MMO Companies might well read this.

Kethrym

Arguably the greatest challenge an MMO company faces is how to create and sustain a relationship with your subscribers to get them to continually pay you for their account each and every month. It’s what could be described as the MMO market’s Holy Grail. How do you create a great game, that reaches across hundreds of thousands, if not millions of players, and keep them hooked?

Simple you create a game with a lot of polish, a lot of content, and a lot of options for the player base right?

Wrong.

History has shown us that games can be graphically gorgeous, full of content, and very entertaining and still fall short of becoming a huge success.

So what’s the magic ingredient that will take a great looking, content filled MMO and allow it to reach greater and greater heights?

Customer service and customer interaction.

Let’s take a small business as an example. Like Joe’s Coffee Bar. Joe’s dedicated staff will probably provide you with excellent service because he knows that without people spreading the word about his great coffee and great staff he’s out of business.

Joe’s business takes off. Now let’s fast forward a few years to Joe’s Mega Coffee Market. Joe’s staff doesn’t really care about the average customer, he or she is one of thousands who come in for their coffee every day. It’s not because Joe’s staff doesn’t like the customers, after all without them they don’t get a paycheck, it’s just not time efficient to build a relationship with each and every customer and keep them happy on an individual basis. Managers will read comment cards, but usually change is slow in coming. Sure each staff member probably has a few favorites they pay extra attention to, but that’s just human nature. We are after all a social species.

So what are the chances of Jack walking into the Mega Coffee Market and asking for a flavor of coffee that isn’t on the menu and actually getting it? Pretty slim if not downright unlikely.

Now try that in the smaller Joe’s Coffee Bar, It’s possible, if Joe knows that more people might want a specific flavor of coffee he might start selling it.

So how do you get the attitude of Joe’s Coffee Bar in a larger establishment like Joe’s Mega Coffee Market? You expand the customer service department. A group of individuals that are there to cater to the customer, plain and simple. To improve the customers experience and to sustain or improve the company’s revenue and cliental.

Now you’re probably asking yourself “What the heck does this have to do with MMO’s? More importantly what’s it got to do with me as an MMO player?” That’s a fair question.

Let’s take an imaginary MMO creator. Like Company Q Productions. Company Q has decided to create a graphically beautiful, deep, involving MMO that may appeal to a large market. Let’s call it Dreamland.

Now in Dreamland there is a great “base” to work with. A few races that should appeal to the average gamer, a great story line written by some aspiring mainstream writers, some PvP and PvE aspects that should fall right in line with most Major MMO’s and music that was custom made by some of the most talented musicians the budget could afford.

Sounds familiar? It’s pretty much what every MMO wants to start with. Company Q sets up their beta website, and activates a message board so the players who might be interested in Dreamland can congregate.

Now here’s where Company Q and Dreamland go in a direction that has never been taken before in any other Mainstream MMO. Instead of releasing information a bit at a time and keeping the possible player base guessing as to how certain things work and what new changes or content is on the way, they announce the following…

“Greetings Dreamland players…………………as our fan base and potential customers we would like to announce our design and development tools. You. Your feedback and participation is requested in the creation and alteration of the world you will be playing in. We will be sending out a link to a survey to the email address you registered with. Please fill out that survey so that we may shape Dreamland into a game you can all be proud of.”

Written in the survey are questions dealing with what you’d like to see for content, combat, crafting ect ect. These surveys are received and counted and posted with results. Based on the results feedback is taken from various random participants to validate the accuracy of the results taken. Then the community votes on which issues should be taken care of first.

Based on the feedback Company Q shapes its world around the player base. Making each person a part of the world, not just a character in the world.

Sounds great doesn’t it?

Would you be willing to spend money on a game that proves again and again that it’s listening to its community? For most of us it’s exactly what we’ve been hoping and dreaming for in an MMO. A place where our voice matters. Where a brilliant idea gets transferred to the big stage, instead of being a 500 post “hot topic” on a message board.

Let’s compare Dreamland to the modern MMO market, where we are forced to rely on a development team that we probably know nothing about and trust even less, and a “visionary” producer who will oversee the entire project. John Smedley, Mark Jacobs and Richard Garriott were “visionaries”. Enough said.

I will not say that some companies haven’t tried this type of approach, but the only company who has actually listened to its player base multiple times is Blizzard. I’m not saying I agreed with the majority of their decisions but it’s the principle of the matter.

Think about this, who knows the inner workings of a game better than its player base? Who can probably tell you every skill a class gets, how it relates to gear and how you can manipulate your character to full take advantage of it? The player base. Who breaks down everything to the finest detail and can show you why your Sword of Mutilation isn’t as well suited for Tanking as the Sword of Justice? The player base.

