A few years ago, I saw one of my games featured on the front page of Roblox, and was absolutely overjoyed to see it have more than 400 players from the usual zero. Well, except that I realized I had released the game with no knowledge of thousands of bugs, which meant hundreds of possible ways a player could have a poor experience. I also was not fully aware of the responsibilities that came with having a game reach thousands of players. Almost immediately, the first bug report was submitted, and I remember internally panicking: my game had suddenly ranged from praises to criticism all at once and I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do to make the game better.

With that, I ended up spending hundreds of hours pouring through Reddit threads, asking for help on various forums, and watching videos on ‘how to improve your game’. I quickly learned that they can only take you so far with developing a game. What I really needed was to experience the game from a player’s perspective.

Player feedback is simply what players think of your game, and what they suggest you to do with your game. But when you dig deeper into the feedback, it quickly becomes what the player believes will make your game a more enjoyable experience. Integrating their feedback and ideas makes them feel like they are a part of the development process, and feel like they have an impact.

Without further ado, here are some common mistakes that I have seen developers make when leveraging and implementing player feedback.

Tossing Out Feedback Immediately/Ignoring Feedback

All feedback is important. Your local neighbor, your veteran developer, and a eight year old fan will all have feedback that should be considered. Often times, developers toss out feedback for various reasons.

— The idea is unfeasible or irrelevant.

— The person suggesting this won’t give me valuable feedback (e.g younger players, the average redditor, someone who doesn’t play the game, using insults, etc.) — My idea is better, and there’s nothing better than my idea!

— The data I’ve gathered analytically is clearly more accurate!

The list is endless, and many times you can sympathize with the developer for not listening to an idea — but even the most ridiculous ideas from a child can be of value.

For example, let’s pretend that we are the developers of Jailbreak. XxCopMaster63xX contacts you, says that they’re your biggest fan, and has a fantastic idea for the game: “ADD ZOMBIES AND MAKE EVERY GUN KILL COPS INSTANTLY!!”.

Many of you would immediately dismiss this feedback, but let’s delve deeper into the suggestion. (Forgive me if I make any assumptions on the balancing of Jailbreak, I don’t intend to.)

Zombies evidently aren’t something that would fit into Jailbreak normally, but consider the potentially good feedback in the idea. Perhaps it could be used during a Halloween update? Maybe something similar to zombies that would fit into a cops/robbers world? Perhaps even drill down to the actions of zombies that might be cool to see in the game, like busting down doors or breaking windows to reach their target (whether it’s the bank vault or the brains of a player). You should consider the feedback given, and even if it’s not directly what you might consider valuable, you can extrapolate other ideas from that starting point! Now look at why the player would want the cops to die instantly from bullets. Does the player like playing cops and robbers more? Have other players expressed similar concerns? Do guns feel like they are doing enough damage to you when you play with them, or do other players think they are too weak/strong? Perhaps this implies that criminals might be too weak? Is it possible that criminals feel like they lack agency because cops are hard to defeat?

These are all the basic questions that might come up when looking at the suggestion. It delves deeper, given Jailbreak is a multiplayer game with potential of a near infinite amount of different situations because every player plays differently.

Even though adding zombies or instant kills on every gun is likely never to happen in Jailbreak, by giving credibility to the player and showing that you considered their suggestion already makes you a great developer in their eyes. There might even be some merit for that zombie idea for another game you have in mind for the future.

Not Balancing Player Feedback

No matter what, you should never make any part of your player base feel like they aren’t being listened to. There is nothing ever to be gained from telling your players that the developer knows what is best for the game, because regardless whether it’s right or wrong, players will feel like their opinions and ideas don’t matter, and will feel disconnected from the game. In some instances, this might backfire, and players might start vocalizing the fact that they feel the developer isn’t considering their players or listening to feedback.

Always have a reason for your decisions, and always be sure that you show that you are looking at what players want. Don’t give dodgy responses to players who are trying to help you improve your game, or you risk having backlash and dissent among players.

Utilizing the ‘Majority agrees this is good so I won’t consider the other’ rationale can also backfire. This relates directly to explaining yourself for any major or controversial decision for your game. These types of responses make the smaller group of players feel like their opinions are being washed away by the mob mentality. Consider and talk about the pros and cons of both sides, and make sure that you give reasoning for why you did or did not change or add something within your game.

You certainly can’t please everyone, and you’ll always find someone who dislikes your game for the most irrational of reasons. Caution is always a difficult task when answering questions and receiving feedback from players, as one small comment can be over exaggerated to dramatic proportions, which is why many developers choose to remain quiet in the development process. However, communication is key to a long and healthy relationship with your playerbase. Even if you mess up, you can own up to it and acknowledge the issue.

Optional — Not Challenging Player Feedback

Assuming that you’ve done the above and considered the feedback given, it’s time for you to decide what to do with it. Sometimes player feedback doesn’t go through, and there are cases where there’s a vocal group who believes that the idea is an ultimatum.

This is the hardest thing to do, because it’s like arguing politics. You have to walk in knowing that there’s a large group of people who are ready to disagree and counter-argue your points. More than likely, they won’t change their stance. Sometimes it isn’t worth going into- and that’s also alright. But if there aren’t responses being given from the developer, if the players feel like the developer has given up on the game, then they will more than likely give up as well.

Final Word — Your games are art; there will always be critics and fans.

Video games are an art form, just like books, music, and paintings. While not every game is meant to be a masterpiece, there’s always going to be someone out there who enjoys your game. It doesn’t matter if your game is simply a tycoon that you needed to make for money, or if you wanted to make the next This War of Mine. Player feedback, as important as it is, should never be your final decision maker, but rather an aid to what you want your game to be.

There are game developers out there who receive death threats over their design choices for video games, but they also hear about the people who love what they make and have kept the game close to their lives. Consider a short thought by my favourite game designer Greg ‘Ghostcrawler’ Street.

“I have made some design decisions that I have regretted. We all have. I’m not sure I have ever met a game designer who feels that they have had more hits than misses. Like artists or writers, I often find that designers are tortured by the inevitable compromise that comes with bringing a piece of art to life.

But the reason I keep doing it is that I keep running into players who thank me, because Age of Empires, World of Warcraft, or League of Legends are an important part of their lives.

So I’m fine if you choose to play other games rather than the ones I work on. But I would also love to buy you a beer sometime and understand what it is about those games that you love so much.” — https://askghostcrawler.tumblr.com/post/177099771788/youre-a-terrible-game-designer-i-have-made