Ever notice how some games, or even some game series, tend to just get more hardcore over time?
How they seem to get less and less accessible and more and more focused on the things that only the top 1% of players seem to like
Well there's a lot of reasons for that, but a surprisingly common one is because game companies end up...
...implementing a hiring practice that sounds good on the surface, but ends up shooting them in the foot
They only hire their fans
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Games get more inaccessible, more hardcore, and more focused on the top tier players over time for all sorts of reasons
Sometimes it's because only the hardest-core players are still playing, and thus, still paying
So, instead of risking everything on trying to bring in new players...
...companies focus on creating content for the people they know will buy it
Other times, it's because the designers box themselves into a corner and limit their design space in such a way...
...that they have to keep making the existing elements of the game more complex rather than more expansive
And sometimes, it's just because of accretion
But one of the lesser-known reasons is because companies often insist on hiring designers who are fans of their games already
I've seen a lot of job postings that require a designer to have at least 500 hours played, have three max level characters, or be platinum
But that's actually not what you want if you want to keep your game fresh and accessible
You actually want people on the team that don't already think your game is great
At first glance, this may seem weird
I mean, don't you want people with tons of experience with your game to carry on the design?
Well, yes...
...but they can't be the only ones
The problem with people who are already fans of a game is that they don't see anything fundamentally wrong with it
They see all sorts of small nitpicks...
...places where things could be tightened up or where their favorite systems could be built out to even greater depth
But they don't see the big flaws, the stuff that in time will cut you from an audience you might never have known you could have had
And this sort of fan designer is also so far removed from the new player experience, it can be hard for them to fully understand it
Ever introduce a friend to a game that you think is simple...
...only to find out that you're just so used to all of the weird or complex things in it that you don't even think about them anymore?
But as soon as your friend jumps in, it's like hitting a brick wall for them
Well, you don't want your designers replicating that experience as they build the onboarding for your game
You don't want the people who are so used to pressing ctrl J as a hotkey...
...that they forget that that would be a terrible hotkey for almost anything in a game
*Meow*
Sorry, Zoe. I know. It's just the Dwarf Fortress rage kicking in
I digress
And sometimes when you're a hardcore player, you get so used to things, even bad counterintuitive ones...
...that when those things change, they feel worse
You don't want that very natural bias in your designers
And just to be clear when I'm talking about fan designers...
...I don't mean that companies are just hiring random fans
These people are totally qualified game designers with titles shipped and years of experience under their belt
They just also happen to be people the company requires to be fans of the game
And having some of these is good
You want people who have a lot of experience playing your game working on it
You just don't want them to be the predominant voice on your design team
Because a professional can like working on a game without being a total fan of the game itself
In much the same way that an architect can enjoy the challenge of designing a building that they'd never want to live in themselves
And all of these natural biases of your fan designers are actually compounded by the fact...
...they're prone to listen to the most hardcore fans themselves
Not out of anything sinister
But simply because those are the voices that are going to most resonate with them...
...and that probably echo their own concerns
These fan designers tend to be the most susceptible to listening to the design complaints of E-Sports pros or the hardest core sections of the forums...
...and use those complaints to justify design decisions
And again, this isn't entirely bad
Someone should be listening to those players, because it's always important to keep your top end game healthy and vibrant
But you also need people there to reign in those decisions and point out when they're costing you the rest of your player base
A game that's a personal favorite of mine, Starcraft 2, is probably the most notable example of this
But gaming is littered with examples of fan designers making choices to satisfy the hardest-core of the fan community
This stifles change, prevents your game from adapting with the times, and makes it less accessible to a new audience
At the end of the day, it all comes down to this. All design decisions should be made with intent
There are lots of reasons why a company might choose to focus on their hardcore fanbase
Those reasons may not be the ones that everyone always likes, but they're often still very valid
But it's when a game just sort of lists towards being inaccessible and hardcore...
...because there's no one left on the team that can see there are alternatives...
...that there are other decisions that could be made
Being great at a game shouldn't be a qualification for helping to design it
Instead in your interviews, you should ask how much your potential designers have played your game...
...and then have them explain why that will help you craft your design
Until next time, everyone
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