Flame on!

by Rich Redman

Every published author knows the mixed blessing of criticism. You have to pay attention to it, no matter how annoying it may seem, because the critic might be able to teach you something and to help you grow as an author. Thanks to the internet, everyone gets to spout off. Everyone's opinion, whether from a professional critic or an amateur crackpot, has the same weight. Game designers get the added "joy" of people who think they know more, or better, about games. As RPG designers, we brought it on ourselves.

Unique among printed works, RPGs actively encourage the reader to write their own support material. RPG periodicals actively solicit such amateur works. They are the source of our next generation of designers. As a result, every GM and player has an informed, experienced opinion about the games they play. The most opinionated among them never fail to let us, as designers, know where we failed, and occasionally they even tell us where we succeeded.

Mostly we, as game designers, enjoy reading it, even when we disagree. Every author makes choices when creating his, or her, work. The fact that some number of readers would have chosen differently is normal and expected. Only when the vast majority of readers would have chosen differently has the author failed—and even then a minority of readers believes the work a success! There are situations where we just wish the critic would shut up.

The first situation is when a work receives harsh criticism within hours of publication. Most of that criticism comes from people who don't understand how to separate their assumptions and expectations from reality. They bought the product with a preconceived notion of what would be in it, and are completely unwilling or incapable of experiencing it on its own. If it's not what they expected, then it automatically sucks no matter how well designed. You can usually spot these critics because their opinion contains numerous factual errors about the book. Anyone who posts an opinion the day of a product's release has not had time to read the book carefully and that lack of knowledge surfaces in their criticisms.

The second situation usually occurs within a few days of release. These critics haven't actually played the game, and usually attack a few, or even only one, subsystem within the rules. They haven't seen how the game works as a cohesive whole, and they may never do so. Some of these critics get so offended by a subsystem that they refuse to play the game. Some "house rule" the game before they've ever played it, and become increasingly frustrated as the impact of their house rule undermines related rules, gradually causing the fabric of the game to unravel.

This second group is actually more valuable to game designers than the first. The first group lets publishers know how their marketing succeeded or failed to create proper expectations. The second group, however, forces game designers to reconsider, and often to justify on message boards, their decisions. This process of debate doesn't need insults, acrimony, or flames (though it often includes them). The goal of the process is education. Both the critic and the designer learn from the debate, if they're smart.

This learning process makes customer contact tremendously valuable to every game designer and publishing company. On the one hand, the designers must think about their decisions, leading to better informed products. On the other, the wise designer educates the critic about the process of game design. It's wise to do so because we all love this hobby. What's good for the hobby is, in general, good for us. So training people outside the industry to recognize good design means that more people will buy well-designed products and, more importantly, will learn how to design such products themselves.

So by all means criticize our products. Come to our message boards and talk about them. Not only are you helping us become better game designers (and we always have room to grow), you're helping yourself. Not just by learning from the debate, but by brining your ideas to our attention. After all, we can't do it all ourselves. Sooner or later we're going to be looking for freelance designers....

Your Turn

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