Questions by Tony "RadarX" Jones

Answers by Alan Crosby and Craig Dalrymple

What exactly is in a name? When it comes to videogames, the reputation of both publishers and developers can be fit into just a single word or acronym. While a name like Blizzard will bring respect, something like N-Gage will send shudders through any gaming veteran's spine. What is it like helping to control the image of a corporate giant like Sony Online Entertainment and wrangling what can at times be a difficult community? Holding the line of this battle front are Senior Director of Global Communications Alan Crosby, and Senior Community Manager Craig Dalrymple.

style="margin: 10px; border-collapse: collapse; float: right; width: 120px; height: 120px;"
border="1">

src="/image/view/34502/preview" width="120">

Alan Crosby

Craig was responsible for creating the panel on Managing Community Emergencies at ION Game Conference 2008 bringing his experience along with Alan and a few other seasoned community managers. It seemed appropriate to first define what a community emergency was. "Community is in an uproar; They are unhappy with the company for something they did," Alan begins, "It's very rare a community emergency is caused by the community itself. At that point, you either have to make changes, or be honest and forthright about why that situation happened." With events like Star Wars Galaxies NGE, very few companies can say they've handled such epic community uproars as SOE has.

After a few moments Craig steps in and begins to talk about what he was trying to accomplish with his panel. "People come to these conferences to learn something they don't know" he begins. "I have the ability to put up people (on the panel) who are very smart and can share their inside knowledge." Attempting to reach out to people who may not necessarily have realized the importance of community or are looking for experienced advice is his goal.

So how do they gauge their level of response to an emergency? "I do what Alan tells me to." he jokes, "There are a lot of situations and each is it's own special snowflake." Which individuals are involved and their history with the community are all factors in the decision making process.

What does the SOE community team do that is so different from everyone else and how exactly do they fit into the development of a game? "We are the representatives of development to the players," Alan explains, "but we are also representatives of the players to the developers." Their goal is provide the development team with insight into how players feel and to predict what they might be thinking and how they'll react. A secondary function is to entertain, educate and inform players through numerous mediums such as EQ2 Players which highlight guides and other interesting community aspects.

SOE is widely known for it's community involvement and continues to follow a hands on methodology despite many other companies breaking away from such traditions. "It's a philosophy we have at SOE," he states, "We've been doing this a long time and we've made mistakes. We try to learn from them and one of the things we've learned is community is important." He goes on to say how strong community is important not only for retention, but viral advertising, and most importantly because these are the people that make the game work.

style="margin: 10px; border-collapse: collapse; float: right; width: 100px; height: 120px;"
border="1">

src="/image/view/34500/preview" width="100">

Craig Dalrymple

High expectations are set for all of his community managers as well. Clarifying that his community managers aren't just forum moderators, he encourages them to play the games, interact with people, and make no secret of who they are in game. Promoting an image of gamers at heart, the community should know they are involved and have a vested interest in what happens.

We next discussed SOE's Influencer's Program, which if you are unfamiliar with it, is a sampling of both positive and negative members of the community. These folks are given a direct line to the community team to provide honest feedback. "For the most part, the Influencer's program has been a great success," he says "I think there are some misconceptions to what the program is. We try to pick people who are actively talking about our products. It is not a way to 'buy people off;' some of our biggest critics are in the program. We ask nothing from the influencer's but candid feedback which is never disclosed outside the company." The program's goal is to provide a group that SOE can be completely candid with about changes and ideas currently being considered and solicit feedback.

Of course there are risks in running such a program so we asked what they were. "There are a lot of risks," he admits, "the first of which is entitlement. You see it all the time even in volunteer programs." Being involved in such an important loop of feedback can lead to feelings that participants are better than other players and should deserve special treatment. He gives the example of an influencer contacting the head of Customer Support to resolve a game issue and explains that just isn't how things are supposed to work.

Will the modern MMO game community embrace the philosophies and methods described above and can other companies take notes and implement similar ideas? Is the heavy focus on community and forums a valid business practice for the future? One thing was certain from talking with Alan and Craig, SOE continues to pioneer community management in positive directions and cut their own path.