A New Way Forward: Tinkering with success isn't always bad - RaychelSnr's Blog

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RaychelSnr's Blog

A New Way Forward: Tinkering with success isn't always bad Stuck

Posted on February 24, 2010 at 08:05 PM.

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Taking the choices away from the consumer is bad game design because inevitably, there are going to be people who wanted to play the game in a certain manner. Sports gaming has been fighting with the customization issue for quite awhile, not sure if they should move towards further customization or to try to define the experiences for the user.

Customization is the key towards longevity. It is where great games become legendary games.

A game which plays awkwardly out of the box could be made right if the customization options were given to the users. If developers allowed for extensive tinkering with difficulty levels, sim engines, AI decision making and player ratings then games would be instantly able to be tweaked to a users liking.

One could make the argument that if you allow too much customization you might just destroy your future ability to make a profit. Make a game good enough, as it is commonly said, then people won't have a need to return to buy your product again in a year.

Unfortunately, in the yearly release cycle, that argument holds weight if you could get everything right and included within a year -- but it wouldn't be. Any move towards full customization of a game would likely take an entire console generation to successfully implement. However, I think that sooner or later, the move is going to have to be made.

The positive effects of making sports games more open would foster communities around making each product as good as it can possibly be. Some games might just turn from so-so to amazing thanks to a few fan tweaks to difficulty, AI tendencies, and simulation results. What developer wouldn't mind having that burden lifted from them?

I said something on Monday and I believe it is totally true. The more fans are able to tweak their experience of a game, the more the game will resonate to them on a personal basis since the game was built by many, but customized for one.

Getting that sort of a personal touch in a game would make many sports games legendary.

Comments

# 1 SHAKYR @ Feb 25

MMCHRISS, you are my new hero! You thoughts are like mines. I always say that customization and options are key to keeping fans satisfied with other elements.