Toxic players mean you're doing something right, says Orcs Must Die! Unchained dev

Robot Entertainment designer Jerome K. Jones visibly cringes when you call Orcs Must Die! Unchained a multiplayer online battle arena game.

It's not a completely unfair comparison for the team-ba
sed game — which, yes, has online battles in an arena-like setting — but he's quick to point out these are simply elements of the genre, nothing more. By Jones' account, the game is more like two Orcs Must Die! titles smashed together.

Unchained has offense-heavy nature of MOBAs, the aggressive push for territory while slaughtering your opponents again and again with glee, down pretty well. It sets itself apart from the tricky, loaded-with-expectations genre, however, with a focus on defensive plays and traps — and its open arm acceptance of the oft-dreaded "toxic player."

While League of Legends developer Riot will ban even professional players for naughty behavior, and Heroes of Newerth creator S2 Games is trying to yank bad seeds out at the root with a brand new MOBA, Robot has a chill stance on the topic.

Haters, Jones says, are gonna hate. More importantly, if the toxic players are flocking to your game, you're onto something special.

 "There's probably something good about the toxic players showing up and sticking with your game," Jones said. "The good thing is probably that it's a good game. It's holding their interest, it's keeping them around. It's making them passionate enough to give a damn."



Jones expects Unchained to draw in some aggressive players, but isn't interested in scaring them off. Gaming in general, he says, shouldn't try to eliminate that group. Players who want to avoid that aggression can choose to play defensively or act as a support character.

"I don't think those are bad people," he added. "You just gotta do your best to deal with them in whatever manner seems to work the best."

I tested this theory out during my hands-on time with the game. While the brute strength approach to pushing territory required me to be fearless — and convincing enough to make players rally to me — playing a guardian role changed the game's experience for me. I strategically laid out traps and built up my resources to summon stronger allies in each wave of attacks. If I wanted to get into the action, I could also man a character with long-range skills to support tank players from afar. Like Jones suggested, aggressive players were the least of my worries. 

"You go on offense, it's a little bit scary," Jones said. "You're going through all the enemy traps. You're going through heroes that are defending. But if you're on defense, you're sort of behind your traps, you're near your rift and you're with your lane guardians. Those kind of things provide a little bit of security to a player who might want to learn a little slower or might not feel offensive."

Players will also have the chance to play with AI opponents if real humans seem too intimidating. Robot Entertainment is still tinkering with bot intelligence to hit that sweet spot in terms of difficulty, and it's possible that their intelligence will even be adjustable. For now, however, it's a work in progress along with the rest of the game.

Robot is prepared to deal with passionate players, and Jones makes an effort to engage with them on the game's forums. Most of their unhappiness, he said, comes from a lack of understanding game development.

"They're not going to go away," Jones concluded of toxic players. "And honestly, I don't think you want them to. 

"You need those people there. They're driving the game. They're giving it longevity. They're giving it passion. And when they find something about your game that they love, they defend it to the death. Those are the same people that can go to bat for you."

Source: Polygon