A reminder to everyone about generational differences

[Jojoya]

This isn't a generational matter of analog clocks going out of style, this is some of the most basic geometric and mechanical knowledge known to mankind.



Developing content for the lowest common denominator of player is how you kill your MMO. WoW almost fell into this trap a few times, FFXIV is currently in the process of falling into it.

But are schools still teaching that geometric and mechanical knowledge or are they just teaching their students to pass standardized tests to guarantee they continue to get federal funding?

Search google for comments from long time college and university instructors about the state of incoming students. I came across one article focused on how many college students struggle to read and analyze the contents of a book. They're too used to getting quick bites of information and now they're getting a lot of that information from AI, which still has a lot of inaccuracies.

As for WoW failing because of the lowest common denominator, I disagree. Wrath worked because it had something for everyone. Cata bombed at start because it took raiding and Heroic dungeons away from the common player and didn't give them anything to replace that loss of content. The game also failed because because they had developers that decided there was only one right way to do things and a CEO that was pressuring them to add monetization into the design process. Don't forget about Wildstar, which failed because there was nothing for the common denominator outside of its housing system (which was very popular but not enough to save it).

[Birdbrain]

Finally, one of raid members spoke up to say that maybe Boomers know what clockwise is but Zoomers don't have a clue and that maybe the raid lead should explain it differently.

I generally don't mind helping people, even if the answer feels obvious. But when people start unironically using terms like 'boomer' and 'zoomer' like this... ya lost me =P

[NegativeS]

Search google for comments from long time college and university instructors about the state of incoming students. I came across one article focused on how many college students struggle to read and analyze the contents of a book. They're too used to getting quick bites of information and now they're getting a lot of that information from AI, which still has a lot of inaccuracies.

Yes, this is a problem. A huge, society-threatening problem. Not something that should be catered to by watering down their environment.

As for WoW failing because of the lowest common denominator, I disagree. Wrath worked because it had something for everyone. Cata bombed at start because it took raiding and Heroic dungeons away from the common player and didn't give them anything to replace that loss of content. The game also failed because because they had developers that decided there was only one right way to do things and a CEO that was pressuring them to add monetization into the design process. Don't forget about Wildstar, which failed because there was nothing for the common denominator outside of its housing system (which was very popular but not enough to save it).

Welcome to game development, we're happy to have you here.

Rule 1: Do not attempt to design your game for every audience. Either you will fail and your game will die, or you will succeed and your game will become tasteless slop... and then your game will die.

Wildstar died because it was eclipsed by WoW, not because it was a bad game. I actually quite enjoyed it during the short time it was alive.