I find the most important part to be the bonds that form. I made so many friends in EQ that were much deeper than just guildmates, or raiding/grouping buddies. We felt trust with each other and spoke for hours. After two years of gaming, a group of 5 of us met up and spent a week together (we came from 5 different states!). Community means a lot to me. Even if only a method of facilitating experience grinds, or loot camps, I feel stronger and better about a game if I don't have to go it alone. So far in these forums I have seen people that share my longing for the old challenging MMOs, and I have already started to feel a little bit closer, and accepted.
This community is helpful, insightful, and so far is everything I have been missing. Hell, I haven't been yelled at once yet for not knowing something!
I hope this was what you were asking.
Agga
Kilsin said:What is the most important part of a community, like Pantheon's or any MMORPG, in your mind? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters
I think having a culture of passing it forward is a huge part of binding a community together when we are always interacting with different people each time we are on. You dont wake up on a MMO and find exactly the same people around you every time, your forever meeting new people when you log in. Always trying to be the best person you can, putting your helpful hat on and offering a kind hand to those around you is and was one of my most fondest memory of the EQ community.
I am engaging with this game because i was so fond of the community that a game like EQ fostered, i felt it was still there all this time later when i loged back into p99. I am going to go in and put a lot of energy into playing my part in showing other people the way who may be more familiar with a disengaged community from other MMO's.
I also think it is tremendously important that those players who shoot to positions of "power" within the game, whether in guilds or simply by being a high level passing through a low level area take the time to engage with new players in that kind and helpful way and when the new player says, "one day i'l pay you back" take the opportunity to instil the concept of passing forward instead of passing back!
Community is very important. Especially in a game like Pantheon that requires you to rely so heavily on others.
I'm hoping the average maturity level of Pantheon players is higher than in other mmos. It will have to be if reputation is actually going to matter.
A place where like-minded individuals come together and help you forget the worries of the world. Where everyday is an adventure and you are apart of something bigger than yourself. Where community is multi-layered, where you are apart of a community of a game, community of gamers, a community of friends, family, a community where friends are family, and a community of players that have the same mindset and individuals are able to find others that have that same mindset. *plays cheers tv music*
Assuming there are global or zone chat channels, having mostly reasonably nice/helpful people on them is important especially to those not in guilds (or not in guilds yet). There will always be trolls and juveniles - a good way to /ignore them will help (accountwide ignore is probably a plus). Likewise ways to report them and have action taken if they go from rude or stupid to rules violations.
I'm not sure I can pick a single aspect that is "most important" when I think about community (other than keeping toxicity minimal).
For me, community is what makes the difference between living in a virtual world vs. playing a game. I'll use crafting as an example (though I could certainly come up with non-crafting examples as well).
- Other crafters that I can talk to, collaborate with, or compete with as I ply my trade. Real people just like me, not faceless entities in some market system. It's things like knowing that Cromulent is the best weaponsmith on the server, or competing with Evoras for customers when he sets up shop in the next town over, or that if I need alchemical supplies for what I'm doing, Saicred will give me a fair price on them.
- People helping each other with information. Like when Arterius decides to pick up crafting and give it a try, a bunch of folks say "hey you should check out Bazgrim's guide on getting started as a crafter", or when Durp has a question about how to learn higher quality recipes, Grizzly relates the tale of how he did a quest for a hermit weaponsmith up in the mountains and got a sweet new recipe from it.
- The knowledge that you're part of someone else's success and that they're part of yours, too. Like when you make that new shield for Kalok, and then a few days later his guild downs a raid boss, and you know that your shield was a part of them winning that fight. Or when 1AD7 brings you a rare material that dropped in a dungeon and says "hey can you make something out of this?" Or when you need to make a trip to the Lost Valley to harvest some rare wood, and Iksar groups up with you to help with the monsters, in return for you making him a new bow with some of what you gather.
