As Marilee stated - a good game, but I also believe developers need a clear vision, and a unwillingless to sway from said vision due to vocal community members, investors, and/or outside influences unless there are severe bugs and/or flaws with the game identified by people that are in direct conflict with the original vision. The community needs to have an identity.
I agree with the post before me. I also think a good foundation for the gaming community is not tweaking the classes every 3 months to the point that 5 years down the road that class is no longer identifiable. Once you lay the foundation obviously things are going to change and thats ok, but when it changes the core elements that attracted us in the first place that is where problems start. As others have said the foundation starts with the developers having a clear vision and then sticking to it. You can't be afraid to say this is what we made for you if you don't like it don't play it. (obviously you have to be smart with this approach)
Fix bugs and developing content to keep the community interested and this means meaningful content, not gimmicks. I know thats a hard thing to balance in this industry but it can be done. With thast said that is my answer to your question Kilsin.
A good game doesn't necessarily make for a good community - and vice versa. I will limit myself to the precise question asked.
1. Limitations on participation. Games focussed on free play tend to have the worst communities. Not because the average free player is any less mature than the average subscriber but because the juveniles and trolls that have no investment in the game and don't really care what people think about them tend to dominate both chat and forums. There are some in subscription games, of course, but far fewer. Free trials are a good thing to encourage new people to try the game but they can be abused if not limited. Yes I know the team is well aware of this, there have been multiple threads on it, but it is still relevant to the question here.
2. Limitations on "escape" after one makes a deservedly bad name for oneself. The harder it is to switch servers, change names and the like the more incentive there is not to have a lot of people despise you.
3. Modest server size. Yes I know there are negatives to small servers but small to medium size servers tend to have better communities. A higher percentage of the active players will recognize your name, and if a lot of them refuse to group with you life is a *lot* harder. On a giant server one can almost always find people that have never heard what a lying loot stealing douche you are.
4. Incentives to cooperate. A crafting system where much of value requires the participation of different crafters. An adventure system where much of the content requires groups, or where a larger than normal percentage of the good rewards require groups. I hate to say this - I've been lobbying since I pledged to have a reasonable amount of solo content even though the game will quite properly be focused on grouping -but it is true nonetheless.
5. Making groups and guilds work better. Game mechanics to make guilds work better and be more useful. Game mechanics that make groups easier to form. Obviously there is a balance here - we don't want a groupfinder that teleports you to a 20 minute dungeon that you all race through without saying a word to eachother. We don't want membership in the highest level guilds to give unbalancing rewards (50% xp bonus, double the cash from kills, guaranteed critical success crafting) . But I think it is fair to say that good mechanics for guilds and groups help a community.
6. Good forums are part of what helps a community. With some of the same features I mentioned already. Perhaps most forums read-only unless you are a subscriber. Perhaps a forum post showing at least some character names so if you act very badly on the forums ...whatever that means ... there can be in-game ramifications. Or perhaps not. Monitoring by VR with willingness to inflict penalties for bad behavior even if that means the occasional troll or juvenile cancels a subscription.
Trying not to please everyone. Dont be pressured by outside influences saying you need to do such and such to appeal to a larger audience.
Respect within the community. Even though we are all drawn to a certain MMO we are all not alike and opinions will vary. We can still respect each other as individuals even though we do not always agree.
I think it starts with sharing a vision that people can buy into and relate to. By being transparent with something as important as "Game Tenets" I feel that VR has positioned themselves for success as they have served as a catalyst for creativity in the community. I do a lot of networking in the community and recently spoke with someone who just learned about Pantheon less than a week ago. We were talking about the features we were excited about the most, some of our gaming history, and the overall vibe of the community. Next thing you know they bumped their pledge up to VIP and we're talking about testing pre-alpha together. At this point, I think Pantheon has a great foundation in tact and has a ton of potential for a community boom in the near future. At the same time, I think there are large sections of the community who have been mostly dormant for one reason or another.
