Let me first start by saying that this blog post was brought about by Minecraft.
I bought my brother a gift card for the game so we can play together, and today, I figured I'd hop onto our world a bit early before him and do some work on a house. Well, instead, I found the "CLICK HERE FOR LIVE MINECON STREAM" on my log-on. So, deciding I could listen to the live stream while playing, I clicked.
And was promptly disappointed.
Let's start with what i do know: Minecon is huge from a few years ago. Much like the one that was held in Vegas, it went from 11 guys and one in a creeper costume to thousands upon thousands. Notch became a hero in less then a year. And now, the venues are getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Anyways, I must have caught the Q&A after a presentation, because it was Jeb and a few others of the development team sitting down as kids and adults alike came to the microphone to field their questions to the panel.
Again I was disappointed.
A lot of these kids and adults came to the microphone decked out in their favorite Minecraft gear, hoodies, t-shirts, capes, you name it... and promptly began the "When are you going to add X feature into the game?" And there wasn't just one, it was a whole slew of them. And it wasn't just the kids asking these questions, but the adults too. And it made me remember a quote I had read somewhere, "Minecraft is being built for self-entitled 12 year olds." Now, I disagree to some extent there. I understand that these kids asking these questions are young, and just want an open forum to get their feature added in, much like football fans yell at coaches to run their favorite play, and will do so until the play is run (successfully, I might add.)
Now, one question that was fielded really caught my attention. A little kid stepped up to the mike and asked "How long does it take to add a saddle recipie to the game?" For those of you who don't know, saddles are used on pigs to turn them into a horse of sorts, and you can guide them via a carrot on a stick. And the reply came back, "About 3 seconds. But we're not going to." This drew a sad face from the kid. "We want you to find these saddles in dungeons, because we want less things to be craftable, and more things to be discoverable."
This brought me to realize that gaming communities can't ever hope to directly guide game developers. But they do have 2 indirect roles to play as the community. And those roles are, "Debugging," and "Feedback Reinforcement." In "Debugging," the community submit reports abouts issues to developers or intermediary game masters to get glitches and bugs removed from the game. These can be simple graphical issues, or be complex game breaking mechanics. And then there's "Feedback Reinforcement," which consists of positive or negative reaction from the playerbase. If the reaction is good, the feature stays and maybe gets developed further. However, if the reaction is negative, then the feature may be pulled, or if it can't, the effects of said feature are reduced or downplayed and development stops on it. This Feedback Reinforcement doesn't have to be before a feature hits a game, nor does it have to be instant. For instance, forum posts. These can be an early indicator, and a late indicator could be months down the road, when people think something is good, but then it turns out it wasn't. In which case, more forum posting, or just whining in game (as is usually the case)
In Minecraft, based on the question that the kid fielded and the response given, I have to feel for the kid. Who doesn't want their idea in a world famous game? But at the same time, I ultimately have to side with the Mojang crew. It is their game after all. If the developers want more content that users have to explore the game to find, then ultimately, that's what the developers want, and no amount of being a big loud fan boy (or girl) at a live event such as Minecon will change that. And while there might be whining in forums of "WE WANT THIS NOW!", maybe eventually there will be a time and place to release said feature, and today might not be that day.
And this doesn't just apply to Minecraft, but other games as well, and one of the most notable examples is the game I played called, "EvE Online." There was one such patch named Incarna that everyone hated. It brought about useless features that nobody used and took out useful features that everyone used. Eventually, CCP Games, the developers of EvE took a good hard look at the direction their company and game development was going after the player base gave "Negative Feedback" on the features of Captain's Quarters and the removal of spinning ships. Another incident in that game was the leaking of a letter called, "Greed Is Good," an internal company newsletter supposedly designed to "Stimulate conversation and ideas" but instead was one of the focuses of the "Jita Riots," an ingame event that took place over a weekend where people piled into the main trade hub of the game to shoot at a statue that is Invulnerable. Again, this form of Negative feedback got things to change, and now the game is going in a direction that everyone can *mostly* agree is positive.
Ultimately, gaming is a business however, and game companies have a duty to listen to their fanbase to keep making money. But they also have a duty to follow their own creative juices and not let a fanbase completely dictate how a game is created. If that was the case, then a lot of good games might head south. To the contrary, a lot of bad games might have been saved and made good. It's a fine line that gamers and developers walk.
But, little kid, don't be upset that Jeb told you no. Keep on gaming and having fun with what the developers of Minecraft have given you, and may give you. Request things on the forums, and get some support from fellow gamers. Who knows, they might have told you no because they have something bigger in store for that feature you requested.
-Tassemet
