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[jrjellybeans]

Criticism hurts, but is a necessary thing to get in order to make your game bad.

In fact, the more you can get and the quicker you can get it, the better your game will be...

[Ashkin]

Sometimes, lack of criticism hurts.

Like in my assemblee thread....

[Kadoba]

Having your work ignored is much worse than criticism. Criticism is feedback. As long as it's not unfounded it's more helpful than not. Don't take it personal and use it to make your projects better.

[powly]

I can't take criticism objectively enough; people telling me how I failed always feels annoying. Maybe one day I'll get better with handling it.

But yes, any comments are better than a complete silence.

[falsion]

On the internet, criticism is almost always a means of trolling. It's never a good idea to take it very seriously.

There are few exceptions though. One being if someone points out something that is an obvious technical flaw. For example, say, if someone points out the fact that the character in your platform game can't jump far enough to reach the next platform, and that you should make it so he can jump higher. That's a valid criticism.

If someone points out that you should change the jumping just because they don't like it, that isn't very valid at all. And the sad part is, that's usually what people do 99% of the time. They just criticize things without a valid reason and keep doing it over and over. Some even on purpose.

Always use some discretion. And at worst, disregard it completely. Criticism on the internet is almost always worthless.

[BeauPrime]

Criticism can definitely be helpful on a project.  I agree with falsion to a certain extent; if someone points out a technical flaw, then it should be acknowledged.  Flaws with gameplay take a bit more thinking to figure out.  If they say "it sucks" because it simply doesn't have enough action in it, even if it was meant to be a point-and-click adventure game with combat shoved off to the sidelines in favor of puzzles, then the comment doesn't serve a purpose and should be ignored.

Very similar comments from a variety of people, though, should be acknowledged to a certain point, though; if 90 out of 100 people can't make it past the first level, then something needs to be changed, whether it be the tutorial or the difficulty curve of the game.

Also, silence hurts much, much more than criticism.  It's one thing to have someone say, "Your game is terrible", but at least they played it.  It's another thing to get no feedback at all.

[falsion]

Very similar comments from a variety of people, though, should be acknowledged to a certain point, though; if 90 out of 100 people can't make it past the first level, then something needs to be changed, whether it be the tutorial or the difficulty curve of the game.

Sockpuppets. Someone could easily make multiple posts under different names to make it look like their baseless criticism has some merit. Especially, say, on the front page of TIGSource where registration isn't required. That's where trolls pop up the most. Be weary and always look for quality rather than quantity when it comes to criticism.

Though then again in most cases, trolls usually wouldn't go for something small like saying to make the first level easier. They usually try to make it look like your game sucks and that a large majority of people (usually the same person under different names) don't like it. So I guess multiple people saying the first level or so is hard would probably be an indication of something.

Though I'd still use some discretion, and maybe ask why it's hard and what I could do to change it.  Usually "it's too hard" doesn't really say much as it's a pretty generic complaint about anything.

[s0]

I dunno, most of the criticism I've received for my games so far has been constructive and helpful, but then again the only reactions to my games I've seen are from places like the TIGS feedback forum, where people are usually nice and try to help.

I guess what Edmund is talking about in his video are those pathetic nitpickers/trolls usually found in blog comment sections (such as the frontage  ) who like to blow small flaws out of proportion instead of just shutting the fuck up and enjoying the game. I've seen this here on the forums too, but not nearly as much.

[Danmark]

^ Yeah that's one reason I stopped using the frontpage after I signed up here.

On the internet, criticism is almost always a means of trolling.

Bullshit. That depends entirely on where you go. Here and on GameDev, most criticism I've seen is civil, relevant, and possibly helpful. You might be right about the Internet as a whole, with moron conventions like Gametrailers lumped in, but that doesn't seem to be what everyone else is talking about.

There are few exceptions though. One being if someone points out something that is an obvious technical flaw... That's a valid criticism.

You imply that a game's design is beyond criticism, which is just outrageous. I hope this wasn't your intended meaning. There's plenty of illegitimate criticism in this area though, where the critic fails to account for the author's vision, their own tastes, and so on.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

not every game can appeal to everyone, so trying to please every single person who plays your game won't really work -- it's best if a game appeals to a subsection of people strongly rather than to everyone in a lukewarm fashion. try to find a small set of people who enjoy the same type of games you do, and try to please that group, not a wider group.

for instance, if you like story games, don't try to please people who don't like story games, cause all they'll say is 'there's too much text!' -- likewise vice versa, if you don't like story in games, don't try to please people who say the game needs a story

[TheDustin]

Vonnegut said on a couple occassions that he wrote his books for one person, his sister. I dug up this quote from a list of short story rules he compiled, and it seems fitting.

Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

[aeiowu]

Vonnegut said on a couple occassions that he wrote his books for one person, his sister. I dug up this quote from a list of short story rules he compiled, and it seems fitting.

Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

fuck yea!

[Ixis]

This is going to sound a bit pretentious or caustic, but I'm from art school, and we take criticism, no matter what. If someone comes and takes a dump all over my work it doesn't matter (though, if a lot of people dig what I'm doing I'll do more of it, if not I'll move on to something else.)

A screenwriting teacher of mine once told me that only 30% of all critiques you receive are actually useful, and it's stuck with me.

Let me clarify this: I'm not emotionally invested enough into any one work to be completely devastated if someone doesn't like a work or not, and yet I take criticisms very seriously, often redoing entire sections if someone's shown me how it could be improved or fatal flaws with it. I think everyone else should go by this as well, but it's hard for some people. < Caustic/pretentious part.

Also, no criticism sucks. Nothing drains the energy out of a project more than no one saying anything. I'd rather have universal hatred over no one saying anything (in fact, in some ways I'd rather have universal hatred over universal love of a project.)

[Xion]

I'm usually my own harshest critic, so criticism from others hardly ever bothers me. When I am particularly proud of something and someone validly criticizes it, though, I don't get upset, I just get kind of disappointed with myself for not being better. More importantly I learn from it, and try again. I think that's the most important part. Get as hurt as you want as long as you learn from it. And don't be a bitch and give up, because nobody likes a quitty bitch. If you're gonna quit running do it 'cause you broke both your legs or something, not because someone calls you slow, dig?

And anyway make sure the criticism is valid. Might be kind of hard to swallow some of the true stuff sometimes but you can't take the bullshit to heart, and it helps to be able to distinguish between the two.

And also realize that sometimes what you want just isn't the same as what other people want. And I think that's fine, too.

[falsion]

You imply that a game's design is beyond criticism, which is just outrageous. I hope this wasn't your intended meaning. There's plenty of illegitimate criticism in this area though, where the critic fails to account for the author's vision, their own tastes, and so on.

I never implied that. I only meant that there is valid criticism (that actually has merit) and criticism that is baseless and illegitimate.

Indeed, many times people just criticize a game because it doesn't fit their personal tastes. That kind of criticism is worthless. It does nothing to tell you what exactly is wrong with the game.

What is valid however is if someone points out things you can actually improve. Such as say, your character can't even jump high enough to reach platforms and someone suggests to increase how high your character can jump. That's a valid, constructive criticism.

Maybe not on here, but in a large majority of places on the internet, people tend to think complaining about a game not being their thing is constructive criticism.

Look at how much Valve has changed TF2 for the worst (completely rendering the Sandman useless) just because people complain about every single weapon being overpowered. If only Valve knew how to take things with a grain of salt rather than listening to a vocal minority, they wouldn't be trying to fix what isn't broken.

[BeauPrime]

No, a game's design is not beyond criticism.  A game's technical flaws are more easily fixed that an issue with the game's core design.  Say someone says, "Hey, the game runs slowly during one portion when it shouldn't."  That can be fixed.  An issue with the core design requires more reworking and more testing, IF it should be changed at all.  If someone complains, "The game's combat isn't as fast-paced as Devil May Cry", but the game was designed with a slower, more strategic combat system, like that of Demon's Souls, then the criticism isn't valid.

Really, technical issues are more easily pointed out and fixed, and one shouldn't automatically change something that will interfere with the game's core design and ideas.

[s0]

"This game sucks because it's a shmup, you should make it an FPS" is not a valid criticism. "Maybe you should remove intertia from your shmup because it bogs down the game" on the other hand, is.

[falsion]

"This game sucks because it's a shmup, you should make it an FPS" is not a valid criticism. "Maybe you should remove intertia from your shmup because it bogs down the game" on the other hand, is.

Indeed.

Also, maybe I shouldn't have used the word "trolling." Though many times, when I see someone say something like "this game sucks, the main character shouldn't be a girl" (or something equally worthless like that) it sure seems like it.

[aeiowu]

i wouldn't call it criticism at all. To give criticism your comments must involve critical thinking of some kind.

[Adamski]

Saw this thread and immediatley thought of

http://nifflas.lpchip.nl/index.php?topic=2373.0