The Unintended Audience

When playtesting new games, the question of target audiences comes up regularly. Who is the game for? How can we tailor the game experience to appeal to the target audience? One thing I think about is how can I communicate who should avoid my game. 

I remember one Christmas when I received a DVD movie as a gift and my grandfather insisted we watch it as a family. I tried to explain that while I (as a 20-something) liked the movie, I didn't expect anyone else in my family to enjoy it. Unsurprisingly, no one in my family enjoyed the movie that they insisted we watch over my objections. This experience really taught me about target audiences and properly communicating what your product is. 

As much as I love good art in games, the art needs to match the game experience. The board needs to communicate the game experience. A eurogame still needs to convey the experience of an economic strategy game. A combat game needs to not be mistaken for a children's game. This does not mean that you can't have quirky art or themes in dry/long/heavy games or darker themes or art in light/short games. Root is a good example of a game whose theme and art make the game more approachable without mis-communicating what the game is. Notoriously, Wingspan seems too friendly and approachable to non-gamers. 

A lot of my design process involves managing player expectations. Gamers expect certain things from deck builders or drafting games. Strategy-focused gamers have expectations about replayability. Casual gamers expect welcoming themes to provide fun, easy experiences. We often think about managing the expectations of our intended audience, because they have experience in certain gameplay styles and they will form our core fanbase. However, we need to spare some thought to audiences who might be attracted to our games at first blush, but who may not enjoy the actual product. 

What leads people to buy a game that they thought they would enjoy? How can we manage those expectations? I think one place to start is to recognize who your game might pull in via art and product design (or mechanics or buzzwords) and reflect on what typical expectations those audiences will have. This reflection may lead to two different products, such as a KS version and a Target exclusive (for instance, Spirit Island) or you may decide to change the elements that are leading people to incorrect conclusions about your game. 

One thing to keep in mind is that designer play testers  will not always be helpful in identifying these issues. Hobby game designers like to make suggestions to bring games in line with hobby expectations but  may not key into mass market or casual gamer expectations. You will need to show your game to a variety of audiences (even if you don't play it with them) to see if their expectations match the experience of gameplay. 

Of course, mismanaged expectations can lead to some sales, but they won't do much for word-of-mouth spread of your game. Your game needs to find the people who will love it as efficiently as possible and the best way to do that is for your product to properly communicate what type of experience it contains. 

ShippBoard Games is a board game design blog that will update on weeks when I am not as sleep deprived.