Wait, is it now bad to make polls and basing work around of the results? And is there really a right way for something made up (i mean, where is the Krystal in reality)? While i stopped supporting and dont know where those polls are made, i think its good to listen to your supporters and community, if not there would be no point of sharing anything than just a "comming soon probably" teaser.
And what good are those standing pictures anyway to discuss, im more interested in bending poses, kneeling options etc
That would be an intersting point for discussion from my view... so just wait #demo
This is an interesting topic that I believe has no specific answer.
From one point yes, making polls and doing what people like the most will bring the project more stuff that people would wanna see. It brings community co-operation and overall interaction on the board.
On the other hand if everything is done by the polls project loses its uniqeness from a developer standpoint, because developers stop thinking for themselves and let decisions to come from other people, thus nullifying their own vision. They basically give up their responsibilities and on every question there will be an answer "Well, community decided so. Not us. It's not our fault".
The problem of the community is that community wants too much and too different things, which is of course impossible, so there should be balance. If there is not, then project jsut becomes an oversaturated dump of different shit that doesn't make sense in the summary.
If you ask me, ideally there can be polls on some specific things that can be variable, that still follow developer's unique vision. And absolutely there should be no point where game designer just says "Fuck this shit, let the community decide, because I have no fucking clue what to do with this" - its extremely unprofessional.
I hold a couple of games as a "Gold standard" for myself, them being Mass Effect2 and Dragon Age Origins and I sincerely believe that these games while being made holded up their ground on each and every aspect of what must be done and how it must've being done.
Game is the hardest media that exists - it has filmography, animation, writing, acting, illustration, music, sound, programming and modeling working all together. But to that it also has what no other media has - it has game design, a part that unites everything above to work perfectly in unison. Game designer's role is so big that people like Hideo Kojima are world-wide known for their clear and straight understanding of their own vision of the game. Its a tremendous task to sew up 10 different parts of the game to work together, but when game designer should also add some one else's ideas to his own that he doesn't really see fit, but community wants it - that might ruin that designer's card house easily, destroying everything that the entire team works on so hard.
Which is why having a game designer with a clear, proffessional and unique vision might be THE reason why game can be as succefull as no other game before.
Community sometimes might not understand it, and it might want some more casual approaches, which might kill that one unique spark that would make a huge difference.
There are also a lot of choices that require a specific approach specifically from a game designer to work properly. As a good example you can take DOOM2020. Its not just the same DOOM of 2016 with new models and textures, but an entirely new systems built up from the ground: finishers for health, chainsaw for armor, specific upgrades and an entire game design that reaks of an arcade game. Why DOOM2020 has such good feedbacks? Because everything works exactly as it planned to work. If only 1 thing wouldn't work - the entire system they've built wouldn't function at all. DOOM 2020 is unique and different and people who enjoy it can thank idSoftware's bold and clever game designers for that.
Now imagine if they would poll their decisions... I don't think that this game would look the same. It could be much worse, but could it be better? Maybe, but I would rahter bet my money on a professional game designer to built up my game, than on a community that has 100s of different opinions.
Game, just like a movie, shoudl have one specific flow, one specific idea, one specific vision. If it has - you get yourself Lord of the Rings original trilogy. If it doesn't - you get yourself the latest Star Wars trilogy from Disney.
tl;dr:
I think polls have a place to exist, but I also think that they should NEVER overwhelm developer's own vision of the game, even if its a popular idea amongst the crowd.
I want to see developer's unqiue vision of the game because I chose to entrust them with their own ideas and approach. And not communitie's vision of things.
Why I loved LOK pre-vamp? Because it was unique and had a lot of personality in it. It felt very personal, something that came from the hearts of developers. Once polls come in, that feeling fades.
I hope I won't feel that with what is coming.
