Building a great Community in TSW, ideas please!

Connlai

After playing The Secret World for two days now, and loving every minute of it, I now start to worry about community. The game mechanics work well as far as I can tell, there are a few bugs but nothing game breaking. AMD/ATI owners might disagree with that statement, but still...

I think what will make or break this game now is how the Community develops, and I was hoping the readers of mmorpg.com could put their collective minds together, and chat a little about how to build community withing a mmorpg.

For me the best community I have experienced in any game, is in fact another Funcom game, Anarchy Online. I will try to summarize what made that community great.

1. Helpful players. AO was a pretty complex game for it's time, but players took time to help out the newbies, so the learning curve was steep, but atleast you could get someone to show you the ropes.
2. ARK's (Advisors of Rubi Ka), a volunteer force of experienced players working as guides to new arrivals. I believe Funcom supported them with tools, but they were unpaid. 
3. Mature players? I have no idea if they actually were more mature, but there was a lot less smacktalk in general chat.

So what it actually boils down to for me is two things, respect and a willingness to help out. Now, with TSW I already feel that the General chat is starting to look like a warzone. People asking for passwords, people shouting passwords in GC, players berating the ones revealing the solutions in GC, or being rude to the people asking for help. With TSW this will be a crucial thing to handle correctly as the puzzlesolving is at the core of the gaming experience for so many. I believe TSW needs a GC moderator, and a certain ruleset of how GC communication should be conducted. For instance, no solutions in GC, only in PM.

 

I guess like with many other games the guild/Cabal you join will be a large impact on your enjoyment of the game. One of the reasons why I grew tired of TOR I guess, I couldn't find a decent guild. So, anyone with experience in creating guilds feel like giving some pointers in Community Building? 

 

In closing a few thoughts on what I think TSW has got going for it in terms of community.

 

1. Slower pace, there is no rush to the end game, the journey is the goal. Might actually make players take a breather every now and then and actually help out other players.
2. Social Hubs / Stages, I hope roleplayers start using this as it would add to the atmosphere of the world. Dance parties at Rompa Bar in AO anyone?
3. More mature audience. I think I read somewhere that the average age of the TSW player was 38, which hopefully should mean less teenage hormones and immaturity, but you never know.
4. Unified server structure, easier to meet up with RL friends.

Anyone want to add anything to this?

 

Conlai "Darkmoor" MacGregor

Templar

FredomSekerZ

I admire your intentions OP first off, this is launh. You know how it is, the first few months in there's alot of "that" kind of players. As somebody said in another thread, it's possible alot bought the game without even knowing what they where getting into, aka, the new generation of impulsive, impatient video game players.

The truth is, while i feel an awesome community is the most important, there's just no way to predict what will happen and if it will be great or not eventually. The best thing anybody can do is ride the launch wave, be respectful, nice. helpfull and all those things.

Also, IMHO, if you want a great community, you have to look in far more niche, "uncool" titles. TSW might become one of those eventually, but not for now.

Sora2810

Templars!

I've played in the CBT; I've been helping new players. Just like you, I'm dedicated to building our community of a game we love. 

Luckilly, this game has run under the nose and has already built a fine niche. I hope we can all expand on that. Behind you 100%. A great way to help is to build a cabal dedicated to helping players experience the game. Also, anyone with website experience can host a nice TSW fansite dedicated to helpful hints, suggestion builds, deck discussion, ect.

simmihi

Darn you OP for bringing back AO memories heh.

As it was said before me, the "bad things" are the same in each new game launched. From "gearcheck" instance / PvP groups to spoilers in general chat or inapropriate humour etc. I truly believe that in TSW those will go away in time though.

Lots of those who bought the box in order to play for the story only (even for them it's a good deal i'd say) won't be here for long. I am sure that the community develops in a great way, even greater than AO, and TSW seems a game which can grow in time. If Funcom delivers constant content updates and takes care of bugs, glitches etc, those who love the game for what it is (PvE, lore, great story and setting, investigation quests etc.) won't have real reasons to drop it. A solid, constant group of people playing, many of them knowing each other, is in my oppinion the foundation of a good community.

Connlai

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies, I think that all of you raise some valid points, and I hope you are right, cause I am planning on staying here for a long time. I actually bought the Grandmaster pack with the lifetime subscription, so I am stuck with it now, come hell or high water. Lucky for me, I see no other titles in the pipeline with the potential to keep me away for long.

Well, at least we know that TSW will be around for a long time. People can say what they want about Funcom, but they are not in the habit of dropping their released titles. I saw AO was celebrating it's 11th Birthday recently, that's a pretty impressive run for I game I would say.

The fansite is a good idea, and I am guessing some are already in the works. Unfortunately for me I am no longer the slacker student I was when AO was released so the amount of time I can spend on a game has been greatly reduced, but I will do my utmost to be a positive helpful player when I am online.

Cheers,

Conlai "Darkmoor" MacGregor

Templar

Elsabolts

Wait for F2p as they are working hard to improve the game play.

delete5230

First and for most it's the developers responsibility to set the stage for " community "

 

Things like Dungeon finders in mmo's kill communities.

Things like personal story lines in mmo's kill communities.

Things like chain quest in mmo's kill communities.

Auto grouping like Rifts kill communities.

Easy game play make MMO's solo.

Voice acting pulls players from the immersion of grouping

 

Trying to make a puzzle mmo will not work. People will just try and find answers the fastest way possible so they could continue on with their game.  It's kind of a stupid idea to be build into an mmo. This will cause fighting and arguments, it will be the nature of the beast.

Again, it's up to developers and them alone to build a community based mmo.

SpottyGekko

I created a custom chat channel for all the info I want to see ingame, and that excludes General chat. So I'm a "bad" community rep because I'm not helping people in chat. But I do help people ingame when I see they are in trouble. Heals and combat assists take very little of my time, but they can save someone else a heap of hassle. 

Yesterday I helped someone who was obviously going to die, and they sent me a tell to say thanks. Then a convo started between us and for the next 20 minutes I was answering questions and making suggestions. The result was a very happy new player and a new friend.

 

You cannot "make" a community, it creates itself, and is always a reflection of its members. 

Terronte

This is the first MMO I've ever played where I shut off the general/help/lfg channels (and they keep turning themselves back on!)

So far a very small portion of the vocal playerbase is actually tolerable.

These are the problems as I see them.

1. Chat Police. Everyone knows what these are. They are part of the problem not the solution.

2. Elitists. Seriously, you aren't smarter than everyone asking for help. Get over yourselves.

3. People helping. Oddly, with the "Spoilers", it might help to take it to tells.

My personal solutions/suggestions:

1. Can't you create custom channels? It'd seem likeminded people could use these.

2. Cabal chat. Shut the rest off.

3. If chat is going to be policed, police the police.

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Seriously, last night someone was all "I hate fags" "Templar fag is going to die" etc etc. Not a single person spoke up. People are berating other players with "go back to facebook games noob" etc. It jus takes the community to step up and politely say that we don't appreciate this kind of behavior. If the people continue to do it, ignore them.