NLSC Your source for basketball video games.
We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with a few thoughts on how important it is to have transparency, goodwill, and mutual respect when it comes to gamers and developers.
A point that I’ve frequently made in articles and on our podcast is that we should stand with each other, rather than shill for games and companies. Support your fellow gamers, be fans not fanboys, and be critics not haters. As such, whenever I see a developer or someone in the industry mocking or disrespecting gamers, it does bug me. It doesn’t happen constantly, but there are times when criticism is dismissed out of hand with the declaration that gamers don’t know what they’re talking about. To me, that’s demonstrating great disdain for your core audience.
At the same time…yeah, sometimes we bring those responses on ourselves! I’ve also seen unnecessary hatred spewed at developers, and comments that suggest the person doesn’t know as much about video game development as they may think. I don’t claim to be an infallible source of knowledge on that front, but dabbling with programming, and talking to people who do have experience with game development and software design, has been illuminating. I absolutely don’t condone the nastiness, either. The bottom line is that when it comes to the relationship between developers and gamers, there needs to be mutual respect and goodwill. Transparency helps to foster that.
Once again, it isn’t completely unfair to suggest that some gamers – and a rather vocal contingent at that – don’t know what they’re talking about and assume too much when it comes to video game development. I’ll freely admit that, because again, I’ve seen those posts! With all due respect, if your suggestions include bringing in players and coaches to inspect the game code and instructing developers on what to delete, or just copying and pasting code between the Current Gen/Prior Gen and Next Gen/New Gen versions of NBA 2K, then you definitely lack knowledge of software development and coding. As I’ve explained before, it’s not like editing text in a Word document!
However, this is where transparency is important. It’s all well and good to say that the community (or a loud minority of gamers) don’t know what they’re talking about, but if you don’t explain what’s actually going on, then misguided or flat-out ignorant speculation is inevitable. Naturally, developers and other company reps aren’t always at liberty to go into details, but there’s something smug and disingenuous when you keep your audience in the dark about an issue, while also sneering at them for not knowing what’s going on. If the userbase is dissatisfied, then they’re going to draw some potentially incorrect conclusions in the absence of any concrete information.
That of course brings us to goodwill. When goodwill has been fostered – when a game has a good track record and the relationship between developers and the community is cordial – the userbase will be far more likely to grant the benefit of the doubt. When we feel as though we’ve been misled, taken advantage of, or disrespected, then that lack of goodwill is going to make us far less forgiving, and significantly more cynical. If our queries have been met with snark, scorn, and hostility, we’re going to assume the worst, and probably respond in kind. Maybe we don’t know all the ins and outs of coding and game design, but we know when we’re being mistreated as consumers!
The community is also not going to take kindly to anyone who has crossed over and became part of the development team, and now looks down on where they came from. I’ve told the story of a couple of acquaintances who I thought I was on pretty good terms with, and even hung out with at an NBA Live community event, suddenly becoming quite cold towards me after they got gigs at EA Sports. It stung because they knew what it was like to be a part of the community; on this side of the fence, if you will. Obviously, we can’t and shouldn’t expect people to jeopardise their jobs for our benefit, but there’s no call for them to be cold or condescending towards us.
Sure, if you’re plucked from the community to become a developer, it goes without saying that you’ll learn things about game development that most gamers don’t, and could probably stand to know in order to better appreciate games and the people that work on them. That’ll understandably change your perspective on the medium. You also know what it’s like to be a gamer, though. You know what it’s like to have been disappointed by a game and want some answers, or just to have your feedback taken seriously. If you’re in a position to provide insights, yet you instead mock gamers for not knowing what they can’t possibly know, it makes you look like a company shill.
Sure, there are things that developers can’t say. They must adhere to the marketing strategy and roadmap, and any contractual obligations. It’s unreasonable for us to expect developers to spill secrets, or go into detail when they haven’t been given the green light to do so. Again, it isn’t fair to expect them to throw away their careers for us. By the same token however, it isn’t fair to hold that lack of knowledge over our heads. It’d be one thing if certain issues were actually explained, and yet we refused to listen to it. When there’s a lack of transparency, “you don’t know what you’re talking about” feels unfairly dismissive. If they can’t explain, it’d be better to just say nothing.
