A few weeks ago, I got asked: “What’s the number one most important thing a dev needs to know to be successful in the games industry?” Questions like these are fun because everyone has opinions and folks tend to supply answers alongside their expertise. Alyssa, who heroically keeps our scatterbrained team on the straight and narrow, might say: “The most important thing is to be organized. Be specific and precise about what you want to accomplish, and how you plan to accomplish it.” Miguel, whose goofball antics have been blowing up on Tik Tok recently, might say: “Don’t take yourself too seriously. Everyone wants to work with the fun, upbeat devs. Be that dev.” For me, since most of my job is hanging out with players of our games, it’s: “Learn to take feedback. Never take it personally. Never get defensive. Find the insight in whatever feedback you get and use it to make the game better.”
And I’m not the only person who’d say this! All over the internet you’ll find blogs, podcasts, videos, articles, guides, tips and testimonials all saying this exact same thing. They’ll say: “Playtest your game often and aggressively!” Or they might say: “Make sure you get comprehensive feedback from anyone that tests your game!” That’s all true, but I’m talking about something a little bit different. See, when designers talk in these terms, they’re creating an implicit environment that is curated, sterile and focused. These are laboratory settings. Students testing one anothers’ games, for instance, will give this kind of feedback. If you give your game dev friends games, they’ll give this kind of feedback. Hell, if we take a look at your game for Akupara, we’re guaranteed to give you this level of feedback. But we’re all scientists sterilized in the lab with you. We understand the laboratory conditions, and we abide by the rules set forth in the lab, but that’s not what I’m talking about.
I’m talking about the wild west. As a community manager, it’s my job to be the conduit between devs of a game and the community that plays it. And when your community is giving you feedback about what’s too difficult, what’s too easy, what’s boring, what’s lame, what’s cringey, what’s slow, what’s a slog, what’s a chore, and what’s uninteresting, they won’t abide by those same laboratory conditions. They’ll get mean and they’ll get angry. They’ll get patronizing, condescending and dismissive. And all of that sucks to read (which is why managers like me have a job.) But a lot of the time fans are reacting openly and honestly to real issues they’re having with the game. There’s real insight buried in there and it can be incredibly useful, if you know how to dig it out.
Now, I do want to be clear that this isn’t a complete picture of any community and you shouldn’t expect all your interactions with fans to be negative. In fact, ninety percent of the interactions I have with fans every day are incredibly positive! As much as I love those fans, though, they’re not the only ones out there and they’re not the only ones that you should be listening to. If someone is taking the time to give you feedback on your title, it’s because they care. Even if they’re having a bad time, they care about sharing that feedback with you. And even if they slather that feedback in some really bitter sauce, it doesn’t mean that feedback isn’t worthwhile and isn’t worth taking seriously.
The devs behind Gone Viral do a phenomenal job at getting feedback from fans!
Which is why my advice is never to take it personally and never get defensive. It’s really easy when someone comes at you with a harsh tone to respond harshly. But doing so loses out on whatever insight, no matter how bitterly sauced, resides in that player’s point. If you’ve spent any time on this blog over the last year, you’ve probably come into contact with our roguelite brawler, Gone Viral, which was developed by two devs with a ton of AAA experience. One of the things that makes Gone Viral special is its Discord, which players are constantly entering and constantly giving feedback about the game on. For a long time, I was hosting questions every day asking players to tell us about the game and their experience playing it. Never in my career have I seen someone so effortlessly turned from a frustrated, angry player into an eager one than in that Discord server. And the way that they’re able to do so has two component pieces: empathy and humility.
One thing that you’ll find from bitterly sauced players is an argumentativeness. They want a fight. They want you to get defensive because it validates that bitterness. But if you want to cure it, you need to empathize. Nothing stops the argumentative streak in a player quicker than empathizing with where they’re coming from. Understand that their frustration is real and worthy of addressing and you’ll completely disarm their argument and enter a good place where you can start digging into that insight that they’re offering.
On top of this, it’s also important to offer some humility right alongside that empathy as well. Game designers tend to be naturally pretty good at this, understanding that their game isn’t perfect and can be changed, fixed, and altered if something isn’t working correctly. It’s important to communicate that to players so they understand they’re not talking to a brick wall. One of the most important successes of the Gone Viral Discord was how changing the game became a point of pride for players. They’d make suggestions and when those suggestions entered the game itself, the players were given credit for the fixes. This is only possible because the devs had the humility to make the changes when they were needed. These kinds of players enter the conversation with a feeling that their concerns will fall on deaf ears. Showing them a little humility will prove that you can and will listen.
Interacting with players is one of the best parts about working in games. For most devs and most games, those interactions are going to be great, fulfilling experiences that drive home why we got in this business in the first place. But you will also run into players that have some tougher feedback for you because the experience you crafted for them didn’t hit quite right. With a little empathy, you can disarm them. A little humility will help you connect with them. And, given that, you might just be able to turn a fan’s bitter experience around and help them get to the other side of it feeling positive about you, the game, and everything in between.
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