jess-folsom
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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.
Faction populations largely balanced in Warhammer Online
When Warhammer Online launched, one of the pressing concerns players had was population imbalance between Order and Destruction. Some of the measures Mythic Entertainment has taken to remedy this -- like free server transfers -- seem to have worked, according to Mythic's Jess Folsom.A recent dev blog by Folsom at the Warhammer Herald addresses the concerns WAR players continue to have about faction imbalances, and paints a decidedly bright picture of the current state of play.Percentages shown for the average of all North American servers shows a near equal balance in active accounts per faction (49% Order vs. 51% Destruction), and an even 50/50 split between factions in terms of average experience and renown point gains.
