Fan events, my take on WoW's recent lack thereof, and where to go from here

by Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle

The question posed this week is this: how common is it for players to meet other players (in real life) they originally met in-game. While “meet and greets” are relatively common for first and second generation MMOs (i.e. those games before the veritable “birth of the casual” in late Nov. 2004), it’s a different story with the game that - to many - made the MMORPG casual and accessible.

I’m not saying that World of Warcraft guilds are any less tight-knit or organized than guilds in other MMORPGs; in fact, one of WoW’s many innovations was making the repeatable instanced endgame (with all it’s needs for a large, well-organized, well-equipped raid group) accessible to the common player. But, let’s face it, WoW is so casual that there’s little need for a guild until that very endgame – other than maybe a little chat-window hilarity.  From where I stand, WoW guilds that form prior to the endgame  and last longer than a weekend tend to be groups of players that either 1) already know each other in real life (either friends, family, or workmates), or 2) know each other from an extant online community (e.g. a guild from another game, forum buddies, etc.).

So what to do with the those that come to WoW without a ready-made community? Since this is an editorial, I’m going to editorialize a moment and say that Blizzard should borrow an idea from EVE Online and put unguilded players into a massive newbie guild. This would solve the total lack of an LFG system (unless you want to call yet another chat channel a system) for lower levels and the mid-game and clean up the general chat channel for the rest of us. Concerns about immaturity, rude comments, arguments etc are moot – if you want to put a stop to this, you’ll have to take out Barrens chat too.

But, even guildies that know each others' faces typically have a contingent of players that joins up after the guild has formed, players that could be in the tri-state area or half a world away. Whether or not you're looking to meet one of these ghostly gamers in real life or just enjoying an atmosphere charged with the enthusiasm of others who share your interest, BlizzCon offered a chance for players to get together and celebrate their involvement in Blizzard's Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo franchises (and the whole murloc craze thing). BlizzCon 2005 created quite a stir late last October when the Burning Crusade expansion and the new Blood Elf race was formally announced late last October.

Then, to everyone's surprise, BlizzCon 2006- what many thought was a shoo-in given the World of Warcraft's ravening popularity, got canned. Stating that BlizzCon was never intended as an annual event, Blizzard broke the news last June in the World of Warcraft forums that there would be no BlizzCon 2006. As an aside: with BlizzCon 2006 axed and E3 2007 downsized, I'm left wondering what forum Blizzard will use to announce it's "yearly" expansion (that World of Warcraft will get yearly expansions is according to a recent GamesIndustry.biz interview with COO Paul Sams). In any case, it seems that the industry's most popular effort is without a fan shindig (at least until late 2007).

We can only speculate on why Blizz elected not to give fans a place to meet - forsooth, it's not for lack of subscription revenues. I quietly wonder if someone at Blizzard is concerned about pushing the hype too hard and careening over that precipitous cliff named "overplay" that's undone more than a few music artists: the Spice Girls, Celine Dion, et al. Fans can certainly poison themselves if they drink too often from their own excitement, and one thing Blizzard seems to do extraordinarily well is manage expectations. Too bad that's mostly because Blizzard has a history of keeping the independent press at arms length (they're getting better at least as far as Ten Ton Hammer is concerned, my recent Burning Crusade Q&A with Lead Designer Jeff Kaplan and Blizzard PR man Shon Damron during their US press tour is evidence - and yes, that was a shameless plug!).

Still, with 174 North American servers full of 4+ million subscribers (not to mention many more in Europe and Asia), Blizzard might be guilty of not capitalizing on their own rampant popularity.  But: how to avoid overplaying WoW? Make it moreso about the fans rather than the future of the game. The best fan events I've been to simply put the players and developers in the same room and let them dialogue over some good finger food and adult beverages (did I mention that it should be 21+?).  Sell at-cost tickets to a series of small-scale fan events, booking Dave & Busters for the night in major cities- something like that. The goodwill benefits are countless - it solidifies the core playerbase by making players feel like they have an audience.

There are 2 problems to this idea that I see: 1) developers have a life too, and often there's too little time for niceties at the end of long, long days spent developing these games, and 2) there have been ugly rumors of terroristic threats made against Blizzard's campus and staff at Irvine, CA - giving players a tete-a-tete might not seem like the wisest approach.

Regarding the first issue, wait till the Burning Crusade dust settles, then send out a cross section of the expansion team like superstars in the spring. Again from my experience, the devs get as much out of these events as fans do. And, as for concerns about security, it's a lot harder to be a jackass to someone's face than it is to be a jackass in the forums or over email- especially when you're surrounded by people who overwhelmingly love the game. Devs are always pleasantly surprised by the docility, respect, and admiration they find in the presence of their most active fans at these events. When players express concerns, the devs have their reasons and are anxious to explain, and players usually find that their explanation makes sense. Communication is a beautiful thing, and (again) this kind of respectful dialogue isn't just a pipe dream of mine - I see it over and over again when I go to these things.

But what you can't do, as Blizzard (and, again, Blizzard is hardly ever guilty of this), is promise everything and the kitchen sink. Fan events need to be about how the fans view the game as it presently exists and - where concerns exist - why those concerns weren’t addressed in the past. If you get past that, maybe talk a little bit about what you absolutely, positively, without a doubt know you're going to do in the future.

So, that's my take. In short, a WoW fan event is a risky prospect, but well worth the while. Disagree or have another opinion? Email me at [email protected] or post in the WoW - Ten Ton Hammer forums and let's discuss!