Zoned in

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.