New vs. Old, Beta vs. Not

[Scott Hebert]

Having read the latest crop of balance concern threads, I've noticed a couple of common strands that seem to run throughout them that I feel are in error.

First, someone said that 'old' players don't consider how 'new' players play, and that they should look at it 'from the new player's POV'. That's rather funny, and quite democratic, but rather hypocritically amusing to me.

See, the problem here is that everyone assumes they're equal. Unfortunately, they're not. 'Old'/'Good'/'Experienced' players know what's it like to be a 'New'/'Bad'/'Raw' player; they were once one themselves, after all. However, the 'New' player really can't say what it's like to be an 'Old' player, because they haven't gotten there yet. Therefore, the 'Old' player should receive more respect and should be listened to more than the 'New' player where issues of game balance are concerned. Or, IOW, the 'Old' players are much more aware of what's best for the game, because they can see the game from both the 'Old' Player's POV and the 'New' Player's POV. This is something that 'New' Players cannot duplicate.

Intertwined with this is the similar issue of all of the hate being directed towards the Beta testers of this game, who are generally the 'Old' players. As a former playtester for two different CCG companies, I can explain something about 'playtesting'/'betatesting'.

It's a thankless job. No one likes the playtester. Much as has happened here, they get blamed for everything that goes wrong with the game for no good reason. They _test_ the game, they don't _make_ the game. The extent of a tester's influence over the game is finding problems with the game. _It is not their duty to fix the problems._ Whether or not the testers are allowed to suggest solutions for the problems is a company-by-company policy, but it's generally not the case. Even if it is, the designers of the game are under no obligation, real or imagined, to use solutions suggested by their testers.

Looking at the latest issues to come up from a tester's perspective, it's entirely possible that playtesters found what they thought was a problem (say, the VQ), told the Designers that it was a problem, and the Designers disagreed. That is the Designers' perogative. Something I must give IW mad props for is the fact that they publicly came out and said this. Some of the companies I have worked for were only too happy to implicitly leave their testers twisting in the wind.

Now, please, everyone should really calm down and let things subside. Attacking the older players and the beta testers simply for the fact that they are more experienced doesn't help the situation, and hurts the game in general. A lot of the older players can come off as sensitive if not downright antisocial. One of the most common reasons for this is that they are tired of constantly reiterating their arguments, _knowing_ how people will respond. The Last thing anyone wants to see happen is the older players packing up and leaving because the newer players basically made the work not worth the reward.

Anyway, that's my plea. I hope at least a few people listen.

Scott Hebert
'New' Player