Very confused article. (Gaming)

by Schooly D, TSD Gaming Condo, TX, Sunday, November 03, 2013, 15:10 (4038 days ago) @ SonofMacPhisto

I think the author means "play-tested" in sense that AAA games are play-tested - so that they can appeal to a broad variety of people and sell well.

I don't think that's what he's saying. Well, actually, that might be what he's saying but I don't think he's working at the level you're on.

He's not saying incorporating feedback from playtesting is bad because you get a diluted, design-by-committee, stale product (although that may be true). He's saying playtesting is bad because it judges the game from the perspective of the player ("player-centric"), and games should not be judged by how they allow the player to impose his will on the game -- they should be one-way expressions of the game designer's "voice."

Gamers are trained to expect certain things from games, like explicit rules, goals, visual quality, and of course, agency. To put it frankly, gamers are set up to be colonial forces. It’s about individuality, conquering, and solving. Feeling empowered and free at the expense of the world.

In a nutshell, the author is arguing that we need to free ourselves from this repressive paradigm where games aren't just public masturbation on the part of the game designer.