September 28, 2007
Communities can make or break a game
By
Michael Lafferty
There is a certain amount of responsibility in being a member of a game’s
community – one that means helping others to enjoy the game
In the
annals of gaming, if you have been around it long enough and if the game has an
online presence of any sort, you have probably encountered the player
communities that ridicule, backbite and are generally rude and anti-social.
You
know the folks of the reference – they take what could be an enjoyable
experience and turn it into a nightmare. Any question asked, no matter how
mundane, is met with ridicule. You find it better to not open your mouth, remain
ignorant and get less satisfaction from the gaming experience rather than
subject yourself to rude remarks.
Nope,
no naming names here, or finger pointing. Those types of games are usually the
ones for which support is halted because of dwindling sales or an apathetic
community.
And
then there are the player communities that don’t just embrace a game, but they
expand on the experience. They write stories, they illustrate or they mod.
Take,
by way of example, The Sims 2. This is a game that has a robust modding
community that creates new fashions, skins, jewelry, hair, accessories, building
tools and so on to an incredible extent. When Bon Voyage was released, you could
find hot fixes for bugs in that expansion within days. A patch for the game
still has yet to appear on the official game site, but at a site like
Insimenator (www.insimenator.net),
you will find global hacks that do indeed fix some of the issues.
That
speaks of a caring player base. They mod to enhance the experience and to
improve game play. Being part of a game’s player community should not be the
permission to be rude, but rather to show how much you enjoy a game and
contribute its success.
Way
back in the 1960s, to draw a parallel, NBC was canceling the television show
Star Trek, but the community of fans – the Trekkies – were so supportive that
the series was reinvigorated for a couple of more seasons.
What
are the hallmarks of a good community?
Well,
it begins with the forums. It seems odd that some forums seem to bring out the
worst in some people. It is a flame session, fueled by arrogance,
self-importance and intolerance. Anyone with a contrary opinion is ridiculed,
and anyone who asks a question that one might expect from a new player is
treated with contempt.
That is
precisely what should not happen. Forums are supposed to be a community lot
where participants can air their opinions. Let’s face it – no one was born into
the game experienced, knowing all the nuances of the game’s depth. It took time
to get that way, time to improve skills, and it took asking, and have
answered, a bunch of silly questions. As the community grows – and failure to
grow usually results in the death of a game – there will be those that come
along and ask the same questions, either unwilling or unable to search archives
for answers. After all, it is easier to see who answered your question than
scroll through thousands of posts to find a similar topic. That is where
tolerance and patience play a role.
Hey, if
you can’t be constructive, if you want to be hostile, find a forum that is for
flamers and stay out of the ones that are for constructive purposes.
In-game
conduct is not always reliable, especially in a player-versus-player setting. If
players are role playing bad, then expecting behavior that is anything but
aggressive is silly. However, that does
not mean that the evil player has to make
disparaging comments about your family. That, actually, is the product of a less
imaginative person who mistakes role playing for anti-social behavior.
There
was a news item, months ago, about a guy that was playing a game that had PvP.
He was camping a spawn point and each time this certain character appeared, he
made her life a nightmare. She complained and supposedly threatened the ganker.
Words were exchanged, then the ganker (the person who was the aggressor) made
the mistake of suggesting if the husband was “man enough” to settle it in person
he should visit the player’s house and gave the woman his address. The woman’s
husband showed up all right, with friends and clubs – from the filed news report
– beat the ganker and smashed his computer.
Extreme? You bet, but those are the feelings that can be generated when
community members disassociate from reality and rather than be a contributing
member of the community, take it to the extreme the other way. Real feelings can
be hurt by actions.
There
can be honor in games as well. Many times, during a PvP session, I’ve been
whipped (and done some whipping as well), and gave the victor his or her due. If
the game had a language barrier, where the main factions could not speak to one
another because of a different language setting the devs put into the game, a
simple bow was all it took to convey the idea that you were superior, this time.
And it has worked the other way as well.
The way
to demonstrate how much a game means, how much you enjoy it, is conveyed through
the simplest ways – through supportive forum membership, through interacting in
a positive manner in game lobbies and even in game by answering questions sent
out to global chat. Too often I have seen someone ask a question that goes
completely unanswered. Sure, players are playing their own game, but care needs
to be taken that they are so concerned with their own place in a game that they
ignore the larger community, which eventually dwindles through lack of interest.
Another take …
Fellow
MMOer and GZ writer Matt Eberle was asked his thoughts on the topic and
submitted this:
A
friend of mine recently made a comment I had to stop and consider. We were
discussing the ways to earn game-money in our favorite MMO. I was telling her
where all the places to farm things could be found and what I thought would work
best for her. She immediately responded that what I was suggesting was soloing.
She was playing a game with people and wanted to know why I thought playing
alone would work. I was quite speechless at the time, but it got me thinking.
What is
it that makes the MMO genre so intoxicating for gamers? The answer is simple –
we get to be part of a community. It might be a dysfunctional community, full of
“homeless, homicidal maniacs” in-game, but it is also a very vibrant community
all the same. Players can spend anywhere from a few hours a week to a few hours
a day on their favorite games. The amount of knowledge and experience available
to the fan-base is immense. That knowledge can be helpful, intimidating, and
amazing.
Let’s
look at an example – a few years ago a friend of mine was attempting to play a
MMORPG. He kept getting random disconnects and severe lag. At one point he swore
he was going to uninstall the game, cancel his account, and never buy another
online game. As he was letting us know about his problems another friend gave
him the solution. Other players had the same problem occur for them. One found a
solution and began passing it along. It solved my friend’s problem and he was
able to play again without interruptions.
The
fan-base determines how a game will play in a social setting. Die-hard games,
like real-time-strategy or first-person-shooter titles, tend to have very
aggressive communities. Games that require large groups to accomplish large
things, like online role-playing games, often have less aggressive communities.
Each game attracts a community when it is released. In return, that community
can give a lot back to a game.
As long
as the community stays vibrant and strong there will always be a demand for the
game. Look at some of the old classics that still have large communities years
later and you will see this. StarCraft, for example, has one of the largest and
most devout followings of any strategy game in years. That community gives
players of all levels a chance to get online and enjoy playing with and against
one another. EVE Online is another game that could not exist without its fans,
but because of those fans it is a massive success while many of its competitors
have fallen by the wayside.
Developers can have a hit title on their hands, but if no one is willing to buy
it or share it with their friends the developers are left with a very expensive
piece of software they cannot sell. Looking at the market place today it is
obvious that the developers’ community has already noticed the trend. Most
development teams post blogs, host forums, and try to interact with their fan
base as much as they can. Players have even helped shape the direction of many
games through their input. I’ve lost track of the number of features I’ve seen
added to games because the fan-base asked for them – again, and again until it
was included in the game.
