thread: 2011-02-17 : Ben Lehman: Playtesting: Stop
On 2011-02-18, Will wrote:
Ben, I'm sorry if I was being distracting or tangential with those questions. On a post advising people about the importance of skilled writing, the value of editing, didacticism, and the role of critique, I honestly thought them relevant. I still do. I think how you say something makes a difference.
For what it's worth, I agree that playtesting is not magic, that it can be handled skillfully or not, and that it is not something "to which all other elements of design must bow down," for a designer must be sturdy enough and sure enough to maintain and protect her vision in the face of cloudy feedback and suggestions that threaten to drag focus away from important goals. That's a valuable message. I'd argue about specifics?"textual playtesting" does not require surrendering to a crowdsourced editing job, to my mind?but whatever.
I'd have liked this a lot more and understood it better if it was restructured.
