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Forsaken World mages blow stuff up
Perfect World Entertainment is ramping up the publicity campaign for its free-to-play opus Forsaken World, with the latest salvo being a new video short featuring community manager Frank Johnson. The segment focuses on the mage class and its destructive power, showing off a fair bit of combat footage underscored by Johnson's narration. "I can freeze targets with ice spells, knock back enemies with lightning, and if all else fails I can just set everything on fire. Which is usually what ends up happening anyways," Johnson says. Check out the mage-sponsored mayhem after the break, and read up on the class (as well as the rest of Forsaken World) at the game's official website.
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.
Massively's in-depth interview with SWTOR Community Manager Stephen Reid
Last Friday, Star Wars: The Old Republic finally revealed the Crew Skills crafting system. In a slightly less important announcement, BioWare also announced its new Community Manager, Stephen Reid. OK, I'm teasing. It is very important announcement. Since Sean Dahlberg stepped down, the community team has been without a face and voice to the community. Those left behind had to put in extra effort into providing the fans with the latest releases from the SWTOR news room, and for a while, the community was unsure who, if anyone, would be able to fill the shoes. Now, Stephen Reid has taken the helm of the massive community starship. Now since we have a new voice of the SWTOR community team, Massively thought it would be interesting to get his thoughts on the game, on the community, and on how we, the fans, could best make Star Wars: The Old Republic the game it should be. Massively Senior Editor Brianna Royce sat down with Stephen at a recent LucasArts event for an in-depth interview -- join us past the break to see what he had to say!
BioWare names Stephen Reid the new SWTOR Community Manager
A few months back -- just after PAX -- community manager Sean Dahlberg stepped down from his position at BioWare to join UTV True Game's Faxion design team. In the intermediate time, his Star Wars: The Old Republic duties have been filled by community representatives like Joanne Laroche and Alyson Bridge. But now Sean's empty seat has been filled by none other than Stephen "Rockjaw" Reid. You may know Reid as the Community Director at Gazillion Entertainment or maybe the Senior Community Manager at Trion World. Either way, Reid's experience is well-known in the MMO world. And prior to his work in the States, British-born Reid specialized in public relations and community-related projects for NCsoft UK. His voice has been heard on the Yellow Spandex podcast as well as the official NCsoft Europe podcast before that. It's safe to say the Force is strong with this one. Reid has been a regular reader of Massively and has been known to comment on our stories via his twitter account Rockjaw. We'd like to congratulate Stephen on his new position, and we look forward to hearing the latest SWTOR news from him. Be sure to send him a warm welcome on the SWTOR forums, and don't miss our interview with this new addition to the SWTOR team coming in the next few days. In the words of Han Solo in A New Hope, "Don't get cocky" -- I mean, "Here's where the fun begins!"
BlizzCon 2010: Blues among you
BlizzCon 2010 is almost here! If you're headed to BlizzCon 2010, you may notice something a little different this year. Unlike years past, when Community Team interaction was restricted largely to moderating panels, this year the blues will come to you -- on the convention floor, that is. Blue poster Nethaera announced this interesting change of procedure on the official forums earlier today. Nethaera For the past few years, you may have noticed Community Team members moderating the various BlizzCon panels. This year, things are a little bit different. Instead of moderating panels, we'll be providing BlizzCon updates on the forums, Facebook, and Twitter as well as mingling with attendees around the convention center. That's right, this year we will be among you and look forward to getting meet and talk with you during the convention. If you see one of us, feel free to stop us and say, "Hi". source This begs the question -- who's going to moderate all those panels? Regardless, this is apt to be a fun change for the Community Manager Team. So if you ever wanted to say hello to your favorite flickering candle or floating skull, keep your eyes peeled on the convention floor -- they could be right behind you!
