Anyway, it’s not like I expected anything else from the major labels, but it did strike me as strange that while publicly we were getting all kinds of extremely positive impressions of Dragon Commander, I was sitting there in front of people who were telling me all kinds of stories on why this particular type of game probably wouldn’t sell.
I suspect that they want to drive you off this, because they believe it's such a fine idea so that they want to exploit it themselvs.
Conspiracy theories.
“You know, marketing did research on Dragons for one of our own major properties, and they told me positively that there’s no audience. Nobody will buy it.”
Yet Bethesda will include a game no-one will buy ? (I mean Skyrim which I call Skyscraper.)
The only thing that sets you apart from every other developer right now iis that you don't slay Dragons.
Not at all. You do the exact opposite : NOT seeing them as "cannon fodder for male gamers to prove their masculinity by slaying the most powerful creatures that are thre", but instead you are actively encouraging Dragons as a life-being that has a) a free will b) a detertmination c) is not cannon fodder at all d) is NOT an animl in the traditional sense and e) therefore cannot just be slain.
The implied message of Dragons as a playable creature is like ... It's as if you had rea-life dogs, cats, horses, yet even cows, pigs and mice and rats which sudely re realized to have their own free will, cultures and languages !
Making n animal as something intelligent transports the message tht this animl just cannot and shouldn't be transported into the nearest slaughter house to become food for humans.
Okay, with Dragons this doesn't happen much as well
- but the message is there. Underlying, making an "animal" like the dragon as a playable, intelligent species full of culture, language, free will and even emotions brings in the message that *in principle* *all* "animals" might be so - which is in principle even an "animal rights" thing - although I lmost assume you might see my view as too far fetched.
Therefore, imho, major publishers wouldn't like to have animals as playable races. Because it would strip off their possibilities to use actual animals in games as "experience points fodder".
This is my rather philosophical view on the matter.
And I'm sure meanwhile shaking the heads towards DC, I'm sure they'll
heavily discuss this game internally !
