We Can Fix That with Data

Signal vs. Noise links to a Forbes article about why Project Runway is about more than fashion design.

Project Runway celebrates creativity and innovation. It also conveys tough-minded lessons about work in a competitive, market economy.

Forbes goes on to talk about how the show works as a business and marketing example: “merit and subjective judgment coexist. […] the marketplace doesn’t measure value on a single dimension.” The Signal vs. Noise guys go on to explain how Tim Gunn should really be a Unix developer: make it work first, then make it work well.

Like the fashion competitions in every episode of Project Runway, game design — especially live MMO design — is about taking what you have and making it work as best you can. During development, they just made it work. Now, you have to make it work well. What problems do you need to solve right now, and how can you solve them with the most efficient use of limited resources?

Design docs in the development phase often come with a “Goals” section at the beginning. What is this system setting out to do? One of your quest system goals, for example, would be “give players something to do.”

During live development, I like to replace that section with “Problems Solved.” How is this system going to solve an existing issue? If you added a quest system after launch, one of those problems solved would be “players don’t have enough to do.”

It’s still the same bullet point, but it puts your job into perspective. In live, you don’t do things just because they’re cool; you don’t have time. There’s shit to fix. Get it done, and carry on.