- When awesome things happen organically even though the game makes no provision for them. Like when CanadinaXegony starts selling the food she makes in an little NPC house in town, and eventually players start calling that house "Cana's Tavern" or just "the Tavern", and becomes common for people to hang out there when they're between groups or just taking a break from adventuring. Even though in terms of the game, it's just an empty house with no obvious NPC owners.
Without a strong community, some of these things might still happen. But in that case, I wouldn't really be able to name names like I just did in my examples (by the way, for everyone that I named, roles and professions in the story were assigned completely at random) :)
I realize I still haven't really answered the question of what's the most important part of a community. But hopefully I've illustrated some things that someone smarter than me can interpret and figure it out from :)
Nephele said:I'm not sure I can pick a single aspect that is "most important" when I think about community (other than keeping toxicity minimal).
For me, community is what makes the difference between living in a virtual world vs. playing a game. I'll use crafting as an example (though I could certainly come up with non-crafting examples as well).
- Other crafters that I can talk to, collaborate with, or compete with as I ply my trade. Real people just like me, not faceless entities in some market system. It's things like knowing that Cromulent is the best weaponsmith on the server, or competing with Evoras for customers when he sets up shop in the next town over, or that if I need alchemical supplies for what I'm doing, Saicred will give me a fair price on them.
- People helping each other with information. Like when Arterius decides to pick up crafting and give it a try, a bunch of folks say "hey you should check out Bazgrim's guide on getting started as a crafter", or when Durp has a question about how to learn higher quality recipes, Grizzly relates the tale of how he did a quest for a hermit weaponsmith up in the mountains and got a sweet new recipe from it.
- The knowledge that you're part of someone else's success and that they're part of yours, too. Like when you make that new shield for Kalok, and then a few days later his guild downs a raid boss, and you know that your shield was a part of them winning that fight. Or when 1AD7 brings you a rare material that dropped in a dungeon and says "hey can you make something out of this?" Or when you need to make a trip to the Lost Valley to harvest some rare wood, and Iksar groups up with you to help with the monsters, in return for you making him a new bow with some of what you gather.
- When awesome things happen organically even though the game makes no provision for them. Like when CanadinaXegony starts selling the food she makes in an little NPC house in town, and eventually players start calling that house "Cana's Tavern" or just "the Tavern", and becomes common for people to hang out there when they're between groups or just taking a break from adventuring. Even though in terms of the game, it's just an empty house with no obvious NPC owners.
Without a strong community, some of these things might still happen. But in that case, I wouldn't really be able to name names like I just did in my examples (by the way, for everyone that I named, roles and professions in the story were assigned completely at random) :)
I realize I still haven't really answered the question of what's the most important part of a community. But hopefully I've illustrated some things that someone smarter than me can interpret and figure it out from :)
This. I wanted to type out a response to this question, but honestly, this about sums it up wonderfully. I am really, really hoping to experience all of this, which helps create the immersion feeling that I am craving so much from Pantheon.
This community is hands-down the best gaming community I have ever been a part of. And I've been in a lot. If that weren't the case, I wouldn't be so happy to spend time giving back to the community. Pantheon is obviously a very community-focused game, so to see that we already have a solid foundation for a supportive community shows to me that Pantheon will have a good long life. Because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what mechanics, QoL features, etc. make it into the game... it's the community that makes or breaks the game. Here are just a few of many qualities that I appreciate about this community, because they are so important:
1. Patience. MMOs take a long time to make. And knowing about its development so early on can make the wait even harder. But the vast majority of people here understand that it's better to wait until the game is finished, than to rush it and risk it being released in a broken state. Most people just want what they want and they want it now, and unable to consider anything else. Not so here.
2. Welcoming. First impressions matter. So when a newcomer arrives, their first interactions in the community set the tone in their mind for how the rest of their time will be. For example, seeing so many "welcome" messages in introduction threads shows that this is a place they can call home. It can also set an example for how that person goes on to treat the newbies that come after them.
3. Maturity. To see so many people filled with so much passion, yet still be able to keep that zeal in check and not constantly get dragged into emotional drama is truly uncommon. I love it when people don't just deal in extremes and can take the time to clearly explain their position rathering than immediately getting defensive.
