Sunday, June 22, 2008

some devs get it

Michael's got a series of interviews with Paul Barnett over at his site. I've said before that Barnett seems like one of the better developers in the industry, and it's comments like these that continue to reinforce that view.

"The only balancing you should do [post-release] is if there is something that fundamentally breaks the game."

He later clarified that comment here:

"There is no need to obsessively mess with the game. I hate the nerf train, I hate designers who just won't leave it alone they think they know best. I belive that you should only mess with these things when it is clear they are breaking the game."

In short, MMOs don't have to be the fickle, fluid blobs they are currently... looking completely different every 6 months. Among other problems, this invites players to hate the game because they're always thinking about what it could be, what it should have been. MMOs are not services. They're products with services necessarily attached. Finish the damn product and leave it alone.

1 comment:

  1. Aaron - he's on to something there...I'm playing through AoC at the moment & it's a shame those devs don't have the same attitude.

    Too many changes to a MMO will make the players hostile to the devs even if it is for the better in the long run. It's like you get use to something & make the best of it then it's taken away & you are given something equally 'broken' in some cases...argh!

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