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Communicaation
bruceifer
Member Posts: 0 Arc User
I have read a lot of people mention the desire for more communication from Cryptic in other posts, but it has not to my knowledge been a thread of it's own recently. I can not overstate how important communication from the game developer can be to building community support, appreciation, and participation (more money).
I personally know of 2 games in a different genre (sci-fi vice fantasy) that have benefited a lot from getting this right. Warframe, and Firefall come instantly to mind, with the company holding weekly online pod casts. They have devs come on and explain what they are working on, explain some of the procedures, and why some problems exist and why some things take so long to do. They get on and play some PVP with players, or run some missions with them (yup they play the game, and thus see the problems), have some contests, even have polls and ask the players to name a new item, or vote on a new design, answer questions and generally build a good relationship with their community of players, as well as educate them.
This makes the players feel understood, and a part of the process, they also realize how hard the team is working for their enjoyment and are thus more loyal and willing to spend in support. Not every update is going to work as intended, not every patch is going to be bug free, but if the players know you are listening and honestly working to make the game more enjoyable they will by and large understand and be supportive.
There are a lot of MMOs and a lot in this genre, going the extra mile to develop good community relations, based on steady communication could do nothing but enhance the games popularity over the competition, and thus profit.
I personally know of 2 games in a different genre (sci-fi vice fantasy) that have benefited a lot from getting this right. Warframe, and Firefall come instantly to mind, with the company holding weekly online pod casts. They have devs come on and explain what they are working on, explain some of the procedures, and why some problems exist and why some things take so long to do. They get on and play some PVP with players, or run some missions with them (yup they play the game, and thus see the problems), have some contests, even have polls and ask the players to name a new item, or vote on a new design, answer questions and generally build a good relationship with their community of players, as well as educate them.
This makes the players feel understood, and a part of the process, they also realize how hard the team is working for their enjoyment and are thus more loyal and willing to spend in support. Not every update is going to work as intended, not every patch is going to be bug free, but if the players know you are listening and honestly working to make the game more enjoyable they will by and large understand and be supportive.
There are a lot of MMOs and a lot in this genre, going the extra mile to develop good community relations, based on steady communication could do nothing but enhance the games popularity over the competition, and thus profit.
Post edited by bruceifer on
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The more regular and open the communication is between the game publisher and their customers, the better. However taking a few baby steps would at least be a start. There are many things the players want that are just not practical, and most would understand if it was explained. On the other hand, the companys I have seen do this are often surprised by the good ideas and feed back they get from their community. There really is no way to overstate the benefits this has on the communities loyalty and satisfaction.