Hussar
Legend
I was reading the latest Dragon's Eye View article on the WOTC site (for those who don't read it, it's the art column) and something caught my eye. The poll discussing what version of the Owlbear people liked. We had a pretty clear winner:
Grizzowl01 (which was my choice to be honest) is the clear winner here. It's got everyone else beat hands down.
But, there's a problem. It is the odds on favourite, true, but, it doesn't have the majority of people on board. If we choose this image and go forward, we're actually losing over half of the fans of the owlbear.
So, therein lies the problem. If you are designing a game, what do you do? Do you go with the odds on favourite, even knowing that you've just ignored over half the gaming population? Do you go back to the drawing board and try to find an image that does appeal to over half? Is half good enough? How about 2/3rds?
I can really see WOTC being stuck behind a rock and a hard place. They are trying to appeal to the broadest number of gamers possible, but, in doing so, leave themselves open to the "Gnome Effect" to use Mike Mearl's term.
Say you have a group of 6 players. From the above poll, 3 of the six players aren't happy with your decision. If half the group doesn't like something, it's pretty likely that they're not going to play your game.
I'm not sure what can be done about this. I suppose the open playtest is a good start. Take the feedback, loop it back around and try to find as much common ground as possible. Like the song says, two out of three ain't bad, so that might not be a terrible benchmark.
Just a meandering thought.
WOTC Site said:Which owlbear do you prefer? (From last week's article)
Grizzowl 01 ------- 45.2%
Screecher 03 ------- 16.6%
Track 2 owlbear ------ 11.4%
Gorrilowl 04 ------- 8.8%
Tallgrizz 02 ------- 7.6%
Oldgrump 06 ------- 4.8%
Original owlbear ------ 4.2%
Longbeak 05 ------- 1.5%
Total -------- 100.0%
Grizzowl01 (which was my choice to be honest) is the clear winner here. It's got everyone else beat hands down.
But, there's a problem. It is the odds on favourite, true, but, it doesn't have the majority of people on board. If we choose this image and go forward, we're actually losing over half of the fans of the owlbear.
So, therein lies the problem. If you are designing a game, what do you do? Do you go with the odds on favourite, even knowing that you've just ignored over half the gaming population? Do you go back to the drawing board and try to find an image that does appeal to over half? Is half good enough? How about 2/3rds?
I can really see WOTC being stuck behind a rock and a hard place. They are trying to appeal to the broadest number of gamers possible, but, in doing so, leave themselves open to the "Gnome Effect" to use Mike Mearl's term.
Say you have a group of 6 players. From the above poll, 3 of the six players aren't happy with your decision. If half the group doesn't like something, it's pretty likely that they're not going to play your game.
I'm not sure what can be done about this. I suppose the open playtest is a good start. Take the feedback, loop it back around and try to find as much common ground as possible. Like the song says, two out of three ain't bad, so that might not be a terrible benchmark.
Just a meandering thought.