The Wall Street Journal has an interview with DICE’s Lead Gamer Tester and Executive Producer that I found really interesting. Awesome to have more insight into user testing outside of the web/application realm.

There was one bit in particular that struck a chord with me:

I don’t know why, but I always feel ashamed about the games I’m involved in making. I can’t even bring myself to start up “Battlefield Bad Company 2,” our last game, because I feel so ashamed. I know it is a great product but still I only see the things we could have done better.

Patrick Bach, DICE Executive Producer

UX, Interaction designers, and others who help plan, execute and analyze user tests are often perfectionists, and also tend to be their own worst critics. It’s true in web design, and apparently it’s also true in game design.

For what it’s worth, Battlefield Bad Company 2 was a ridiculously good game (one of my all time favorites), and Battlefield 3 is looking to raise the bar quite a bit. Just more evidence that investing in user centric design, just like investing in outstanding talent and leadership, is crucial to building great products.