Starfield design lead says players are "disconnected" from how games are actually made: "Don't fool yourself into thinking you know why it is the way it is"

gamesradar.com:

In a lengthy Twitter thread, Starfield lead and Bethesda studio design director Emil Pagliarulo laments "how disconnected some players are" from the realities of game development, and encourages passionate fans to avoid making assumptions about how and why design decisions are made. 

"Funny how disconnected some players are from the realities of game development, and yet they speak with complete authority," Pagliarulo begins. "I mean, I can guess what it takes to make a Hostess Twinkie, but I don't work in the factory, so what the hell do I really know? Not a lot." 

Pagliarulo acknowledges that consumers have a right to complain about the things they spend money on, though he doesn't publicly complain about games because of "respect for my fellow devs" and because "it would be uncool and unprofessional of me to do so. But sometimes I want to. Oh boy." 

The director points to his time writing game reviews for 1995-founded website Adrenaline Vault, back when he "would say whatever I wanted about a game," with some negative remarks amounting to him "being a sarcastic asshat."

"But throughout that time, I actually had no inkling what game development was actually like. How hard the designers, programmers, artists, producers, and everyone else worked," he says. "The struggle to bring a vision to life with constantly shifting resources. The stress."

Having experienced game development, his perspective on it has changed. "I can't not share the truth," he adds. "And that truth is, nobody sets out to make a bad game. And most game devs are incredibly talented... even if the game they release isn't up to par." 

Pagliarulo describes game dev as "a series of concessions and tough decisions," framing a gradient between "that perfect