community-management
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PAX South 2015: Camelot Unchained's proactive approach to community management
In the crowdfunded independent industry, we are starting to see some ups and downs. Backers have seen some games fail and other games soar. One of those games that seems to be doing very well, at least if you ask its Community Manager Jenesee Grey and its legions of fans, is Camelot Unchained. At this weekend's PAX South, I spoke to Grey about her experience as a CM for a crowdfunded game.
How SOE deals with bad seeds, in-game and out
At this year's GDC Europe, SOE's director of global community relations, Linda Carlson, talked about her management philosophy for a community infected by trolls and bullies. GamesIndustry.biz caught up with Carlson after the panel to further discuss this growing issue. Interestingly enough, Carlson also commented on how SOE monitors player behavior -- even outside of its games. "If we know who you are and you're abusing somebody on Twitter, we will ban your game account and we will not accept you as a customer ever again. It's not always possible to identify people [in that way], but we take that seriously." Carlson goes on to say, "A very influential player, high up in a huge guild -- we'll still ban them... In our games, if you are an exploiter we don't care who you are, how big your guild is, how many people you threaten to take with you when you go." Take a look at the entire interview for more on how SOE plans to deal with levels of negativity in its community.
Community Manager Zarhym on game design vs. story development
It's always interesting seeing the blue team's thoughts on World of Warcraft, whether on the community, or the development of the game itself. Community Manager Zarhym had some profound words to share this week regarding the interviews we've been seeing for patch 5.4, and the challenges of setting up community interviews with the different developers. There's been a big, ongoing debate amongst players regarding story development this expansion -- in particular, faction story development. Players feel that the Alliance story has been somewhat left behind this expansion, to say the very least. Zarhym decided to chime in and comment not only on this topic, but on the topic of interviews in general, and how hard the story development team works on the story behind the game we love to play. Given that we've done several interviews with various developers over the course of Mists of Pandaria, it was nice to see Zarhym's thoughts on the matter. Read on for his post in full.
GDC Europe 2013: SOE talks game shutdowns, The Matrix Online
Sony Online Entertainment's Linda "Brasse" Carlson took the stage at this year's GDC Europe to talk about SOE's approach to community management, and in the process delivered a little insight into how studios can (and should) approach shutting down MMOs with waning or nonexistent player populations. Carlson used Monolith Productions' The Matrix Online as an example, explaining that the game's population had dipped down to fewer than 500 players by the time the decision was made to take it offline in 2009. The breaking point where cost of maintenance just to keep the game up was ridiculous. Sometimes you just have to shut these games down. Determining when and how to sunset an MMO is never an easy task; Carlson noted that a studio should never "belittle the people who are deeply emotionally upset" about their favorite title shutting down. The talk wasn't all about shutdowns, however; Carlson also discussed Sony's community management philosophy, which includes showing empathy to players, protecting developers from abuse, and using the player-driven community council to make more educated and agreeable decisions about the future of its games. Gamasutra has a nice collection of quotes from the presentation, if you're into that sort of thing.
The Daily Grind: What game has your favorite community team?
Let's be honest with ourselves for a moment: We MMO players are not the easiest bunch to manage in terms of community. We're moody, we're cantankerous, and we often want the game to be developed in seven different exclusive directions at once. So a member of a game's community team already has a hard road to walk. It's understandable that every so often a member of the team might just decide to snap and go out in a blaze of glory. But that's not to diminish the fine people who elevate community management to an art form. Final Fantasy XIV has built a well-loved community team where none existed before, World of Warcraft's community managers are viewed with a genial fondness by players, and both Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 have always banked partly on the strength of their community involvement. So what game's community team is your personal favorite? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
How do blues choose what to respond to?
"Why do the blues only seem to comment on silly threads and never in a thread that has substance, provides meaningful insight, or merits actual discussion? This seems a complete waste of time and valuable resources." This was part of the opening post on a thread in the US forums, discussing the Community Management team's choice of posts to respond to. And it's a reasonable question, a cursory glance at a blue tracker will reveal that many blue responses are indeed on light-hearted threads rather than on the ones demanding feedback on heavy issues. That, or they're commenting on quickly locked posts that violate the forum guidelines, elucidating the reasons for the thread's closure. Why don't the blues respond more quickly to the weighty, substantial threads? Consider the amount of work required in the background to respond to a question about PvP balancing, for example, compared to the amount of work required to wish a forum a happy Winter Veil. While the latter simply requires a lively wit and a good knowledge of the forum code of conduct, the latter requires a good deal more input, from the developers and designers and more.
