacy that suggests it doesn't matter how a point is made, that only being right matters. I don't know about anyone else, but if someone were to come into my office and scream at me and then poop on my desk I probably wouldn't care how good their point was. Communication is about more than just expressing opinions at each other.

Is it OK to guess what a developer/publisher might be thinking?

Why wouldn't this be okay? I'm not sure you'll be right, but it might be an interesting exercise to try. Being second-guessed kind of comes with the territory.

Is there a right/wrong way to criticise the game?

Personally? If I'm about to criticize someone I always try to find something good to tell them as well... or at least try to be as constructive as I can. I find people are more willing to listen that way. Like I said above, it would be wrong to think that developers are beholden to listen to anyone's opinion... your contribution here depends entirely on what you make of it.

Not that everyone comes here to contribute, or to make their criticism count for anything more than venting their anger/disappointment. And that's fine, I suppose. But if you intend for your criticism to be treated seriously by anyone (developers or other fans alike) you should make an effort to express it in the same way you'd wish it would be expressed to yourself.