Feedback is an important learning tool when it comes to just about anything in life. Whether it’s a big project, a date or even a dinner at your favorite restaurant; feedback is the link that allows for the creators and consumers to connect. Valuable and timely player feedback can be used to identify issues in the game that can affect the final outcome of it. Comments like “My character gets stuck at this part” or “My ammo didn’t reload despite of the purchase” have helped developers act on it and change the experience of the game.
Why Is Feedback so Important in Gaming?
Player feedback allows for the gaming team – the designers, the producers, and the artists to understand if their vision is executed as they had planned. Importantly, is it bringing a sense of joy to the players? Player comments help the gaming team to understand what clicked with the audience, what the potential issues were, and what improvements they need to work on. Without feedback, the gaming journey is similar to driving around without a GPS to a new location – you get broken bits of information, you have no surety if you will reach your destination in time, and you have no traffic updates to help you make better decisions.
Both positive and negative feedback is crucial as they break down specific aspects of the game and give insights to user behavior. It helps developers gauge why they succeeded or failed. In case of minimal feedback, developers tend to either be overly self-critical or self-congratulatory. This is because they are relying upon events rather than specific feedback to measure their game’s performance.
Key Benefits of Player Feedback
· Improve the game and user experience
· Measure player satisfaction
· Improve player retention
· Builds player loyalty & community
· Better data-driven decisions for the developers
While players bear no responsibility to be developers to share their thoughts, but games or even innovations are made more interesting when the vision is supported by people’s contributions in terms of feedback. Player feedback not only propels the developers to improve and innovate, but it also helps uncover unexpected opportunities. And feedback is essential not just for role-playing games, but even for easy puzzle games. Players who understand the developer’s vision can also act as ambassadors to the broader community of players. Feedback is not just a motivational tool, but an important aspect that can help developers successfully arrive at the destination with feedback as their roadmap.
