Ekim's Gamer View: All the Developer's Men
Ekim, 2003-09-19

Developers usually try to listen to their community. Some of them more than others, of course. And, there are always a few that turn deaf ears thinking that their Vision™ is the true motor of their industry. In fact, the Vision is only secondary to the players, especially as far as MMORPGs go. And when a developer stops listening to the community, the games suffer.

Walking along the sidewalk

I read a post on a message board a few days ago, a beautiful post, that tried to put this in perspective. The guy in question (unfortunately I don't recall his name) compared a game's design with a sidewalk going around a patch of grass. People will always take the shortest path to get from point A to point B, even if that involves going over the patch of grass. Game design is a little bit like that. Developers create a sidewalk to show the intended path they would like players to take, but if the path goes around a flat patch of grass that can be used as a shortcut, players will invariably find it, and use it.

At this point, developers have two options. They can build a fence around the patch of grass and force players to use the sidewalk to go around it. In gaming terms, that's usually referred to as a nerf. Or developers can decide to take a look at the new path the players have discovered, and, instead of forcing their Vision on them, try to work something out to actually pave the path and adapt to the players.

Now, this is a little simplistic, I know. There are many issues involved with changing game mechanics. But that's not the point. The argument is against nerfing and all it's iterations. It's easier to build fences up to protect the Vision. It's harder, but infinitely more rewarding to work with players to adapt to their play style. Developing a game shouldn't be like a dictatorship. Players pay to enjoy their games, and although there could be arguments to say that they too should learn to adapt to each new game, there are still many instances where developers need to take a good long look at how their game is really being played.

Nerfs often originate from a game that could have used more time in development, especially when they involve distinct classes or professions within the game world. Sometimes a nerf is actually needed, and justifiable. But why does it still happen months after the release of a game? Players shouldn't have to re-learn everything every other month because developers realize, too late, that something was not done properly.

Ship it now!

Behind every developer there is an opportunistic publisher with twitchy fingers hanging over the launch button. As more and more MMORPGs start flooding the market, it's unfortunate to foretell that products will probably go through shorter and shorter development cycles… Because each product will have its own niche, and because each niche will have its own competition, the race won't be about who makes the best product, but rather who comes out with it first. And that will only bring more nerfs, more quick patches that break more things than it fixes. More disillusioned players, more frustrated people…

As much as I like the game, I have to admit that SWG is a prime example of how publishers can force developers to push a product out the door sooner than it should be. Of course, the game is getting better and better as the weeks go by, but who wants to have his profession changed from top to bottom after 2 months, even if the changes are justified? Good or bad, this will only get worse as time goes by, I'm afraid.

So I guess this is a call to developers to try and be understanding with their players. Developers have to admit that they are under pressure from their publishers, and need to accept how players work with what they are offered off the bat. There's no need to take a dictatorial stance and force players into your Vision while it's completely broken. But if things go on further down the path they are currently on, it is the publishers themselves who will eventually kill this genre. Unless developers bite the bullet themselves.