Is it possible to make a game the majority will be happy with?

[Justme]

As I sit here and read the various threads and the discussions/arguments in them, I'm left to wonder. Will the player base ever be happy with what's being done?

Even tho I disagree with the devs on a lot of things, I can't help but sympathize with them. No matter what they do there is always a vocal group who is pretty unhappy. The more it seems the devs try and work to give everyone what they want, the more disagreements come from it. 

I believe this is the reason many players( myself included) feel there is a solid lack of direction with the game, it feels like there is to much back and forth trying to please everyone.

I know the devs have stated they are making a game the way they would play it. Does anyone else think it's time they do that, even if it risk losing a certain percentage of players?

[Ole Pinelle]

You will make no one happy, trying to make everyone happy. 

Edited June 27, 2017 by Ole Pinelle

[Salty Dog.]

9 minutes ago, Justme said:

As I sit here and read the various threads and the discussions/arguments in them, I'm left to wonder. Will the player base ever be happy with what's being done?

Even tho I disagree with the devs on a lot of things, I can't help but sympathize with them. No matter what they do there is always a vocal group who is pretty unhappy. The more it seems the devs try and work to give everyone what they want, the more disagreements come from it. 

I believe this is the reason many players( myself included) feel there is a solid lack of direction with the game, it feels like there is to much back and forth trying to please everyone.

I know the devs have stated they are making a game the way they would play it. Does anyone else think it's time they do that, even if it risk losing a certain percentage of players?

I think your making the mistake that just because people are complaining about parts of the game that means they "don't Like" or are "not happy".  To be honest, if either were true, they would not be playing the game.  There are thousands of games to play and I would say I would find something in each game that I would/could complain about.  I think if you really look into it, the ones that complain the most are also some of the most devoted players.  Let's face it, if you don't like a game...you just find something else to play.  But, if you really connect with a game, really enjoy the game, and spend many hours playing the game, you will want to make that game more enjoyable.  You will be on the forums, you will be trying to help direct the development, and you will be very passionate about it....why?  Because you love the game and want it better not because you just want to complain about a game your not going to play anymore. 

[Justme]

40 minutes ago, Salty Dog on Global said:

I think your making the mistake that just because people are complaining about parts of the game that means they "don't Like" or are "not happy".  To be honest, if either were true, they would not be playing the game.  There are thousands of games to play and I would say I would find something in each game that I would/could complain about.  I think if you really look into it, the ones that complain the most are also some of the most devoted players.  Let's face it, if you don't like a game...you just find something else to play.  But, if you really connect with a game, really enjoy the game, and spend many hours playing the game, you will want to make that game more enjoyable.  You will be on the forums, you will be trying to help direct the development, and you will be very passionate about it....why?  Because you love the game and want it better not because you just want to complain about a game your not going to play anymore. 

The issue arises where there are 2 or more sides that while they may love the game, disagree with how it should be played especially in early access/beta phases where they feel changes they prefer  can be made.

 

Sooner or later, your going to tick some people off and lose them as players.

[Tomms123]

When having an open development and no clear roadmap?

No, it won't happen, the devs need to say "this is what we're gonna do" and maybe shift away from it a bit, but stay clear on what THEY want to do as a team. Because if the devs don't like the product they made then it's 9/10 times a bad product (this is for all software productions no matter if it's a program for an automatic washing machine(as that is is what I do for a living) or accounting software or game development). Sure for the customer, it might look good, but if the creator isn't happy with it then is it really a good product?

[Blackjack Morgan]

In general I would agree that trying to make everyone happy in anything is simply never going to happen. However, it is important to have a source of feedback and advice while developing a product. Companies spend huge amounts of resources, both time and money, trying to figure out what their potential customers want and would help drive sales or improve their product. I think the need for an outside source to provide feedback and advice is even more important when you have a very small development team working on things. It is often very easy to become so closely involved in your own product that it can become difficult to critique effectively. 

What I find interesting about the developmental path of Naval Action is how the overall "vision" has changed and morphed over the years. If you go back and read, or if you were actually present back then, you would notice that it is quite a bit different from what has been coming out the past few months. Originally, it was not intended to be a hardcore time sink but rather a PvP focused game that lent itself more toward realism than arcade. When I signed up and started playing...Sea Trials before Steam availability....it was what I considered a perfect vision on where they wanted to go. Every patch felt like a step forward and the vast majority of testers seemed to be a lot more in agreement with suggestions and opinions. Early Access on Steam is where that all started to change.

