unforum

[Leyton Stone]

Something that really annoys me throughout an ARG experience

[natas]

I guess this is in reference to me. All I can say is if you can't deal with criticism. Lock yourself in your room at home and turn off your computer and phone and tv and anything else that would connect you to the outside world.

I would hope that people would criticize. Nobody creates a game that everyone likes. If a PM ever does. then kudos to him and I'll stand corrected, but it's simply not going to happen. Unless he/she can take the good with the bad, how does one grow to create bigger and better things.

[Will 2.0]

One of the hardest things about PM'ing is trying to create a collective agreement with players that can be from the tens to the hundreds. So many people that work together, there are bound to be conflicts. I would know, there were quite a lot in 48. Alas, the world continues to spin on it's axis.

[Rekidk]

Constructive criticism is good for anyone, really; it allows a content creator to adjust his/her work and improve the quality of the product. This goes for everything but is especially applicable in ARGs, where the evolving narrative can be directly affected by the players. (Criticizing a movie or book may help shape future works from that author/director/etc., but it can't change the finished product once it's already in theatres/bookstores.)

"OMG THIS GAME SU><0RS" doesn't do much to help, though; fortunately, it seems that UFers generally tend to steer clear of that brand of criticism.

(P.S. Leyton, I know that you weren't referring to positive/constructive criticism in your post; I just kinda went off on a tangent.)

[redct]

Still, constructive criticism is good! Like was said above, THIS IS TEH SUCK is not.

I've learned many a thing from constructive crit. - just get used to it.

[thegreatpablo]

One thing that kind of bewilders me in the grassroots games I've seen is the lack of Q&A or a time for constructive criticism following up after the game. Leyton, I didn't play along with Chryo-Pharm, but I saw what happened and how you handled it. There was one guy in there that was being rather negative and seemed to be doing so for negative's sake more than anything, but you did well. Discussing the game in a post-mortum fashion was classy as well and something I fully intend to do when my game launches.

I think a lot of games could learn from the criticism the community has to offer. Unfortunately, some people simply bash a game rather than provide constructive criticism, and then PMs are reluctant to ask for criticism because they are afraid of being bashed...kind of a bad cycle unfortunately. Hopefully we can break it...?

I'd like to see the community and the medium grow, and the only way to do that is to embrace criticism.

That said, bashing, negativity and trolling are completely unappreciated, by both PMs and players alike.

[Nighthawk]

Well, if the PM is acting like a dick IG, expect to be treated like a dick, even if that treatment is OOG. It's hard to draw a line between IG and OOG in that sense.

It's virtually impossible to appease everyone; someone's going to be irate. It's the nature of the business, or any business that deals with an audience for that matter. I'm sure that there are loads of people out there that absolutely HATE the movie Citizen Kane with an intense passion.

[Rekidk]

[LordIllidan]

[konamouse]

If I'm enjoying a game, I definitely put that into a comment here in unFiction (cause I figure the PM is reading the thread to gauge activity and garner feedback).

It's no secret that I there was a time in Sammeeeees we had a problem with something we perceived was happening (was the PM trying to create 2 sides of players) and we made some comments in the META thread and the PM made sure that when we asked a character the right questions, we were directed appropriately away from something none of us wanted to face in the game. And when it was obvious how much we were enjoying the game, we created a Top Ten Reasons We Love Playing Sammeeeees (a group effort in the chat room) that I submitted to ARGNet.

So while many folks are quick to complain, some of us provide constructive information and some of us will heap praise when deserved.

I agree that we should remember that in the future (give some positive feedback to PMs who follow through and provide a great ARG experience).

[natas]

How do you say "Please don't slap a game together in two weeks and expect us to like it and say 'Thank you for this waste of time'" in a constructive way?

[konamouse]

[thegreatpablo]

Hrm, I feel like I missed something, can someone point me in the right direction?

[faeryqueen21]

I don't know which game Natas' is referring to, but Kona is referencing "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

I understand what Leyton is saying. There are a lot of people playing Hurts To Heal that are doing that. People keep posting things like, "This PM is stupid", or "The PM doesn't know how to run a game", and "This game sucks". There is a lot of that going on and it does make me wonder, why are you playing then? If you think it's so bad and the PM is so awful, why haven't you moved on to another game? I certainly don't think the game has gone perfectly, but if it's really that bad you should stop wasting your time and play something you actually enjoy.

[Nighthawk]

I may not approve of the PM's methods, and I might be at odds with the in game character "Doc", but that doesn't mean I dislike the game. I'm actually enjoying it.

But some of the things the PM is doing in that game are unorthodox, and as such somebody has to be vocal about *why* they're unorthodox just to get the discussion out there. If nobody complains about it, unorthodox becomes norm, which is a bad thing.