SWG's Community Manager on in-game events
Perhaps you can remember a time when the developers of MMOs were directly involved in player events -- either running them or just attending player-run events. In our interview with him on Massively Speaking, Richard Garriott mentioned a couple of times about hanging out with players as Lord British in Ultima Online. If you recall, Star Wars Galaxies had a whole team, lead by Jason "Pex" Ryan, that was completely devoted to creating and facilitating player events. It may seem that these days are fading with the scripted events common in more recent releases. Lydia "Zatozia" Pope, the newly appointed Community Manager of SWG, hopes to change that. Zatozia has been with Sony Online Entertainment since May of 1999 when her department was still known as Verant. Under the customer service banner, she ran Historical Events for EverQuest. These were live GM-run events that were used to transition EQ from expansion to expansion. She was also a member of the Stormhammer Legends EQ server team, which specialized in GM-run events and storylines specifically for that server. Zatozia is now the Community Relations Manager for Star Wars Galaxies, and we were able to speak with her about her personal plans for the title as well as how the SWG community is affecting other SOE titles. Click over the break to catch the full interview.
BioWare loses its SWTOR community manager [updated]
Today on the TOROCast forum, it was rumored that Community Manager Sean Dahlberg had left BioWare. Members of the SWTOR community did believe it odd that he did not show up to PAX, which was supposed to be the biggest event of the year for SWTOR. He even tweeted to the Jedi Archive on Saturday: "Nope, I'm back in Austin but Brian is there! Granted, part of me wants to just drive there but I'd be late." That gave everyone the impression that he had a lot of work to do. However, today he updated his twitter page so that it no longer reflected his BioWare title nor a link to swtor.com. Although there has yet to be word from Dahlberg himself, Joanne Laroche, the Senior Community Coordinator, recently posted this on the official Old Republic website: "Sean Dahlberg has recently left BioWare. We would like to thank Sean for doing a great job building the TOR Community and we wish him well in his future endeavors!" This confirms that Dahlberg has left BioWare, but it still does not answer why this has happened. Massively will keep an eye on this story and on Dahlberg's personal site for new developments. Until then, we wish the best for Sean and for the game. [Nice catch, "fo diddy" at TOROcast!] Update: Sean posted on his personal blog and wanted to let everyone know that he did not fall off the end of the earth. As for what's next for Mr. Dahlberg, he had this to say, "What's in the next chapter in the life of Sean... well, that would be giving out information and we all know I don't do that. I'd say just kidding but I actually can't talk too much about that at this point. Soon™ but not yet."
PAX 2010: Wrassling the FFXIV community with Square-Enix
It was hard to miss Final Fantasy XIV at PAX Prime this year -- its booth loomed large, white and sprawling right inside of the main exhibition hall doors. As players poured in to get their hands on this imminent title, Massively pulled aside Square-Enix's Yasu Kurosawa and Sage Sundi for a chat about managing the global community. Sage deals with more of the global aspect across multiple regions, while Yasu is Square Enix's North America representative and is tasked with bringing the community's voice back to Japan. Unfortunately, we were limited from discussing gameplay aspects of FFXIV, but the pair were open about the challenges and difficulties of handling a community worldwide, especially in regions where the game's developers are not linguistically fluent. Read on for their thoughts on the subject.
Massively's Community Detective, Issue #2: Darkfall and EVE Online
"We hope you understand that there's nothing we can do at the moment," says the support email we just received from Aventurine, developers of Darkfall. Not exactly what you want to hear from customer service, is it? Welcome to another issue of Massively's Community Detective, where we're primed and ready to take you into the trenches of MMORPG community and customer service. This week we've got full-blown battlefields complete with land mines, dismemberment, e-peen waving, and all the other things you've come to know and love about PvP. Yes, we're delving into the world of Darkfall, and if that's not enough for you, we'll also be heading for the heavens in a very different (but equally cutthroat) PvP sandbox called EVE Online. Join us after the cut to see how these two titles fared in terms of community and customer service support.
