Those "uber 1337 haxxors" finally get the chop

[Bolty]

I had this weird thought running through my head yesterday about whether or not any other games generate this much vitriol from its "fans".  However empowering it might be if everyone was just full of praise, I'm not sure that in the long run that that would be such a good thing you know?

Most definitely not. My point was only that constructive criticism is needed, not glorified representations of "you guys suck." On the old DSF, there was quite a history of constructive criticism. Two points of example I can think of is Crystalion's actual posting of code information revealing how to fix a bug, and the DSF Buglist, an attempt by the game's fans to provide a detailed listing of the known bugs in the game. We did all we could to bring them to the attention of the North programmers.

My point was that while the customer is always right in the end (ie. the customers will either spend money on a product or they won't), the common adage doesn't actually apply to each detail of the design of a game.

In fact, you can throw that adage completely out when developing a game. Games actually run against the grain of all other kinds of software. In a game, the goal of the programmers is to present a challenge to the user of the software. In other words, you develop roadblocks towards using the software "successfully" - whether it be "winning" the game, or "getting the best stuff." No other software works this way. In all other software, the goal is to make the software easier to use and faster to "win" with, in that case writing a good document, editing pictures, etc etc ad infinitum.

So gaming development is the one kind of software development where you are required to make things difficult for your customer. You need to present them with a challenge, and the goal is to make it challenging enough for some customers to be happy, but not too challenging or you alienate other customers. In some cases, mere difficulty levels is enough, but that cannot apply to a multiplayer environment. I don't think you're elitist with your claim that a majority of users would want the entire map revealed; I think you're just being realistic. Listen to the gamers too much, and you wind up making the game too easy. But if you listen to another subset of gamers (such as many you can find here), and you make the game too hard.

Game development is half art, half science. Perhaps that's why good games are so rare - and what makes game design so exciting to at least the outsiders of the industry. Some people know the "art," and can just "feel" when something in a game should be done differently. Others take a more scientific bent and analyze game theory to do it right. I think you need a little of both.

In any case, we're long past the days where 2 guys in a basement can make a killer game. The industry has matured, lost something in the process, but yet I think the end product has improved over time. Bad games are bad games, but I'm finding that the bad games of today are far better than the bad games of 10 years ago.

-Bolty