Following the rise of early access and online betas, it’s not unfair to say that devs are relying on the will of players more than ever before. However, Path of Exile co-creator Chris Wilson believes that intense reliance on player thoughts doesn’t lead to great games.
Now working at a new studio, Light Pattern, Wilson explained in a video on his YouTube channel that players are not actually great at solving problems. (Thanks GR.) Wilson lifted a quote from Magic The Gathering’s Mark Rosewater, explaining that gamers are “good at recognising problems and bad at solving them”.
It’s not an unfair statement. Gamers consume thousands of hours of games and can clearly identify what they don’t like. However, without any experience in design or development, so-called solutions offered on social media are not without issue.
Wilson explained that his statement doesn’t players are useless, but that they shouldn’t be overly relied on. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t listen to your players,” the developer said. “Of course you should. You should solicit feedback about specific topics, watch how people play, pay attention to complaints, and take reported problems seriously.”
“When you ask players to choose between possible game features in a survey, it can make it seem like you just don’t have that vision.”
Path of Exile co-creator Chris Wilson on player surveys.
The Path of Exile co-creator told up-and-coming devs that “there’s a big difference between listening to feedback and asking players to help you decide what your vision for the game should be”. It’s not an uncommon move nowadays. In fact, Thief successor Thick As Thieves recently pushed this as its entire post-launch plan, and that form of development is worrying.
Wilson explained that a developer “should have a clear vision of where the game is heading” before involving players in the first place. “If you don’t, you should fix that while at least projecting the impression that you have one.”
The Path of Exile creator’s biggest bugbear is the inclusion of player surveys in game development. These surveys are not only used by companies to assist in post-launch plans, but also upcoming projects to make the kinds of games they know their survey takers want
“When you ask players to choose between possible game features in a survey, it can make it seem like you just don’t have that vision,” Wilson explained. “It gives the impression you are unsure about what matters, or that you don’t understand your own game well enough to assess what’s important.”
Furthermore, giving players a survey to fill in leads to expectations that may never come. He said: “The moment you put an idea in front of your players and ask them to weigh in on it, you imply that it’s on the table. You imply that it might happen. Once players believe that the only thing stopping an idea from becoming reality is persuading you to go ahead with it, they’ll campaign for it and expect it.”
However, the biggest issues with survey, or even any public player feedback, is that the sample is inherently “biased”. Players who engage in surveys or leave comments on Steam forums are not necessarily those who play the game the most, they’re simply the loudest in the community. Wilson explains that this leads to developers “optimising for the loudest players”, or even “reacting to short-term discomfort instead of thinking about long-term health”.
As with everything in game development, it’s a horrifyingly difficult balance to find, and many online games suffer from not knowing the line is. Wilson explains that there can be “a real danger to asking players to tell you how to change your game” as player feedback must always meet developer ingenuity.
While player feedback has definitely improved a lot of games, it has also had the adverse effect. Original Dead Rising players hated the game’s timer, and it’s removal in sequels made them much worse. Halo 2 was criticised by fans for its inclusion of The Arbiter, which led to the character becoming a sidekick in the finale. As Wilson explained, fan feedback is still important, but it can’t be the only port in a storm.
