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Wings Over Atreia: Tickets please
As we barrel through November and get closer to the holidays, my thoughts have turned to turkey, pie, rolls, pie, and candied yams... did I mention pie? It's not that I can't think of anything else (pie), but I always look forward to family, food, and free time during the upcoming holidays -- free time meaning more gaming and less working! Unfortunately, a few other things are slipping in and interrupting the thoughts of impending gluttony for many Aion players. Everyone deeply immersed in Atreia knows that two of the most frequent topics of discussion this past week (ignoring all troll comments, of course) have been Star Wars: The Old Republic with its impending effect on Aion and the reduction in arena tickets that went into effect after last Wednesday's maintenance. While Wings Over Atreia took a look at the forthcoming release of TOR last week, I might have altered my predictions a bit had the announcement about the arena tickets happened sooner than right before publishing. Could one event really affect the balance? Check out past the cut to examine the NCsoft's action, the community's reaction, and the possible repercussions.
Developer communication as it affects games
Developer chats aren't only important when it comes to what players know about the game -- they're also important in how the players approach the game. That's one of the more interesting conclusions to be taken away from Elder Game's latest discussion regarding the interactions between developers and community. As Eric Heimburg points out, developers and community teams have two main approaches to dealing with their players, both of which affect the attitude of players and their perception of the game as a whole. Aion is his choice of examples for the first type of communication, in which the development team is essentially totally silent. The attitude is either complete silence, or denying that a bug is actually a bug. On the flip side, Champions Online embraces an open style of communication in which the developers loudly talk about bugs, system problems, and so on. Heimburg goes on to point out the positives and negatives of both sides -- Aion, for instance, creates an impression that things are working as intended even when they aren't. That works well until it becomes absolutely transparent that something is wrong, at which point the credibility is lost. Champions Online has a much more prevalent sense that the players should work with the developers and give them slack, but that only extends so far. It's an interesting look at a complicated issue, and worthy of an in-depth reading.
Star Wars Galaxies gets a new community relations manager
The Star Wars Galaxies forum regulars have welcomed a new community relations manager named Draakull to their ranks, who will be taking over for previous CRM Zatozia. Draakull made an introductory post and explained how MMOs have played a big part in his life, primarily because of the communities he's been involved with. Online friends helped him through some hard times when he didn't have support in the real world, and now he's ready to give back to the SWG community by performing in his new role as best he can.Draakull has only been the CRM for a few days, but he has already organized a couple of small events in his introduction thread and has gained a lot of fans. To see what he's got in store next, keep checking the thread, or simply stay tuned to the SWG forums -- you're bound to see his posts a lot from now on.
Alan "Brenlo" Crosby moves into EQII's Senior Producer role
It looks like it's not just EverQuest that is getting a new producer -- Alan "Brenlo" Crosby, formerly in charge of the Community Relations team, will be assuming the role of Senior Producer for EverQuest II. He made this fact known himself on the official forums, which is fitting considering his previous title. His introductory post explained that, although his current and former jobs technically differ quite a lot, the underlying skills required for both fall under the area of management, so the move wasn't as strange as it might seem to some. He's chuffed about what's coming up in Game Update 52, and he mentioned that Game Update 53 is just as exciting -- but we probably won't see anything about that one for a while yet.Brenlo will be taking over for Bruce "Froech" Ferguson, who was in the senior producer role for about a year and a half. The forum post does mention that Froech will still be with SOE, but it doesn't reveal where. As for the Community Relations team, Richard "Greeblen" Schmelter will be filling Brenlo's old position.
So you want to be in Community Relations?
If you are hardcore into your favorite MMO, chances are you know the Community Relations Manager for that specific game. Heck, even if you don't play some of the top games, you may know their Community Managers. Sometimes the CRMs can achieve rockstar status among players, such as ArenaNet's Gaile Gray, whose weekly in-game appearances packed server districts with screaming fanboys.To get into Community Relations is a different story though, and Sony Online Entertainment's Senior Community Relations Manager, EM Stock, gives us a bit of an insight into the process. Despite the fact that many people may see a CR position as an easy gateway into the gaming industry, EM Stock wants us to know that it's much more than that. Being on a community team is "a bona fide career path that requires some very specific talents and skill sets. Not everyone is suited." So if you're looking to break into the MMO Community Relations field, check out this article, it might just be the boost you need to get started.
Voting for EVE's second Council of Stellar Management begins
This has been an important week for our American readers in terms of elections, but now that the minor distraction of real-world governance has been dealt with, it's time to focus on governance in the MMO space. You've got to keep those priorities straight, after all.The polls are now open in EVE Online's second Council of Stellar Management (CSM) election, where players can vote for candidates to represent their interests before CCP Games... and potentially impact how the game evolves. We can already sense the impulse someone, or several someones, out there has to comment below: "But why should I bother voting? What do they even do?" And to be fair, it's not been very transparent what the CSM has been up to (aside from the meeting minutes), but more so what effect they've had on EVE and its development pipeline.
