Joe BlancatoIt's common knowledge that game developers never play their games, or at least it is among the players of those games. It's also not true. Joe Blancato discusses playing your own game with Brian Green, Lead Designer of Meridian 59.
Issue 31 - Fraternizing with the Enemy
- Thread starter The Escapist Staff
- Start date
Original Comment by: Mark
I don't believe I had ever experienced that player-developer dichotomy. I can see, however, why some developers, even those developers who love video games as much as their fans do, would be unwilling to spend a lot of time playing a project they just completed. Painful memories of crunch time.
I don't believe I had ever experienced that player-developer dichotomy. I can see, however, why some developers, even those developers who love video games as much as their fans do, would be unwilling to spend a lot of time playing a project they just completed. Painful memories of crunch time.
Original Comment by: parkbench
My opinion on this article is two-fold:
I see where the previous poster is coming from. It's not...often to hear of these issues, necessarily.
Then again, one has to be entrenched in 'the culture' to truly understand it--and to see these struggles.
Visit any online community--or any community where the developers are barely removed from the users; where the moderators are just users who happen to have a few extra priveleges.
The games with the most open dialogues tend to be indipendent and perhaps simultaneously obscure, but there have been games which, whether on a small (Metal Gear Solid 3's camouflage textures) or large (Paranoia [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/4/18]) scale, relied on user input.
But there is a clash. How often have we seen a large company like EA or even Nintendo continually fail at listening? I love Nintendo, I truly do, but the Mario Party series is a perfect example. They could go on any forum or ask any review team, and they still keep beating the same old *dead formula*. The clash in this case comes from the developer keeping a hierarchical gap simply due to *tradition*, rather than pragmatic design.
It's fascinating to see the 'creator within the creation' perspective. I think about this all the time. It's funny how much gamers preach authenticity, and the moment they meet a GM or anyone with minor status, they get rock-hard boners and proceed to verbally rape the figure, much like when a bunch of gamers think there's a girl playing with them.
The only time I've seen these gamers told off and shut down was when I was the one doing it, in all honesty. I, being the heroic truth-seeker I am, or whatever the hell I want to call my superiority complex, am usually the only one to stop precious game time to shut up all the 'fools.' It just irritates me when ignorant statements are let pass; they are the breeding grounds for racism, prejudice, and ignorance overall. I truly wish developers didn't have to do things like restart their characters because of a few morons.
As of now, it is difficult to successfully exist in one's own community as a digital deity, save for a few situations:
1) You are part of the 'upper echelon' of the internet. I consider sites like Wikipedia [http://ask.metafilter.com] to be societies in which you will have a higher chance of meeting sensible people.
2) You establish from square one that there is to be an open communication between all members--the moment you start making prerequisites and having an ideology, about 50% of the lamers are too bored after the first sentence to keep clicking.
3) Organized discussion. Within an MMO, this means events, but they can often be rewarding. Ice Chicken, anyone?
My opinion on this article is two-fold:
I see where the previous poster is coming from. It's not...often to hear of these issues, necessarily.
Then again, one has to be entrenched in 'the culture' to truly understand it--and to see these struggles.
Visit any online community--or any community where the developers are barely removed from the users; where the moderators are just users who happen to have a few extra priveleges.
The games with the most open dialogues tend to be indipendent and perhaps simultaneously obscure, but there have been games which, whether on a small (Metal Gear Solid 3's camouflage textures) or large (Paranoia [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/4/18]) scale, relied on user input.
But there is a clash. How often have we seen a large company like EA or even Nintendo continually fail at listening? I love Nintendo, I truly do, but the Mario Party series is a perfect example. They could go on any forum or ask any review team, and they still keep beating the same old *dead formula*. The clash in this case comes from the developer keeping a hierarchical gap simply due to *tradition*, rather than pragmatic design.
It's fascinating to see the 'creator within the creation' perspective. I think about this all the time. It's funny how much gamers preach authenticity, and the moment they meet a GM or anyone with minor status, they get rock-hard boners and proceed to verbally rape the figure, much like when a bunch of gamers think there's a girl playing with them.
The only time I've seen these gamers told off and shut down was when I was the one doing it, in all honesty. I, being the heroic truth-seeker I am, or whatever the hell I want to call my superiority complex, am usually the only one to stop precious game time to shut up all the 'fools.' It just irritates me when ignorant statements are let pass; they are the breeding grounds for racism, prejudice, and ignorance overall. I truly wish developers didn't have to do things like restart their characters because of a few morons.
As of now, it is difficult to successfully exist in one's own community as a digital deity, save for a few situations:
1) You are part of the 'upper echelon' of the internet. I consider sites like Wikipedia [http://ask.metafilter.com] to be societies in which you will have a higher chance of meeting sensible people.
2) You establish from square one that there is to be an open communication between all members--the moment you start making prerequisites and having an ideology, about 50% of the lamers are too bored after the first sentence to keep clicking.
3) Organized discussion. Within an MMO, this means events, but they can often be rewarding. Ice Chicken, anyone?
Original Comment by: Mark
Well, Nintendo outsources the development of Mario Party to, I believe, Hudson Soft, so if you're complaining to Nintendo, you're complaining to the wrong people.... But anyway.
It seems the only other alternative is for the developer's avatar to actually be a deity, a wholly different character class with special rules and everything... which, although fair, wouldn't be as rewarding for the deity.
Well, Nintendo outsources the development of Mario Party to, I believe, Hudson Soft, so if you're complaining to Nintendo, you're complaining to the wrong people.... But anyway.
It seems the only other alternative is for the developer's avatar to actually be a deity, a wholly different character class with special rules and everything... which, although fair, wouldn't be as rewarding for the deity.