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When did communities take over games development?
August 3rd, 2008 by Rob

You know, I'm just as guilty of doing this as anyone else (so please don't think I'm throwing stones and being holier-than-thou), but the last decade, or thereabouts, has seen an increasing rise in gaming communities acting like they "own" a game before it comes out and the developers of that game are somehow obligated to put every last thought from the community into the game, otherwise it will be "teh suxxors".

I was recently reminded of this phenomenon by the failure of a 50,000-something signature petition, demanding that the forthcoming Diablo III should use a darker palette of colours. Despite the developers having solid gameplay reasons for their colour choices in the new game, the Diablo III community has chosen to see the colours as WoW-esque, therefore the game will suck. Apparantly.

When did this start to happen? I can remember a time when, believe it or not, games were pretty much made in isolation. You might have some idea that 'x' company was making 'x' kind of game, via news snippets in gaming magazines, but that was pretty much it, until the game was reviewed in the same publication. At which point, people could make a purchase decision based on the finished game.

Now, I don't neccessarily think that's the best way to make a game - I think that community feedback is a very useful thing. But when does it become too much? And why do communities suddenly start thinking they're entitled to more say than they actually are? You see this happening a hell of a lot in MMORPG communities in particular, which is why I've decided to throw the topic up here for discussion.

Naturally, the rise of the Internet, and instantaneous communication with just about anyone, has a large hand in why today's 10 year old feels completely at ease telling a games developer that his new combat system sucks, whereas when I was 10 years old, back in 1985, I wouldn't have even known the developer's name, let alone dreamed I could contact him and give him my opinions.

Neither are ideal situations, to my mind. And I get the very distinct feeling that, in the future, smarter developers will find new ways to engage communities, prior to games being released, lest they suffer the "slings and arrows" of a gaming community scorned when they make some mundane, yet vital, change to a game - and spend the next six months being told they suck by a group of people; half of whom probably won't end up playing the game, anyway.

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