Also, we’re rightfully frustrated if patch notes are vague, or nonexistent. Our outrage is justified when VC-related issues that potentially affect Take-Two’s bottom line are fixed right away, while problems that affect us are resolved slowly, if at all. When there are pushy recurrent revenue mechanics, passive-aggressive error messages, and issues being swept under the rug instead of acknowledged, it erodes goodwill and trust in the brand. That’s not on us; again, we know when we’re being taken advantage of, or treated unfairly. A lack of transparency and goodwill will result in hostility and negative speculation, especially if we’re getting silence or snark instead of honesty.
With all of that being said, as a community, we do need to act appropriately even when we’re rightfully upset. Keeping a respectful tone is advisable, not only because it’s more likely to achieve better results, but because we should treat people as we want to be treated. To that end, while blunt honesty may get our messages across – albeit in a less effective and palatable way – outright rudeness and personal attacks are unacceptable. There’s a reason I apologised to a former EA exec after his home phone number was posted in the Forum, and people were calling him to demand a patch for NBA Live 07. Yes, we were right to be disappointed, but not to dox and harass him!
That’s obviously a rare and unique situation, and far less likely now that we have direct access to developers and company reps via social media. Since we do have that open line of communication though, it’s important to keep etiquette in mind. Needless to say, it’s tempting to respond in kind if devs or other reps take potshots at us first, though “eye for an eye” isn’t exactly a constructive approach. It’s impossible to foster mutual respect when we’re arguing about who started the argument and hostilities. As long as both sides are sniping at each other, nothing will change. There’s also a power imbalance, since the lack of competition means we don’t have leverage as consumers.
If you’ll forgive a clichéd tautology, we can only control what we can control. That is to say, we can behave ourselves, interact respectfully and honestly, and support each other as fellow gamers. There’s no guarantee that we’ll get the transparency that we desire, along with the goodwill and mutual trust that it fosters. At least we’ll be doing the right thing though, approaching the situation as best we can. The moment we start with personal attacks and rude remarks, we cede the moral high ground. After all, who would you to listen to: the person who can be honest without flying into a rage or being snarky, or the one who can’t criticise without being rude or screaming insults?
Having dealt with both kinds of people during my time in the basketball gaming community – and my personal and professional life away from it – I can definitely sympathise with developers when they refuse to engage with unpleasant individuals. I don’t blame them for zoning out when gamers present their feedback disrespectfully, or refusing to interact with anyone who’s being downright nasty. However, it’s unfair to tar everyone with the same brush, or to look down on the community as a whole. There are literally millions of people that have been playing the games for years. They know their stuff, they have good feedback, and they want answers and insights.
Saying that we don’t know anything about game development, only to refuse to ever elaborate to whatever extent clears up confusion without revealing any confidential details, is being disingenuous. It’s scolding an audience for supposedly being ignorant, while failing to provide an explanation so that they can be informed. It’s forgetting what it’s like to be on this side of the fence, frustrated as a gamer and consumer, and wanting honest answers. Without transparency, and the goodwill and mutual respect that it cultivates, you can’t blame your audience for suspecting the worst; especially given the issues with patch notes, VC, and overall problematic communication.
Mutual respect is essential. Gamers need to remember that developers are people, and that video game development isn’t as easy as typing into a Word document. Likewise, developers need to remember that it’s fair for gamers to want value for money, and to enjoy the products they purchase (often annually). In particular, devs who came from the community need to remember what it was like to be on the other side. Yes, we don’t have the same knowledge as someone who’s worked in the industry, but if you won’t enlighten us, that won’t change. Holding it over our heads, and continuing to eschew transparency, will guarantee a lack of mutual respect, trust, and goodwill.
