To Serve (For) Human Minds
summary
A career-retrospective lays out five actionable rules: iron Butler theory (serve players first; creators last), know whom and what you are serving, map team strengths, and design for how people actually play. Concrete failures and fixes include a reputation-preview made optional, a removed-then-restored stealth mode in Alpha Protocol, an unlimited-ammo experiment repurposed into economy code, a shift to many “smalls” in Fallout New Vegas to trade big quests for density, and the risky dialogue stance system that polarizes critics but gains cult fans and real-world impact.
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