Events, and the idea of Community
This week's reading pinpointed "events" a core element in community-building, a task of great interest to any game designer working within a subscription system where prolonged play generates greater returns. As the article states, a reliable and regular continuity across time is an observable characteristic which indicates a community does exist, as opposed to, say, a functional group which meets only under circumstances or to address certain issues, like a committee, or a group which meets under intense circumstances for a short period of time only disperse afterwards, like a conference or convention. Of course, regular and engaging events are only one element of the ambiguous concept of "community," and so seeking community involves both locating events as described by the article but also finding the other "features" that come to mind at the mention of the word "community:" shared interest, a common goal, a space to call one's own, sometimes a hierarchical structure.
My admittedly limited experience with puzzle pirates leads me to believe that genuine communities can form there, though I haven't been able to join one myself. It is an event driven game, though not "regular" events in that scheduled events direct the social flow. The sheer amount of players on puzzle pirates enables users simply to rely on events always happening; log on, and there is an event to be had. Moreover, if the events lack in regularity and reliability, they make up for it by successfully incorporating most of the elements in the article attributed to "competition" events, generating a desire to "come back for more," not because one necessarily sees the same faces at the same time, but rather, for the thrill of winning, or at least trying to. These features - sheer number of players, 24 hour availability, competitive atmosphere - could also be attributed to MSN games, yet Puzzle Pirates enables real communities whereas MSN games does not because it approaches the concept of the community holistically, including the ability to form "crews" (common goals, hierarchy, shared interest, and a personal "space" in the form of the boat) to add to the competitive aspect.
I recognize that the excerpt we read is a chapter in a book, and presumably all the other features of "community" I mention are covered separately in other chapters. As the relatively new field of multiplayer online games continues to develop, I imagine the inclusion of all these community based features will become industry axioms and creative focus will shift to innovating new ways to offer these features to players - for example, new ways to offer events. My experience within MMORPGs is limited, but nonetheless I think, for example, that celebrating Chinese New Year in Guild Wars was a clever achievement, creating an event that will certainly be anticipated in the future, but, unlike a weekly or monthly event, gains concentrated value in its rarity. The event itself was rare, but also special items that were handed out at the event proved valuable in the internal market both during the festival and in the following weeks. Later, I was able to notice St. Patrick's day celebrated in world. I've never played an other MMORPGs, but I wouldn't be surprised if this celebration of holidays is a regular thing, nonetheless it aptly represents what I'm talking when I imagine "innovations" in community feature, such as events, are in store for the future.