Community Blog - Ryan Wilk
The article assigned for this week discusses how regular events are a crucial element of community building. It is interesting to note, and the article does this thoroughly, that online events and meetings closely mirror their real life counterparts. The article specifically mentions an array of support-oriented communities, such as iVillage’s allHealth, which use events as a primary means to continue interest in a specific program. These chat room events most closely replicate real-life meetings, introducing a moderator and/or specialist to answer questions and help those in need. Only late in the article are games discussed at length. In our discipline, communities are organized around games as the “main event” (271). Having a community centralize around an interactive game allows for a great variety of community structures.
Yahoo! Games may be considered a very casual gaming community. Surely gaming is the primary event, but the website utilizes its casual, unorganized nature to regain players over time. In other words, a majority of the Yahoo community does not necessarily need, or want, a regular schedule of events to retain interest. This is not to say Yahoo ignores its community. It allows for chat in each of its games. This feature could be labeled as topical chat (it is intended to serve the game at hand), but because players are often on during casual hours, the chatting spreads into general conversation. In addition, Yahoo organizes tournaments to strengthen preexisting community and encourage new players to take part. Overall I think Yahoo does an adequate job considering their overarching casual goals.
Puzzle Pirates offers the most immersive community we have analyzed this semester. The game covers many of the community requirements outlined in the reading. There is always a casual place to chat, allowing players to discuss the game or unrelated topics. In addition, the game embraces greeters, assisting new and inexperienced players, and OceanMasters, who are admin type leaders able to assist in most online situations. In addition to this welcoming help, the game allows the player to develop a unique avatar and home (the player can physically see his position within the community), and an easy-to-use friends list. Lastly, Puzzle Pirates is an active, event based community. The main game screen, for example, has an events tab which is always full with community events, competitions, and tournaments. This variety of events gives players numerous options for involvement, creating a diverse and approachable community. Overall, Puzzle Pirates makes an effort to include a variety of players, from socializes to achievers, into its numerous community events.