The P100/FOMO Controversy highlights DbD issues with Goblin-numbers & High-hour players.

So few days ago a response on twitter from the bHVR Community Managers has draw huge amount of IRE from loads of big content creators and hundreds of players accusing bHVR of having double standards and being hypocritical. The response was regarding if P100 could give cosmetics, and they said as an argument they did not want players to feel like they had to grind to P100 to get it. This angered the pot of FOMO dissenters which is a very vocal group and you see them often here on the forum.

They wrongly accuse bHVR of having double standards because they see The Prestige System as a System to reward them for their efforts, but I took the time to remember what was said about the Prestige System when it was reworked. The reward was the symbol, an icon. Im sorry if you thought bHVR was planning on changing it to actually GIVE rewards to you. But if you read the Q/As at the time, they are clear, They were not planning on releasing Cosmetics at P100. So hypocrisy just does not apply as it is two different systems and bHVR rightfully qualifies that in their message. I would call it a language barrier, but even Americans are seeing red right now.

Now if there are any Game Design experts in here you may understand too that the Prestige System, falls off as progression system at P3 and cosmetics and charms at P9 to become a Goblin-number. (exact game design term be damned) Goblin numbers are things modern game designers put in our games to get us to keep playing, they are relatively inexpensive and they have a psychological effect on players, ever considered playing another match of Overwatch because the level up meter is so close to fill up? Goblin numbers. These are in and out of modern game design, because its likely there is no way dbd or other could be without them, people would stop playing if there was not this little thing agitating our lizard brains.

Honestly I would say I think I have convinced myself that I play this game because I like the game, so I try to ignore the goblin numbers and the impacts of goblin numbers, but its hard. Like for instance now how some people are feeling targeted because of the P100 as a target on their back and Killers are lobby dodging because of them too. So Prestige are probably going to be removed to only postgame screen where it can do least amount of damage. But thats another suggestion for bHVR which would make me happy, but thats not what this post is about. The point is even I as immune as I think I am, can still fall into the trap of caring about these little numbers.

But Goblin numbers ALWAYS feel empty and that is why people want rewards for them, that is an universal fact, where there is seen a possibility for the Game Company to make a reward for Goblin numbers, players will ask and they will ask forever. You can perhaps see now that the tiny inexpensive system is becoming a problem cause it will cause conflict if you don't reward for what players feel are an effort. Even if that effort was not promised to have a reward, thus we now have Wednesday/Thursday/ Friday Drama.

Enter high-hour players such as myself, its no surprise I have spent an INSANE amount of hours on dbd. Not much to say, but I think they did a pretty good job so far. I have found my niche game, but I believe the majority of Dead by Daylights players are not high-hour players like me. bHVR would never tell us, trade secrets. shh shh. If that is the case then that makes perfect sense why bHVR does not want to put rewards on the shelf that normal players would never get a chance at. Instead as any sensible business, we must focus on new customers first, but also keep the player-base satisfied. So the problems are only getting thicker now.

Now I just want to take a min to mention that I think the community who is tearing you up on twitter is the worst part of the community and they don't deserve you. I was watching them say stuff that would depress me into a early grave. Know that you still have loyal fans and you dont need to give in to these sorry excuses for a community. I know they will come crawling back, because your game is always the best. Bless your soul bHVR for taking so much bs from them.

So we are at an impasse, its clear that the system meant to entertain the brain has been bested by high-hour players and they feel the need for reward for their efforts. This was not planned by bHVR its just a unfortunate use of Goblin numbers, a game design outcome. Now lets talk about solutions:

Now imma be honest with my community, but asking bHVR to cough up 72 cosmetics for P100 is a huge workload and honestly, there is no cosmetic that will ever feel satisfying for the amount of work that some players have put in in regards to P100. What you are asking for will delay the entire cosmetic team for half a year and endangering bHVR's cash flow with that much. I dont think it will work, I hope you will realize how this will effect bHVR and maybe chill about the effort you have used to get that big P100 symbol. Remember bHVR never promised you anything.

I can just imagine the nightmare your creative artists have to delay their work on cosmetics, so that they can create 72 sets of color swaps into blue to make that everybody will say look bad to make high-hour players on twitter content with their addictions. Your artists don't deserve that.

Now bHVR if you chose to give the members of the Community who want this, you are going to be held back in all different areas of your live service development. Don't you lose track of that, plus idd dislike to see you develop P100 rewards that look easy to make. I think its a lost cause and I personally dont give a hoot about getting an extra cosmetic for not having a life. but its up to you.

However there are things bHVR could do maybe instead or as well:

1.Inventing a system to actually give rewards from play time. So we already have the Rank System and Devotion system (know you said you maybe wanted to take a look at that one) these have been pumping out rewards for us for a while now, and I think they are great, consider if we need a more compact system. Ofc this runs the risk of this just becoming a job, wow bhvr you pay 14 shards an hour for a killer main? how about some Killer rights? idk if I want that. But honestly combine devotion and rank and give me some sugar every month, you know I wont say no.

2.Reworking Prestige one last time for Forever Progression. If you decide you want to keep goblin numbers in your game please make it infinite. I want to see a P9999

3.Getting real with your playerbase regarding what systems of your game is these kind of goblin numbers. This is the most sensible option, explain to the playerbase why game designers put systems like that into the game, how it works and what it does. Be educational about game design. Maybe it would make people quit when they realize their lizard brain is fooling them about the importance of game numbers, but I think they deserve that freedom- this is a lesson I learned from playing cookie clicker, numbers are fun to play with, but they are not important and I really think more people knew this. People need to play the game they want to play, so they need to understand why modern games have these implementations.

I think this is the 3rd option is most healthy option long term and it will also give an answer to decenters, they might learn something regarding numbers going up in games. Is it time to grow up about video games? I would love to see you encourage open learning experience about why you do things you do, but I dont know if regular gamers are ready to learn about things.