Virtual Cultures: Managing conflict in game community cultures
So, I happened to have lunch recently with one of the head honchos of a popular MMO, and he mentioned a community management problem that I'd actually been thinking about for years, without solution. But thinking about his situation has led me to a (totally obvious) solution. NOTE: I'm being a most-time dad these days, and it's hugely good and rewarding and exhausting. Apologies in advance…
So the issue is the twin currents of marketing conflict and competition, and managing a productive, positive community. I'd run into this several times, notably when I was working on Splinter Cell (and I dodged the bullet, so to speak, there, by having Morgan Romine, aka Rhoulette of the Frag Dolls, work with me - her charisma drove the community effort). In a conflict-based game, the effort is to enhance
the conflict, a key aspect of a game (ie., most of them). The problem arises when the developers want to interface with the community, or the community management team wants to foster a more respectful and congenial atmosphere. The two immediately collide, leaving debris everywhere. A skilled, competitive, charismatic community manager can sort of guide things, but the intention of competitors is winning and losing… no win/win there. Or, to put it another way, the brand becomes an element in the conflict oriented competition: by definition it's gonna get slammed. My lunch companion's complaint was about the personal nature of those slams, the flames stung (CMs know all about this, and should get paid more… but I digress). He didn't really want the players' ferocity aimed at him and his team… even though the branding of the title has a fair amount of blood and guts.
So the solution I'd like to propose is one that I've actually seen at least partially work, back in the old Mplayer.com days. Mplayer was a huge and very diverse community, and it was able to easily segment into chat rooms of whatever flavor was desired. Without going into too much detail, there was a really impressive range of behavior: everything from prayer meetings and 24/7 AA meetings to fight rooms (no kids allowed, they'd do a voice check). And today, the awareness of multiple social identities, and employment of same (are you the same on Facebook and Barrens Chat? well, I am, but I'm boring), is even more pronounced than in 1999. We know very well that our social identities need to be malleable, that our behavior needs to suit the circumstances. Why not create separate segments of the forums or other community media, to encourage different behaviors? Create a "battle zone" where talk is less restricted, and a "guild hall" that's meant as a place for respectful discussion. Clarify the difference for the players, enforce the rules, and, I think, you'd find the problem solved. Players know these kinds of behavior types already, just point them to the right places to engage in them and step back.
Simple eh? I haven't actully tried this… but it sure seems like it should work. Comments welcome…
