It wasn’t too long ago when interaction between gamers and developers was mainly a one-way street. Developers trickled information out to gamers through carefully established channels like E3 press conferences, magazine exclusives and press releases. Gamers were left to share their feedback and concerns with other gamers. Granted, you may have been able to write letters or e-mails to developers, but there was no guarantee that they would be seen by anyone.
That type of controlled chain of command slowly started to change as the Internet opened more communication lines, but only recently has the gamer-developer interaction exploded into the full-on, two-way communication that we are experiencing today. Thanks to message boards, developer blogs and technologies like Twitter, gamers and developers now freely exchange information and ideas on a daily, hourly and even minute-by-minute basis.
Great article Jim! I think the community interaction has been a HUGE factor in the overall improvement in the community and with the games we talk about.
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First off, nice article about something I tend to worry about probably more than I need to.
Because I strongly believe the more vocal voices on the internet DO NOT represent the majority on almost every subject matter, it worries me to see this kind of discourse...
From the article...
"The producers and the designers are still going to make the decisions at the end of the day," Russell said. "But if we can give them the tools to help better the product [based on] what our consumers say, that’s where the win-win is. So it’s not about the hardcore community or the casual community, because that’s not what this team is focused on for our product year-in and year-out. It’s about creating the most realistic MLB experience you can. That transcends the casual crowd and transcends the hardcore crowd. If it’s authentic, everybody is going to play it."
It doesn't seem logical to me that because the casual gamer is in effect "casual", he's not represented in the antics of the internet fan who loudly types that no colored socks is a "deal breaker". But it's good to see the developers have a handle on the types of representation that is out there.
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tril 02:19 AM 07-03-2009
sounds like we pay these software developers so we can be game testers. software testers usually get payed.
seriously, its a good thing to know that these developers take notice of the every day gamer.
It
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stephensonmc 02:30 AM 07-03-2009
Thanks for the opportunity to interview Jim!
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Majoniak 09:30 PM 07-03-2009
I think it's great that Sony is going to accept input from the community (not a large part, but still) on MLB 10. Working out all the bugs so there is no need for a post release histeria is great news.
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Grydnt Vektr211 07:44 AM 07-04-2009
Great Article man. It does seem as if the developers are listening. I've seen huge strides taken to rebuild the NBA Live franchise and Madden this yr seem to be headed in the right direction. I was just wondering, What made the Developers change their minds, lead them to actually start posting on the boards, and lead to them actually implementing what we say into the game? I would love to see their cognitive process in doing this!
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cepwin 12:01 AM 07-05-2009
Great article! I do agree that it is more a good thing than anything. Personally I think it is great that we can provide input that, if relevant and useful, will reach the development team and often acted upon..if not in the current version in future releases. They are going to hype in certain situations (like company podcasts) but you can filter for that. (I listen to the EA Sports podcasts for the info about the games and try to ignore the hype...same thing with Major Nelson's podcast.) In short, I'm glad the developers value our input enough to go on the forums, etc.
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ndhusker90 05:03 PM 07-05-2009
Excellent article. Its good to see that developers are open to the everyday gamers ideas.
However that seems to be a missed point in the NCAA football series...
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