I would love to see VR leverage the community a little bit more. I have mentioned "Recruit A Pledger" as an idea in the past but it never gained traction. This game has a really passionate fanbase but playing the forum game for months/years can really take a toll on people. Opening up testing will obviously do wonderful things for the community ... but even before that, I think there is more that can be done. I would love to see some sort of "Guild Pledge" option open up. Anything that can allow people to start working on something together would be greatly appreciated. As it stands our only option is to play other games together. We want to do something related to Pantheon that can be measured. The new forums would also be huge ... let people show off their pledge flairs and enable a reputation system. I think a guild pledge system would be awesome and would open up doors that could be mutually beneficial for both VR and the community at large; VR would get some additional funding and like-minded players can collectively work on something that is related to both Pantheon and the "inner community, or guild" that they have chosen to play with.
Having a good game helps, but I think THE most important part of having a good gaming community is great and open communication from the devs to the community.
I point directly at the Overwatch team over at Blizzard who have really been knocking out out of the park in terms of community involvement and openness. Probably some of, if not the, best community handling I have seen. (Former Everquest afficionado) Jeff Kaplan has been absolutely amazing handling that game, please do take notes!
The foundation is a broad variety of different things.
First you need a game that attract a lot of community active and reasonable people, if there are good role models for the other players, this will help a lot to improve the community. And of course if the game is not attracting the jerks and other not so community improving people, this is also a good thing and will lead to have a high ratio of good vs not so good people in the community.
Next you need good moderators, that are consequent in explaining and enforcing the rules, that were well thought about and defined previously. Make clear for everyone what you want and what you don't want in your community and if someone crosses the red line, then punish him as hard as necessary.
Also very important is to keep the the people happy about and busy with the game. Is it playing the game itself or talk about coming features, as long as the people are happy with the game and are busy with playing or talking about it, they have no intents and even no time to have a negative influence on the community.
First and foremost who determines what "good" is when it comes to a community? Second, does active community members equal good community? To me community is constantly changing and evolving based on the desires of the majority of people. If the majority of a community wants a specific thing the developers/builders will tend to appease them at the detriment to the overall game and vision for the game. To most people a "good community" is one that helps the person/requestee with the problem that they have at a specific time. At what point does helping someone turn into just doing it for the person? Each person must answer that for themself.
To me a good community is one that has the overall balance of the game in mind when discussing changes and whatnot to the game. A good community shares knowledge freely but does not hold the hand of a player/person. A good community is able to resolve problems so that while both sides are not happy they are at least satisified. A good community helps a player/person grow and understand the game better without having to resort to negative methods. While a good community has helpful people, not everyone in the community should be that way, a good community has a nice balance of different personalities and quirks/expectations. I guess a good community is an extension of all the guilds on a server/game. If a server is focused on a speific classification like PvP or Roleplaying then the community for that server should reflect the standards of the various guilds.
I agree with a number of previous posts above.
I think keeping content hard and new content coming is a huge part of it. When the community gets bored in any game the forums and chat tends to go crazy about nonsense. If you keep people busy playing and planning, they will generally be more focused on content than trashing each other and whatnot. I also agree with the comments above about bug fixees and when/how to implement them as that can change someone's view of the game drastically.
On a side note, GUILDS also make the community way better to belong to. Not just guilds themselves but guilds working together also. Many games have started with really good guilds and then find themselves in the community trashing trap because as stated above the content is too easy and players hop from guild to guild pillaging them for everything.
I've always enjoyed a great guild system that promotes and rewards collective efforts toward a goal.
There is a certain pride in having a guild that you as a player can be proud to be in and work hard to promote, not only for your own benefit, but that of the entire guild and possibly even running over into a group that you may be part of, even if that group is not made up of guild members.
Kilsin said:What, in your opinion, makes a good foundation for a gaming community? #PRF #Communitymatters
Kilsin
I think people should start the game with a welcoming group of people in every starting area to set the tone right from the start. These people should be us, the supporters, who have played in the Beta. We need to "set the tone" early on. This is a very important block in the foundation. And Stress the importance of reputation.
The few rules should be clear and applied evenly and lightly; with harsh punishment for repeat offenders.
