Respect Your Gamer! - PDS Article at The Escapist

[Regina]

Johan Andersson, studio manager at Paradox Development Studio:
"As a game developer, you really need to know your gamer - by which I mean, the person that you want playing your game. What does he or she want? What will make them fall in love with the games you create? If you know your gamers, you know how you can both fulfill their wishes and surprise them. You can give them things they didn't even know they wanted. There isn't one big market for everything when it comes to games. But in a world where people keep saying that the PC market is dying, we at Paradox Development Studio are increasing our sales for every strategy game we make. This is in large part thanks to the games we create, which I think get better every year, but more importantly because of how we treat our gamers."


Read the full article at The Escapist:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/10814-Respect-Your-Gamer

 

[Raph]

Sounds like a good read! But Regina, are you seriously working a quarter past twelve a Friday night?

 

[Revshawn]

All hail our glorious leader Johan Anderson. He is a most prestigious and honorable lord. I would take an arrow for him every day.

 

[lucaluca]

Regina did you come home drunk and post this? ;-P

 

[Mef]

Listening to players is a double-edged sword. There have been games where the developers kept on making changes which some players were crying for vociferously that ended up transforming the games into something which many ended up not liking as much as the original...
And nowadays you hear "the devs are listening" from everybody anyway, so I actually think I'd take more notice if developers say that they're making their games the way they want to make them instead of repeating the "we listen to our customers" mantra.

 

[Limith]

I think Johan is smart to focus on chasing buyers and not those who pirate. There isn't a DRM for a game that hasn't been cracked, and all it does is make it annoying for people who bought the legitimate version of the game (inability to start Medieval 2:Total War Gold digital edition comes to mind, because it stupidly requires a DVD to be in the drive, which obviously I won't have one if I got a digital copy). There's so many games I own which I play with cracks due to annoying DRM.

Also, modding is great, it's why I bought Dragon Age Origins and Neverwinter Nights collection despite the games being old.

Listening to players is a double edged sword, it's important to use judgement, but it's also important to treat players with respect, and not put up a PR facade like Creative Assembly is doing with Rome2.

Demos are really important from a gamers perspective to verify a)the game works on their machine and b)that players actually enjoy it, if they aren't familiar with the genre or series.

 

[AndrewT]

Listening to players is a double-edged sword. There have been games where the developers kept on making changes which some players were crying for vociferously that ended up transforming the games into something which many ended up not liking as much as the original...
And nowadays you hear "the devs are listening" from everybody anyway, so I actually think I'd take more notice if developers say that they're making their games the way they want to make them instead of repeating the "we listen to our customers" mantra.

He didn't say Paradox listens to their customers, he said they know them. Not the same thing, quite ... I think they learned their lesson about over-listening to (what turned out to be) a noisy but tiny minority with the GamersGate-CK2 decision.

 

[Mef]

He didn't say Paradox listens to their customers, he said they know them. Not the same thing, quite ... I think they learned their lesson about over-listening to (what turned out to be) a noisy but tiny minority with the GamersGate-CK2 decision.

Yeah, I don't think PDS is in any danger of going down the wrong path.
Still, there is a fine line between "you know how you can both fulfill their wishes and surprise them" and just giving players what they're crying for. Establishing that distinction is what's kinda missing for me in this article, since just repeating the "customer friendly devs" speech is really nothing new.

 

[deathpit14]

We take pride in paying attention to our audience, and let that guide much of what we do. It helps enormously if you as a developer are part of your audience, as you can then add in that extra quality. If a developer is not enjoying the game they are working on, then the gamer won't be buying it either.
Read more at http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/10814-Respect-Your-Gamer#MdcmZWR0GZy5OVsX.99
This is why paradox is my favorite game developers. Paradox listens and doesn't just shove DLC we don't want down the consumers thoughts. Paradox Improves there games based on feedback and they have created a mega-modding community. Ever since I have been playing Paradox games I have grown to love this company more and more and I hope that you continue to surprise us your community with your kindness and generosity.

 

[Avernite]

He didn't say Paradox listens to their customers, he said they know them. Not the same thing, quite ... I think they learned their lesson about over-listening to (what turned out to be) a noisy but tiny minority with the GamersGate-CK2 decision.

I think it only became a tiny minority after CK2 came out. I think CK2 was the first Paradox game that also had a Steam option?

(and yes, I would still prefer GG, even if I accept that the discussion's over)

 

[Regina]

Sounds like a good read! But Regina, are you seriously working a quarter past twelve a Friday night?

Well yes... I promise I won´t do it again, just wanted to share!

 

[Regina]

Regina did you come home drunk and post this? ;-P

No. Not at all. I would never...
Anyway I had to go up really early today to prepare something for pds, more specifically trolling the ancient...

 

[Regina]

Listening to players is a double-edged sword. There have been games where the developers kept on making changes which some players were crying for vociferously that ended up transforming the games into something which many ended up not liking as much as the original...
And nowadays you hear "the devs are listening" from everybody anyway, so I actually think I'd take more notice if developers say that they're making their games the way they want to make them instead of repeating the "we listen to our customers" mantra.

Listening and getting inspirations and ideas from gamers is ALWAYS a good thing.
But as a developer, the challenge is to listening and then transforming the ideas into good gameplay without compromising the vision the team has for the game.
I understand what you mean, but it is always a good thing to listen to the people that love your games!

 

[donaldduck]

I think PDS should look or have looked at this thread. Huge amount of players have stated their opinions on EU4 and its patches :http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?735033

 

[Raph]

Well yes... I promise I won´t do it again, just wanted to share!

You'd better not, or I'll send the union after you!

 

[RX2000]

I think Johan is right on point.

I can honestly say I have never felt the way about a game company as I do about Paradox. I have liked games a lot before, but it just sort of ended there because their forums were kind of bland & there was never any feedback from the devs.

But then I found EU3 (& now EU4) & CK2, & wow I am in love with Paradox! There are vibrant forums where the project leads & devs not only post, but actually answer the players questions! And there are threads with the actual developers, & photos of them, & their likes & dislikes so that when I buy a Paradox game I feel like I am actually buying a product from a person & not from some faceless corporation! Its great! I agree with everything Johan wrote in this article, & I can say that he & the team at Paradox have earned my loyalty 100%.

Keep up the good work guys!!

 

[Darkath]

Why is there a character looking like Koei's Oda Nobunaga in the header of the article ?

Is this a hint that Sengoku 2 is under development ?