So my recent dealings with the Starcraft 2 beta community has caused me to ponder exactly how a game should be balanced. I visited the battle.net forums in an attempt to learn new strategies and tactics in order to improve my shoddy skills. Upon visiting the forums, I found that a large number of the topics generally consisted of people demanding that Blizzard nerf a particular unit on the grounds that it was "overpowered".
The targets of these complaints varied from player to player. Some would complain that an ability was unfair when used in a specific manner, and that Blizzard should completely overhaul said ability to prevent it from being abused in this way. Others griped that a unit could be used in a cheap strategy that they felt had no way of countering, and that Blizzard should modify that unit to prevent it from being used in said strategy. Yet no matter what the complaints were, there would always be a number of players who would dismiss the cries of others. For some, the universal response to all of these threads would simply be to tell the new players to "learn to play".
These self-proclaimed "skilled" players often claim that the new players simply do not understand enough about the game to be providing input about its balance. They would point towards the high-level players that appear to be capable of dealing with the units and strategies that terrorize the low-level players, leaning credence towards their claim that there is no imbalance and that the new player simply can not play the game properly. For this reason it seems that many skilled players will automatically dismiss any suggestions made about the game's balance if they are not coming from a high-level player. I wondered if Blizzard should be doing the same. Logically, a new player doesn't know much about the game, so why should anyone listen to their complaints? You could easily dismiss them on the grounds of them being unskilled.
On the other hand, one has to remember that these unskilled players often represent a large proportion of the people playing the game. Many gamers don't bother to visit forums to gain a better understanding of the game. They simply play it to have fun. So if there is something, such as the aforementioned cheap tactics, that can easily ruin these players ability to have fun, should it not be modified? While a player could be able to deal with these issues after visiting the forums and studying videos to learn how to replicate the strategy needed to counter these tactics, to me it seems like this shouldn't be required. If you don't do this, you will most likely stay as a low-level player. That's fine, since you will be playing other low-level players as well, allowing you to still enjoy the game. But if there is a tactic that can be exploited by a player of any skill level to ruin the game for others, I feel it should be addressed even if it can be countered by a skilled player.
Personally I feel like game developer should address the concerns of new and average players rather than just that of skilled players. If the product isn't enjoyable for these average gamers, then none of them are going to want to stick around long enough to become skilled players. Skilled player shouldn't be the only ones capable of enjoying the game. Developers should consider the feedback of all players rather than solely rely on the input of veterans, otherwise it's going to be very difficult for new players to enjoy the game.
Basically, I'm trying to ask if you think it's appropriate for game developers to only consider the input of skilled players when balancing a game.
The targets of these complaints varied from player to player. Some would complain that an ability was unfair when used in a specific manner, and that Blizzard should completely overhaul said ability to prevent it from being abused in this way. Others griped that a unit could be used in a cheap strategy that they felt had no way of countering, and that Blizzard should modify that unit to prevent it from being used in said strategy. Yet no matter what the complaints were, there would always be a number of players who would dismiss the cries of others. For some, the universal response to all of these threads would simply be to tell the new players to "learn to play".
These self-proclaimed "skilled" players often claim that the new players simply do not understand enough about the game to be providing input about its balance. They would point towards the high-level players that appear to be capable of dealing with the units and strategies that terrorize the low-level players, leaning credence towards their claim that there is no imbalance and that the new player simply can not play the game properly. For this reason it seems that many skilled players will automatically dismiss any suggestions made about the game's balance if they are not coming from a high-level player. I wondered if Blizzard should be doing the same. Logically, a new player doesn't know much about the game, so why should anyone listen to their complaints? You could easily dismiss them on the grounds of them being unskilled.
On the other hand, one has to remember that these unskilled players often represent a large proportion of the people playing the game. Many gamers don't bother to visit forums to gain a better understanding of the game. They simply play it to have fun. So if there is something, such as the aforementioned cheap tactics, that can easily ruin these players ability to have fun, should it not be modified? While a player could be able to deal with these issues after visiting the forums and studying videos to learn how to replicate the strategy needed to counter these tactics, to me it seems like this shouldn't be required. If you don't do this, you will most likely stay as a low-level player. That's fine, since you will be playing other low-level players as well, allowing you to still enjoy the game. But if there is a tactic that can be exploited by a player of any skill level to ruin the game for others, I feel it should be addressed even if it can be countered by a skilled player.
Personally I feel like game developer should address the concerns of new and average players rather than just that of skilled players. If the product isn't enjoyable for these average gamers, then none of them are going to want to stick around long enough to become skilled players. Skilled player shouldn't be the only ones capable of enjoying the game. Developers should consider the feedback of all players rather than solely rely on the input of veterans, otherwise it's going to be very difficult for new players to enjoy the game.
Basically, I'm trying to ask if you think it's appropriate for game developers to only consider the input of skilled players when balancing a game.
