I am kicking off this blog (on the theory and practice of game design and production) with a rant.  As game makers, our expertise is often underappreciated or unrecognized.  Games are fun and accessable, so anyone can assert that everyone is an expert on games. That things like “fun” and “quality experience” are subjective and no one can be an authority.  I say hogwash.  There are many many experts in the game industry (odds are you are one of them if you are reading this!).  I address the topic of opinions, weight of opinions, and the silly notion of “agreeing to disagree”.

When one goes to the oncologist and she tells you that you have cancer, the patient’s response is rarely “But that is just YOUR opinion! We are all entitled to our opinions!  We must agree to disagree.”

When someone finds a Monet painting at the flea market, and the Sotheby’s fine art appraiser tells them it is a reprinted poster, folks are not inclined to exclaim, “But that is just YOUR opinion! We are all entitled to our opinions!  We must agree to disagree.”

Now, let’s take it home.  Often, when we game developers/producers/designers give our pitches for game concepts, or evaluate a third party pitch, we DO hear, “But that is just YOUR opinion! We are all entitled to our opinions!  We must agree to disagree.”

Our years of experience; our mental databases filled from @ to Zork; our pixel/poly trained eyes; and minds honed to dissect any game are often relegated to the status of common opinion.  As rational people who stake our livelyhoods on our ideas and our games being right, we make judgements.

Three issues here: opinions, weight of opinions, and agreeing to disagree.

1) We are experts at games and provide expert opinion.  We are here to provide our expert and accurate analysis and evaluation; not whim or fancy.  BTW, you are eligible to have your Expert status revoked if product reviews and revenue do not back you up. 

2) Sure we are all entitled to opinions, but some people (us!) have experience and knowledge that makes their opinion more valuable.  Experts also bring with them objective rules that lead them to their conclusions.  Lots of feedback and opinions on a product are important, but are most valuable through the lens of the expert to interpret, filter, and implement them.  Opinions are for those afraid of their own thought processes; judgements are made by rational people after evaluating data.

3) There is no way for two rational people, who are correctly evaluating the same data, to disagree and both be right.  Agreeing to disagree is agreeing to be illogical.  Things like quality, revenue potential, originality and even fun factor can and should be looked at objectively.  Agreeing to disagree is a method lazy or irrational people use to proclaim themselves “right”.

So, Game Experts.  Be objective, well researched, logical, and listen/filter the opinions of others, and then BE THE EXPERT, MAKE JUDGEMENTS, and you will create better products.