Live chat Customer Support Q&A this Thursday
Ever had a burning question about the customer service side of World of Warcraft, or other Blizzard games? This Thursday, you'll have your chance to ask. Blizzard is hosting its first-ever CoveritLive chat featuring customer support representatives from all of Blizzard's games. The chat will be focused primarily on World of Warcraft, but the panelists can field some questions regarding Diablo III and StarCraft II support as well. Keep in mind, this is not a development Q&A -- so keep your questions about whether or not Atiesh will return to the game's loot tables along with Alleria and Turalyon for another time. However, if you have any questions regarding the policies and the customer service side of Blizzard, this is an excellent time to get those questions cleared up. The Q&A will be this Thursday, December 13, from 5-6pm PST. Unlike previous Q&A chat sessions, this one will be taking place directly on Blizzard's website. And if you need an email reminder, you can sign up for one directly through the official blog post.
The role of community managers
Despite the header image, Blizzard Community Manager Zarhym has been being a little less cuddly than he looks lately. Oh, wait... you're saying Zarhym's the one on the right? OK then. Zarhym has been weighing in on the role of Blizzard's Community Managers, following a couple of critical posts on the US forums. One post was elicited in direct response to Zarhym's own replies on a thread about dailies. Zarhym Quote: I think what should be taken out of the responses of those players frustrated at the CMs response is the standard of discourse that is being set, through said CM, in threads like this. A CM is blizzards representative on these forums and the closest we come to hearing/seeing information straight from "the horses mouth". Now the wow forums are at times very cynical and baiting/trolling can be rife, but for a CM to come into a thread (one that didn't dignify a response) and basically condone certain behaviours through both the language he used and the context he used it in is quite disgraceful and reflects pretty poorly on both blizzard and the CM team. It is up to the CM, not the players, to set the standard when it comes to meaningful debate and conversation. Showing otherwise further condones bad behaviour and meaningless posts in this thread and others all over general. That's a fair point and I'll honestly think about that more as I'm flipping through the front page of the forums. This is also a good time to remind people you can email WoWCMFeedback@Blizzard.com with your thoughts on our methods of community engagement. The posts in this thread commenting on my performance as a Community Manager, positive or negative, are better sent to my superiors so the topic of the thread stays on course. You can also personally give me feedback or chat with me on Twitter: @CM_Zarhym. I promise I at least read every tweet, and respond as often as I can. ;). source
The Tattered Notebook: Linda Carlson on goat herding and community management
What do goat herding and community management have to do with one another? On the surface, you'd probably think not much, but at GDC Online this week, SOE Head of Global Relations Linda "Brasse" Carlson explained the parallels between her job as Community Manager and her job as a goat herder. In the talk, though, she not only gave advice on how to run a community management team but also shared some interesting observations about some of SOE's online communities in general. In this week's Tattered Notebook, we'll look at some of the highlights.
Former Meridian 59 dev pens essay on community management
Have you ever been curious what, exactly, a community manager does from an insider perspective? Here to help you with that is Brian Green, who's developed for both Meridian 59 and Storybricks. Green wrote an essay on how community management is often misunderstood and how it can be both effectively and ineffectively handled. Green went through the daily process of a CM's job to provide information for both developers and players, citing the difficult balance in handling that two-way street. He said it's important to keep PR as divorced from community management as possible, otherwise it damages the communication "loop" between CMs, players, and developers. He finishes by examining the recent instance of ArenaNet's CM team using Reddit to discuss players' behavior and names. "The problem is that this was quite obviously a PR exercise and not really proper community management," he noted, going on to say that this might have set the wrong tone for the community's in-game behavior and caused a "toxic allowance" to build up for later on down the road.
