Video game development is different from regular software development because the target audience typically has much lower tolerance for bugs, performance issues, UI issues, or anything else that detracts from the non-functional requirement that the game be "fun."
The target user base has such high expectations of video games because a game is for entertainment and consequently this user base does not tolerate their gaming experience being laborious or irritating in any way. A game not meeting the "fun" requirement is quickly dispensed with. In contrast, users of say, a spreadsheet program, are relatively more tolerant of imperfections in the software simply because they are doing "work" with the program and do not expect it to be "enjoyable" to use. Gamers also have many other choices for entertainment (both other video games and alternative forms of entertainment). Thus, any given video game is up against a plethora of competitors, any one of which could better meet the expectations of a video game's target audience. On the other hand, there are comparatively few alternatives for users dissatisfied with other types of software. There is much less choice, for example, if users wanted to find an alternate word processor, e-mail client, or spreadsheet application. And for collaborative reasons, such users would already be less inclined to switch.
No comments:
Post a Comment