Ryjak's Animation Blog

Websites and forums in particular provide vital information to the designers of games. I for two years was a resident every single day on the White Wolf Games website’s user forums. I participated in many prescheduled events where the developers would garner information from their core audience by running us through supplements for their role playing game series which were still in development. It was my job, as a dealer/player of these games, to glean as much information as I could about upcoming releases from the developers, and relay them to my customer and gaming base. It was an effective marketing strategy, and because of it, I was able to increase the sales of their product in my department at the gaming store.Of course, there’s always a downside when we’re talking about my experiences isn’t there? They canceled the line of products I was most enthusiastic about just a couple months before I left that job, and the services they provided for the old line went down dramatically, while they ran betas and play testing sessions for the new product line, but I suppose the old must make way for the new in all things don’t they? I continue to support that company despite its change of direction.
Other companies also benefit greatly from input from their customers. Betas are an important part of many companies. Microsoft runs many betas all the time, from their games to office and productivity software, they are constantly getting feedback from their key audiences. Even in their OS software, there is a feedback response everytime a program crashes. Needless to say, I see this message a lot, especially when I visit broken websites.