4. Helpfulness. In most communities, if a veteran sees someone else that is not as well off as them, they'll take that opportunity to be condescending and fulfill their constant need to feel superior. But here, I see so many people going out of their way to teach the less-experienced folk. And that's crucial, because ultimately, as a whole, we rise together and we fall together.
I feel like being a part of this community has already inspired me and helped me to learn more about myself, and I look forward to many more years to come.
Playing with people you will remember, identify throught levelling who is valuable and who isn't. A lot of solo classes tend to act really selfleshly as long as they can, leaving groups if they feel the rate and low tools / low dps roles are dragging them behind. Theses players I do remember once we meet higher tiers, and usually playing key roles, I make myself an honor to put them back in the same situation. Allways remember you will depend of tanks, healers and possibly controls sooner or later, and helping them hatching is a key to getting good and effective groups.
Forging real friendships throught the game, during hard situation, learning together and getting the most out of everyone's classes. There are allways players that do the "minimal" and that remain at minimal during sticky situations where everyone could have tried to act and only a few tried. I remember myself pulling too much ennemies on my ranger in MM, and kiting some snared mobs around the pond to get breath for my group. It worked, and it was some sort of "player incapacitated control" as I could only shoot a few arrows to help dps.
Building a reputation over the sessions of play, in different places, by showing seriousness, effectivity, and a general good sense of humor. It doesn't take much to be that "cool guy we grouped with", just a few jokes, a light behaviour and no harsh words.
Beeing in need of others, and offering your own help when the inverse is true, by helping friends on a camp, on a specific fight, on a key part of their epic, where you could make the difference. What creates bonds is sometime the need to ask for specific help to friends, while returning the favor later. Beeing in debt and paying pack is what makes bonds between generous people.
There is probably more to say, but for now, that will be all.
The people... Realistically though, there are plenty of answers for this question, but what made community memorable for me in First-Gen MMO's was shared adversity - the community that dies together stays together! Anyway, my most fond memories still are of overcoming impossible challenges as a team.
Kilsin said:What is the most important part of a community, like Pantheon's or any MMORPG, in your mind? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters
Without a good guild and community these games just wither and die to me. So pretty important. That's the short answer.
Community is extremely important to me when it comes to MMORPGs. A strong community where individuals are essentially strangers come together and play has a strong appeal to it. These people that I can run into in the world that myself and friends can play with is an important part of this genre to me. I get discouraged when others proclaim their love for this genre but will only play it with family or friends or guildmates. It's exclusionary and not really the idea of community that I hold as essential to the genre.
Sure, I understand the disdain some have towards PUGs, but without PUGs how do you meet new people? How can a community form that is inclusive and not exclusionary? You have to be able to meet someone new in some way, shape, or fashion. New players and subscribers will need that. Without a community to encourage new players and welcome new subscribers and include them in the adventures that await I don't think there will be as strong of a community in Pantheon that would encourage longevity of the game.
I want a community where you can adventure with others because that is what the community is about. There will be times when you won't be playing with an assortment of strangers and simply playing with friends, family, and guildmates. But I'd sure find it a lonely and isolated place if opportunities to play with an odd assortment of adventurers who happen to be in the same area at the same time couldn't happen (or where players will be shunned from a group in which they can actually contribute because they are not part of the same guild). A community of this nature can only crop up and exist because that's how the people are - I want the people of the community to be welcoming and supporting.
I'll be there on launch day on day one. I may be able to talk a couple of friends and family to also be there on day one. But the only way to convince others to be there afterwards is for them to know that there is a community to the game and experiences similar to EQ can still be had. I admit, we are guilty of being exclusionary in the games that followed EQ. I know why we did it (our stage in life with our families and time commitments had us commit our time together once a week to play the games). But even though we don't play the games anymore (none interest us) we still talk about the games and when the next one will come out for us to play. And we do want it to have a community where we can participate in PUGs for the times when we can't play together (which will only be once per week, the rest of the times it will be PUGs). It was the one aspect in the games that followed EQ that we did not participate in and we wholeheartedly admit we miss it. Pantheon is holding promise. But I won't be the one dictating participation. It will be we, the community, that will encourage participation.
