I've watched a video of some drunken dudes literally burning one of my games because they couldn't figure out the rules. I've been called the worst professional boardgame designer in the industry. If you're around long enough, and are successful enough, you will be too.
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You can't let that wreck you, and you can't let it turn you off of honest reviews of your games. Often, the criticisms that sting the most will be the ones that say the things you thought in your heart when you sent the game off. No game is ever perfect, no game is ever done.
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Does this mean I think you should go on BGG and read all the 1-4 rated comments on your games? No, not even a little. They seldom have any useful criticism. Instead, look at your 5s through 7s. This is where you COULD have reached them, but didn't for some reason.
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That's where your game ran too long, or wasn't as much fun with 5 players, or had too many things to remember, or whatever. I look for criticisms that seek to REFINE my design rather than REDEFINE it.
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If you want to grow as a designer, you've got to confront these sorts of critiques. Once you think that no one has any valid criticisms to offer you, you're through. That's as good as you will ever get. That's your ceiling.
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But criticisms that want you to design a different game, or that hate your design style or the mechanics you used? To heck with 'em. If you've done no real harm, then don't change who you are or what you love for some rando on the internet.
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The key for me is differentiating between critiques of how well I implemented a game, and critiques of what game I implemented. How well did I meet my design goals vs. how well did I meet a particular customer's needs?
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You cannot take every criticism to heart because you cannot please everyone. Trying to do so will destroy you stylistically and artistically. You'll wind up making garbage that no one wants or needs. But you can't cut yourself off from criticism either. You have to walk the line.
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This would all sound like very wise advice -and I would have taken it to heart, but then I remembered the source has at least once been called ‘the worst designer in the industry.’ Now I don’t know WHAT to think!
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Bup bup bup! Worst PROFESSIONAL game designer in the industry, thank you very much.
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