Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

As we continue exploring the premise that stable communities benefit both game developers and players, I wanted to look at the idea of real life player gatherings. With the over-arching theme of the D-Mail series being that a larger and more concerted effort to grow the community is important for future MMORPG success, let’s explore how both players and developers can support and capitalize on real life player-run events.

This topic is particularly near and dear to me because in just a few weeks, SyndCon 2010 will take place. I will draw on the lessons of that event for some of my rationale behind my points below. Given that, let me briefly explain what the event is. Started back in 2002, SyndCon is an annual event for The Syndicate. The event will attract 200+ members and special guests this year. It has proven to be the single greatest event we do as a guild. Why? Because it puts a face to a toon and that, as we’ll explore more deeply in this article, has some inherent benefits. Events like SyndCon are not only of interest to the community hosting them but add value to the developer community because they increase guild stability and therefore reduce drama, subscriber turnover, and the fallout associated with both.

So, what do I mean when I refer to a real life player gathering? I’m talking about everything from a small guild getting together at someone's house for a LAN party weekend to monthly dinners for members of a guild to hanging out for a couple days at someone's house each year to a full blown convention like SyndCon, with developers, guest speakers, panel discussions, etc.

Why real life events? Why do we really care about 'real life' if we are playing virtual games with virtual toons collecting make believe items? We care for several reasons. First, we aren't just playing games; if we were, then MMOG's would not exist to the extent they do today because all we would need are good single player games. Rather, we are playing a social experience. That experience may be limited to just your buddies from work/school but it is still an interactive, social experience. Real life events are an extension of that social experience.

Second, one of the primary points of failure in the online world is that you cannot see the non-verbal communication cues when you are reading text on a screen or even when listening to someone in Ventrilo. Non-verbal communication is both a significant factor (although different scientific groups debate how significant) in communication and also a tool to mask deception. It is easier to lie and mislead in text than it is to do so face-to-face. So you have two things at play here: first, the loss of meaning due to the communication limitations in online gaming; second, the natural human fear many of us suffer from that the other person is out to get us somehow. Those feelings develop more easily when all we see are words-- "Sure, trust me! I’ll give the item back!"--and we have no basis for real trust.

Thus, an inherent flaw in MMORPGs is that communication is often non-verbal and even when it is verbal we are still missing the visual cues that go along with hearing someone speak. Couple that with basic human distrust of the unknown and you create a situation where, if your entire community is based around non-verbal communication, you have no other basis for trusting another person other than that they are in your guild-chat. Then the second an issue appears to happen, we are going to interpret the facts in such a way as to be absolutely positive the other person is guilty. That leads to drama. That leads to implosions. That costs you months or years of hard work and lots of emotional baggage and it costs developers money. It’s a lose-lose for everyone.

That is where real life gatherings come into play. I said above that SyndCon was the single greatest event that we have ever done as a guild. Why is that? It is very simple: the hundreds of members who have attended over the years ceased to be pixels on a screen became actual people that you could see in your mind's eye long after the event ended and now trusted a great deal more. Why are many deals closed with a handshake? Because the physical contact and the looking of the other person in the eye tells you a great deal about their integrity. That same reason is why real life events can be a huge stabilizing factor for guilds.

What does all this have to do with developers? There are several relevant factors. First, whenever possible, developers should support their community’s real life events. They should consider giving them tools, within their games, to schedule those events and send invites to their members and allow them to mark it on their guild calendars and even send them reminders before the event. Facebook does it; why don't MMOGs? Developers win when players have that level of social interaction so they should facilitate it. Second, devs should consider promoting these kinds of events by doing things like seeking out some groups hosting them and running a news blurb about them on their forums or newsletter. I would venture there is a significant percentage of players who have never even thought about a real life meeting but might just jump at the chance to do something similar on their own if developers made them aware of the opportunity.

Real life events make for more stable communities.  Stable communities benefit players and developers.  So consider having a real life event for your guild.  How about a local dinner? a weekend at the beach? an annual LAN party?  Everyone meeting up for your game's annual gaming convention? Whatever the event, you will benefit by putting a face to those pixels on the screen.