As more people bought the game to try out the number of testers grew immensely....however, the open development philosophy was still in place. This obviously led to a much higher level of disagreement and suggestions that went completely counter to where the game was originally heading. It is also, in my opinion, what led to the feeling with many patches of taking 1 step forward and 2 steps back. Even to this day we are testing old mechanics that had been done away with only to be brought back to test again. I think it also has led to frustration on the developer team as well. So what started as a pretty clear vision with testers who mostly shared the same one has turned into a bit of a twisted convoluted mess. 

My suggestion, not that it is worth anything, would be to go back to where it all started and look at what you wanted the game to be. Where the focus was on PvP and mechanics that helped promote that type of game. The ideas and opinions were, quite frankly, superb. Go back to what you had in mind before all of the nonsense and work off that template. Make one PvP server, possibly a PVE server as well, and relax a bit on the time sinks on certain game aspects we now have. The only part of the puzzle that really needs to be figured out after that is PB's or RVR. What people really want out of PB's are just those massive 25v25 battle royals right? I mean players used to get together on their own initiative to have "Trafalgar" battles and there never seemed to be a shortage of people wanting in. 

Naval Action is a superb game when it comes to the actual fighting. It's where the game was originally focused and where it has become almost perfected. I'm not saying it needs to go back to an arena style game but simply saying it is smart to make what you do best be the showcase mechanic. Battles between players are incredible when both sides are even roughly evenly matched. The combat is about the one universal thing everyone who plays this game agrees on right? Logic would tell you that if you have something that is that universally praised then you should embrace it and build all your other mechanics around it....the mantra of all development decisions and mechanics should be to help promote your strongest asset. I don't think it would be that difficult to make Naval action very popular....you just need to go back to what was great and where you started.

[Fritz Hermann]

1 hour ago, Salty Dog on Global said:

I think your making the mistake that just because people are complaining about parts of the game that means they "don't Like" or are "not happy".  To be honest, if either were true, they would not be playing the game.  There are thousands of games to play and I would say I would find something in each game that I would/could complain about.  I think if you really look into it, the ones that complain the most are also some of the most devoted players.  Let's face it, if you don't like a game...you just find something else to play.  But, if you really connect with a game, really enjoy the game, and spend many hours playing the game, you will want to make that game more enjoyable.  You will be on the forums, you will be trying to help direct the development, and you will be very passionate about it....why?  Because you love the game and want it better not because you just want to complain about a game your not going to play anymore. 

 

1 hour ago, Justme said:

The issue arises where there are 2 or more sides that while they may love the game, disagree with how it should be played especially in early access/beta phases where they feel changes they prefer  can be made.

 

Sooner or later, your going to tick some people off and lose them as players.

That's exactly what happened to my friends and I. We used to be in love with that game. Spent countless hours playing and enjoying it. But, after the mega patch, something bad happened : It became a grinding fest and for us, casual players, it was no good news. We then tried to stick around and revive the love we used to feel about the game. The therapy we went true did some good, but it couldn't help. We had to face the changes and do the once unthinkable : To leave it there on our steam inventory. We are still keeping in touch though, taking news from time to time by taking a look at the forum. Yet, we know it's just a formality. The love is dead for good. The good news for us is that we found another another game to love! The bad news in that is that we are probably not the only players who left, and sooner or later, there might be more to leave.

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

Yes it is. Possible.

Clear plan of what it is.

Clear message to what it may be inside the game.

Clear rulebook.

Spectacularly enough the Devs give exactly the two types of gameplay. Safe versus environment only and totally unsafe where player interaction will happen, whether we want it or not. Make your choice in earnest and do avoid to crowbar to fit what you want and accept what you chose.

---

There is a huge gap between the half that plays the game as intended and the ones that like to break the playfield.

Hence making developers task hard and funneling development towards changes that might not agree to everyone.

Pointing a lot of fingers and smashing glass roofs.

 

[Ixal]

If you shrink the playerbase far enough its possible. That seems to be the current strategy.

[randommexi]

On ‎6‎/‎27‎/‎2017 at 0:09 PM, Ole Pinelle said:

You will make no one happy, trying to make everyone happy. 

So True

[Trastámara]

Simply add more content so the game is entertaining...dont limit it to pve grind

[Lord_Sluggo]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, GameLabs needs to either hire new developers or turn this game over to someone else.  We've gotten a few new ships, but considering most of the 'development' has been stat tweaking,  it really does show that GameLabs lacks creativity, drive  and direction

[Skully]

As yourself this: how would you like to lose?

Usually the answer is: I don't want to lose.

A losing player is an unhappy player. But if you have PvP MMO, somebody has to lose. So the question needs a proper answer.

[Mrdoomed]

They had a game that most people loved on the first day ow started. 

Then they decided to make one game killing decision and 90% of the playere left. Since then its been one bad decision after another and they seem to not be willing to fix the problem.