An interview with The Deplorable Choir, Summit's thoughts on the Division 2, kid roasts Fortnite streamers and more on this episode of the DT Podcast. Click ...
Destiny Is Not Good At Games
I want to write this, because I really look up to Destiny, and he says a lot of really smart things. However, he has rare occasions where heāll speak on the subject of game design. When he does, Iām always underwhelmed. Itās ironic that he can speak so deeply on most subjects, but even though heās a long-time professional gamer, his discussion about games ends up being very surface level.
Also, he banned me from his Twitch chat when I mentioned this, so Iām gonna start documenting these occasions.
In the DT Podcast Episdode 11, Destiny and Trihex respond to a clip of Summit complaining about the design direction of The Division 2. He accuses the developers of listening to dumb casual players' complaints. This is why he thinks The Division 2 is "failing."
Destiny jumps straight into a lecture about subjective value. This shows how deep Destiny can speak on philosophical subjects, and it's a really good thing to understand. Describing the game as a "success" could mean something different to different people.
The Disappointment
This great lecture leads to the conclusion that āvideo game publishers only care about making a profit.ā Wow. Brilliant revelation, this. Youāre not wrong, Destiny. Thatās my point though. Youāre rarely wrong. You're just surprisingly obvious. I was hoping for more.
The Counterpoint
Destiny responds to someone in chat who says that developersā ultimate goal of profit are WHY these games fail. He assumes this person simply misunderstood his point about subjective value, that profit is, itself, the only metric for success or failure from this perspective. Itās by definition.
Maybe that person did misunderstand this. Maybe not though. Maybe this person believes that if you make a game with the best gaming experience in mind, the money will naturally follow. If the design isnāt focused on catching every nickle and dime, it will be loved. The game will have a lot more staying power. Maybe these goals - profit and fun - donāt necessarily have to be opposites.Ā
...And maybe thatās still dumb, but itās an idea to explore. The oldest games around today certainly donāt have as many profit-focused mechanics as the modern games that donāt live longer than a couple years.Ā
A New Idea
The first rule of game development is always listen to your players!Ā
The second rule of game development is your players donāt know what they want!
Okay, so the first rule is actuallyĀ āplaytest your game,ā but this is the paradox I want to illustrate. Itās one of my favorite quirks about game design that I donāt think many people understand. However, I think itās possible this was the concept Summit may have been reaching for. It sounds like heās criticizing Massive Entertainment for listening to the casual player base. I would criticize them for listening to the loudest part of the player base at all.
What this idea describes is that players know when theyāre having fun and when theyāre not having fun. They just donāt know anything else beyond that. They canāt identify what specific mechanics are fun or not. They miscalculate how much fun an imagined mechanic would be. This is why they are not the game designers.
I see a lot of modern games fail this. Itās no wonder why though. Gamers get so offended when EA calls themĀ āarmchair developers.ā Blizzard gets so much shit for saying,Ā āYou think you want classic WoW, but you donāt.ā Gamers realize that satisfying them is the goal. Specifically telling them they donāt want what theyāre asking for seems like a cardinal sin. But delivering gamers the specific things they ask for doesnāt always work out. Then the short term memory of the community forgets that this is what they asked for and complains again.Ā
Conclusion
This is just my personal insight on the state of the industry. I feel like itās a deeper, more interesting response compared to Destinyās surface level analysis. Destinyās view of subjective value is really great. Itās important to keep all perspectives in mind, whether itās the profit driven publishers, the artistic vision of the developers, or the ignorant emotions of the players. I think asking if a fun game will inevitably bring profit is a question worth asking. I think realizing that gamers donāt accurately evaluate their preferences is a pretty uncommon idea thatās more valuable to the discussion than pointing out that the game industry is profit driven. Might make more of these pieces, criticizing Destinyās lack of depth on the subject, but I could also make a few complimenting him for when he does say something smart.Ā
