Are gaming communities cool? Options

[Evan]

I figure this is where I will cast the largest net.

Do you as gamers think that communities...whether it be clans, E-Sports Teams, Drinking Buddies, or just your 'crew' are cool.

And if they are. What makes them welcoming and worth your time to stay a part of? Are you part of any communities you wouldn't mind sharing with the class?


As I am sure none of you knew I was part of a very competitive very good Xbox team for the last three years (Ending our season 17-0 with an all time rank of 4th in the world for Defuse #humblebrag) and live streamed/commentated for the only paid for BattleField 4 Hardcore Defuse tournament started by a good friend named Twizzle. As time moved the game became stale and the hierarchy of members became...a circlejerk. Where the "Council" was so bent over to one guy in general everyone went with his decisions instead of standing up. Queue Bruce, as one to not be walked on I chose to RISE UP TO DEFEAT THE MIGHTY DICTATOR and was promptly given a one month ban for 'bad attitude.' So I left and started a new community with strippers and blackjack along with my friends that ballooned to a near fifty-member roster in two-weeks. This is where I became 'so popular' on Youtube, and continued my dicking about with Twitch streaming. Unfortunately 3 people in charge of 50 gentleman ranged 16-45 in age is very tough and an organizing nightmare. So we chose to put a bullet in it until we decided what we wanted in a gaming community.

Anyways. I guess this is a half-assed announcement for a new start to a small PC friendly community I am hoping to launch in January. I want to create a community that is as great and expansive as the SWR community with an emphasis on fun friendly competition. I want to best players and I want to worst players. I want the shy players and the loud mouths. But what I don't want is disrespect and people to feel obligated to be a part of <insert cool name here>.

I am trying my best to figure out what makes a successful group and what doesn't. If you have any suggestions or questions please feel free to ask me.

[Shiro]

-Charisma: If the leadership isn't charismatic and/or obviously unable to show they are in control, people won't bother with them, causing infighting. A clear hierachy also helps, but while it can be as hard or soft as you want, it must be FAIR. Charisma cannot be learned, you either have it or you don't.
-Clear rules: Everything people are allowed to do and are not allowed to do must be clear and obvious. Prevent problems before they arise. Also don't refrain from changing the rules if the concensus is that they suck but make sure that everyone, or at least as many people as possible, agree with changes.
-Good judgement: if problems STILL arise, make sure that people know they won't be ignored, if their problems are VALID and RELEVANT. If they are, listen and try to fix them and encourage others to do the same. However, no whining and no off-topic nonsense, nobody cares about the first and the latter can be resolved in private.
-Having fun: when there are no problems to waste time on, time can be properly spent of making things a fun experience for everyone involved. The rules should already cover what the group considers fun and this is the point where you can put it into practice.

[ComradeCrimson]

Having a few organized game night events that people can come drop in and participate in can really help people bond and have fun together. Just a casual hangout thing. Does more for social relations than you'd think, having people do stuff together.


Drama and problems happen when there is idle time and an overly excessive politics in the group's structure. So avoid blatant ranks other than administrative site ones- a superficial hierarchy quickly becomes a real one based on arrogance, especially when you have people pull age trump cards on each other in the vein of "I've been here longer than you so therefore I am superior" nonsense.


All in all just keep it casual and largely relaxed, encourage folks to join in on events and just keep people busy with fun stuff to do. Best way to do it in my opinion.

This post has been edited by ComradeCrimson: 4 Dec 2015, 2:20

[chemisthypnos]

A set of rules that must be followed. If you cannot maintain any sense of order amongst even friends, minor rivalries can escalate into meaningless fights and even people leaving over it in time. These are essential for any gaming community to survive in the long-run. (Trust me, I have been in a very large one for the last 8 years on Xbox, and I have seen alot of people leave over what started out as something benign.) Additionally, when people leave, they may attempt to exert an influence on those still in your community. If you are looking for a serious gaming community, you may want to have a policy of mandating blocked communications with said person if they attempt this.

You will also need a ranking structure to enforce these rules, provide leadership, organize community events, issue orders to lower ranks to say recruit more people (probably only if you want a serious gaming community), and other roles.

DO NOT allow politics to enter the leadership/ enforcement of the rules. Be especially aware of any nepotism that might occur within the group but especially amongst officer ranks. The rules must go for everyone.

You should note that, in my experience at least, casual gaming communities never last long. This is often because they view themselvs as just a collection of friends just trying to have fun. This is ok, but if you are just a "For fun" community, it becomes awkward to attempt to enforce rules over them when they are there just for fun. Some people view trolling as fun while others might leave on bad terms and attempt to influence and cause disloyalty amongst those still in the community. How are you going to tell those still there not to talk to the person that left if they are there just for fun? Those still with you will be torn between an obligation to you and an obligation to their friend that left (thereby causing politics to enter the system and the begining of the end). I have never seen a casual/ "for fun" gaming community last for more than 2 years.

Do not underestimate what has just been mentioned. The clan that I am in on Xbox has lost 4000+ people over the last 10 years or so due to this effect.

Once measures for all of these are in place, it is probably most important to remember to have fun and to ensure that your members are having fun as well. Never forget, people are in your community for a reason. Whether it is to just have fun, play with people that are not useless randoms/blueberries, or to feel that they want to be part of something more than they are individually. You will have to listen and cater to your constituency. They demand it and you will supply it or they will leave and find it elsewhere. Always remember, nothing is ever too big to fail.

I went on a bit of a rant in this post, but I hope that you find it useful. BTW: K/D is 2.74 and W/L is about 63.5% on Bf4 on Xbox one. Best of luck!