The many faces of Community Management
Have you ever submitted a bug report, petitioned a GM or posted a message on an official forum? If so, then you've interacted with a game's community team in one way or another. This is probably not news to you, but were you aware of the distinct departments that make up a community team and how they differ?Believe it or not, being a part of an MMO's community team is more than just reading forums or bug reports all day. In a recent post at SOE's official company blog, Senior Community Relations Manager EM Stock breaks down the four main categories of the community team. There's Quality Assurance, Customer Support, Tech Support/Accounts Billing and Community Relations. Read how SOE handles these main components of online gaming, and how they can effectively serve as the "face" of the company.
Why can't MMORPG players and developers just get along?
Community relations are a constant struggle as a battle plays out for one side to be heard while the other has little time to listen. When this communication does happen the interchange of thoughts and feelings normally comes from the developers via patch notes and a backlash from the players ensues. Well, the backlash is pretty constant regardless if there is a patch or not; however, when a nerf is cast the community is torn asunder, approval ratings drop, and threadnaughts spawn. Any civility on the forums is devoured while moderators furiously try to quell the riots. This reaction and a lack of communication are to be expected, but what would more explanatory thoughts look like in the form of an open letter? Over on LagORama, the hilarious Inhibitor vicariously penned such correspondence from both viewpoints: the players addressing the developers and the developers addressing their players. What an interesting and hilarious take from both sides, and who knew that some MMORPG developers actually played their own game.
Meet Amnerys, the newest SOE community relations rep
If you play a Sony Online Entertainment game then you're likely to see a new name floating around the community team that you may or may not be familiar with. While her real name is Tiffany, we're told Amnerys will do just fine. She's a former EverQuest player and recent Everquest II player who's coming out of the SOE marketing department to join the community team. Being the SOE community relations rep isn't her first gig, far from it actually. Amnery has held positions as a PR person, graphic designer, marketing assistant, day camp counselor, lifeguard, data entry person, and mini-golf employee. Plus she's got a BA in journalism and minored in musicWith such a large variety of skills at her disposal we're sure that Amnerys will be great at her new job. Somehow we get the feeling that her experience as a day camp counselor and lifeguard are going to be especially useful. You never know what you're going to run into when your job involves interacting with a gaming community.
38 Studios developers finally speak up
Though it seems like we've been reporting on 38 Studios forever, we still know precious little about the Boston-area company that has attracted so much industry talent and generated so much buzz with little more than a code-name for their top-secret fantasy MMO. We got a little preview of the 38 Studios approach when Steve Danuser moderated a panel on building community at ION, and now another interview has bubbled to the surface to give us even more insight on the burgeoning developer juggernaut.Steve Danuser and Jason Roberts sit down to explain (as vaguely as possible) their approach to the challenges of entering an ever-crowded MMO space. They riff about about building on the model developed by Everquest and seemingly perfected by World of Warcraft, working with a fan community before they've even announced their game, and their long-term hopes for community management and engagement. It's really no substitute for concrete information about Copernicus, but it seems like we're finally getting closer to the point where that sort of information is going to leak out.
SOE plans community meet-up in Vegas during CES
Sony Online Entertainment's Community Relations team have put out an open invite for anyone that would like to meet up with them at Las Vegas during the Consumer Electronics Show. The team have planned to be at Quark's Bar and Restaurant, in the Hilton, on the 8th of January. If you're going to be there for CES, or for whatever else it is people do at Vegas, then consider stopping by and meeting up with the folks from SOE.The details are as follows: What: Community Get Together Where: Quark's Bar and Restaurant in the Hilton Hotel, 3000 Paradise Rd. Las Vegas, Nevada 89109 When: 7:00 p.m. PST, January 8th
EA Mythic picks up a new Director of Community Relations
EA Mythic has filled the top-spot in their community ranks by inviting Robert Mull to lead the way as their new Community Relations Director. Mull's new duties revolve around everything community, especially overseeing the Community Coordinators for Warhammer Online, Dark Age of Camelot, and the recently absorbed Ultima Online. What grates on my nerves are community personnel that don't really play MMOs, which isn't as uncommon as one might think, any player can definitely tell when that big-head community rep replies on the forums doesn't even bother responding to important posts because they don't know jack about the game, and is instead jollying around in off-topic talking about the latest CSI episode. Well, according to his personal welcoming address on the Warhammer Herald, Mull is a long-time MMOG player and his past roots include working for Wizards of the Coast supporting Avalon Hill, Axis & Allies, Dreamblade, Duel Masters, and other products. Nice, roots. We here at Massively, would like to extend a welcoming hand to our new EA Mythic community overlords. (I am attempting to gain faction for beta invites for our readers when the time comes – if it comes!) If you have been out of the Warhammer loop for the past week, please be sure to check out all our recent Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning coverage.