We don’t do it for money, not even for the opportunity to be E-famous, we do everything for the love of our game.

So why do MMO companies turn a deaf ear to the community? Why is feedback stashed away in some unseen folder never to see the light of day? Is it pride? Is it a superiority complex? Or is it simply because we are seen as “uneducated” and couldn’t possibly supply any ideas for content with our” little pea sized gamer brains”? No doubt we are all QQ’ers and have never had a logical or interesting idea in our entire lives.

When will gaming companies finally wake up and see players for what they really are? We are your source of revenue, your best advertising, your biggest fans, your success, we are even your dream house.

Instead you chose to rely on your development team, your creative pool of genius to appease the masses, to give us something new, something they MIGHT want. Seems like a rather unnecessary risk if you ask me. Oh that’s right, you probably wouldn’t ask………….

__________________

Bringin' da WAAAGH since Elder Beta!!!

Ryonox

On a personal level customer service is nice to have but i seldomly ever have to speak with a game company for whatever reason. That being said the lack of customer service is a definate bullet in the head to your active playerbase and the success of the game will hurt because of it; an example being automatic response systems for GM tickets.

Personally the "secret ingredient" for myself that's kept me playing FFXI for so long had been the almost mandatory grouping system. I'm not saying this is a flawless system as everyone who has played FFXI remembers sitting in town for hours with the LFG flag up unable to do anything worthwhile aside from farming; even then most people would not invite you because you weren't able to come to the group in the shortest time possible. Grouping in this game required the community to come together to overcome even the smallest of tasks (ofcourse unless you had a high level) which in my opinion really enhanced the game play and provided oppertunities to meet and make friends with other people.

Far too often in games today the solo content outweighs the need for grouping under the guise of "casual gaming", but what is the point of an MMO if not to play and interact with the community. In my opinion allowing a huge majority of the game to be soloable begins to make other players seem more like the enemies much more than the monsters that your killing for your quests and that contradicts the whole essence of an MMO. If i wanted a single player game I would simply just play mass effect or something of the sort in which the quests and storylines at least make the content enjoyable.

tl;dr: Solo content while being nice for short bursts of gaming causes players to see other PCs as enemies (killing your quest mobs) which impacts the community in a negative way and detracts people from playing with others which is the whole appeal of MMOs in the first place.

I guess im trying to say Friends keep you playing the mmo in the long term and no amount of game content can outweigh that.

Reklaw

Originally posted by Kethrym


Simple you create a game with a lot of polish, Fully correct, trying to release a game in a not polished state will get you......well we can all see most current releases over the last few years.........
a lot of content, Again something fully correct, unfortunaly not really done yet, I mean most still focus mainly to combat only which already limits a MMORPG to me.
and a lot of options for the player base right? Yup correct again, but also again something that is not done yet, the more MMO's seem to be developed the less options the player base seems to get, apart from having a combat oriented game only.

Wrong. OH?
History has shown us that games can be graphically gorgeous, full of content, and very entertaining and still fall short of becoming a huge success.
Not sure which games you are refuring to but care to name a few?


So what’s the magic ingredient that will take a great looking, content filled MMO and allow it to reach greater and greater heights?

Customer service:
Personaly don't really care much nor have I really had the need for it, though when I needed it, it worked out fine for me, doesn't mean it shouldn't be good, as of course it's one of the things that should go hand in hand with a released MMORPG. 
and customer interaction.
Customer interaction in way's like GM-events, then sure we can not have enough of those.
Let’s take a small business as an example. Like Joe’s Coffee Bar. Joe’s dedicated staff will probably provide you with excellent service because he knows that without people spreading the word about his great coffee and great staff he’s out of business.
Joe’s business takes off. Now let’s fast forward a few years to Joe’s Mega Coffee Market. Joe’s staff doesn’t really care about the average customer, he or she is one of thousands who come in for their coffee every day. It’s not because Joe’s staff doesn’t like the customers, after all without them they don’t get a paycheck, it’s just not time efficient to build a relationship with each and every customer and keep them happy on an individual basis. Managers will read comment cards, but usually change is slow in coming. Sure each staff member probably has a few favorites they pay extra attention to, but that’s just human nature. We are after all a social species.
So what are the chances of Jack walking into the Mega Coffee Market and asking for a flavor of coffee that isn’t on the menu and actually getting it? Pretty slim if not downright unlikely.

