Fear of Success, Fear of Failure

With all the opinion pieces I write I often find myself falling back on the same issues. Why does a game suck and why does a great game miss an obvious feature that would make it amazing? This is an issue I feel infects the entire gaming industry, not just online play. However, I do feel it’s more obvious in MMO games.

Let me try to explain. Have you ever played a game that you really enjoyed but thought “Why didn’t they add that? It’s so obvious”. Or on the other side of things “Why did they do that? It makes no sense”. I played Dead Space 3 a while ago and was a little disappointed that they forced co-operative play in order to gather all of the collectibles. I can understand trying to offer extra incentive to participate in multiplayer, but I didn’t really want to try it. However, I did want to gather all of the items to get as near to 100% as possible.

Another example that comes to mind easily is FIFA 13. Why don’t they allow players to search for individual types of formation or manager cards? Why do we have to search through endless pages to find what we want?

I can understand the fear of failure, its instilled in all of us at an early age and I’m convinced it’s a vital ingredient in the recipe for success. However, I don’t feel it should ever restrict ones goals or accomplishments.

If a developer creates a game that fails they could be looking at a complete disaster, maybe even closure. But then Aliens: Colonial Marines, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct and Duke Nukem Forever all managed to release without destroying either developer or publisher.

But on the other side, if a developer creates a great game but misses a few obvious ingredients that would make it amazing, they have easy ideas and room for a sequel.

In short. Are bad games bad because the developers lacked the courage to push the boundaries? Do companies purposely miss out on great features purely to implement them in another title further down the line?

How do you feel? When you play a lackluster game do you blame the developers or publishers? Likewise when you play a great game who gets your praise?

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