Game mechanics and the community (Destiny)

by kapowaz, Wednesday, November 27, 2013, 14:51 (4012 days ago) @ Claude Errera

I'm curious - why do you feel you need to know ANYTHING before going in?

They're holding an open beta - you just need to have a preorder in place to get into it. The preorder costs nothing - and you can cancel it before release, so it can CONTINUE to cost nothing in perpetuity.

The cost of entry is ZERO. Why do you feel you need to know details before trying it?

And even if you think that just DOWNLOADING AND PLAYING is something you shouldn't have to try without some additional information... why not just skip the beta and read the reports from the people who didn't?

I understand the INTEREST in getting info up front; we're all pretty impatient. I simply don't understand this NEED.

First of all, this isn't about selling the concept to me; I pre-ordered months ago for beta access, as I'm naturally curious. I fully intend to play the beta and poke around it, but what I talked about above isn't specifically for my own benefit.

I was careful not to use the word ‘need’ — I don't think of this as something that Bungie needs to do, but I do think it's something they'd benefit from doing. It builds interest and loyalty amongst gamers, who feel like they're being given privileged insight into how the game they're looking forward to playing works ‘on the inside’. A lot of Kickstarter-backed games are choosing to show their progress with early alpha builds and discussions of mechanics with their backers. In some ways, beta registrants and regulars on forums like DBO are analogous to Kickstarter backers — they're the early adopters who will evangelise the game to their friends and encourage others to buy it and play.

My view is that for certain types of game it's still fine for developers to adopt a veil of secrecy until the game is all but finished, then show it off. But I'm less convinced this approach works well for a game that has a persistent, evolving world with thousands of players. For one thing, such a game environment tends to attract a sizeable number of min-maxers; players who will poke and prod at every game mechanic and possible combination of abilities and items in order to find out what provides them with the ultimate statistical advantage. Regardless of how good your QA team is, these players will find holes in your game design, and they will exploit them. Transparency about how your game mechanics are intended to work is better here, so that issues can be flagged by the community at large.

There is a cost to all this. Community engagement is hard — when Greg Street (until today*, WoW's lead systems designer) first began talking directly to the WoW community back in 2008 I think it's fair to say he found it hard work. Fans can be unpleasant and shouty about the things they want and don't want in the game they love. But ultimately they're usually motivated by a desire to see the game improved, and I don't doubt that the kind of engagement Blizzard has adopted has benefited them enormously. And I think Bungie should take a leaf out of their book.

*He's leaving Blizzard to take up “a great opportunity for something new and exciting” — I would absolutely love it if it turns out to be Destiny he's chosen to move to work on.