[arg_discuss] [players] Communities and resources

[despain at quantumcontent.com]

I stepped into this at our meeting at GDC, so I guess I'll be brave
and talk about it here, too.

To be frank, I have mixed feelings about sites like Unfiction and
ARGN, although in general I believe community resources are important,
useful tools for ARGs.

Anytime there's the "us" of a community, there is also the "them" of
those not in the community. Other massive multiplayer online games
sidestep this issue by allowing (or not actively discouraging) the
players to create their own "clans" where many clans all play the same
game. Some have even tried to capitalize on this multiculturalism by
promoting conflicts between clans.

I don't know of an ARG taking that route, but we're still young. And
I'm digressing.

When I build an ARG, it almost goes without saying that I want it to
reach the widest audience possible. Sure, I want it to be a targeted,
interested audience, but I don't want anyone feeling like they can't
participate because they're not part of the Unfiction club.

There, I said it. On the one hand - Unfiction and ARGN are a great
starting point for reaching an interested audience. But I worry
sometimes that their cliquishness turns away timid newbies.

I see Unfiction as analogous to a huge, powerful clan in an MMO. They
band together and solve problems and race ahead of other players -
sometimes sharing their experience, sometimes not.

And if the topic of your ARG doesn't happen to interest the Unfiction
crowd, it can get completely ignored by the word-of-mouth advertising
that a new game is afoot.

So I end up feeling like I need to cater to them, but not let them get
total control of the game. It's a weird line to walk, when what I want
to be doing is appealing to the largest group possible. (I refuse to
believe that all ARG players are a part of Unfiction. I think our
audience is at least potentially bigger than that.)

In more general terms, I personally prefer it if players create their
own community space - it provides a window to the game from the
outside. When you're inside the game, the landscape looks different.
We know all the plot twists ahead of time, so when we run our own
communities, it can sometimes lead the players, even if we don't mean
to. And I think the players deserve to see the experience through
untainted eyes. I love it when they go unexpected places.

What would I like them to do that they aren't? Be more friendly to
newbies, I guess. That's the short version.

Wendy Despain
quantumcontent.com






> Hi Everyone,
>
> I'm wondering what you all think about community resources (places like
> Unficiton.com and ARGN.com, fan sites, guides, blogs)?
>
> Are places like Unfiction.com considered critical to the success of your
> games?
>
> Do you plan to target these audiences?
>
> Do you think they help or hinder the genre?
>
> Are player created guides helping your ARG, or are they just confusing
> new-comers? Do you depend on them, or make your own in-game guide?
>
> Is there something you would like to see the players do that they don't
> do currently?
>
> Anyway, sound off on anything related to players, I'd love to hear it
> all.
>
>   -colin
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