Now try that in the smaller Joe’s Coffee Bar, It’s possible, if Joe knows that more people might want a specific flavor of coffee he might start selling it.
So how do you get the attitude of Joe’s Coffee Bar in a larger establishment like Joe’s Mega Coffee Market? You expand the customer service department. A group of individuals that are there to cater to the customer, plain and simple. To improve the customers experience and to sustain or improve the company’s revenue and cliental.
Now you’re probably asking yourself “What the heck does this have to do with MMO’s? More importantly what’s it got to do with me as an MMO player?” That’s a fair question.
Let’s take an imaginary MMO creator. Like Company Q Productions. Company Q has decided to create a graphically beautiful, deep, involving MMO that may appeal to a large market. Let’s call it Dreamland.

Now in Dreamland there is a great “base” to work with. A few races that should appeal to the average gamer, a great story line written by some aspiring mainstream writers, some PvP and PvE aspects that should fall right in line with most Major MMO’s and music that was custom made by some of the most talented musicians the budget could afford.
Sounds familiar? It’s pretty much what every MMO wants to start with. Company Q sets up their beta website, and activates a message board so the players who might be interested in Dreamland can congregate.
Now here’s where Company Q and Dreamland go in a direction that has never been taken before in any other Mainstream MMO. Instead of releasing information a bit at a time and keeping the possible player base guessing as to how certain things work and what new changes or content is on the way, they announce the following…

“Greetings Dreamland players…………………as our fan base and potential customers we would like to announce our design and development tools. You. Your feedback and participation is requested in the creation and alteration of the world you will be playing in. We will be sending out a link to a survey to the email address you registered with. Please fill out that survey so that we may shape Dreamland into a game you can all be proud of.”

Written in the survey are questions dealing with what you’d like to see for content, combat, crafting ect ect. These surveys are received and counted and posted with results. Based on the results feedback is taken from various random participants to validate the accuracy of the results taken. Then the community votes on which issues should be taken care of first.
Based on the feedback Company Q shapes its world around the player base. Making each person a part of the world, not just a character in the world.
Sounds great doesn’t it?
Would you be willing to spend money on a game that proves again and again that it’s listening to its community? For most of us it’s exactly what we’ve been hoping and dreaming for in an MMO. A place where our voice matters. Where a brilliant idea gets transferred to the big stage, instead of being a 500 post “hot topic” on a message board.
Let’s compare Dreamland to the modern MMO market, where we are forced to rely on a development team that we probably know nothing about and trust even less, and a “visionary” producer who will oversee the entire project. John Smedley, Mark Jacobs and Richard Garriott were “visionaries”. Enough said.
I will not say that some companies haven’t tried this type of approach, but the only company who has actually listened to its player base multiple times is Blizzard. I’m not saying I agreed with the majority of their decisions but it’s the principle of the matter.
Think about this, who knows the inner workings of a game better than its player base? Who can probably tell you every skill a class gets, how it relates to gear and how you can manipulate your character to full take advantage of it? The player base. Who breaks down everything to the finest detail and can show you why your Sword of Mutilation isn’t as well suited for Tanking as the Sword of Justice? The player base.
We don’t do it for money, not even for the opportunity to be E-famous, we do everything for the love of our game.

So why do MMO companies turn a deaf ear to the community? Why is feedback stashed away in some unseen folder never to see the light of day? Is it pride? Is it a superiority complex? Or is it simply because we are seen as “uneducated” and couldn’t possibly supply any ideas for content with our” little pea sized gamer brains”? No doubt we are all QQ’ers and have never had a logical or interesting idea in our entire lives.
When will gaming companies finally wake up and see players for what they really are? We are your source of revenue, your best advertising, your biggest fans, your success, we are even your dream house.

Instead you chose to rely on your development team, your creative pool of genius to appease the masses, to give us something new, something they MIGHT want. Seems like a rather unnecessary risk if you ask me. Oh that’s right, you probably wouldn’t ask………….

__________________
Bringin' da WAAAGH since Elder Beta!!!

 

Overall I think you would be completely suprised when you find out just how much developer DO LISTEN, what you and many like you don't seem willing to understand is just that they do listen, unfortunaly they do not listen to the minority, oh yeah count me in with the minority as I want different things from a MMORPG then a MMO just being a next gen multiplayer game.

Also why are people pretending that people who develop or make games don't have love for it, it's really wierd seeing those type of statement, oh sure there might be people that spend 4/5/6/7/8 years of their lives working on something they might not like, but then I would say to them get out of that type of work. Game making is still a profession on has to have passion for, else one will not dedicate so many years on it, just because certain games do not turn out the way I, you or anyone else wants, does not mean they didn't have the best intention to creat those games.