Why I'm blogging

Since Tisirin introduced the blog, and Greypawn introduced himself, it's my turn to hog the spotlight. I'm not going to talk about myself - much - but I do want to talk about why I'm doing this, here, in public.

In many of the links we've posted in the last two weeks, there has been a common thread - they just don't get it. "They" meaning developers, producers, publishers - whoever appears to be stifling the glorious efforts of the wise and brilliant community team. My compatriots have gone so far as to suggest, darkly, that "they" will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes. I don't necessarily disagree with them, but I'm also not waiting for the revolution.

Designers have blogs, producers have blogs, programmers have blogs - they talk about the issues relevant to their positions, and in doing so, help make those issues more widely understood. They also become part of the larger community of publicly visible game professionals. Why should community be different?

What we do is not a secret - even less so than some other aspects of the industry. An hour alone with Google, and I can find out how all of my competitors handle their boards, their patch notes, their contests... it's all public. How we talk to our players is very seldom secret - I can search anyone's boards for the CM's post history in minutes. Why we do things the way we do... well, I think the industry as a whole would benefit from more discussion about this, rather than less. That's why I'm here.

I'm emphatically not here to talk trash, to air dirty laundry, or even to make a name for myself. I have a job in the industry - I'd like to keep it. And I don't really have the personality to be a "personality" - but I spend a lot of time thinking about why I do what I do, and I like to talk it out. It's a young profession, and we can't grow it if we're reinventing the wheel with every game, with every company, with every segment of the market. Let's talk about how to do it right - then we can really compete.

I'll post something original soon, I promise:

Moorgard looks to his roots

More Commentary on Forums

From What Would Matt Do?

We Get Pwned

Timothy Burke writes the post we should have written

This is an excellent description of what I do every day when reading the forums - I'm embarrassed that I haven't been able to articulate it this clearly.

Other Folks Talking about Community

There's been quite a bit of this lately. Actual commentary to follow, no doubt:

Ron Meiners on Community Managers, on Terra Nova

Raph Koster follows up

Scott Jennings talks about forums

Raph Koster, on the same subject

"The Vocal Minority"

This phrase is heard pretty often when talking about community management, particularly when discussing forums. It's not untrue - statistically, active posters on forums are generally a small subset of the playerbase. They also tend to represent the powergamers and the social butterflies - not necessarily your average player. So calling them a "vocal minority" is fairly accurate.

It's also toxic as hell.

The phrase is generally used by producers and execs who don't want to take seriously the feedback the CM is presenting. It's condescending, dismissive, and ultimately potentially disastrous. It's one thing to look realistically at forum feedback as compared to login polls, in-game metrics, and other forms of feedback, but it's quite another when forums are the only form of feedback you have - which is, sadly, often the case.

As m'lord Calandryll put it at a recent AGC panel, your "vocal minority" is your canary in the coal mine - if you ignore it when something goes wrong, instead of that one bird dropping dead, it will be everyone.

My New Motto

Today, we take over the forums...