Article by Bille Janssen Graphics by Katrina Dagdag
December 22, 2021
โ๐๐๐ฎ, ๐๐ฉโ๐จ ๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ค๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฎ, ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐ง๐ซ๐๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฃโ๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐๐ฉ. ๐ฟ๐ค ๐จ๐ค๐ข๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐, ๐๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ง๐จ!โ
โ๐ ๐ก๐๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐ก๐ก๐ฎ ๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ข๐-๐ค๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ง๐๐ก๐๐๐จ๐ ๐ค๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐๐๐ข๐, ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ก๐ก ๐ ๐ง๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐๐จ ๐ ๐๐ช๐๐๐ฎ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฅ๐ก๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ข๐!โ
โ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ฌ๐๐จ ๐๐๐ก๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ค๐ง๐, ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฎ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ง๐ค๐๐ช๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ฌ ๐ก๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐ง๐ค๐ ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐.โ
Are these statements familiar to you?
Game developers and players have had this communication turmoil since the dawn of online gaming. Before, players accept a game as it is - no balance patches, no bug fixes, no updates. Nowadays, you can have an update immediately after the game was released or if a game-breaking bug instantly surfaces in an esports title.
This opens up the communication between the developers and the players. Way back in its dawn, players reach out to the devs using forum sites and mail (yes, snail mail). It includes everything from appreciation, suggestion, criticism, and hate messages. These arenโt new to us now, though these are now louder than they have ever been, thanks to the platforms available today.
It was a healthy communication between the two parties, until things are turning on the wrong side recently. Who could be wrong here - the devs or the players?
๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ฆ๐ ๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ข๐ฃ๐๐ฅ๐ฆ
Conceptualizing and developing a game is no joke. From the idea itself, creating the assets and software, up to the marketing, this endeavour is quite a rollercoaster. Most of the time, the devs donโt know how the game will be received by their audience, even though they are the ones who envisioned and materialized it.
Most of the time, the game will end up with bugs, glitches, and balancing issues after it is shipped. Contrary to the common belief of the players, games are being tested before release. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, we wonโt know what the players will do in the game. Devs can do tremendous testing but no one knows what these players will mess around with when the game is released.
This is where feedback and reporting come in. It is an important ingredient in the success (or failure) of a game. Most developers listen to your feedback, collect it, sit in a meeting room, and analyze it. They even have analytical functions inside the game that report what the players are doing in the game.
Iโll be highlighting the term analysis here because I think most of the players are missing what it means. Not all feedback needs to be processed because it might not be a part of the vision for the game, or it doesnโt really help the state of the game at all.
For me, there are three types of feedback: great, plausible, and terrible. Being a guy who worked before as a game developer and as customer support for a console game, most of the feedback given falls under the terrible category.
Let us make it relatable to some of you gamers by giving you an example of terrible feedback.
Take the game Apex Legends by Respawn as an example. In the competitive scene, a lot of professional players complain about Gibraltar due to his kit. He can reset the fight by throwing a defensive bubble that protects anyone inside from any artillery, and his ultimate is very useful for zoning out enemy teams.
Many pro players voiced their opinions about the legend being overpowered, up to the point that they want the legend to be removed from the game. Their reason? Itโs silly that thereโs a legend that can save a team from messing up.
This is where game design comes into play. A very common way to balance the game is to make counterplays. In a battle royale game, if your position is bad, youโre screwed. This problem is common in most BR games, but not in Apex Legends. Respawn has given players a chance to fight back against bad odds by giving them legends and abilities to work on to equal the playing field. Some legends provide cover. A few allow you to move from one place to another with ease. Others give you information and support you with utilities.
Iโm not gonna lie, Gibraltar is still overpowered, but a nerf will be a better option than just removing him entirely from the game.
Anyhow, thatโs in defense of the developers. Feedback is very important, but not all feedback is great.
But we all know for the fact that some of the devs (or publishers) are turning a deaf ear.
๐๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ฆ๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฆ
I believe that healthy communication should be clear, concise, and unambiguous. However, this is not the case for some game developers and publishers out in the field.
Since its release, the original Titanfall has never received some love from Respawn, and the servers are plagued with hackers that prevent players from even finishing the game. A lot of communities are gathering around a cause to save Titanfall, even going as far as offering help to the developers on fixing their code. This campaign is amplified by a lot of people, but this falls to deaf ears as Respawn continues to ignore the game and continue working with the more recent ones. This leads to a hacking incident on Jul 4, 2021 where both Titanfall 2 and Apex Legends, both under Respawn, were hacked to display a message leading to the website savetitanfall.com, rendering the game to be not playable for a while.
Up to this point, no changes have been made on Titanfall for it to be playable for new players.
Itโs not only Respawn who ignores their fanbase. Thereโs MiHoYo (Genshin Impact), Blizzard (Hearthstone), and Nintendo to name a few.
๐ช๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ก๐๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฃ
Itโs really hard to conclude this debate, as both reasons make sense. On one side, the developers need to prioritize what is important. On the other hand, players love the game so much that they do want it to flourish, or in dire cases, not to die.
I think Iโll go back to where this all began: communication. An open and healthy one will lead to better understanding between the point of view of both parties, which will lead to better communities, and eventually, will lead to better games.
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