Kilsin said:What is the most important part of a community, like Pantheon's or any MMORPG, in your mind? #PRF #MMORPG #MMO #communitymatters
Absolutely part of my gaming experience. Bad community (lots of trolls, griefers...bots running rampant) will drive me away eventually. I am out to make friends ..still have friends I met up with Everquest, in 1999, am still in contact with them on Facebook..to this day.
Raidan said:The people... Realistically though, there are plenty of answers for this question, but what made community memorable for me in First-Gen MMO's was shared adversity - the community that dies together stays together! Anyway, my most fond memories still are of overcoming impossible challenges as a team.
And absolutely this, I will do all I can to help my team mates succeed, have been known to "take one for the team" a few times, to get us to where we needed to be. I am hoping to see brave people, heroes in Pantheon..I am hoping above all that #community does indeed matter. And most of all long lasting friendships. :)
@Nephele that was heartwarming by the way...pretty much how I see our community interacting with each other. :)
Cana
Unfortunatly over the course of the last few years, I've turned into a solo player on MMO's. Thats somewhat the games fault, somewhat the communities fault, somewhat my own fault. I haven't found a good game I really want to invest in and find a guild home or make friends. I've also noticed that more and more people have turned into Professional Critics of Everything. People who comment on every subject and are experts in anything thats talked about. Very annoying, my hope is that in any game, I have good communication tools and extensive /ignore commands.
When I ignored, notes, sharable reasons as to why they are on my ignore list ect...
Having a robust population in zones looking to for groups. One of my favorite "community" parts of EQ1 was going to a zone and going LFG. Not knowing what camp you might end up at or the group makeup and then adapting to it and making it work. My first foray into the Temple of Droga was a pickup group, a nasty dungeon where mistakes were costly. And I was the main healer as a druid. It was fun and scary and I remember it well to this day.
If I had to pick a single most important part of a MMORPG community it would be the community's ability to self police itself. People will undoubtedly grief others and will get bad reputations because of it. If the community is social enough to spread the word of a players reputation, then that will help weed out bad apples. It will also create opportunities to have organic rivalaries.
Community is extremely important to me.
The #1 reason why I abandon modern MMO's is because the social interaction is non-existent. If I want zero interaction with other players I will simply play Skyrim.
I am enjoying Everquest even today, 19 years later, precisely because the design of the game and the pace of the gameplay allows for players to exchange some lines of chat. Getting to know others whether they are roleplaying, talking about real life and so on is quite interesting (at least for me). I've gotten to know people from all corners of the world, different cultures, opinions, world views and more and in addition making my gameplay more fun and interesting it also broadened my horizon as a person. It's quite different getting to know someone from the 'inside out' rather than 'outside in'. I don't know who they are, what they look like... heck, I don't even know if they are a guy, girl or an AI. But the good part is that it doesn't matter.
When you get to know someone like that, through chatting and interaction it creates a bond. And through bonds you create an environment where you are willing to put in the extra effort to help someone else out. Things such as you should be in bed an hour ago cause you got work in the morning, but they died in the bottom of Lguk and need to get a rez... so you put in another hour of gametime to help them out... and sure, you are a wreck at work in the morning, but you still feel good about it.
Such things I have yet to experience in another MMO, even less games in general, outside of Everquest. Mostly because in other games you roll through solo content all day, then maybe do a quick-join group session where you are teamed up with a bunch of who-cares from other servers that you will never see again... and only join a guild to do raids.
No.. to me the two major factors that really makes an MMORPG is:
1. Community
2. Group experience (e.g. dungeon crawls)*
*note: by group experience I don't mean raids, but I mean regular 6 man groups where you have a very different dynamic and interaction than you do in a 50 or 70 man raid where everyone essentially just becomes an anonymous face or a small cog in the machinery. Groups are more chill, interactive and interesting in my opinion.