WildStar's Senior Community Manager focuses on fun
Hot on the heels of yesterday's interview with WildStar's Jeremy Gaffney, we sat down with another Carbine Studios rep: David Bass, the game's new Senior Community Manager. We stopped David from running around the studio like a madman for 15 minutes, forcing him to let us in on the secrets of why WildStar and Carbine Studios are worth watching. Granted, he couldn't tell us everything -- there has to be a bit of mystery, right? But David did reveal his in-depth plans for the WildStar community and what will set this community apart from any other MMO community you've seen.
GDC 2012: The Tattered Notebook attends Brasse's community panel
What do dwarves and Monty Python have in common? They both feature prominently in Linda "The Brasse" Carlson's GDC 2012 talk about the front lines of the SOE community relations team. Given the recent roller coaster ride of the ProSiebenSat.1 deal and the turmoil on the forums that followed, I found it interesting to hear what it's like to be a member of the community management folks as they try to handle being in the middle of it all. While her talk was mainly aimed at community managers in other games, there were a few tidbits that players would probably find interesting and maybe even surprising. Read on for the highlights!
Blizzard tells Diablo III fans to lower their expectations
Are you eagerly awaiting Diablo III's eventual release? Well, perhaps you shouldn't be quite that eager. Community manager Bashiok recently made some comments in a thread on the official forums expressing some concern that players are getting too excited about the potential of the game and that players should instead lower their overall expectations of Diablo III. He closes by saying that fans should at the same time still purchase the game but perhaps lower the threshold of awesome it has to clear. It's possible to read this as an attempt to control the game's hype before release, and it's possible to read this as a roundabout statement of overall quality. Either way, it's an odd statement coming from Blizzard's public relations team, since very few developers have historically told their fans to be a little less excited for release. Of course, with that having been said, it's unlikely that the level of excitement will go down at all. (Bashiok's full quote is just past the cut.)
Reid on Reddit: SWTOR fans ask him anything and everything
"Ask me anything." That's a dangerous command for anyone to issue, nevermind the community manager of the hottest new MMO on the block. Yet that's just what Stephen Reid said today to the Star Wars: The Old Republic community on Reddit, and the length of questions and answers would make for a mini-novel if packaged as such. While Reid certainly hedges on issues that BioWare is not quite ready to address, he doesn't shy away from direct answers when applicable. The compiled Reddit thread lists dozens and dozens of Q&As, including the much-asked-for guild housing ("on the list for future development"), the ability delay issue ("we'll talk about it publicly soon"), and an upgraded Galactic Trade Network ("improvements will come to the GTN in time, definitely"). In response to the request for non-mechanical (read: animal) mounts, Reid said, "Maybe -- it's a technical challenge, I've been told." He's most excited about the upcoming legacy system reveals, but he's not allowed to talk on it just yet. Amidst the probing questions of the newly launched title is a personal query about what it's like for him to be at the helm of SWTOR community management. "What's it like?" Reid responded. "Bewildering and overwhelming and exciting and demanding, all at once, all day long (and often into the night). I had some idea what I was getting into, but it was bigger than expected. I'll stay as long as I'm wanted."
GDC Online 2011: CCP talks community management
As we all know, every MMO has its share of crises. They can range from an unpopular game nerf to bugged content to full-out server meltdown. Ironically, CCP Community Manager Valerie Massey submitted her plans for a GDC Online talk the day before, as she put it, "all hell broke loose at CCP." From that point on, the devs "were out of the frying pan and into the fire" over and over. In all, Monoclegate and the Incarna problems were two months of one PR disaster after another. When it comes to crisis management, she stressed that it's not an exact science, that it's hard to pick apart post-analyses, and that one CM's experience is very different from another. She chose to use Tylenol as a key example of correct response to crisis. Back in 1982, a killer inserted cyanide into Tylenol bottles, thus murdering several people. Tylenol wasn't at fault, but the company reacted correctly by pulling all bottles from the shelves, recalling the product, adding tamper-resistant packaging, and discounting prices after the fact. The company's quick action restored the trust of the consumers. Who did it wrong? BP. That company shirked responsibility, waited two days before making a statement, lied about the extent of the damage, and failed to execute a clear clean-up plan fast enough. In a crisis, whether it's in game or in real life, the key is to prepare in advance.
