This article is in partial response to Ravenblack’s “Decline of Game Forums IMHO” (https://www.joeuser.com/index.asp?AID=71017 4/3/05).
There is no question in my mind that I’m a gamer, specifically a PC gamer. I’ve played pretty much every major title released in the past 8 or so years (how long I’ve held some form of job and been able to buy games). With the growth of the Internet, that means I’ve also visited my fair share of online forums and communities devoted to games. I’ve seen them grow from a few people excited about a just-announced title, to a mass of people surrounding a released and established game, and every point in between.
Ravenblack had it spot-on for the established communities surrounding large games. Look to the forums for any Blizzard title, or any First Person Shooter and you’ll see he was right on the money in his description.
That however is more a later-stage game community. If you were to draw a line representing the game community lifespan, these games would probably sit about 2/3 of the way down the line. This means that there are other phases a community goes through, these map closely to Brad’s earlier article about the stages of any online community (the article is well over a year old now and the archives give me an error if I browse back too far so I can’t link it). For games though, the lifespan of the community has definite dates associated with it. It enters and leaves phases with a fair bit of predictability.
Note: For this article I’m referring to games with a typical development cycle. Titles such as Duke Nukem Forever don’t apply since they’ve been in development longer than some gamers have been alive, their communities have a life all their own.
Phase 1: Game Announcement/Launch of the Community
This happens when a game is first announced by a publisher or developer and some space is setup on an official website for a community to gather and form (irc, forums etc). At this stage, the game is typically months if not years away from release and not many details are known. Those who gather at this point are either the exceptionally bored or extremely interested in the title. They have a ton of ideas on how they would like to see the game designed. They love spending hours debating design issues with other early community entrants, sometimes even the game’s developers (if they make themselves available to the community). In this stage, people are pretty nice, conversation is generally intelligent and civil. It’s a gathering of very like-minded individuals who want to make a game better through early feedback.
Phase 2: Nearing Release/Early Beta
Still some months from release, the community will tend to grow, though still mainly people who have a strong interest in the game. The growth usually corresponds with either an expansion in press coverage (previews, interviews etc) or a public beta test. If a beta test is underway, the first groups allowed in (early betas are typically fairly small), conversation tends to become increasingly constructive as people have the game in their hands in some form to fool around with and have a better idea of what the game is shaping up as (press coverage is notoriously misleading).
It is my experience that early betas are the best time to be involved in a game community. You have the game in an unfinished form. You have a mass of people who are very interested in helping shape the game (this is before you get too many people looking for a free ride). You also tend to have the ears of the developers and have an opportunity to directly influence the development process. The ratio of community members to developers is still low enough that you actually get one-on-one time with them now and then and get to shoot the breeze about the game or life in general. In the very early stages of the Star Wars Galaxies Beta, I was able to chat at length with people like Lucas Arts Producer Haden Blackman, QA Leads Jeff Sanders and Ryan (can’t remember his last name, went by the nick Starbork), game lead designer Raph Koster and a slew of server programmers, art designers and other testers. My thoughts and ideas made it into the game in places (goggles!). Having that kind of interaction was incredibly worthwhile. The community at this stage were all devoted individuals who wanted to make the game better. It was the best stage of the beta by far.
It’s in this stage that you see your first trolls. The game is opening up to more people and of course you attract a few that just want to tear the game down, or other players. Trolls at this stage are few and quickly dealt with by the community.
Phase 3: Very Close to Release/Late Beta
Publicity is mounting as a game prepares for launch. Newcomers flood in hoping to get a better idea of what the game is about. You also attract the people who want to tear the game down in greater numbers. If there is a beta, this is when it gets opened to a much larger number/the general public. This is a preview to the release community as it’s suddenly flooded by people who haven’t the first clue what the game is about. They’re learning it from scratch and come in with the standard new player questions. Between the trolls and those who don’t know what’s going on, community veterans become incredibly frustrated and start to jump on anyone who isn’t favorable towards the game or doesn’t know the basics. These people become the “fanbois” that so many seem to loathe on game forums. This is when they transition from community veterans to foaming-at-the-mouth defenders of the game as a reaction to trolls and the uninformed. They feel their community which they’ve invested so much time and effort into is being destroyed and this is one of the only ways to combat it (aside from just leaving).
Phase 4: Release
The game becomes publicly available and the flood gates open. Everyone and their brother, uncle and cousin twice removed comes pouring in. They come to the forums before reading the manual, before consulting any documentation. If the game crashes they flame the forums, if they can’t figure out how to load a save game, they run to the forums asking where the save button is, even if it’s painfully obvious. The community vets briefly take a breath and try their best to help newcomers (well, the fanbois from the previous phase just flame the flamers and noobs). Forums degenerate from a resource for discussion and information and turn into a bitch-fest over game features/instability/whatever. If you read the forums shortly after release, it will seem any game is a miserable failure and not worth the CD it’s printed on. Before long, anyone who dislikes the game is labeled a “Troll”, anyone who likes the game is labeled a “Fanboi” and anyone who is indifferent is just too much of a noob to know any better. See the WoW forums for a prime example of this stage.
Phase 5: Post Release/End of Life
After a few months to a few years, interest in a game fades, people leave for greener pastures and the forums and chat rooms empty. At this point, the trolls leave to troll a new game, the fanbois are either rabidly dedicated still, and the indifferent got bored a while ago and are playing the next big thing. Depending on the game, the forums go one of two ways at this point; they either return to civil and intelligent discussion of the game (in the form of “what if it had been done this way…” type conversations), or the fanbois are completely dominant and are still raving about it being the best game ever. MMOs and FPSs tend towards the later, strategy puzzle and adventure games towards the former.
Games like Galactic Civilizations, Command & Conquer, Myst etc… are sitting comfortably somewhere in Phase 5. They’re not dead, but those that remain are the dedicated few. They enjoy the game on a different level than most and are still looking to get that last ounce of enjoyment out of it. Games like AC1, EverQuest, Anarchy Online are also in Phase 5, but their communities tend to be dominated by the rabid gamers who defend the title to their dieing breath.
GalCiv 2 is entering Phase 2 with the start of Beta 1 late last month. The community is still very small and generally friendly and helpful. And due to the nature of Stardock, we still have direct lines of contact with many of the developers (though this will continue past release by the fact that SD is excellent about open communication between employees and customers) and are given a chance to directly influence game design and direction. One, maybe two trolls have popped in, but they were dealt with and for the ones I’ve seen, been converted into reasonable community members.
Phase 2 is my favorite phase of any game community. It’s still small enough to know most people, to feel like you’re actually a part of something and have a chance at influencing the game. It’s after release that I tend to take a step back and just play the game. Up to release, for me, the focus is on what the game could be, talking about it, testing it, suggesting improvements. Afterwards it’s about playing and enjoying it. After release I find less need/desire to visit community sites.