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| The community that plays together stays together. |
A solid community is essential for a
society to function. If the community is strong, the society thrives.
If the community grows weak, then the society will fall to the poison
of those who betray their own.
Along the lines of Hawkens' remark
here, it is my firm opinion that regardless of how fancy or advanced
an MMO is, the community can ultimately make it or break it. Really
it is one of the best parts of online gaming. No matter how clever or
engrossing the game is, it is all the social interactions that really make the setting.
Despite whatever prior gaming
experiences one might have there is always a first time for every new
game we attempt. We all have to learn and grow as we take our first
infant steps in our world. It is only natural to reach to those
around you with greater wisdom then yourself. To seek those with more
experience and use their words to adapt and to flourish. This is the
community's greatest and most powerful time to shine. By bringing a
positive experience to new blood you greatly encourage them to not
only just enjoy the game more, but to stay. From investing into
friends, future random dungeon runners, and roleplaying partners, it
becomes a future investment into the life of the game. When a game
community thrives, so does the new content from devs. A good
community rewards all.
Even after a player has left the realm
of n00b and joined the realm of experienced players, community is
still critical. MMOs are HUGE and contain so much content. PVE, PVP,
roleplaying, rare spawn hunting, crafting, raiding, exploring...there
are really so many aspects that is it difficult to be an expert in
all of them simultaneously. A roleplayer might enjoy the hard work of
a theorycrafter, allowing them to compare already tried and true
builds to apply to their character. Or perhaps a staunch PVE player
wants to learn more about PVP. By working together and sharing their
advice and experiences, veteran players can continue to cement the
positivity of the community around them for the benefit of all.
On the complete opposite, a rude,
mocking and intolerant community can ruin gaming experiences for
everyone involved. They don't just hurt the people they target, they
poison the community as a whole; slowly seeding a vile atmosphere
that is difficult to recover from. Repeated offenses can even cause
people to remove themselves from the community entirely, turning off
general chat channels or other communication channels.
For example, when I first joined World
of Warcraft during the Burning Crusade expansion I was so excited to
meet this amazing concept of hundreds or even thousands of people all
interacting together. Although I won't say that the community was
perfect by any means, I found this first experience for myself mostly
pleasant. Even the infamous “Barrens chat” was amusing. (I'm not
saying I had terribly refined tastes for humor at the time and one
could only take so many Chuck Norris jokes).
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| I always wanted to buy this t-shirt (image found here) |
But what was the most important was the
mostly civil interactions between other people. When I asked
questions into general chat, I was usually answered, even if they
were terribly naïve and foolish.
Today, however, I have found WoW to
have one of the worst communities. After returning from a year away
to try out the Mists of Pandaria expansion, I found myself beset by
many new features I had not seen before. I figured that a quick
question over general might save me a couple of minutes trying to
hunt down the system online. I was wrong. Immediately mocked by some
or yelled at to search online by others, I instantaneously regretted
asking. Oh and it only got better. When I walked into the brand new
dungeons for the first time, I found that the in-game dungeon manual
was really not that much help. So I figured I might as well ask my
group for just a quick hint on anything they thought was important to
know. Dead silence. Nothing. In the dozens of dungeons that I have
attempted asking questions of my teammates I have received no
answers. Even after I learned the fights through trial by fire, I
still tried asking to see what would happen. It's quite depressing
really. Dungeons used to take teamwork and skill and people used to
at least say hi to each other, or thank you at the end. Now that is
the exception to the rule. Most dungeons are run in pure silence as
though the other bodies with you are only barely tolerated nuisances
that you must deal with in order to progress.
Now on the other end, my experience
with The Secret World was much different. Though the game itself is
no where near the extreme polish of WoW, the community is far better.
When first starting out, I found the combat systems and questing
systems to be almost overwhelmingly different from previous gaming
experiences. This time though, when I asked in the general chat for
help understanding the game, I was overwhelmed by the responses.
People were actually HELPFUL. Overall I saw more positive and helpful
communications then most anywhere else. It was very refreshing!
