It's easy to delude yourself into thinking that passionate people on the internet are representative of passionate people on the whole. Resident Evil 5, for instance, was subject to great derision on most Capcom forums, but went onto become the best-selling Resident Evil to date (wonder if Resi 6 will clock it?). Bulletstorm, conversely, sold peanuts despite enormous enthusiasm online. And funnily enough, not everybody hates the Auger in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.
Like Battlefield 3's executive producer Patrick Bach, Treyarch's David Vondehaar is well-used to getting outraged feedback on gun balancing that's entirely out of whack with what telemetry tells him about how players use weapons. "The Auger is the most popular gun for people to complain about statistic-wise," he told OXM at a recent preview event, discussing the game's wall-penetrating sniper rifle.
"But the data doesn't bear that out," Vondehaar went on. "That thing is badass and guys that use it are badass with it. There's always a balance between your emotional and visceral reaction for how something feels, and the truth about how much it helps you or not.
"I have the fortunate or unfortunate position of being judge, juror and executioner on all those decisions, and it puts me in an awkward spot. Because I have to look at people who think very passionately that it should pulse faster, show targets for longer, or maybe it shows them even when they're moving.
"All these are things we can tweak and tune, and they're telling me this, and I'm looking at them, saying: "I appreciate your feedback young man, but the data shows the truth about this." And that's game design and part of being a game designer, and it's fucking hard."
Have you ever given way to your "emotional and visceral reaction" when giving a developer feedback on a game? If you were a developer, how would you go about managing such feedback? Fire up our latest Black Ops 2 multiplayer hands-on for more on Treyarch's latest.
4 comments so far...
Bezza89 on 5 Oct '12 said:
Yeah, yeah, whatever man, fans shouldn't be listened to when your main demographic is 6 years below your targeted and legally levelled one. Trust your data, most people who complain only do so because their 30 odd kill streak was stopped by a pistol. PISTOLS ARE OVERPOWERED, DEATH TO PISTOLS, MUST COMPLAIN ON INTERNET USING NOT AT ALL UNCOOL AND DOUCHEBAGGY ACRONYMS AND MADE UP SYNONYMS L33T FWT.
Anyway, though I'm not buying, I just want to say hats off to treyarch for trying something new, I hope it is something new for the series and wish you well, but after 10 games, or whatever, all selling millions; why no dedicated servers?
bamozzy on 5 Oct '12 said:
EVERY Shooting game probably has someone complaining about one (or more) of the weapons and its killing ability (or lack of in some cases). Even if ALL guns were identical in stats, I bet some would still complain about some of them! I saw on one forum that after 15000 kills with a shotgun in MW3 that they were very underpowered compared to other guns! IF they were so underpowered, how can you manage so many 1 shot kills and multi-kills? A truer test is by the number of people using the weapons, bullets fired and kills. If people aren't using the weapon then it usually means that it is underpowered or putting you at a disadvantage by using it and needs 'tweaking'
With the new perk system and attachments now on the weapons to improve them, tweaking will be a lot easier and hopefully won't take months to get the balance right. No doubt though that these things will need to be done after the game is released and the public get to use and exploit these things until they are rectified! Still think this is looking like the best Call of Duty game.....
Grummy on 5 Oct '12 said:
Every gamer on every forum bitches and complains about games. Sometimes its because they suck at a game and need to vent, sometimes its because they get stuck on the bad and can't see the good, and sometimes there are genuinely well considered points. The problem is that it's rare for there to be an overwhelming consensus. Some people think Dark Souls is fair, some people think it is designed to be UNfair, but people just accept it because they were warned in advance. That kind of split opinion is what developers have to face regularly. The difficulty for them is pinning down real problems from all the whinging.
Some developers get it right, others get it wrong. EA, for me, tend to get it wrong. Fifa is a great example. They make tonnes of changes and updates to improve the game, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't, but there has always been a certain number of elements to the game that have never changed that annoy people. I think it's great EA Canada are always trying to improve elements, but it's poor of them to ignore these flaws that have for so long been a part of the games.
Gamers can also get it wrong though. People, for example, complain about Bethesda games being buggy, but they don't stop to try and understand why they are, and to put it into context. Smart gamers who use their heads know that open world games with that many variables are going to have flaws, and the fact that they play so well despite that is a near miracle. It's the reality of the industry that gamers are going to have opinions, and the chances are that those gamers aren't educated in the realities of gaming. The other problem, which I think is the real crux of the issue, is that gamers want to see games made to their specifications. It's rare to find gamers now who just appreciate games for what they are, instead they complain because a game isn't what they want it to be. The only way for any developer to deal with that is to ignore the opinions of the gamers and just make the games they want to make. With this Auger gun, if it scans at the pace the developers want, and they're happy with it, then leave it that way, it's down to the gamers to accept and acclimatize to it, not for the developers to make changes to suit individual gamers or a particular group or demographic.
Joe90_Remy700 on 6 Oct '12 said:
because then the kids can't cheat as easily, and half the fanbase would be lost. good point tho