The cynic's guide to World of Warcraft
We tend to be very careful while composing articles here at WoW Insider. We're always mindful that not everyone plays the game in the same way, or has the same experience on different servers or factions, but every so often a certain madness seizes us and we feel the urge to ... tell the truth. In that vein, I am pleased (sort of) to present The Cynic's Guide to World of Warcraft. This article owes a heavy debt to Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary. If you want to see a real master at work, read that.
News article sparks debate among Community Managers
An article at GamePro caused a bit of a stir in the gaming industry yesterday, sparking discussion on a topic covered at this year's PAX East -- namely, that of the history of Community Managers and what their jobs entail. Now, there is a fair amount of background to AJ Glasser's article that we won't delve into, because the comment that many readers focused on was this one: "Before Xbox Live's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb -- who holds the ambiguous title director of programming for Xbox Live -- community managers were mostly forum moderators, people whose job entailed monitoring message boards and weeding out trolls. " Not so, said many current CMs. Familiar names such as Daeke and Aether began popping up in the comments section of the article, contending that Community Managers were much more than forum mods before Major Nelson came on the scene. The conversation began in the article's comments section and continued via Twitter with quite a few people in the industry lining up to join the debate. The discussion offers several varying opinions and is definitely worth following if you've got an interest in the role of community management.
Eyonix leaving Blizzard
It's sad news for the World of Warcraft community today as longtime Blizzard community manager Eyonix has announced that he's leaving the company. He announced his departure in a simple and direct post on the official forums: "For nearly six years, we've shared our thoughts with one and other, we've laughed, we've argued, and we've cried -- the crying part was just me wasn't it? Those times, I'm afraid must come to an end as I've made the decision to explore opportunities outside of Blizzard. It has very honestly been a huge pleasure, and I thank you all for allowing 'Eyonix' to always remain a very fond memory as I move on." My perspective might be a little different than some readers' due to my employment history, but I've always felt for the plight of the community manager, especially at Blizzard. Become emotionally detached, they say you're not passionate. Become emotionally invested, they say you take it too personally. Eyonix has generally managed to strike that particular balance -- no mean feat for a community manager, especially one for a community so inherently unmanageable. He was one of the good guys. We'll likely never know what caused his departure, especially given that there was definitely no horrible public meltdown accompanying this particular exit, but I hope that the move is a positive and fortuitous one for him. Even when I might've disagreed with the Community team at large, I always supported Eyonix. Godspeed, little whelp.
Jagex Community Dev Diary: Striking a balance
Massively has invited Jagex Games Studio, developer of RuneScape and other online titles, to share with the MMO community some of the unique challenges and tasks that they deal with on a daily basis. In the first of a regular dev diary series, Jagex's Kelvin Plomer (Head of Community Management) and Paul Mayer (RuneScape Community Manager) open up about the difficulty of striking a balance between the needs of players and the direction of developers. The Community Has Spoken: How MMO Creators Balance Development Plans with Player Feedback Community and player involvement are the backbone of any good MMO. One of the huge issues we face as a Community Management team, and as a game developer and publisher, is that all of our players have an opinion on pretty much every aspect of our games...and they're not afraid to let us know about it! What's the issue, then? Well, when you have the largest free MMO in the world in your game catalogue with millions of players, that's one hell of a lot of opinion to attempt to digest, respond to and factor into game development.
PAX East 2010: Community manager panel
Community managers are the very definition of a paradox. They're some of the most public faces of the game, yet their role is often least understood. They serve many masters -- developers, players, marketing, press -- and are beholden to all of them at once. They're often on the blunt end of unrestrained love and unfathomable anger. No matter what they are, one thing is for sure: their job rocks. At least, according to a CM panel at PAX East entitled "Community Managers: More than Forum Monkeys." In it, five CMs from various studios shared just what goes on with their job, what limits they deal with, and what are the highs and lows of working in the public limelight 24/7. Meghan Rodberg (Turbine), Aaron Trites (Harmonix), Morgan Romine (Frag Dolls), Jess Folsom (Bioware Austin) and Linda Carlson (Sony Online Entertainment) spent a candid hour with an audience pulling back some of the mystique and misconceptions of their positions as supposed monkey tamers. Hit the jump to read about the inner workings of these fabulous five community managers.
