Talking Game Design - Wordplay and the Discourse of Video Games - page 61

Nixon's 'silent majority, ' 50 implying that heeding the desires of a large body
of gamers independent from “isolated-but-organized movements” is a key
way for those in the industry to continue developing their games. This state-
ment both grants that the players of games play a key role in development,
one that is valued “a great deal,” while articulating that there are multiple
audiences to large, popular game. Finally, it retains the role of ultimate
adjudication in the hands of paid developers, who must stand strong in the
face of a vocal minority to preserve the interests of the many.
The conclusion to the interview returned to the theme of audience and
its role in shaping the games they play. In response to a question about the
“biggest problem facing the games industry today,” Olin states,
Personally, as a community manager who lives in the media or social
media world every day, I think the social culture of video games is
moving in a more negative direction as technology and social media
continues to grow. Rather than growing with it, the trend seems to be
devolving. More and more gamers seem to forget what this industry is
all about.
It's a creative industry—the most creative form of entertainment in
existence. Too many developers who try new things are getting burned
by the “pundits” and angry entitled fans who look to be contrarian,
sometimes simply for the sake of being contrarian. The only thing this
attitude aims to achieve is stunt that creativity and innovation even
further, which is something that no rational gamer looking to be enter-
tained would want to do. 51
This statement became the headline that reverberated across the internet,
as the interview was boiled down to a contention that “the unpleasant tone
of internet contrarians is the biggest problem facing the game industry
today.” 52 Although the sentiment expressed toward a certain segment of
the fan base is quite negative, it simultaneously acknowledges the power of
gamers to shape the products being made. The concern about a segment of
the population likely would not exist if those “angry entitled fans” did not
have an impact on the product being produced. At the same time, the forms
of media available to gamers are also part of the issue, as the fi rst piece of
the statement notes the growing number of platforms for communication
among gamers and between gamers and developers. In this case, gamers,
like those at Gamers' Voice, have the ability to change the way that game
development works, allegedly decreasing a company's willingness to take
risks for fear of angering the vocal minority.
The reaction to the Call of Duty series illustrates two dif erent ways
the audience of games is talking back and impacting the design and play
of games. Modern Warfare 2 demonstrates how the limited choices made
available to gamers can be circumvented by the deliberate actions of play-
ers, if even only for a limited amount of time. The discussion surrounding