Every game which builds a community while still being in active development will soon be confronted with players who post suggestions for new features on its forum. Most of these suggestions, however:
- Go into a completely different direction than where you want your game to go
- Would require far too much effort for the benefit they could have
- Are just plain awful
What's a good way to deal with such suggestions?
Should you tell the players honestly what you think about their suggestions so that they learn to make more constructive ones?
Should you always try to maintain a positive and encouraging attitude towards player ideas, even when you secretly think that there is not a chance in hell you are following them?
Should you just ignore any suggestions which you don't like?
Answer
People who make suggestions are often fans or critics, who are invaluable as they help you know how well you are doing. Therefore you should treat these people with respect. Be gentle, firm, and most importantly, honest. This means you tell them exactly why you think their idea is bad, whilst being as understanding as possible.
If the idea is technically difficult, tell them so, and explain how it is technically difficult. Stick to the facts, stick to established wisdom. Address the difficulty as a shortcoming of the current system, rather than the impracticality of the suggestion, and never suggest that the player lacks technical know-how (even though that is often true).
Good: To support 100 billion players, we'll have to move to some server cluster solution, and we just don't have the resources to do that in a reasonable time.
Bad: That's not even physically possible; the algorithms involved have not even been discovered.
If the idea has merit but goes in a different direction, tell them so, and explain how the idea goes against your direction. Try to be diplomatic, and keep in mind that design is subjective, but at the same time be firm in stating that you have control over the artistic/design direction of the game.
Good: I believe lasers will look out-of-place with the medieval theme of this game, and we want to be faithful in our rendition of a medieval society.
If the idea has flaws or lacks merit, tell them so, and explain its shortcomings. Keep in mind that for whatever reason (limitations of the medium, difficulty in expression, lack of forethought), the player may not be aware of the flaws, so kindly but clearly point them out. You'll find that players often come back with refinements, clarifications or just drop the idea, which are all much better outcomes. Remember that with a lot of ideas, players are dying to get a whiteboard and explain their idea face-to-face, but instead have to resort to a crappy text-only medium, so do not assume that just because the idea comes off as flawed that it is actually so. Also consider that a lot of great games started from ideas that don't seem brilliant at all, and it was execution that made them great.
Good: Dishing out a 1-hit-KO spell may be fun, but I think it would be very annoying to be on the receiving side.
If you just don't find the idea good, tell them so, but be careful how you tell them, and always suggest alternatives. This type of response is the hardest to give, so see if you can treat it as one of the previous cases instead - eliminate the technical and obvious flaws first. In forming your response, assume that the idea is actually good, and ask why did the idea come off as bad? Does the player need to sell it a bit more? Would examples, sketches, or demos help? Would getting more community support help? Always give them a realistic out - what would convince you, and how could they go about it? Try to see the idea in the best possible light, don't be defensive, and look for that hidden kernel of wisdom that is often there.
Good: I don't think a half-elf-dragon-devil-samurai-ninja would look good and be balanced, could you please show me what it might look like, what its stats and abilities might be?
Another way of looking at the problem is: these people may not be game development experts, but they could very well be experts in other areas that you are not - they could be doctors or lawyers. I'm sure you've said things that your doctor/lawyer would consider hare-brained, so ask yourself how you would like them to respond in that situation.
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