I was going through my google reader (which I do, almost obsessively at times) and came across this post over at ‘Of Course I’ll Play It!‘ which really hit home with me. With so much negative feedback from people across their blogs all of the time about games in general and their games in specific, it was a great read (even though it was just recapping thoughts on the GDC). While I’m constantly looking at things through the eyes of a player and NOT a developer, it’s nice to read what the other side thinks about things and try to piece together their thought process.
The portion in specific from his post that struck me was the following:
The second little gem from Mr. Burnett’s talk was also an excellent one. It boils down to this: Just because you’ve seen something a million times, that doesnt’ keep it from being fun for someone whom hasn’t ever seen it. Remember how it was the first time you saw it. This isn’t earth shattering, but it’s still a great little gem to keep in your pocket. Dont rearrange something just because you’re tired of looking at it. As long as you have fresh eyes, it still has huge value. As an MMO designer this is especially difficult to do, because there will be so much you’ve seen and done before. The trick, especially from an MMO designer’s standpoint, is to make sure you keep having fresh eyes.
Go check out the rest of the post.