Fan response; Worthwhile Feedback or Pointless Niggling?

[Dominic Burchnall]

I've noticed in a couple of Yahtzees review videos that he seems to have a conflicting opinion of fan feedback on game franchises. In his review of the Thief series he praises the developers for cutting out the zombie/monster killing aspects and refocusing it on the games strongest feature, it's stealthy kleptomaniac tendencies, a move he largely attributes to it being what the fans asked for. however, in a Zero Punctuation video for Silent Hill: Homcoming, he gives it a good bashing for being a game so obviously dedicated to fan service. So which do you think is the more valid opinion, changing/making/including things because it's what fans of the series want, or making the product you'd always planned to without taking it into account?

PRE-EMPTIVE DISCLAIMER; This is NOT meant to be a subtle dig at the Mass Effect 3 ending, I've not actually got round to playing it yet, so no spoilers, please!

 

[Zhukov]

Surely that would depend on exactly what the fans are asking for.

In the Thief case the fans wanted the developer to cut the non-enjoyable aspects of the game in favour of focussing on the fun gameplay elements that worked.

Compare that to... what was it called? Parasite Eve or something? That game where the fans kicked up a ruckus when the developers mentioned that there wouldn't be a shower scene involved the female protagonist.

Basically, there's fan feedback and then there's fan feedback.

 

[Dandark]

It depends on the fans. Usaully it can be very good feedback. The Tribes: Ascend beta is a great example. When they first released it, most old Tribes players were dissapointed from what I have heard and they kicked up a big fuss. Riot listened to the complaints and made adjustments and have turned it into a solid game that everyone seems to be happy with now.

 

[Kahunaburger]

It depends on the fans. Usaully it can be very good feedback. The Tribes: Ascend beta is a great example. When they first released it, most old Tribes players were dissapointed from what I have heard and they kicked up a big fuss. Riot listened to the complaints and made adjustments and have turned it into a solid game that everyone seems to be happy with now.

^ Good example. They seem legitimately interested in taking feedback from their community.

CDPR is also a good example of an AAA dev that takes useful feedback and implements it in their game. In the "labor of love" category, you have even more player engagement in the design process. You even see significant player-created content in many RTW modding communities, some roguelikes, etc. You've just got to have a good community.

 

[Dandark]

It depends on the fans. Usaully it can be very good feedback. The Tribes: Ascend beta is a great example. When they first released it, most old Tribes players were dissapointed from what I have heard and they kicked up a big fuss. Riot listened to the complaints and made adjustments and have turned it into a solid game that everyone seems to be happy with now.

^ Good example. They seem legitimately interested in taking feedback from their community.

CDPR is also a good example of an AAA dev that takes useful feedback and implements it in their game. In the "labor of love" category, you have even more player engagement in the design process. You even see significant player-created content in many RTW modding communities, some roguelikes, etc. You've just got to have a good community.

Out of curiosity, what do you mean by RTW?

 

[Kahunaburger]

It depends on the fans. Usaully it can be very good feedback. The Tribes: Ascend beta is a great example. When they first released it, most old Tribes players were dissapointed from what I have heard and they kicked up a big fuss. Riot listened to the complaints and made adjustments and have turned it into a solid game that everyone seems to be happy with now.

^ Good example. They seem legitimately interested in taking feedback from their community.

CDPR is also a good example of an AAA dev that takes useful feedback and implements it in their game. In the "labor of love" category, you have even more player engagement in the design process. You even see significant player-created content in many RTW modding communities, some roguelikes, etc. You've just got to have a good community.

Out of curiosity, what do you mean by RTW?

Rome: Total War. The modding communities I'm thinking about are the realism mods - those are an excellent example of the sort of thing you can get using a strong, engaged community.

 

[Dandark]

It depends on the fans. Usaully it can be very good feedback. The Tribes: Ascend beta is a great example. When they first released it, most old Tribes players were dissapointed from what I have heard and they kicked up a big fuss. Riot listened to the complaints and made adjustments and have turned it into a solid game that everyone seems to be happy with now.

^ Good example. They seem legitimately interested in taking feedback from their community.

CDPR is also a good example of an AAA dev that takes useful feedback and implements it in their game. In the "labor of love" category, you have even more player engagement in the design process. You even see significant player-created content in many RTW modding communities, some roguelikes, etc. You've just got to have a good community.

Out of curiosity, what do you mean by RTW?

Rome: Total War. The modding communities I'm thinking about are the realism mods - those are an excellent example of the sort of thing you can get using a strong, engaged community.

Ah, I see. I have never played any total war games but I do know of others like that such as Vampire: Masqurade. The game was buggy as hell but the community fixed most of it in patches and actully restored a lot of the cut content that the developers were forced to leave out of the game.

I'd also mention STALKER since the community for that has made brilliant mods which made me love the game.