My experiences with SWToR fell
somewhere in between. In the initial months of the game, the
community was very enthusiastic and very helpful. Once the drastic
server mergers began, the community began a steady decline. At this
point in time I have found most people engaged in general chat to be
as rude, obnoxious and unhelpful as WoW. However, within guilds and
at least the roleplaying circles I was a part of, the feeling was the
complete opposite. They were still loyal and helpful to one another.
Then I found WildStar.
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| Mind blown |
Lured in by the exciting faction
videos, I felt a lot of enthusiasm for this upcoming game. Here was a
very promising looking MMO that I could really get into and I just
had to share this excitement with others! The very first thing I did
was to make this blog. I jotted down all my ideas, got an
introduction up and set up the visual style of my brain child and got
ready to share. Though when it came time to join in with the
community, I balked. Would it be worth it? Would the hype be the only
thing keeping people civil towards each other or would I actually
find good people here? Would they except me or would I just be lost
amongst the other new enthusiasts and largely ignored? I admit it
took a lot of courage for me to step in and give it a shot.
And it was so worth it!
The very first sign I had was when
Jeremy Gaffney was the first response on my blog. (You can check it
out here) I mean wow! I was stunned! A WildStar dev actually took the
time to read my words and leave me a comment!? As I was busy wrapping
my mind around this concept, Gaffney went on to ask a question
directly to the roleplaying community on the subreddit thread I had
created to showcase my blog. From there I was fortunate to find some
of the excellent folk from WildStar-roleplay.com. Though I was still
nervous, I forced myself to join up and start talking to them. I have
not once regretted it. The community here is amazing. There are so
many people from all over, all happily sharing in their love of
WildStar and using it as a way to meet and make new friends. Everyone
is friendly and helpful. The chatbox is always fun to watch, and the
creative genius is fairly bursting from our forums! People take the
time to reach each others introductions and character sheets. They
even leave behind positive remarks and if there is ever any
criticism, it is always constructive and polite. This is echoed
further still on WildStar Central and even other blogs and podcast
sites such as Settler in Exile and Nexus Weekly.
Simply put, I have never met a better
community. I entered in tentative and nervous and was welcomed with
open arms. My blog has received so many positive comments from the
community there and has spurned some excellent discussion. Their
acceptance and interest in my favorite character of all time, Agent
Hawkens, has been utterly flattering and a complete blast. No where
else can I joke about an imaginary warplot of vending machine bosses
with a dev and fellow fans and then turn around and joke with the
talented Mr. Kurtenacker about taunting us with all his tweets on the
upcoming music. The tight connections between the development team
and their fans is utterly phenomenal. This is no longer just some
game we are hoping for, but a game we are a part of.
It will be a great and wonderful ride
to release. And it's all thanks to the community.
You guys rock!
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Thank you once
again for joining us, dear readers! As always feel free to leave
comments and suggestions to either myself or Agent Hawkens and we
will reply as soon as able.
great article, tho I have never played Secret World you are spot on with Panda. I recently tried it for a month and was shocked at the rage in chat when a simple question is asked. I look forward to the expansion of RT Chat within the game.
ReplyDeleteThanks! It would all just be easier if we got along, right? Looking forwards to it here as well!
DeleteWe love you too chief.
DeleteI find that RP communities are at their best when trying to keep everyone involved and getting to know each other. Though Raid guilds and PVP teams are fun, there always seems to be a better feel of camaraderie with groups of roleplayers. Sure, we'll have the occasional elitist or asshole, but every community has a couple trolls.
I'm excited to see where Wildstar goes, from what I've seen so far I have high hopes.
Awww, thanks!
DeleteI have certainly seen some friendly and helpful people in PVE, raiding and PVP guilds, but nowhere else have I seen the camaraderie as I have in roleplaying guilds. Maybe it's because we take the game just one step further. We don't just interact with the community, we immerse ourselves into it. We aren't just showing our skills and making friends, we are also laying bare much of our creative genius.
It may sound a little silly to some, but roleplayers really put their hearts into their characters and when we meet fantastic people to interact with, it is hard not to form lasting bonds.