EverQuest becomes ever after: A talk with Linda Carlson of SOE
When it comes to getting involved with community, Sony Online Entertainment's Director of Global Community Relations Linda Carlson knows it well. Most often seen tromping around conventions dressed as her beer-craving Dwarven alter-ego Brasse, Carlson was a fixture at SOE's Fan Faire events and author of her own gaming comic long before she ever started working for the studio. As we had the chance to find out recently, this was due at least in part to EverQuest changing her life many, many years prior. While these days meeting up with someone you've met online is considered fairly commonplace, when you look back to the earliest days of MMO gaming, it generally was not something many people did. Even if you did meet someone from "on the computer," they tended to be folks from one or another BBS -- local connections that were easily made and just as easily dismissed. The idea of not only meeting someone online in a romantic fashion but leaving the country you live in to see him/her was considered completely insane. "What if you don't get along? Or what if he/she is a murderer?" your friends might ask, since this was all really new territory and nobody quite knew what would happen. Still, some early MMO gamers like Carlson gathered up their courage and took that gamble. In honor of Valentine's Day, we interviewed Carlson about how her EverQuest connection became an "ever after" -- join us after the break!
Free for All: An insight into Istaria's indie development
Last week I was able to hand off some questions to Amarie, the Community Manager for Virtrium and Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted -- the game formerly known as Horizons. While the game might be getting a little long in the tooth, it's important to note that development is still a priority and that the game is still very enjoyable and playable. It boasts 11 different playable races (including dragons!) and an open character development system that puts some more modern games to shame. I recently received a copy of a producer's letter and was impressed by its open, frank nature. I quickly contacted the team and its members agreed to answer several questions. There's a lot to read, so grab a coffee and let's take a look into the world of indie development.
NYCC 2010: Our interview with FFXIV's Sage Sundi and Yasu Kurosawa
If there were an award for the most controversial game on Massively, that award would probably have to go to Final Fantasy XIV. It's a game with a very different approach to many of the elements that are considered de rigueur for MMOs, which has produced a great deal of affection from some players, a great deal of enmity from others, and a flamewar that burgeons in nearly any thread about even the most innocuous news. I had a chance to sit down at New York Comic Con with Sage Sundi, FFXIV's global online producer, and Yasu Kurosawa, FFXIV's North American online producer. It was certainly an interesting experience to chat with two of the people responsible in no small part for one of my personal favorite games, but both gentlemen were very polite to discuss the game, its worldwide community, and what lessons had been learned already from launch.
Sean Dahlberg moves on to Faxion Online development
For some of our readers, the idea of managing the community for Star Wars: The Old Republic would be a dream job. (How well this lines up with understanding what community managers actually have to do is debatable.) Sean Dahlberg, however, has apparently decided that he's had quite enough of that scene, so he's packed up and moved on to UTV True Games and Faxion Online. It's a bit of an odd move, and Dahlberg has put up a short entry on his personal blog explaining why he's moved on and what he's moving on to do. Faxion Online is a free-to-play game focused on the war between Heaven and Hell, with what Dahlberg describes as a sense of humor resembling that of the inimitable Dungeon Keeper franchise. He explains that while he enjoyed working with communities, he wanted to get back into designing fun systems for an actual game, and he felt that he could make a larger contribution by shifting focus to his current occupation of Senior Game Systems Designer for Faxion. For more details and a few more tidbits about what's planned for the free-to-play title, take a look at his full entry.
Making it as an MMO blogger: The community manager interviews part 2
If you enjoyed our community management feature from yesterday, we present you with part 2! What level of honesty should bloggers have regarding the benefits and flaws of your game in balancing the interests of the readers and the interests of your company? David Bass: Bloggers should always be honest. But they should also be fair. Yes, game X might have some issues, but is the company consistently working to improve the game? Are you seeing excellent communication from the team? No MMO is perfect, that's for certain, but in addition to learning where our flaws are, we're also interested to learn what we're doing right. Bloggers aren't there to cater to us as a company, and if your blog is heading in that direction, most readers will notice that and may choose to shy away from it. If you stick to being honest on your blog, that's what will get the company to notice you.