I strongly believe that a shared hardship very early on, that requires the community in the starting area to band together, to overcome something very strong, will give everybody from that area a shared experience that they can base a relationship on. This should probably be the only somewhat forced encounter other than tests of skill from trainers, until much later levels. Just something huge to crush everybody together and into action together.
Please have some humour in the game and some ironic situations to help grease the laughs and good times. This stuff helps people to bind together and make friends, like a shared hardship will.
This will not make a foundation but will help put a few good blocks into one in my opinion.
Kilsin said:What, in your opinion, makes a good foundation for a gaming community? #PRF #Communitymatters
Heck, just the willingness to ask the question and actually take responses into consideration is yet another stone to add to this solid foundation VR has been building for the past few years.
imo one of the biggest factors in a games community boils down to how early the game gives you content that requires a team effort. too many games are focused on end game, you spend a week leveling a character to max lvl(or close) and then all of a sudden you are expected to know how your class functions in group play when all you've done until now is sleep through solo content. if you have to rely on other players from early game content in order to progress your player base either learns to work together or leaves. and who wants to party with someone who's only focus is thier own gain anyhow? sure there's a few other factors but feeling like you need your fellow players is 90% of the equation.
This is a quote by Debra Ng, from a book I refer to sometimes in difficult conversations called: Online Community Management For Dummies
Although this may seem like an insult, I assure you it is not, and the following quote is meant to emphasize why I believe that you, Mr Walters, are the foundation of this Gaming Community.
No one goes to a party to have a bad time, so don’t invite anyone to join a lackluster community. As online community manager, you are tasked with making sure that everyone is happy. This is no easy feat, given the different types of online personalities. Still, it’s important that a good time is had by all.
You’re going to have to deal with customer issues; there’s no getting around it. Some people are going to be less than cooperative, too. For a few, it’s more about making noise and making you look bad than rectifying the situation in a positive, productive matter. Still, community managers have an obligation to keep things positive, no matter how difficult the other person is trying to be.
Here’s what you can do when you have to deal with negative customers:
Listen.
Is a community member making a complaint? What is being said? If left, even for a little while, the situation can escalate, especially if the member has a clique of friends backing him up. Follow the entire conversation to see where it began and what led to the complaint or public outburst.
Reach out.
Offer to discuss privately via phone, instant message, or Skype. Listen to the other person’s story without being judgmental or confrontational.
Take action.
Do what you need to do to rectify the issue. You may need to handle it yourself or get another person involved, but do what it takes to get this customer satisfied and confident again.
Follow up.
Don’t rest on your laurels. Follow up and make sure that the situation was handled to the other person’s satisfaction. If it has been, wish her a happy day and move on. If it hasn’t, do what it takes again. And follow up. Again. Lather, rinse, repeat as often as necessary until there’s nothing more to be done.
This four-step process accomplishes a couple of things. By taking the conversation private, you’re keeping animosity or negativity out of the airwaves. This keeps bad issues out of the public eye, but also makes the customer feel as if she’s receiving personal care. Also, negativity has a way of spawning more negativity. If you take an issue private, you’re discouraging trolls and “me too-ers” from joining the party.
Also, by handling the issue immediately, you’re not sweeping it under the rug. You’re giving your customer faith and loyalty in the brand. By following up, you’re showing the customer and other customers that person may talk to that you’re seeing the issue through until it’s resolved.
The more people who view you and the company you work for in a positive light, the more positive and productive your community will become. Both you and the brand will be seen as caring, and your community numbers will only go up.
The book focuses a great deal on communication but there are some key mentions in this quote that I think are especially important in a gaming community. As emphasized whole heartedly in this next quote by Brad in his blog post titled "How to get through to people who just don't get it"
I see the analogy of the dev team and the community as pretty valid. In both you have very passionate, talented, outspoken, and tenacious people. You have people who care so deeply about Pantheon that at times they can be defensive when something is said or implied. It's actually something we work on all of the time -- communication -- especially because many in the team are remote (it is easier to avoid some of this stuff if you're in the same office together, mon-fri).
