Riamus
Well-known member
Most devs don't listen to players all that much. For most games, development happens entirely behind closed doors. The difference is with early access, and it states before you buy such a game that it is still being developed and things may change.
I would say that when there is feedback on things that aren't designed or thought out well, they listen. Take the initial removal of shared quest progression in 1.0. Players pointed out the problems that causes and they added it back and made a different change to get the effect they were looking for.
On the other hand, if their vision for the game is a certain way and some players don't like it, they aren't likely to change things for those players. And they really shouldn't, to be honest.
Keep in mind that even if a group of people complain about something, that many more might like it. Most people don't spend time saying they like something, but most will complain about things they don't like. This greatly skews the way things appear because you see more negative feedback than positive even when far more like something. So you may think most people don't like something and it could be the opposite. There are many thousands of people who actively play this game, so even if 100 people were to complain, that is only a very small part of the player base. And even with that, you will get people who support the change.
As stated, they cannot please everyone. If people give feedback, they listen. But listening doesn't mean they will agree with it. When they added this game to early access, they needed a game that could be played. That meant they needed to use a lot of placeholders, from art to mechanics, just to make it playable. Over time, those placeholders get replaced. Sometimes the replacements don't work the way they want and so they change things again. That is normal for development.
I would say that when there is feedback on things that aren't designed or thought out well, they listen. Take the initial removal of shared quest progression in 1.0. Players pointed out the problems that causes and they added it back and made a different change to get the effect they were looking for.
On the other hand, if their vision for the game is a certain way and some players don't like it, they aren't likely to change things for those players. And they really shouldn't, to be honest.
Keep in mind that even if a group of people complain about something, that many more might like it. Most people don't spend time saying they like something, but most will complain about things they don't like. This greatly skews the way things appear because you see more negative feedback than positive even when far more like something. So you may think most people don't like something and it could be the opposite. There are many thousands of people who actively play this game, so even if 100 people were to complain, that is only a very small part of the player base. And even with that, you will get people who support the change.
As stated, they cannot please everyone. If people give feedback, they listen. But listening doesn't mean they will agree with it. When they added this game to early access, they needed a game that could be played. That meant they needed to use a lot of placeholders, from art to mechanics, just to make it playable. Over time, those placeholders get replaced. Sometimes the replacements don't work the way they want and so they change things again. That is normal for development.