Just because feedback is detailed and well-written doesn’t mean it is representative of the overall population’s concerns. This is because the things that hardcore players care about aren’t necessarily the same things everybody else cares about. Fans, hardcore or otherwise, all tend to focus on the certain specific elements of the game that they enjoy and dismiss the others that they don’t care for. However they also fall into the trap of thinking that the things they care about are the things everybody cares about.
This isn’t to say detailed feedback isn’t valuable - it very much is. The more accurate information we have, the better equipped we are to make future development decisions. Well-written feedback, especially feedback about specific things you like and dislike about the game, is always read and internalized. However, just because we read it and internalize it doesn’t mean we’ll do what you want. We have our own development priorities, and that includes the budgetary realities of the game, things other players care about, things the developers themselves want to do, and so on.
Imagine asking hardcore football fans what they would fix about the football game experience and being told that the seats in the stadiums aren’t comfortable enough. That wouldn’t be applicable to address issues of the millions of fans watching broadcasts at home no matter how detailed the feedback about the seats is. There hundreds of fans who watch football games on TV for each one that goes to football games in person. This is the point of the 80, 20, 5 post - you have to realize that the things one group of hardcore fans complains about is not necessarily representative of the player base at large. It’s incredibly difficult to get accurate information about the entire player base as a fan. The only reason I know anything about it at all is because I’ve seen the numbers and the data for the various games I’ve worked on and there are common recurring behaviors among the audiences for them.
In closing, I’ll leave you with this little nugget of wisdom from our Discord server:
The FANTa Project is currently on hiatus while I am crunching at work too busy.
[What is the FANTa project?] [Git the FANTa Project]
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