Your Work and the Community
polycounter lvl 6
Just curious but for those of you that are employed with a developer, how active are you with your product's community? I don't get too involved in mine. At least not on the product side though I do read forums and comments from time to time. I'll be honest, sometimes I get thoroughly disgusted. There have been several occasions where I want to say "Really? Do you have any idea how much time, effort and sacrifice is invested into the product?" I try not to take things personal. After all, I get my money and that is all that matters but still, there always seems to be a ton of arm chair managers and developers out there.
Replies
I'm working on games more geared towards kids and their families and the community is a thousand times friendlier than your average game geared towards the 20 something male demographic, so that's a plus.
But when I see a teen, preteen, or someone that has never lived a day on their own, with no life obligations, tell our dev team that they aren't investing enough time in the product, it struck a real nerve. I do know that the younger demographic can be the absolute worst and I just bite my tongue and not say anything, it's not my place to. Anyway, I'm done with that. Like I said, I get a paycheck and that is the most important thing.
Anyway, what I really need to do is become more involved in this community and continue to grow as an artist.
You should just read forums, and don't give shit about what do you read. Treat it as some good laughs or "haha I'm better than all those trolls," to increase your ego ;p.
LOL, good suggestion.
Erm ... well, that's not all that matters to me regarding my job. I can't speak for anyone else...
It is sort of backwards when you think about it. I don't imagine most developers are very involved in their games' community - that's usually PR/Customer Support/sometimes marketing's job. And since you're most likely to end up raging when you get involved, people are content to keep it that way. Funnily enough, there usually isn't anything anyone in PR or customer support can do about people's thoughts, concerns, gripes, or what have you (outside of "we'll pass it along") - only the developers/designers (or arguably, the managers) can do that, and they're probably better suited to sifting through decent feedback vs. silly teen nerdrage than the people whose job it is to do it.
A related question perhaps, is "How many of you are working on games you would actually buy/play in your spare time (if you weren't developing it)?"
Because really, I don't think there's a whole lot of point in trying to dive into your community's feedback if the game you're making isn't even your cup of tea to begin with.
We also have community days every Fri/Sat where fans setup games in U3 or TLOU and they always love it when some of the Naughty Dogs can come in and play with them which is always great as your playing with some of the most passionate fans.
As for forms and things like that. I avoid those like the plague.
Agreed, job satisfaction and hoes are top of the list :thumbup:
I use HerpDerp Tube for Chrome, it converts all Youtube comments to "herp derp derp herp derp derp derp herp derp"
No seriously. I enjoy what I do. I enjoy who I work for. It's not a question of that at all. It's the ideal situation for me at this moment and I actually do play our product from time to time. I dont get to play nearly as much as I would like due to work/family, but I do (that goes for any game). Now, what makes me feel fulfilled as an artist is a whole other can of worms but when it comes to trolls ranting about your product or throwing a fit, as long as the boss is happy, I make my money, and I enjoy what I do, personally I'm happy.
[FONT="]Most of the rants/issues I've noticed are the teens and preteens or at least very young. For the most part everyone is great except for those few trolls/factions that are never happy. And when a person or group does not get their way or their suggestions or their idea of a business model, or just how they feel things should be done in general, is not taken into account. Holy hell , feel their wrath. Its nothing short of my 2 yr old throwing a fit.[/FONT]
[FONT="]You can please some of the people some of the time all of the people some of the time some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time. --Lincoln[/FONT]
Man that is true and I've really seen that over the past year or so.
Like I said, I was just curious how many of you guys looked at that kind of unfiltered feedback and it seems for the most part, you don't.
With my evil intend to form the developer in my favorite art style.
"I'm not a programmer or artist but it shouldn't be to hard to ..."
At least now we have dynamic hair, so that's something I guess.
Not for everyone; but it gets rid of comments.