[ComradeCrimson]

A set of rules that must be followed. If you cannot maintain any sense of order amongst even friends, minor rivalries can escalate into meaningless fights and even people leaving over it in time. These are essential for any gaming community to survive in the long-run. (Trust me, I have been in a very large one for the last 8 years on Xbox, and I have seen alot of people leave over what started out as something benign.) Additionally, when people leave, they may attempt to exert an influence on those still in your community. If you are looking for a serious gaming community, you may want to have a policy of mandating blocked communications with said person if they attempt this.

You will also need a ranking structure to enforce these rules, provide leadership, organize community events, issue orders to lower ranks to say recruit more people (probably only if you want a serious gaming community), and other roles.

DO NOT allow politics to enter the leadership/ enforcement of the rules. Be especially aware of any nepotism that might occur within the group but especially amongst officer ranks. The rules must go for everyone.

You should note that, in my experience at least, casual gaming communities never last long. This is often because they view themselvs as just a collection of friends just trying to have fun. This is ok, but if you are just a "For fun" community, it becomes awkward to attempt to enforce rules over them when they are there just for fun. Some people view trolling as fun while others might leave on bad terms and attempt to influence and cause disloyalty amongst those still in the community. How are you going to tell those still there not to talk to the person that left if they are there just for fun? Those still with you will be torn between an obligation to you and an obligation to their friend that left (thereby causing politics to enter the system and the begining of the end). I have never seen a casual/ "for fun" gaming community last for more than 2 years.

Do not underestimate what has just been mentioned. The clan that I am in on Xbox has lost 4000+ people over the last 10 years or so due to this effect.

Once measures for all of these are in place, it is probably most important to remember to have fun and to ensure that your members are having fun as well. Never forget, people are in your community for a reason. Whether it is to just have fun, play with people that are not useless randoms/blueberries, or to feel that they want to be part of something more than they are individually. You will have to listen and cater to your constituency. They demand it and you will supply it or they will leave and find it elsewhere. Always remember, nothing is ever too big to fail.

I went on a bit of a rant in this post, but I hope that you find it useful. BTW: K/D is 2.74 and W/L is about 63.5% on Bf4 on Xbox one. Best of luck!

Clans like that tend to get overly dramatic and pissant. The fact you had 4000 people leave at some point means that your group was acting like a business, an organization rather than a gaming community. Like some corporate crapsack cake.

Its generally easier to just have the set of rules being more or less "Don't be a dick" is a general go to. Casual communities can last long as long as you actively promote a relaxed atmosphere.

Generally doing sit downs with people to talk about issues is also a good idea... you don't need to issue ranks or have some bs hierarchy. The moment you get a hierarchy involved is the moment you start getting politics and nepotism and all that crud. And a general rule of thumb- the younger the population in the community, especially early to mid teens, the generally nastier socially it can often become. If its older dudes 17+ it tends to avoid that junior high mentality crap due to (generally) more maturity and mellowed attitudes.

Also, the smaller the communities, the easier it is to communicate. And don't split up the chats on TS or other stuff like that... keep the social interaction for group events largely in the same place. Dividing people tends to create stupid sub-cliques.

[chemisthypnos]

Clans like that tend to get overly dramatic and pissant. The fact you had 4000 people leave at some point means that your group was acting like a business, an organization rather than a gaming community. Like some corporate crapsack cake.

Its generally easier to just have the set of rules being more or less "Don't be a dick" is a general go to. Casual communities can last long as long as you actively promote a relaxed atmosphere.

Generally doing sit downs with people to talk about issues is also a good idea... you don't need to issue ranks or have some bs hierarchy. The moment you get a hierarchy involved is the moment you start getting politics and nepotism and all that crud. And a general rule of thumb- the younger the population in the community, especially early to mid teens, the generally nastier socially it can often become. If its older dudes 17+ it tends to avoid that junior high mentality crap due to (generally) more maturity and mellowed attitudes.

Also, the smaller the communities, the easier it is to communicate. And don't split up the chats on TS or other stuff like that... keep the social interaction for group events largely in the same place. Dividing people tends to create stupid sub-cliques.

If carefully regulated, drama and nepotism are not permitted to exist in any large quantities. We lost 4000 people over the course of 10 years. In my opinion, they were the weakest of the community and had no place in it to begin with. Our gaming community is very much a gaming community that also wants to have fun fundamentally but plays competitively. I mostly agree with you regarding younger populations in gaming communities. It should be noted, however, that not ALL young members are lacking in maturity and exceptions should be made accordingly.

Promoting a relaxed atmosphere can work very well, but I still do not think that it will work in the long run. Also, you, as the leader, might be able to keep the community together, but what happens if you don't want to do it anymore? Someone will have to takeover. Since there was no hierarchy, politics will decide who succeds you-a result counter to what you had intended.

Also, with a casual gaming community, you are vulnerable to attack from more serious clans. I will not beat around the bush, my clan is always on the lookout for small casual gaming communities to challenge and conquer- inevitably adding their members to our numbers. It is always the same story. We challenge them to a clan battle, they accept, they lose repeatedly, we offer them a place in a superior gaming community, some accept, their leader and his loyals storm off and fracture at a later time yielding more who want to join. Rinse and repeat. I personally have been on both the advanced teams that defeat them and the teams that attempt to steal their members. It is the same procedure almost every time.

I have not even begun to mention our covert agents that attempt to join said clans and design social situations to destroy them from within and hint at the existence of a better clan (conveniently ours) that our operative will be joining "For the first time". I have never seen a casual gaming community last for more than 4 years.