The original ideas behind Prestige's existence were valid, but the way it was presented and the mechanics they planned to use had flaws. Both sides on the RSOF pointed these out and provided potential remedies. Since Prestige is not being added currently as the way it is and they are going to reevaluate it I hope they consider the many ideas presented by the players. One player presented a good idea a few months ago, before Prestige was announced. While it probably isn't perfect as he suggested(he even admitted this), it would be a decent start.
I'm not against the ideas and goals behind Prestige, but I was/am against the way Prestige was going about.
For the record, I knew you were reading something about 5 seconds in. Then when you paused and said so I was like, "Nailed it!"
I agree that Jagex should not rely on the players choosing everything. However, when they forced stuff on players in the past they lost players, specifically members and sometimes a rather large amount. If they had at least given the players the choice about these updates then I bet some of them would've stayed because they would've felt they had had some input into it.
I don't like the way the Prestige poll was done. A single answer poll like that is not good for game decisions. It should have been more akin to a survey, 10 or so questions with multiple choices. That way rather than a striaght yes/no, people could say which direction they lean more to and what would make them lean even more. They had a week to gather and compile player suggestions, some of these should have been included in the poll.
Yes, Jagex should be willing and able(very important) to spearhead the decisions, but if you make them entirely without the opinions, thoughts, or suggestions of the end-user(in this case, players) then you will shun your targeted audience. Look at when Apple removed Google maps, thinking theirs would be fine. People hated iMaps and switched to android because those maps actually worked. Apple then allowed Google maps back on iOS. This may be considered caving, but it's good business.
If you keep making choices that your end-users do not like then you will drive your product into the ground. Jagex is in a very sticky situation, having caused many players to leave over the past few years and removing bots has caused a significant drop in revenue. Their investors(
IVP) are probably not too happy at this drop in revenue. Jagex has to do things to regain this revenue. The best way to begin regaining revenue is to prevent the loss of more. In this case that requires doing things that players like, not that they dislike. RS barely holds over 40k players on at one time, with 30-40% of those being on OSRS at any given time. They
cannot afford to lose anymore players, which is why they have begun to tread much more carefully. Their monthly income from memberships is now only a small fraction of what it used to be, and RC & SGS are not making up the difference.
Jagex, if you want to be the game "Built by the players" then
Listen to your players!Listen, don't cave.
Listening means wanting the thoughts of others and considering them. The players don't know everything possible nor all the affects of it,
neither do you! But together you can see both sides of the coin and come up with a much better product. You should have the best idea of what affects things will have on the game. If you're not confident in this then you need to hire a Game Design Analyst. Or you can make a special forum for accounts 5, 8, or 10 years old because they have lived through different things in Runescape's history. They are more likely to know the affects of things and more likely to give honest, sincere, suggestions than new accounts(regardless of the level of those old accounts or new accounts).
Caving means you admit you can't do it and don't even want to try, you'll just let someone else make all the choices.
Cowards cave, Heroes listen.
Be a
Hero, Jagex!
)
