When I’m interviewed, I’m usually asked what my favorite part of community is. The answer is “the players,” which always makes me a feel a little weird, because the reason interacting with players is my favorite part is because I’m basically a player that someone is paying to hang out with players. Since I’m usually alone in the room, am I really just talking to myself? MMOs: The gateway drug to solipsism.
My second favorite part of community management is a little less mentally masturbatory. I call it the batting cage.
Picture the first night of a beta, or a stress test, or launch, or even a trade show. You’re in a small space and you cannot leave. Problems or people who absolutely must have your attention pop up every couple of seconds. The pace is relentless. There are no do-overs – a miss is a miss, but you can’t stop to cry over it or you’ll miss the next three. On the best of these occasions, I slide into a groove and everything thrown at my face gets a clean, solid hit. (Well, not the people. It does not help to punch people, no matter what you might have heard.) The adrenaline helps, but endurance matters more. At the end of the night, there’s this sense of accomplishment, of having been a vital part of the process of making a game.
It is seriously fun. It’s like PVP with software.
I love the initial beta testing… seeing some of the new content in EQ for the first time… getting with other testers and a developer and being led through the content… testing battles… really cool. Everyone is about experiencing the content, helping to fix problems… no one is complaining about .
My most recent beta experience was in WoW and the intial testing of the Death Knight starter area. Everyone was so helpful, there was some cutting up… it was like being in the most ideal guild setting. If I had found a guild that was like this… I might never have gave up playing MMO’s.
I always say the engagement when I’m asked. I guess it’s the same as the players, but I love the connection we make the most. It’s the same feeling I get when I find other players who play the same games that I love to play. We sit for hours and hours talking about our love-hate relationships with the game. Connections similar to that make working in the community management field epic.