Monday, August 06, 2007

Skepticism

I have to say, I am genuinely surprised about the amount of skepticism I've received toward Modern System 2.0.

In a way, it makes this experiment I'm conducting, opening up the design process to the outside world at a much earlier stage, feel like it might be a mistake to me.

9 comments:

DNAphil said...

I think that people fall into three camps with something like this.

The first, see your vision, as you described it, and get what you are getting at. They are for it.

The second group, do not see the vision, but hear the examples, and think, it might not be bad. They will wait to see what you come up with.

The third, don't get or don't like your vision. They see obstacles everywhere. It would not matter if you showed them your design ideas now or released the final PDF. They were never going to like it, and likely never will.

Its been my experience in my profession (Business Process Manager) that you gather as many of the first group as you can to help you grow ideas. You cultivate a healthy relationship with the second group, since they are on the fence, and you will have to work a bit to win them over. And they will give you the best feedback.

As for the third, discard them. They are never going to support your idea, and will never help you take it any farther.

A quote I like when I am designing something new and wonder why it seems so few people like it, helps to keep me focused. Here it is:

"Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you
will have to ram it down their throats." — Howard Aiken

Keep the vision and stay the course.

Vigilance said...

I like that quote!

DNAphil said...

Here is one more along the same lines:

"If I'd asked the consumer what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse."

— Henry Ford

Preston said...

Don't forget we "silent majority". I dig what you're trying to do and I'm certainly following along, but I don't have anything meaningful to add to the conversation yet. Just stay the course.

David S. Gallant said...

I think your big problem was posting about it on ENWorld. There are just too many armchair designers and critics for criticism's sake. When I'm excited about a project that I'm working on, I've learned never to post examples of it on ENWorld. It only ends in tears.

Vigilance said...

It's also possible that I'm a little sensitive. Maybe ;)

I post about stuff I'm writing all the time on ENW and the feedback is usually good.

But I usually don't post this early in the writing process.

Still, I'm (mostly) enjoying people's reactions, even the negative ones!

Daniel M. Perez said...

Something I have learned the hard way: design for yourself; if others like it, great, and if not, screw them.

I also agree that ENW is not necessarily the best place to air ideas looking for feedback. I have found other places, like Story-Games.com, far more nurturing, but then again that site only works if you are going for a story/narrative approach. This blog works fine, as well. You also don't wanna have a ton of armchair cooks staring down your pot of stew telling you what spices to use here and there.

Chuck said...

"I also agree that ENW is not necessarily the best place to air ideas looking for feedback."

Let's be frank, feedback isn't my ONLY goal in posting to ENW.

There have been some nuggets of feedback that have influenced the design, mostly in terms of the mood of the populace.

It's like a random poll and will have about that much impact on the design process.

Of course, people who post that I know actually, you know, play or RUN d20 M based on past posting habits (yeah, I'm watching you) will have a bigger effect.

But if feedback were my only purpose, I probably wouldn't be posting this stuff.

It's also fairly good marketing.

Assuming everyone doesn't come to the conclusion that it sucks ;)

Anonymous said...

"Don't forget we "silent majority". I dig what you're trying to do and I'm certainly following along, but I don't have anything meaningful to add to the conversation yet. Just stay the course."

"I think your big problem was posting about it on ENWorld. There are just too many armchair designers and critics for criticism's sake. When I'm excited about a project that I'm working on, I've learned never to post examples of it on ENWorld. It only ends in tears."

Wise men--you should listen to them. (I'm in the slient majority category too.)

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