Here’s another argument I’m gonna have both FOR and with myself, regarding Game Developer’s and “advice” from the Player.
Warcraft (on the cusp of yet another xpac). Remember when Cataclysm came out and everyone went nuts about how hard the HEROIC dungeons are? So they nerfed them into the dirt within the first month. And it all went downhill from there? That was a dumb decision on the part of the Developer. They should NOT have obeyed the consumer so negligently.
What REALLY happened, was 3 Key things:
1) The Player had been stuck in a loop for about a year in the final patch release for WOLK (the most perfect version of WoW in its history, proving that once again, right now). Just prior to that final patch, they released the DUNGEON FINDER; erasing your ‘waiting for group’ headache quite effectively. And easily the most effective means of obtaining upgrades, via badges/tokens. Players had been face-palming Heroics for a year within that system because they out-geared those dungeons many times over by the time Cata would finally release.
Forgetting of course that when WOLK had released? No one was face-palming those Heroics. They weren’t face-palming heroics until the third patch of the xpac cycle. When there was mostly nothing to do except for that. So naturally - cuz people are generally dumb, small-minded and short-sighted both forward and in reverse - when Cata dropped… they thought they could continue to que into a Dungeon automatically, converse with virtually no one, smash it to pieces and move on to more carebear rewards (much like hit the gimme button on your phone these days).
So they all went berserk. Difficulty bad. Competition unfair. Challenge require effort. Tears upon my knees and knuckles.
2) Further complicating this situation: Blizzard CROSS-REALMED the Dungeon Finder in WOLK to make it even faster. So your behavior has no consequence. Can’t come back on you, yer a blip on the Internet. Act like an asshat, why not, eh? So much so that there really was no point in even ATTEMPTING to communicate in those dungeon drops anymore. All that would do was isolate you and potentially get Kicked (removed), for… you know, holding up the line that wants to run headlong back into defeat once more while learning nothing, in any way shape or form. So therefore:
3) The SOCIAL ASPECT went to shit. It was all and only about epeens, and gaining them as fast as possible. On a rail. Often by yourself. So you could whip it out and go, “Yeah? Nice, eh?”
And the thing about a nice cock? Or a stellar sets of tits? If you cannot make use of them properly - it’s really only window dressing. Learn how to USE it. Or get back in line, thanks.
In general: the game went from: Learning with a Purpose, to… I dunno… a clownfest. “How many clowns can come up on outta that little tiny car? OMG, there’s SO many clowns!! WOW!! Fat guyyyy in a litttle coaaaat!"
I remember making a public post regarding the new world content, how I now felt like I was - and this could credibly be my most fantastic quote ever to unearth from myself (my favorite cumshot ever, you could say)… “I don’t want to feel like a log rolling down a hill, killing daisies.”
Right? Damn that’s good. I’ll never ever top that one. You can still smell the STINK of it!! Them little semen-squids are still searching for insemination to this day. God love it.
And of course the reaction to that post (all the effort I spent all around it to explain my concerns) was… “tldr”.
Poof.
And guess what? I was right then. As much as I am right now.
The Player - while clearly every bit as much important as the Developer, if not more - can not be expected to know better than the Developer, in terms of what's Best for the Game. And if they do? Then it all gets upside down. Plain and simple. World of Warcraft has been in a tailspin ever since they completely fumbled that situation in... comically enough (puns!)... Cataclysm.
Wanna have fuwn with my game? Then interact, don’t try to “control” it. I come from a Writer’s background. Erotica and Screenplays. This is new for me. Those prior vehicles put me at the helm more than this does, maybe. And I don’t want to OWN you either. I am doing my best to make it organic; inching my way. I encourage allowance as much as I do ownership from both ends. A preference for the greyest of certainty. All of the things we cannot achieve so easily in Life itself. Take a break from What You Know.
Suspend Reality. Let Go of Control.
Attempt to be all things that matter - while anchored to nearly none of it.
Two Words, really: Jimmy Hendrix