You also have the same types of personalities in the community, especially those in the community that speak up and speak out. They too can get too defensive, or quick to judge, or say something that might be accurate but could have been said in a much less confrontational or negative way.
But you know what? If this wasn't happening, if there wasn't both a dev team and an awesome community so amazingly passionate and excited about Pantheon, that would actually indicate a real problem. I'd much rather people quibble with each other a bit than to be apathetic and not care what is being said or implied or wanted. It's ultimately a sign of how healthy our community is and how well the outside looking in will translate into alpha and beta testers, and then the community post-launch.
So bottom line: yes, I humbly appeal to everyone, fan and skeptic or wherever you fit in, to be respectful, to realize that these other people posting and talking about the game also feel passionately, even feel a sense of ownership. If you disagree on something, and you will, try first to make sure you understand what the person really meant (very easy to miss that in a text post). Then even if you still disagree with what they are truly saying, remember who they are and that they, like you, deserve respect. "A kind answer turns away wrath".
I hope this helps to clearly, and without doubt, establish what I believe is the one and true foundation of this gaming community. I hope you take the time to read this, and really focus on what a vital role you truly play in making sure we all feel welcome here. The real foundation of this community is you, Mr. Walters.
I think if the game calls for a good match. Keeping the community together..
Many other MMO's insist on reaching the content alone without any problems.
This repeatedly destroys the cohesion of the community. Of course you have to try to be carried along and do not try to destroy your reputation.
But this is identical in real life.
I hope that in Pantheon no group search system is introduced.
I'd say a good foundation is characterized by what it lacks rather than what it has. Fundamentally, if there is truly a lack of greed on both sides (the developers and the players), then I definitely believe the community as a whole will always thrive and everything else will fall into place. As soon as greed starts to creep into the foundation, everything else will eventually crumble. Guaranteed. It's happened time and time again. Greed is part of human nature, so it's impossible to eliminate it completely, but the more it is minimized, the healthier a game community will be.
oneADseven said:I would love to see some sort of "Guild Pledge" option open up. Anything that can allow people to start working on something together would be greatly appreciated.
I also see this as a good option for VR once the pre-alpha pledges go away for an funding source.
The Guild pledge would have to be tied to the character sort of like status was in EQ2 that way it stay withs the character and not the guild if a player moves to another guild.
Enough status/points would be needed to reach a tier of the "guild pledge" benifit.
Prevents guilds from just getting people for the money for the pledge then kicking people after the fact.
As far as the foundation, I think it boils down to the percieved expectations involved in each system going into the game. If there is a common theme that the community can expect and each system strives to fullfill that theme then at the core we have a good foundation for attracting like minded players that also would like that theme. Example is Pantheon, the theme that I am attracted too is "less-hand holding, no quest hub to quest hub gameplay", more like EQ in terms of difficulty and reward. And from what I have seen each system they are planning tends to be along those lines. An example of something not within that theme would be fast-travel to everywhere; which I believe would splinter the player-based and people might not be as loyal to the game or lose intrest because while one system may be what they are wanting to experience, the game as a whole might not.
So I believe a common theme for the majority of a game's systems will help support the community as it will rally the troops behind a single banner so to speak. For the systems that may not fit along the theme, players might still be able to support the game as the majority of it still holds true to what they want to experience and may be more accepting of other subsystems.
Everyone buys a game to play it. But not everyone wants to have the same playing experience. The implementation in an MMO is very difficult, one has many different aspects that one in an MMO transposes. what is the best way to avoid this greed? not everyone can play exactly the same. Weaknesses and strengths are there. Would you like to treat everyone the same way? NO! which ends otherwise as in World of Warcraft which no longer makes fun. Would you like to develop a system that supports every strength? This is unfortunately not feasible ... So you have to develop a game system which makes the "weaker" people also fun without the greed to wake. For example, someone who likes to do professions should be able to achieve certain achievements that include special rewards. (I'm not talking about equipment but of accessories)
The game was funded by the players, but it does not mean that every player should achieve anything. Only the player who also invested some (I speak of time and patience) should be rewarded enough. But finding the right balance is difficult.
