BioWare On Tracking Player Feedback 41
simoniker writes "BioWare's QA director Phillip DeRosa has written a piece called 'Tracking Player Feedback To Improve Game Design' over at Gamasutra, which deals with how game developers can use statistics, even before a game is released, to improve gameplay. DeRosa "...explains how the Mass Effect creator has set up and executed code-based monitoring of key metrics to test, analyze, and refine its projects through playtesting." Is this approach sensible, or could it be more like movie producers 'pandering' to test audiences?"
No, because games are made FOR players. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:No, because games are made FOR players. (Score:3, Insightful)
Screw 'em (Score:1, Insightful)
Isn't it weird when something can be so far from its roots even when its so new.
Re:All new media pander (Score:3, Insightful)
Hell, commercial art sluts like Thomas Kincaid could be called pandering.
Re:No, because games are made FOR players. (Score:3, Insightful)
I would make the argument that actually games are NOT truly targetted FOR *players*, if we are speaking about advancing the art of game design and gameplay. Tonnes of mediocre games rake in a lot of money for many other reasons.
I'd say lots of playtesting now-a-days is geared towards dumbing down and making games easier, less interactive, more passive and more mediocre. One only has to look at modern MMO's and console RPG's to compare the basic battle mechanics in those games with a game like God of War or other RPG's whose battle systems have real-time or more interactive elements.
I've been gaming for a long time and games have been steadily declining towards rigidity (rigid by the books game mechanics with minor tweaks) or mediocrity where game mechanics are thrown out or dumbed down entirely for making it easier to insert eye candy or to make it so easy to "play" all a drooling moron would have to do would be to babysit the robotic avatar.
Most games are not works of art. (Score:3, Insightful)
Video games are an art FORM, just as painting is an art FORM, but not every painting is a work of art, nor is every game.
You're confusing "easy" with "mediocre." (Score:3, Insightful)