🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <43pjc6$6...@cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu>,
Robert Shannon Gregg <rgr...@GS201.SP.CS.CMU.EDU> wrote:
>In article <43gdkl$8...@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU>, 
>dst...@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Daniel J Starr) writes:
>|> Don't mind Aaron's yelling and screaming too much.  We've seen it for
>|> years now:  whenever any program doesn't live up to every expectation 
>|> on Joe Fanboy's PC, Joe will say...
>|>  
>|> "This is the fault of LAZY PROGRAMMERS."
>|>  
>|> Now, I doubt even Joe Fanboy really thinks anyone at Origin is lazy.  
>|> What's really bugging Joe Fanboy:  he can see how much Origin is capable
>|> of when it comes to graphics, and sound, and video... so why can't they
>|> be as brilliant when it comes to the _game_ itself?
>
>Well, there's a very good reason why programmers can't be brilliant when it 
>comes to gameplay.  And that's this:
>
>THE PROGRAMMERS DON'T DESIGN THE GAME.

This is of course true.  And it's true that Joe Fanboy doesn't know diddly-
squat about game design.  But the reason Joe talks about "LAZY PROGRAMMERS"
is that there is a real problem, even if Joe thinks it's the programmers'
fault somehow.  That real problem is that the gameplay is often nowhere
near as good as the graphics.  As Dr. Cat pointed out, we have a real
shortage of good game designers in this business.  Everyone can spot
the problems in the finished product, but almost no one can come up with
good ideas during the design phase.  Ask for suggestions from a random
group of Ultima fans and you get... lots of little things.  Some big things,
but mostly little things.  

But Origin's unique problem is that while they have (few? no?) great
game designers, they have a set of really great storytellers,
so they substitute good stories for good gameplay, and don't see what's
missing.  Many of Origin's recent "could-have-been-great" disappointments
are of this kind.  E.g. Wing Commander III, Bioforge, Serpent Isle.  Of
course, all three of these were bestsellers, I think, so I guess customers
aren't as discriminating as they might like to think...
-- 
Daniel Starr         | "She taught him the hidden dharma of playing catch
dst...@math.mit.edu  | with a rubber ball and the veiled mystery of games
                     | of tag."  - Mahabharata (Rishyasringa)