Whenever I go into a playtest, I treat it like a writing workshop. At writing workshops, the best thing you can do is practice silent author. This means that the author hands over the paper, without a word, and waits for feedback silently. The reader takes their time reading, notetaking, processing either outloud or internally. Then, the reader gives their feedback first. After that, the author is given permission to speak, mainly to ask clarifying questions or ask the reader to think aloud through certain parts. Then, the workshop is done. In these cases, authors should not explain themselves or their work. Their only goal is to be quiet and learn from their reader.
I take this same principle in to playtesting games. I’ve found it helpful especially for the systems games, when I’m paying attention to emergent gameplay—how player actions produce consequences that I may or may not be looking for in gameplay.
My sketchnote is a list of the ‘rules’ of playtesting, and I highlighted what I think were most important.
