thread: 2011-02-17 : Ben Lehman: Playtesting: Stop
On 2011-02-22, jenskot wrote:
Speaking of bias, I've managed professional usability testing (playtesting) for websites, applications, printed materials, instruction booklets, kiosks, and more. That combined with me not being an indie RPG designer, puts me outside of the target audience here. I've also playtested D&D 3E, 4E and several other RPGs but that still is outside the scope at hand. I think many of the techniques I've honed overlap with RPG development, but I don't want to misrepresent myself.
I agree with Ben that playtesting is not a replacement for having goals. You need to know what your game does and for who for playtesting to be of strong value. Playtesting is also not a replacement for editing.
But my concern is that "Editing" may become the new "Playtesting." Editing is great if you know how to use it and its limitations. Specifically, an edited work may need to be playtested after it's been edited to confirm the editing is still in line with your goals. In my fields, and in larger RPGs, I've found this to be solidly true, but everyone has different needs.
Take D&D 4E, after several editing passes, the rules behind Skill Challenges became more obfuscated and no longer communicated the designer's intents. It needed a last playtest after the final edit to confirm everything was still inline with the designer's goals.
Playtesting and editing are both great tools if you know why you are using them and how. How much playtesting and editing you need depends 100% on your goals.
