User-created content
In the
world of buzzwords and catchphrases, none seem to be as bandied about lately as
"user-generated content". In fact, the console and third party folks
are in a race to deliver the ultimate user generated content experience in a
game, and they want to deliver it to you very soon.
Take Sony's
LittleBigPlanet, for example. Users are
able to play in environments created by other users. This is not an add-on
feature of the game, nor the kind of modding that was popularized on PC games,
but a planned major feature of the game. The game depends on the creativity and
virally mobile interests of gamers to create a world which the aggregated
community shapes over time.
Furthering
upon this concept is EA's Spore,
which may be as game-changing as Will Wright's first major project, SimCity. The user's choices impact the
entire ecosystem of gameplay, creating a game in which selective evolution
occurs among digital actors.
Though
the concept of user-generated content is hot, it is definitely not new. Users
have been modding games for years, and among the elite who have been doing so
on their PCs and cracked game consoles, these concepts are somewhat passé.
What
EA and Sony are attempting is a shift away from the grassroots of the gaming
elite as the primary creators of viral content to the common masses that only
operate within the framework of their boxed gaming experience.
With that
said, and with some real thoughtful introspection, do you believe that your
community will ever stop creating content that is outside of the framework that
you designed? Definitely and unequivocally they will not. The assumption is
that the collective consciousness will always seek to build upon creativity.
You should focus on fostering a platform for people to communicate with each
other about what they are doing, and not on creating a framework in which they
must operate. Your online community should be the place where you provide an
open framework for the sharing of content in web formats open to any user to
share.
Using an
online community with standards applicable to any of the console platforms and
console platforms will enable users to create content on the web and see it
spread into the game environment across the platform lines. This supports the
sense of community dedication to the game content, and not the method of
content delivery.
The
evolution of leaderboards
Leaderboards are becoming ever more complex as game
developers begin to employ tools to track just about every conceivable user
action. In addition to scores, users want detailed information about everything
they do in the game. How many times have they played, how long, how many times
have they played a specific level, as a specific class, what is their current
item inventory, how many kills have they earned et cetera and ad infinitum.
With
enough of a budget and enough time you may find that your game is exporting
more stats than a user may be able to consume in any digestible fashion. This
leads us to the advent of user customizable leaderboards.
Customized
leaderboards
Each user has a unique set of stats they are
interested in tracking. Granted there are certain stats in each game that are
critical to evaluating performance, but there are many stats which are not
critical yet very compelling.
Providing users with leaderboards they can
customize to their personal preference is an excellent way to foster a
personalized experience for each user.
Not only should users be empowered to track what they
want, but who they want. To many players it is irrelevant how they rank
compared to all players. Rather it is compelling to know how they rank relative
to their friends, clan members and nearest group of peers. A good leaderboard
design should account for proximity and relevance of grouping.
In addition to using the leaderboard to analyze
performance, many players want to display their stats to the community. The
stats that are displayed should be customizable, enabling a playersplayer's
profile to show their strengths and hide their weaknesses, if desired.
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Since the only work of Agora's I'm familiar with is the Guitar Hero community site, I'll skew my comments towards that.
Do you feel that the community you and your team built for Activision was successful? Not just in a bottom-line manner either, do you think that a solid community of GH players has embraced the site and tools you've given them?
I haven't visited the site in quite awhile even though I still constantly play the game, partly because of the design of the site and tools and partly because of the community of players. I can certainly elaborate more on my reasons later on should you choose to indulge my questions, I'm mainly curious if you feel that the GH community site followed the guidelines you laid down in this article or if the guidelines we're derived based on your experience in setting up that community.
Thanks!
One thing I noted was the significant attention paid to framing games as rules-based, numbers-driven competitive activities, and the relative lack of interest in gameplay that's focused on character development and immersion in the gameworld. While that focus makes sense for arcade-like games such as Forza and Halo 3 multiplayer, it doesn't offer much useful guidance when considering how to "communitize" games that place more emphasis on storytelling.
With Turbine announcing plans to enhance the links between its online game services and its Web-based community services, it would have been helpful to see more attention paid in this piece to the particular needs of community service design for MMORPGs and character-driven, story-based single-player games (such as, for a couple of random examples, The Witcher and Half-Life). For example, what does allowing game data to flow into the game from outside do to the "magic circle" of experiencing a story-driven gameworld as a secondary reality? How can a Web-based community service that's external to a gameworld support and enhance the internal narrative of that world?
I'd enjoy reading a follow-up article to this one that addressed the challenges and opportunities of more effectively integrating Web communities with MMORPGs and story-driven games.
Careful with the contests... When they disappear so do alot of the players. Try to keep something going most of the time if you start doing that.