For those who haven't read it yet: the first issue of Familiar Magazine has an interview with Dan Tudge, director of Sword Coast Legends.
And I took emm-effing issue.
If there's one rhetorical trend I am well and truly sick of in the game industry, it's when developers foist the blame for poor reception onto players, as if the only reason their product has mixed reviews is because the audience has somehow "misunderstood".
Here's a gem when Tudge is asked about the lukewarm response to SCL: "I think we've been very polarizing. One reason is that we didn't do a literal translation of the D&D rules, we did an adaptation."
Really, Dan? You did an adaptation? You mean like every other D&D video game that has ever been or will ever be released? That's the problem people are having? You sure? That's what everyone's been complaining about?
The disingenuous part here is that if you really want to know why SCL isn't so much the new Baldur's Gate as it is the new Daggerdale, all you have to do is read those mixed reviews. Because they'll tell you, in full detail. Tudge's problem isn't that the players don't "get it" - it's that they do, and they're not impressed.
The moral of the story - and yes, I'm looking at you, Beamdog, because you gave space for that BS on your platform - is that if you make questionable design decisions, or take shortcuts, or get your community gassed up for features your game doesn't actually contain, don't think you can fool anyone afterwards by saying it's the audience's fault for missing the point. They already paid their dues, and they don't owe you anything.
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And I took emm-effing issue.
If there's one rhetorical trend I am well and truly sick of in the game industry, it's when developers foist the blame for poor reception onto players, as if the only reason their product has mixed reviews is because the audience has somehow "misunderstood".
Here's a gem when Tudge is asked about the lukewarm response to SCL: "I think we've been very polarizing. One reason is that we didn't do a literal translation of the D&D rules, we did an adaptation."
Really, Dan? You did an adaptation? You mean like every other D&D video game that has ever been or will ever be released? That's the problem people are having? You sure? That's what everyone's been complaining about?
The disingenuous part here is that if you really want to know why SCL isn't so much the new Baldur's Gate as it is the new Daggerdale, all you have to do is read those mixed reviews. Because they'll tell you, in full detail. Tudge's problem isn't that the players don't "get it" - it's that they do, and they're not impressed.
The moral of the story - and yes, I'm looking at you, Beamdog, because you gave space for that BS on your platform - is that if you make questionable design decisions, or take shortcuts, or get your community gassed up for features your game doesn't actually contain, don't think you can fool anyone afterwards by saying it's the audience's fault for missing the point. They already paid their dues, and they don't owe you anything.
