Would A-Net be interested in implementing small minor features fans designed?

[Satiodelf.2946]

This is just a purely hypothetical question, I do not have any skills with programming or game design.

 

I was wondering, I was going through some ideas for changes to the game. Little minor stuff that realistically only the minority within the game would actually benefit from. Stuff like cosmetic marriages, more emotes, sitting in chairs, finishing the little mini games the devs had promised years ago. Etc etc. Mostly cosmetic changes that the devs are not able to put time and money into doing.

 

One of the main complaints I seen towards implementing a lot of these ideas was how the devs should be devoting their time to other projects, other ideas and stuff the majority of the players will benefit from. But what if the fans who want these smaller features added to the game designed and programed the code, animation, etc etc themselves, that eliminates most of the effort needed on A-net's part. Only having to go over the code and animations to make sure it meets their standard and there is nothing hidden within. (Much less time and money needed to do that then to design these ideas themselves).

 

The idea struck me, because I know within most communities there are programmers and designers who are very talented, doing such work gives them much needed experience and it benefits the minority within the community that want these smaller cosmetic things we been asking about for years. Win win for everyone involved as long as everything stays cosmetic.

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

Considering that even having people volunteer to pull information from the forum to give to ANet had to be handled carefully because of labor laws it’s doubtful that they can have people code for the game free of charge. As well as any problems with giving people access to the game’s “spaghetti code” where changing A can also unintentionally change Z. The number and types of bugs that could creep in might remove any gain from people doing free work.

[Satiodelf.2946]

Sounds like laws and such about this sort of thing have changed a lot over the last couple years.

 

I remember fans volenteering to add stuff to games in the past, or occasionally a dev would add/change things in their spare time as an off the books project they just wanted to do. I remember those sorts of situations being more popular in dying games or ones with lower population. Stuff that the fans wanted, some egar devs wanted, but there was never any approval from higher ups to do the project other then the final yes to put it in.

 

Still, definitely a concern about letting a player have access to the spaghetti code. Not sure about GW2, but I know a lot of other MMOs people can extract the code from the files on their computers, Though this was mostly a thing in free to play Korean MMOs. I remember that was how the community found out just how horrible the code was in Maplestory and why exactly certain places would cause the game to lag/crash. Which lead to the devs eventually fixing it. Still, normally looking at the code I think is in validation of the ToS of the product in its current state. Ah well, it was worth a hypothetical idea.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

ANet's addressed this in the past. It's actually _more difficult_ for them in most cases to take someone's work from outside the game and try to integrate it into the game. They much prefer people posting ideas in the forums, even aside from concerns about labor or intellectual property laws.

 

Some games are set up differently. For example, a bunch of games include the ability to offer mods. For example, the single player titles of The Elder Scrolls are much admired for their mods. In effect, those use an existing Application-Player-Interface (API) that some people can use to program additions/modifications.

 

GW2 does have its own API and fan programmers have created tools, including GW2 Efficiency and GW2 Timer and GW2 TACO and the Wardrobe Analyzer. These would be easier to integrate into the game, but it would be more likely for ANet to take the ideas and start from scratch. That's because the API itself adds a layer of complexity that might make it harder to maintain and evolve the tools later.

 

Short story: if you have an idea, post it on the forums. If it's complex enough (and you have the skills), it might be worth putting together a proof-of-concept. That would help illustrate the idea, but it won't save ANet any time in adding it to the game.