My Hypothesis – 44Elk

Posted on January 25, 2022 by 44elk

My Hypothesis—44Elk

  1. The relationship between developers and players in video games.
  2. Video game developers should have a more transparent relationship with the people that play them.
  3. The developers behind Overwatch should communicate their work with the playerbase more often.
  4. The developers behind Overwatch 2 should provide more information about their project to professional Overwatch players.  
  5. It is in the best interest of the developers behind Overwatch 2 to have a better relationship with its players.
  6. It is in the best interest of the developers behind Overwatch 2 to have a relationship with its player base that demonstrates and communicates transparency, respect, and reformation from maladaptive practices.
  7. It is in the best interest of the developers behind Overwatch 2 to have a relationship with its player base that demonstrates and communicates transparency, respect, and reformation from previous-maladaptive practices. All of this will allow all aspects of Overwatch 2 to be better and live up to its extremely-high expectations.

Things to remember for later:

  • Controversy surrounding Activision Blizzard
  • The fall of Overwatch and the Overwatch League
  • Controversy surrounding the development of Overwatch 2
  • Recent success of Riot Games’ Valorant
    1. Blizzard failing to meet consumer demand (game updates in the last 2 years and the success of Riot’s Arcane)
  • Hurtful practices that have hurt multiple aspects of the game itself
  • The evolution of the gaming industry and leaving Overwatch in the dust
  • The bad atmosphere of Competitive Overwatch
    1. Overwatch League and info for Overwatch 2
    2. The failure of Contenders and the Path-to-pro
    3. The dilemma of Blizzard creating a “Casual Competitive” game (points to Riot and the creation of the highly-competitive Valorant.)
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5 Responses to My Hypothesis – 44Elk

  1. davidbdale's avatar davidbdale says:
    January 30, 2022 at 9:48 PM

    I’m impressed with the amount of detail you’ve included here, Elk. I hope that, as your research progresses, you’ll be as good at updating your White Paper with the results of your findings. I will not be able to lead your effort, but I will support it to the extent you keep me informed of what you discover.

    One thing I’d like some clarity on now is an explanation of how transparency will be “in the best interest” of the developers behind Overwatch 2. I have a notion, but I think your opinion should be part of your Hypothesis. Will transparency make the game better? Enhance brand loyalty? What?

    Like all feedback, this is meant to begin a conversation, 44Elk.
    I am eager to hear your reply.

    Reply
  2. 44elk's avatar 44elk says:
    January 31, 2022 at 8:57 AM

    I’m happy for your response. Overwatch is one of my favorite video games and one that I have dumped more than 2 months of in-game playtime into (over the course of 4-5 years). I do recognize that it will be important to explain what Overwatch is to you (someone who I assume is not very familiar with video games or Overwatch) as part of my argument. This isn’t to necessarily explain it just to you, but to a non-gamer audience. Gaming is a niche world and Overwatch takes up just a sliver of that world so my argument would be quite confusing to someone unfamiliar with the content being described. I almost want to treat a section of the paper like an alien explaining to an earthling what a Zugbathar is and why it should be better. My argument means nothing to you if you don’t even know what a Zugbathar is!

    Reply
    • davidbdale's avatar davidbdale says:
      February 1, 2022 at 8:54 AM

      Hmmm. . . .

      While I would appreciate a tutorial on gaming and Overwatch (and while it will benefit you for me to understand the basics if you want me—I hope you do—to support and collaborate with you on your research and writing), it’s NOT necessarily true that you have to write for a non-gamer audience.

      Part of the lesson of “My Shopping List is an Argument” is that authors choose their readers, and good authors provide their readers just what they need to understand the argument.

      A quick scan of the contents of Google Scholar make this abundantly clear. Most of the papers are barely intelligible to outsiders. The Abstract and Discussion sections can generally be understood by general readers, but the content is often too dense and technical for general understanding.

      So, I’m recommending a balance. Your narrative needs to be compelling and persuasive, but it doesn’t have to be accessible to every casual drop-by reader. There might not be room in a paper to BOTH thoroughly prepare novices for the argument and ALSO make the argument.

      Fortunately, the process of writing the 3000 words begins with a 1000-word Definition/Categorical argument in which you can lay out the world the rest of your argument will occupy.

      Now, if you will reply by answering some of the questions I asked you in my first Reply, we can start in earnest. Your reactions?

      Reply
      • 44elk's avatar 44elk says:
        February 1, 2022 at 12:08 PM

        I appreciate your clarification. It is definitely possible that I may have overindulged into informing a non-gamer audience of the content being discussed without saving enough room to talk about my actual argument. I do plan on clarifying what I mean by “transparency” in the paper. That’s a very important word when it comes to my argument so I’m certain you’ll have plenty of content to see what I mean by that.

        Reply

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