Don't all gamers expect Game Developers to know exactly what each individual wants and give it to them?
And complain long and loud when they don't get it?
Personally, I expect Firaxis to use Swamis. Lots and lots of Swamis . . .
Yeah that's why I took the bull by the horns and send them a letter (20 years ago if not more, so hey the ideas don't come from Sid but from me for the most part
) and giving suggestions in the place they read like here.
Its Firaxis's job to make good games and not everyone has (hyper-)specific ideas of what constitutes fun and some people, in fact, prefer to try things they wouldn't have thought of in the first place. Personally, I would much rather Firaxis trying something new that hasn't been thought of over them trying to appeal to the, sometimes, hyper-specific ideas/demands the fanbase has.
Wait isn't there something called "player feedback" that has always existed and is supposed to enlighten the devs about why a random game had success ? In the case of Civ, it's "one more turn", "caveman to cosmos" (not the Civ4 mod) (although that one may have been the core design at the source by Sid Meier, just an idea that worked) and strategy thinking ? Thing is the last enjoyable Civ solo I played was Civ3, and yet I was no convinced by the Deity mode, which I quickly rushed but in an ironman mode so my starting location was kind of terrible (between two portions of water). To me, the most enjoyable Civ is a Civ we can beat in Deity without feeling overwhelmed. [Difficulty wise, and feeling-I'm-done-with-it wise, which is kind of hard to figure out with Civ6 with so many very different civs : you want to try to win with every one in Deity ideally] (Civ2 and a little bit of 3, but just more from the journey than the destination, i.e. playing lower difficulty levels and harder and harder, I mean, my best plays were not in Deity that's for sure) OTOH, I wrote to Firaxis that Civ2 Deity was too easy, because when I completed a couple of games in that modes, I considered to be done with it. Maybe I wanted more replay-value for that kind of trip, I mean, the "one more turn" I don't take care anymore, the "caveman to cosmos" is still enjoyable although I'm a bit accustomed with it by now (hence the need to magnify it by any mean), and the strategy thinking I learned to appreciate it with Civ5 and Civ6 in solo but that's definitely not my playstyle, where I voluntarily let me carried by the turns that follow one another and rarely say myself "stop ! I need to think here" and finds myself in inextricable situations where the game is simply lost. (not counting all the frustrations that make me quit because Civ6 is a bad game overall IMO) But I keep coming to it, with no success though. I guess that those youtubers are really viral after all.
We would all still be playing Pacman if creativity and game design was left to the average player.
"Can you imagine, in the future, there will be like a giant map for Pacman to roam, and different types of enemies, and maybe the map will even be randomly generated! What astounding possibilities the future of gaming holds!" - Joe Shmoe, circa 1981.
True. I keep repeating it, which is sometimes badly received. But I'm not an average player.
(more the kind of creative player, although not all my own ideas suit me as a player, because Physics I guess.
)