Spellborn dropping out of the Japanese market
The somewhat European inspired fantasy MMO The Chronicles of Spellborn is shutting down its Japanese service, causing a stir of worry and discussion about the title's future in other territories within the community at large. To make matters worse, the one person who could've cleared up any confusion, TheHistorian, is no longer with publisher Acclaim as community manager for the game. Given that he was the sole link between the community and developers, it's no wonder people are feeling a bit unsettled by the whole affair. While the closure of The Chronicles of Spellborn Japan isn't a good thing, it doesn't necessarily spell out a dark future for the title. A business deal could've gone sour, or perhaps the audience in Japan just wasn't strong enough to maintain the title. Just in cast something does happen, however, we'll be keeping an eye out for any further development.
Planet Calypso welcomes their new community manager while looking to the future
The team over at First Planet Company, the minds behind the MMO/Second Life hybrid Planet Calypso, have recently welcomed a brand new community manager onto their staff -- Hanne Einan Gulbrandsen. Gulbrandsen is the game's first dedicated community manager, bringing the virtual world in line with the company practices of other MMO companies. But, while Gulbrandsen settles into his new office and title, First Planet Company has also detailed their development roadmap for this year -- going over future additions such as vehicles, a new questing/mission system, and the addition of fish to the world (as shown above.) The mission system will finally give Calypso MMO style storyline quests, offering players a new way to play the game and experience the planet's lore. How these new quests will impact the game's real money-based economy will be interesting, especially if doing them offers in-game rewards.
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.
Making it as an MMO blogger: An interview with top community managers
Ahh, that eternal debate about what differentiates a gaming blogger from a gaming journalist. We could go on and on about specifics on both sides, but the fact is, we all have the same goals in mind: writing about what we love. Ravious at Kill Ten Rats approached us with an idea he's been working on for a few months involving MMO bloggers and their relationship with community managers. We thought this was a brilliant idea as a valuable hub of information for MMO bloggers, and offered to help him get it kick-started. So we sent off his questions to nine of the top community managers in the industry to get their take on how bloggers can establish and grow a favorable working relationship with them. With so much information here, we broke it into two parts: one today and the conclusion tomorrow. Follow along for their answers to part one!
Community manager Daeke leaves Cryptic, Stormshade to replace him
Today, Cryptic_Stormshade confirmed what the Champions Online community was speculating on since the early morning hours -- that Cryptic_Daeke, the Champions Online community manager, has parted ways with Cryptic Studios. David "Daeke" Bass's leaving comes amidst heavy fire from the community on Cryptic's most recent endeavor, the addition of Vibora Bay in Champions Online. Daeke was the first member of the Cryptic staff to acknowledge that Vibora Bay would be a piece of paid content, and not a free patch to the game. The switch in community managers is sudden and unexpected, leaving many in the Champions Online community wondering if this event and Vibora Bay's announcement are somehow related. Stormshade, however, has declined to speak any further on Daeke's departure, simply stating, "Daeke has moved on to other things. We wish him the best of luck wherever that path takes him." Stormshade has now stepped away from Star Trek Online to become the new CM for Champions. We here at Massively would also like to take the time to wish Daeke the best and luck with whatever he pursues next.
Massively interviews PoxNora: Major updates and a website revamp
It's been far too long since we first had the pleasure of introducing readers to PoxNora. So long, in fact, that we contacted SOE to see about speaking with the good people in Tucson, AZ about their strategy game that incorporates card collecting, online persistence and progression mechanics into a delightful cocktail of an online game. There's a lot of changes coming to PoxNora, changes that for the first time will be revealed in this interview with SOE Community Manger Tony "RadarX" Jones. A new website, a new Rune Manager, a new Champions stat system, new maps and hints at the future of PoxNora are just a few of the topics covered beyond the break. Did we mention all these updates are coming within the next few weeks? Oh, we've also got shiny imagery.
