A developer from Riot Games, the creators of League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics, now explains why game devs shouldn’t strive to be among the best in their games, even if fans keep demanding it.
This is the demand of many fans: In gaming, there is often the demand or criticism from fans:
“Are the developers even playing their own game properly?”
They demand: A game designer should actually play a game themselves at the highest level, to truly “understand” and relate to the players.
In MMOs like New World, it’s said: Yes, of course our game is that lame. The developers have absolutely no idea about the endgame!
If it were up to the fans, a designer would have to grind as hard as they do, go through a tough rank ascent and grind their way up. Only then would they have “real knowledge” and be able to make the “right decisions” in game design and balance.
Riot employee suffers 300 hours to reach the highest rank
This is the experiment: Riot Mort is the lead designer of the tactics game Teamfight Tactics. He has actually done what fans expect from a lead designer: He played so hard in a new season that he became one of the top 250 players in his region.
He says he did this to prove he can. He read how developers were often insulted for supposedly having no idea.
It is then said that they are “only Diamond”; that they belong to only the top 4% and therefore have absolutely no idea. Riot Mort has read such statements and attacks repeatedly, not just in LoL and TFT but also in many other games that are played competitively and with ambition.
Chief designer says after 70 hours TFT the week he was close to burnout
This is what the developer says after the experiment: Riot Mort says that after he played as hard as some fans expect him to, he has concluded that he will never do this again.
The reason is: To be among the top 250, the developer had to complete about 400 games in 2 months. This amounted to 300 hours in 8 weeks. Since he couldn’t just play during working hours, there were an additional 25-30 hours of TFT each week on top of his work hours.
Ultimately, he thus had a 70-hour week for 2 months, during which he only focused on TFT. This inevitably led to burnout.
Furthermore, during this time he could no longer play freely, but only followed the “best way to win.” He no longer learned anything, but just played his pattern down.
He asks the fans: How should devs play their game?
- Should they grind the ladder and play as guides tell them, practice known combos and become “one-trick ponies” who only master one champ?
- Or should they play champs they normally wouldn’t play, to understand their weaknesses – should they play decks that don’t work well at the highest level?
If players truly want a better game, they should hope that the dev plays in the second way. Because during the climb, Riot Mort consciously avoided combinations he didn’t feel comfortable with. He played to win, not to learn – as that should actually be his job.
Ultimately, such a “win-optimized” playstyle led him to only care about the people who ground the game as hard as he did at the time. But you can’t develop a game like that, because you have to cater to all people, not just the few elite players.
This “designing a game only for oneself” is a typical mistake beginners make. Experienced developers know that you design for a broad audience, considering as many perspectives and playstyles as possible.
He certainly will not play with such ambition anymore. And he could only play like this because he had the support of his wife, who wanted him to “really show it to the haters.” But if players want developers to really improve the game, then they should let them play as freely and relaxed as they would like themselves.
Someone who “voluntarily” chose this life in the grind hell is Twitch streamer Tyler1:
LoL: Twitch streamer describes his life as a lonely grind hell – wonders what everyone is on about
