I'm binging Ted Lasso this week (super good, highly recommended). Early on, a reporter expresses incredulity that the coach of an English football team is enacting a play suggested by-- of all people!-- the kit man (equipment manager). 2/11
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The coach values the kit man's input. He doesn't erect boxes based on job titles and demand that people stay inside them. He doesn't say "Leave the plays to me, you just make sure the players have fresh towels." He's open to good ideas wherever he can find them. 3/11
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Maybe game designers should be called something else, like game shepherds. It's too easy to get trapped by that word "designer" and think that it's your job to have all the great ideas. After all, it's in your job title. Perform for us. Dance, monkey, dance! 4/11
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The truth is that nobody cares where great ideas come from. What matters is that when you see one, you welcome it. You give it oxygen and fertile soil to grow. You pit ideas against each other in a Darwinian battle arena, relentlessly upgrading them to their best versions. 5/11
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If your own ideas don't survive, you don't care-- because what matters is finding the best experience for your players. 6/11
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Don't get me wrong-- if you're a super-creative idea person, that's fantastic! Great ideas CAN come from anywhere, even you! 7/11
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Being a game shepherd involves a variety of skills: Humility, generosity, listening, player empathy, open-mindedness, keen understanding of goals, team-focus, curiosity, and approachability, among others. 8/11
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As the designer, you're often making the call about which of various competing ideas will move forward, and you're relying on those skills to do that. 9/11
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If the winning idea is from a teammate, give them credit when the idea is adopted! But from that point on the idea will grow and change in development. Many hands will touch it. It is no longer "so-and-so's idea." It now belongs to the team. 10/11
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A game designer's job is not to have the best ideas, it's to find them. 11/11
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