The Power of the Players

I'm finding it amazing how many game companies do (and don't) listen to their community and fans right now. Seriously, you'd think that the big bad gaming industry would be just too big to give a damn about us consumers who keep buying their $60 circles in plastic cases every month, but somehow there are those developers who listen to their consumers and take feedback, acting accordingly.

With that said, let me go off on a tangent slightly. Right now, I'm playing more games on my PC right now than on my Xbox 360 and Wii (granted my Wii won't read discs and needs to be repaired, but that's beside the point). One particular game that's caught my attention and I've been wanting to try is a little game known as Demons Souls by FromSoftware, but moreso its sequel Dark Souls, which recently was announced that a console port was coming to the PC. Here's the interesting part: This game came out in North America on October 4th last year. Granted that PC ports take time, but originally, there was no plan to even make one. Why is this PC game coming out almost a year later?

Because fans voiced their opinions, made a petition, and were heard by the developers.

Here's another example, and I know I keep coming back to these guys, but they're a great example. Blizzard at one time wanted to implement a mandatory "Real ID" system. People would have their real names be revealed on their forums for all to see, dropping the veil of anonymity and possibly reducing the amount of cover that anonymous trolls had on their public forums.

People weren't all that happy. In this day and age, simply knowing one's name could be enough information for one to obtain much more information through use of the internet, so the feature never happened. Was it right for players to protest? Maybe, but the way Blizzard was going to implement it did have its problems, and hearing feedback from the fans surely helped in the realization.

Now there's a recently familiar image. If there's any recent example that signifies the power players have, it's the ending of Mass Effect 3. While I haven't played it yet or seen the ending, it certainly stirred up a massive firestorm of hatred and controversy online. Many drastic things were done by fans that felt betrayed by the ending being what it was, such as contacting the Better Business Bureau, filing complaints, and mailing...cupcakes. Only recently has Bioware released an expansion on the ending with free DLC, solely as a result of all the fan feedback.

It's scary to think that we players have such power, even though technically we don't in terms of making the game how we want it from the get go. The only problem is that we must realize how to correctly point out the wrong and communicate good feedback to our developer friends. Don't just be an asshat and throw around insults like they're money in your pocket. Offer your constructive criticism, and together, who knows what we can do?