In this episode of the D-Mail series (link: http://www.tentonhammer.com/features/dmail ) we continue our exploration of the premise that strong communities are not only a benefit to players but also to developers. Most players have had an experience where a community has failed in some dramatic fashion that resulted in players leaving the MMORPG you were playing or leaving gaming entirely. So communities that fail can directly impact the bottom-line for an MMORPG and obviously affect our personal enjoyment in the game. As such, there is both a responsibility of us as players and of developers to create an environment that fosters the growth and stability of player run communities.
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style="font-style: italic;">WoW's Remote Auction House allows mobile access to certain parts of the game.
On the heels of the news that World of Warcraft's subscription count is declining (reference MMOData Charts v2.8 released May 16th 2010 at mmodata.net) Blizzard announced a new feature that directly impacts communities. The feature is titled: Remote Auction House. Borrowing from Blizzard's forums, some key features of this new system are:
- It "lets players access the World of Warcraft Auction House from the Armory website or the Mobile Armory app for iPhone and iPod touch."
- You can browse the "local Auction Houses with the same search functionality available in the game, as well as see the real-time status of each of their current bids and auctions."
- However... "certain features of the Remote Auction House will be premium-based." Specifically the features that are premium based are the most useful ones: buying items, selling items and collecting gold from your sales.
So for this D-Mail I would like to explore this particular feature in more detail and its potential for community impact. To begin with, I should point out that I believe a robust set of web-tools is an important innovation in community support and one that developers should be investing in. WoW certainly has some web offerings, but they are focused more on the individual than on the community (i.e. go look up your personal gear). In a future D-Mail we will touch on a number of possible web-tools that would help grow and strengthen communities and look at some examples where pieces and parts have been tried out in different games (e.g the old EQIM tool from the early EQ days that let you talk to your friends who were playing EverQuest via the IM tool)
For today though, let's focus on this particular web tool... the Remote Auction House. For a mere $3.00 per month, you too can participate in the auction house from work! For no fee at all, you can simply watch other people manipulate the system and do nothing about it. I realize that statement is a cynical one but it is one that a sizable percentage of the WoW population has been expressing in one form or another. There are two primary reasons that players express displeasure regarding the remote auction house. First, any feature that offers game affecting features for a fee rubs a number of gamers the wrong way. Second, there is a concern about the possible exploitation of the system by automated programs that buy low and sell high. A side concern is that everyone is being given a free taste of the candy right now during the beta and then that taste will be removed and you will have to pay for additional licks of the lollipop. That often rubs people the wrong way especially when the result is useful, game changing, and well- received
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style="font-style: italic;">Will charging for this service help or hinder community?
While the second concern is outside the scope of our discussion (as it deals with whether a particular feature is inherently good or bad) the first concern gets to the root of the point I wish to make as it deals with accessibility of a feature and thus its potential impact on the community. As I mentioned above, web-based features have the strong potential, when implemented correctly, to grow and foster communities. One of the overall contentions of this series of articles is that by growing communities, MMORPG companies make more revenue because players play the game longer.
So in terms of the Remote Auction House we have a potentially community building feature that is going to be limited to those willing to pay for it. Inherently that means there will be some percentage of the gaming population (and in my opinion it will be a very large percentage) that will not pay for it and thus they will only be allowed to watch things unfold and not actually participate in them When that type of situation arises you create a group of "haves" and a group of "have-nots" which inherently creates tension for the overall game. With WoW subs sliding for the first time ever, that probably isn't a good thing to do right now but that too is not the focus of the D-Mail series. The part that bothers me is that this tool could have been the stepping stone towards greater community support. Instead, it will be a limited impact tool that some people have and some do not. So for me, I see it as a missed opportunity to perhaps have a greater, long term, positive revenue impact coupled with a greater, long term, positive player experience had the implementation model been different
Given my passion is for building and growing communities of gamers, when I see a feature like this come along and its full potential be left untapped I find myself screaming inside at the missed opportunity. Imagine if you will that the feature was available to everyone with full functionality. What value would that bring beyond the model that Blizzard is currently proposing? And how would that help build community
First, the open and accessible model would reduce the drama and tension surrounding the feature by making it accessible to all. When a developer creates artificial walls between players (even small ones) that spark drama, that does nothing to support community growth or stability and can be the catalyst for some players to leave thus causing their communities to implode.
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style="font-style: italic;">WoW's Remote Auction House could potentially be a powerful community building tool.
Second, a model with all features available to everyone could be used by guilds to grow their communities by engaging more members in community supporting processes. You may have a group of people who perhaps don't play as often as your more hardcore members but who are of great value to your community as friends. One way to get them more engaged would be to assign one of them to manage your guild bank and keep it stocked with whatever you deemed necessary. Another could handle selling extra loot from raids to raise funds for the guild. Another could be in charge of creating consumables for your raids at the cheapest price possible. Suddenly a way to access the auction house 24x7 becomes really valuable because you can engage important members of your team who are seeking a way to contribute to your community.
A remote auction house feature (whether available to everyone or limited to only those that pay) is not going to make or break the future of WoW. It won't solve world hunger and it won't eliminate guild drama and implosions regardless of which model is picked. However, such a feature, when done correctly, can become a building block of a larger set of community supporting tools that will have a tangible revenue impact and a tangible player enjoyment impact. Like many decisions made in life, individually they have often very little impact on things. However, collectively they can drive us down a completely different path than we might otherwise have taken.
That is why I feel that the "golden rule" for MMORPG web-content development should always be as follows: first and foremost, design content that supports the player community. Ultimately, that will cause more players to remain in the game for longer and thus more revenue for the company and more enjoyment for the gamer. If we do the basic math: if a collection of tools caused a gamer to pay 1 additional month of a $15 subscription then that makes up for 5 "lost" months of a $3 Remote Auction House subscription that many of them would not purchase anyway.
So in summary, what am I really saying with all of that? Well, specific to the WoW Remote Armory feature: Figure out how to make it more accessible to more players such as by perhaps allowing full features to all players at "X" transactions per day and then have a subscription service, if you really want one, for an additional X transactions per day. Allow the feature to work for your community rather than become a source of division or drama. In terms of community growth, my point is that a strong set of web tools is an evolutionary step forward in community development that MMORPG developers need to invest in. Ideally, that development is part of a comprehensive, integrated plan that is implemented one tool at a time.
Let the content draw people into the game and draw communities closer. Ultimately that makes player experiences better which means we play your games longer, which means developers make more money. For every month you keep us from deciding the game is boring and it's time to move on, another $15 subscription fee is paid. It takes a pretty high acceptance rate among your gaming population to make up for that $3 at a time.
