Comments on: So You Read Message Boards For a Living?

By: Hiro

Hiro — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 07:28:16 +0000

You nailed it, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything else (except maybe lottery winnings)

Hiro
OCR for Freestyle Street Basketball

By: Dai-Galean

Dai-Galean — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 06:04:19 +0000

It was a very interesting read. Zubon has pinpointed what some of the life is like for a CM/CR. Having done this for a living as a CM/CR for AC and then Anarchy Online I found alot of it rings true.

Dai-Galean
Old CM/CR for a few games.

By: Chris 'Sernnon' O'Brien

Chris 'Sernnon' O'Brien — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 13:42:45 +0000

Well, our game might not be as large as CoX or DAoC, but even on smaller games this rings true.

I’d have to agree though that listening to the posters, even if they are a vocal minority, is a good thing. Opinion makers and community leaders on the player side of the fence always look for ways to make a positive impact on the game; but lack the tools to do it. As CRM (CM/CC) we need to really make the community feel wanted, and informed. They’ll pass it on to their friends, and the messages will get out there.

Even if they don’t always believe that you’re doing what you say you are. Or worse, believe everything but what you’re saying ;).

Oh, and I’d like to thank a Realm player, Shaitan, for pointing me in this direction, it was a fantastic read (and I almost choked on my tea!).

Chris. Acting CRM, The Realm Online.

By: Xalin

Xalin — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 13:40:34 +0000

I was going to reply but Requiel nailed it already.

I wish I could be more active on the forums but for every post we make we spawn 10+ whineposts.

I also do agree with Tisirin. As long as we can filter through the mindless whines, forums are a great way of getting input from our community.

One thing left for me to say to Zubon: Thanks for saying so many things I could never get away with saying ;)

Xalin. Euro DAoC CM.

By: Requiel

Requiel — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 11:42:11 +0000

Mostly true, forums are mostly very useful as long as the noise to signal ratio doesn’t get too high. Once that happens that message board is lost to you forever. Being active on a forum as a CM is both a benefit and a disadvantage. Obviously it gives you at least a vague overview of what players percieve as problems (although horribly distorted by the lens of the demographic who make up the majority of posters) and allows you to reach a large section of the player base with clarifications and semi-official stuff. On the other hand, players have a tendency to assume that because you’re there, the forum is the best route to reach customer service or the developers (via you natch). The dreaded 1000 post whine thread (sometimes accompanied by a poll to ‘validate’ it… ugh!) crops up because some people honestly believe that saying something 500 times will make it true and that game companies make decisions based on messageboard polls.

Requiel. Euro DAoC CM.

By: Zubon

Zubon — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 02:10:14 +0000

In response to comments, we have an official clarification on the front page that, yes, the obsessed fans may be worth the trouble. Or maybe, as Brenlo says, just we the bloggers. Mmmm, power.

http://www.killtenrats.com/?p=756

By: Brenlo

Brenlo — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 18:42:15 +0000

Howdy Blackguard! Long time no see. =P So I think you are correct that bloggers have a good influence over the mindset but I would argue that most posters do not. (Here comes the part where people on forums take what I said and over analyze it.) Bloggers are usually an independant voice in a sea of their own making. They control the message and it is usually, although not always well thought out or reasoned. Forum posters are often drowned out and it is a rare few that can get past that to continually get their message out.

Forums are a valuable tool and can often serve as the first warning of a problem, but they also are occupied by a great deal of noise. The community managers have to sift thru the noise and find the gems, the nuggets of truth. This is where, as Sanya mentioned, it is important to be a player as well. To know your product, otherwise you can becom1e mired in issues that are not the real meat of discussions.

There are those who argue that forums are worthless, I disagree. A good community manager can get all kinds of useful information from them. When coupled with a good developer communication plan, they can help to keep the community involved and that they have a voice.

Some ramblings from an old man =) Please forgive my muttering.

By: Ryan "Blackguard" Shwayder

Ryan "Blackguard" Shwayder — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 18:27:12 +0000

I plan on writing a formal entry on my website at some point to give this from a community guy’s perspective, but I may as well chime in too. Most of this is accurate. One of the few points I disagree with (though you didn’t commit to the opinion) is that keeping in communication with the minority might not be worth the trouble. Tisirin made some good points, so I’ll just add something real quick:

Though the players who post regularly on forums, maintain blogs, or run fansites are the overwhelming minority, they are often those who have the greatest influence over the mindset of members of the rest of the community. Many people who fit these categories are highly social beings, meaning they have a large network of friends inside and outside of the game who listen to them.

If we keep the minority happy (rather, as happy as is humanly possible) in the psuedo-game that is the forums, the attitudes and information flow that are a result of our interactions will bleed into the game. The obvious result is that more of your community (minority and majority alike) is relatively happy.

It’s a careful balance, as you mentioned–giving too much information can actually lead to misinformation, you can’t commit to certain things because they could (will) be taken as lies if you don’t precisely follow through, etc. I’ll go more into the specifics in a later post on my site.

Anyway, great post. You nailed a lot of points.