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The Daily Grind: Official or unofficial WAR forums?
With the recent announcement that Mythic would be bringing the Warhammer Online forums in-house, the topic of the pros and cons of official and unofficial forums have been brought out again. Ryan Shwayder argued very eloquently that developer interaction, ownership, and support for integrated features, and we've now heard from some of the forum managers who will be affected by Mythic's decision to put out their own forums. There are great points across the board, but this morning we thought we'd ask you - in specific relation to Warhammer Online - do you think that Mythic should (or should not) be opening forums at this (post-launch) stage? Perhaps you think they should limit them to only customer service and developer interaction and leave the more free-form discussions elsewhere? Or do you think that the fully-featured forums they're planning is absolutely the way to go - if only to (hopefully) have a moderated forum to discuss all things WAR on? How about those indie forums; what could they do to keep readers coming there? What balance of official and unofficial forums would you like to see for Warhammer Online?
Unofficial forums sound off on WAR's official forums
Caught up in the hubbub of Mythic's Call to Arms announcement for Warhammer Online was the revelation that they would soon be launching an official forum (OF) for the game. Since release, the brunt of these responsibilities has fallen to unofficial forums like Warhammer Alliance (WHA) and IGN's Warhammer Vault. These forums/fansites are currently the place to go if you want to catch the attention of a developer or simply engage the WAR community in a healthy (and sometimes unhealthy) debate on the state of the game or feature X vs. feature Y.Obviously, there are benefits and drawbacks to having your community spread across several unofficial forums. Ryan Shwayder of Nerfbat recently came up with a list of three things official and unofficial forums can and can't do. One of the biggest questions people have right now is, "What will happen with the unofficial forums once Mythic launches OFs?" Will they remain relevant or fade away into obscurity?We here at Massively decided to get the official word from the unofficial sources on this matter and had a chance to interview Mithan, head admin for all VN boards and Frank "PhoenixRed" Sanchez, assistant site manager at WHA. Continue reading below the cut where they answer some pressing questions.
Unofficial forums sound off: Part 2 (PhoenixRed)
This is a continuation of our interview with Warhammer Online's unofficial forum administrators. In part 2, we put the same questions to and Frank "PhoenixRed" Sanchez of Warhammer Alliance...What was your immediate reaction to Mythic's announcement that they will be hosting official WAR forums and why?PhoenixRed: We actually learned about OFs for WAR back in December. There were some rumblings and some goings on within the company and we have a few connections over there that told us this might be coming down the pipe. My original reaction, one that still persists to this day, is curiosity. Those people that know Mark Jacobs and Mythic from back in the days of DAOC know that they've never had any kind of preference to have official forums for a variety of reasons. They are a huge cost and definitely a huge time sink. The other reaction I had was "Wow!" It's going to be insane. Speaking as someone who has moderated forums over the past decade or so, it's definitely a challenge. I wish the community team and moderators responsible for managing and herding the community nothing but the best. I sure hope the people they bring on board have prior experience with online communities.
Three things official/unofficial forums can and can't do
Ryan Shwayder, a game designer for 38 Studios, recently put in his two cents on the official vs. unofficial forums argument. He originally called official forums a necessary evil but when prompted by Warhammer Alliance forum administrator, Garthilk, to name three things official forums could do that unofficial forums couldn't, he changed his tune a bit. In a response post, Blackguard (aka Ryan Shwayder), commented that both forum-types were necessary and neither actually evil. He then listed off three things official forums could do that unofficial forums couldn't. To bring some balance, he also listed three pros of unofficial forums. Ryan believes official forums have a leg up on developer-to-player communication, ownership (the forums won't close if admins lose interest), and integration with official web tools and in-game features. Alternatively, unofficial forums have a leg up with less restrictive codes of conduct, a stronger focus on micro-communities, and feature innovation through creativity. Some of the commenters on his post shared a sentiment that they would like to see official forums focus more on developer-to-player communication and technical support, while the unofficial forums focus more on class forums and creative discussion. What are your thoughts?We recently had a chance to interview both WHA and IGN regarding Mythic's official forum announcement and we will share that with you early next week.
