Reflection Wk 6: Player-centred design
August 28, 2009
The term player-centred design was quite a straightforward definition for me before reading the article. It is personally understood as a game that designed solely for players under certain group and interest. It was quoted by Ernest and Adams that:
A game’s primary function is to entertain the player, and it is the designer’s obligation to create a game that does so. Other motivations are secondary.
For me this is true in some sense, but it would be false to assume that the player is always right. I must say that I am more agree with Raph Koster point of view regarding this topic. Because putting a limit by only meeting with the player expectation and need would be putting game designer in a position where he/she work as the worker and players as the designer. Game designers should be allowed to express themselves through their game that hopefully will be accepted by the player. One main reason that players are mostly passive and could only notified and point out how a gameplay weaknesses by comparing it with other games that they have played before, while game designer in this aspect should be the creative thinker that would create something new to be judged by the player. A good example out of this would be DoTA maps (Warcraft 3), where the map designer decide to put every important bits from the original game and other maps to create this successful game that has given a new experience and alternative on how Warcraft could have been played.
