GDC 2025 Session Viewer

Sometimes players' feedback can be misleading.
In this session, the speaker shares five practical tips to help game designers and user researchers distinguish between real feedback and potential misleading feedback during playtests, ultimately learning effective ways to design a playtest and use it to enhance core gameplay iteration.
Through detailed examples, participants learn to identify common pitfalls in player feedback and understand the potential issues arising from players' rational feedback and critic-like comments, and how these can be misleading to gameplay iterations.
The session covers systematic playtesting methods for honest opinions, tools for designing tests, exploring players' emotional experiences, and effective questioning beyond basic "likes/dislikes" or "satisfied/dissatisfied." It also offers analysis methods to turn player insights into gameplay improvements.

Takeaway

By studying various playtest cases, attendees gain actionable strategies to differentiate valuable player feedback from misleading comments, learn effective playtest designing methods, advanced questioning techniques, and explore tools for assessing emotional experiences. These learnings can help them better utilize playtesting as a tool to enhance core gameplay experiences and iteration.

Intended Audience

The target audience includes game designers, user researchers, and anyone interested in gameplay testing, as well as those who wish to use playtesting to enhance core gameplay experiences.
No prior knowledge is required to participate in this event; however, for those who already have experience in playtesting or plan to conduct such tests, the content will be more targeted and practical, helping them to further refine their testing methodologies.