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.
