Will Wright Talks about Focus Groups

[Deep Thought 0]

The title says it all.

Edited to reflect accurate title

[Patricius Maximus 236]

Well, guess I'm a hardcore gamer for Simcity. However, he needs to get back to it after he finishes Spore, so that Maxis can actually listen to us and our needs.

Also, the SCS Nightmare proves that the Simcity market consists of mainly hardcore gamers. If noone wants to cater to us (the hardcore), then it proves my fears of a complete dumbing down of the video game industry down to asinine mediocrity.

[Duke87 1,070]

Okay, first of all, it's "focus groups suck". Sucks is the third person singular conjugation, this is third person plural.

Second of all, those weren't his words. He said "that's when I learned not to trust focus groups". So, your title is misleading and overly brash for the sake of grabbing attention. Plus, you're putting words in Will Wright's mouth. So either remove the quotes or make it say what he actually said. And de-caps lock the word "suck(s)" while you're at it, too, eh?

....

Okay, now on-topic: he's right about one thing. Focus groups are stupid. Especially since the questions asked can be poorly worded or hard to answer, or tending to result in answers which don't really give you the information you're looking for. At least, that's how it is with online or paper form surveys. In person discussions I'd imagine would largely eliminate those problems since people can respond to things freely as opposed to just checking off A, B, C, or D. And if they don't understand a question, they can ask for clarification.

[Rymac91 15]

Duke87 is right about the title. The word sucks needs to be changed to suck, and the quotation marks need to go too, since he never said that exact phrase in the article.

I will however, have to agree with his opinion of focus groups, as they're shooting simply at a idea, not the actual product. If they are playing a game instead of talking about it, their response usually is dramatically different, but then again, those would be called "beta testers"

[Deep Thought 0]

This was the article I was meaning from the beggining.

[NetPCDoc 1]

My two cents worth on focus groups:

First the organizers of focus groups, unless held to strict accountability, will tend to "orgainize" for the answer they want to get; the questions and how they are worded will tend to get the average person to give the answer the "organizer" desires.

Second, even when these are done as live - offline - meetings, usually the conclusions that are drawn, are drawn from the answers given on a written questionaire - and the person evaluating these questionaires is usually someone that did NOT attend the live meeting and has only the questionaire answers to base the conclusion on.

On most issues - you will get quite different opinions from school marm grannies than what you get from school yard boys; as anyone that actually thinks about it should quickly realize.

As with any statistic - if one does not (or can not) place the statistic in the proper context (by direct observation of the ways and means that the underlying data was obtained) - then the statistic may tell any story the presenter desires it to. While actual facts may not lie - people have been putting their own spin on facts for quite some time now.

-NetPCDoc

No detail is too small to be micormanaged.

[david1314 44]

A compromise makes a room full of losers.

[Sim-Maire 2]

Will Wright is fully right, sorry

Players are too conservatives

Just because you ask ask too much people...

Even Cities-XL wont satisfy you all fans of SC4 because ours actual computers are not enough powerfuls...

It seems that the perfect city builder is not before 2015-2020

[purpledaddy 6]

I read the article. The thing I don't get is the taking seriously of a dichtomy between serious and casual gamers. At least speaking for myself I play various all kinds of genres at various difficulties depending on my mood. My children do simple and complex as well (and often play the living daylights out of me! ) It's usually never degree of complexity that hooks me on a game but the degree of satisfaction when I accomplish a game goal. But will I ever be asked to participate in a focus group....

[Haljackey 17,241]

Hey, I will be happy if Will Wright and Maxis return to Sim City after Spore. To my knowledge Wright does not want to make any more franchises, so, I'm assuming that he may focus on the existing ones. The Sim City franchise is one that needs much attention, which was amplified many times over after the release of Sim City Societies.

If Wright ever makes another Sim City game, even one that is "dumbed down" from SC4, I will be happy. I am sick and tired of laying water pipes all the time. That's the only thing I like about SCS.

Best,

-Haljackey

[Patricius Maximus 236]

Hal, you can always use the 'howdryiam' cheat

[TV-VCR 14]

Well make a game that can cater to both the hardcore players and casual players. It's not impossible. Create separate modes in the game that have/use different mechanics. It would likely be just removing things from the "hardcore" mode. That way you can appeal to both demographics and, what would be the main point to EA, rake in even more cash.

[LivingInThePast 364]

Casual games are for retards. Before you start screaming at me for being "uncivil", you should read this article about hardcore games vs. "casual" games. It was clearly designed in regards to Nintendo's strategies, but it turned out to be surprisingly relevant in EA's "strategies" today... (http://malstrom.50webs.com/birdman.html)

[Deep Thought 0]

1. Ironically, I prefer that toy dog since I've got a dog phobia.

2. Below the toy dog, it should be added 'Harmless', just like our planet Earth is described in H2G2.

[TV-VCR 14]

Originally posted by: Deep Thought 1. Ironically, I prefer that toy dog since I've got a dog phobia.

2. Below the toy dog, it should be added 'Harmless', just like our planet Earth is described in H2G2.quote>

Well that was incredibly pointless... you do realize it was a metaphor, right?