In the SF-MMO Star Trek Online, Lead Designer Al Rivera described the strange situation of being responsible for everything that happens in the game.
“Hey, I love my iPhone, but I have cursed the manufacturer and the bigwigs at Apple more than once because of it. And even though I love my iPhone, it frustrates me sometimes and it is not perfect. But I know it was made by people, and for that I am grateful,” this is just one of the points made by the Lead Designer of Star Trek Online, Al Rivera, in an unusual post on reddit addressing the sometimes harsh and personal criticism from fans.
Most of the criticism comes from people who care about the game, love it in some way, and expect more from it.
Yet even if Rivera rationally understands that the job of Lead Designer involves handling a lot of criticism and being a scapegoat for the fans, it does not go unnoticed by a full professional, as can be read.
Especially since the Lead Designer is not a sole ruler: “When it comes to business, I have a boss, and he has a boss, and so on. Not everything that happens is my decision. But I stand behind every step we take.”
In the post, Rivera also makes it clear how proud he and the team are of Star Trek Online. Rivera states he has been a Trekkie since childhood, and the many extraordinary moments at conventions and with fans compensated him for some rather rough treatment.
He asks the fans to also see the positives: “If you dislike something about Star Trek Online, then I am probably partly responsible for that. But if you like something about Star Trek Online, then I likely had something to do with it too.”
A Problem of Many in the Industry
My MMO states: This is a difficult issue for many working in this “industry” to sit and listen to criticism while trying to maintain the “The customer is king” reins, even when feeling it is unfair or feeling the need to justify oneself. Here, the thought process is common to remind oneself of the fans’ love for the product and their passion repeatedly.
At the moment, John Smedley is going through such a situation at H1Z1, whose strengths do not exactly include “Nodding and Showing Humility.”
An former employee of Guild Wars 2 reached out to the fans after leaving ArenaNet and spoke about how personal attacks on staff gnaw at them when being singled out as a cog in the machine: “What are they doing? I could do it much better than they can!”
Of course, one can also handle fan criticism differently, as this video from the Planetside 2 devs shows, reading tweets from fans.
