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PROCESSING FEEDBACK

Page history last edited by Steve 11 years, 1 month ago

 

 

Processing feedback

This is what Sean had to say about his process:

The goal with processing feedback is to move me emotionally from being satisfied with what I’ve done to being excited about what’s next.

 

I need to move from inspecific/simmering/lots of stuff into a list of specific things I want to do in this next draft.

 

BEFORE GETTING FEEDBACK

After finishing the draft, do a mind map about what’s good, what’s weak, what am I excited about, what could I do, and ANYTHING ELSE (FROM JASON MORNINGSTAR: divide feedback into (a) fundamental / changes everything; (b) big; (c) nice to have / may change)

 

 

http://gamineexpedition.blogspot.com/2011/12/handling-reviewer-comments.html

Sara M. Grimes: What to do when you get your reviewer comments back: 

Read through them ONCE - thoroughly but very quickly. 

 

Acknowledge the feedback

Joe McDaldno has a thing he did with my feedback for Quiet Year where he directly and early-on acknowledged that he ‘heard’ what our problem was.

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Promptly close the reviewer document/email and set it aside for at least 2 days. 

 

 

 

Fred Hicks on feedback: http://www.story-games.com/forums/discussion/comment/129511#Comment_129511

 

At first blush, I can't [take negative feedback]. My "meatspace" reaction is to get tense, bitchy, hurt, angry, and acidic. But I've trained myself not to let other people see that. I hide it, hopefully from myself, and *force* myself to listen, *force* myself to realize there's value in there that my emotions won't let me see, *force* myself to say thank you in advance of that. My inner demon wants me to hurt the critiquer back, as viciously as possible. But the skills I've learned, the other part of me I like and want to be, pulls me back from that. It's more work than I care to do a lot of days. But I do the work because I have to, because I recognize that pushing negativity back at negativity only creates a feedback loop that will deafen the discussion.

And honestly, I don't think I'm alone (even if I'm not, my very existence gives the lie to your assertion). I think the community likes to self-congratulate on how good it is at taking criticism, but most criticism fucking hurts. It saps joy. It doesn't make me want to make a better game. It makes me want to take my dice and go home. Only when I get PAST the emotions of it do I start to find the ability to build.

I only take criticism well from people I've established a strong, personal, direct trust relationship with -- and even so, back in the days of Spirit of the Century's development I got so frustrated I yelled at Rob, stalked out of his house, and left the project for something like five months. But I've learned from that. 

Anyway, criticism. EVENTUALLY, I find the value in it. I especially find the value in it when it's done direct, personal, and best of all off the fucking internet and in person.

 

 

BEAR THIS IN MIND: I need to ship regardless of the feedback – I need to be ready to have an instinctive reaction of ‘shutting down and needing to introspect’.

 

Instead, I should focus on the problems, do the work, read Sean’s process for taking feedback, and keep working on the unaffected stuff with the goal in mind of shipping before the last week of May.

 

 

Read through the comments a second time (2 days later) w/ a clear head & fury quelled.

 

 

Add their comments and feedback to my mind map.

List all edits and suggestions.

 

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Define for myself: “What’s the end result I want?” This can be my future vision (or ‘shipping’ conditions)

 

What do I definitely need to do?

What is or could be a fundamental problem I need to resolve?

 

[Me: separate points out into actionable things / things to think about / things I don’t get or don’t understand the point of / things I can’t do / things that contradict each other]

 

Make everything else ‘to review’

 

 

ASK MYSELF ABOUT EACH PIECE OF FEEDBACK

What’s really going on?
What’s a fix for it?
How does the fix reflect what the game is about?

 

 

Then create a second mind map of specific things I want to achieve with this next draft.

 

 

 

 

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