it would be so hardcore user-skill twitch PvP that it would have to be niche

Hmmm. I would say that if you leave that stuff out rather you’ll end up with a niche, if you’re making a 3D multiplayer game.

Everybody’s heard of Pong. But did you know there was a PvE (tic-tac-toe) game built before pong? See. Niche.

Gears of War sold more copies in the states in like a week than WoW has, well, ever. Granted, Gears is also a killer solo PvE story game, but I doubt it would have sold half on that basis, alone, and vice versa.

By your logic people are only supposed to make Pogo and Mario clones. That’s no fun.

I get what you’re saying, though, it is a mark of a professional.

That’s not really the case. For example, if we look at many successful products which enjoy a majority-female market, we find that not only are those making and marketing the product not members of their target demographic but that competing products which ARE from the target demographic do comparitively poorly against them.

Cosmetics and hair-products immediately spring to mind. The marketing and production of these items is entirely driven by analysis and targetted focus-group usage. You have stated a previous use of focus groups in games which was counterproductive but i do not believe it is appropriate as an example: partly because the groups themselves were not composed of the games’ target market demographic, partly because they were run by LucasArts which has a longstanding tradition of selling geeks and fanbois turds with a Star Wars logo on them.

There are target audiences for just about any type of game out there – in this regards, deciding what type of game you are making determines your target audience. Addiotnally, a number of MMO players are looking for new things to try out, not a repeat of the last game they played with a few more bells and whistles. Because of this, I think it is more important for the developers to have a well defined idea of what sort of game they are designing.

(Now watch as someone tells me someone has….)

That’s not to say that I don’ t love playing more casual type MMOs like WoW. I really do enjoy playing them. But everyone has their own preferences, and game developers are often much more fluent in gaming as a whole than their prospective audience is. Meaning, you can’t make things so complex that only a game dev would understand how to play the game.

Focus groups, surveys, informal conversations, trade shows, metrics, and blogs like this one are just a handful of tools for understanding your audience, but you must look at the spirit of the feedback, and not just the letter of it. Rectify the anecdotal and statistical evidence, and make sure your changes don’t stray from your vision.

There is a difference too between “design by committee” and “wisdom of the masses”. Ask six members of your intended audience about a feature. If three people hate it, but three love it, it’s worth closing the gap.** If all six say that it’s crap, it’s probably crap (but find out why).

**(Gladius is a good example. They could have left in the swing meter and alienated stategic players, or taken it out and alienated button-mashers. Instead they put in a toggle so that both play styles could enjoy it.)

Rigorous analysis.

In business-systems, this can produce acceptable results. It’s iterative refinement and a deep personal understanding of the business that makes for a great application. I don’t see why it would be any different for games.

Nerfbat wrote: Design the game for your audience …

… and then hope like h377 that you understand that audience …

You could use metrics of current games … but that only tells you what gamers enjoy today. WoW has brought millions of new players to the table … but these players probably won’t leave WoW for another WoW … wouldn’t they be more likely to leave because they’ve grown as players and are looking for something different?

You could use focus groups to understand your audience … but that didn’t bode well for at least one game (SWG). I would tend to think that there’s some value in having personal passion for what you’re building.

What other method is there to really understand your audience than to perhaps be a member of it?