Guild Wars: My Unsolicited Advice For GW2

The first, the absolute first thing you need to do from a PR standpoint is to do the official wiki one better. You need an officially unofficial site that the gaming public can flock to, and you can't leave it to the community to come up with one for you. You need to get out into those blue waters and establish that site yourselves, leaving the fan community to take care of the niches and corners you leave in your wake.

It doesn't have to be part of the official site itself, but it has to be clearly linked, tied to the game in fundamental ways. The functionality of it has to be built into the game itself from the very beginning. Players need to have something like a wiki, something like a forum, something like e-mail or private messages, right at their fingertips and a fansite provides all of that along with a horde of volunteers and devotees who'll be willing to donate the time and energy to keep it running. Sure, you might have to pay out a bit for servers and bandwidth, but the benefits you reap in terms of creating, fostering, and encouraging a community of rabid followers easily offsets those costs. People will play the game, be drawn into that community, become part of it, become informed, enriched, and encouraged by it and keep playing, keep paying, more than they would otherwise.

A few disclaimers here and there. Notices that the opinions expressed, the information contained, the voices raised, aren't part of the company's view. That this site is supported, subsidized, because the developers realize how important a place to talk and share is to their players, have seen in the past just what it means to everyone involved, but it remains, somehow, separate.

Another official wiki is great, would be an amazing resource, but it can be even better. Integrate it, for one with forums. Forget talk pages, let users deal with things in threads and discussions in a medium that handles them better. Handles things other than raw information better. Because these unofficially official forums would team with players looking to trade, to connect, to form groups and guilds and teams, just as much as they will to share their works of fandom or their suggestions for improvements. Make sure that, just like the current wiki, that the right developers are there, involved, posting, commenting, participating. Even the appearance that they care and will respond to their loyal public a long way. And, yes, there will be flame wars and misstatements and controversies and everything that comes from interacting with the public but, that's okay.

That's what you have your qualified, dedicated moderators for. That's just makes you seem human, makes you seem even more a part of it all. And, in the end, it's not really official. It's a fan site, it doesn't really count. It can all be walked back, if it needs to be. But your site, these forums, they're not just a place for people to come and find the way to beat a mission or where that skill they've been coveting can be found. It's a meeting place. A hub. Of activity but more importantly of the kind of connections that drive an online, multiplayer game. It's easy to get swept up, to get carried away by that stream but it's a powerful one and, if you take the right care, you can tap into it, for the betterment of all.

It might take some new software. A new PHB or wiki code, one that's optimized for this sort of thing. But you have plenty of talented programmers who can lash it together. And if they can't, well, that's when you throw things to the fans and say, “Hey, we could use some help here. If you're willing to work for free, we're willing to not pay you. Unless, of course, you think having a better site, a new functionality wouldn't be compensation enough on its own.” They'll help. They'll jump at the chance, thrill at being just a small part of it all. Maybe almost half of them won't pan out, won't have the talent or the drive to do anything but promise. Maybe the other half flakes and leaves you high and dry. Doesn't matter if only one in a hundred of their ideas is a good one when you have thousands of them.

But imagine what the game will be like when it's tied, integrated, connected to a purpose built site full of forums and wikis. If creating an account registered you on such a site. And the game linked to the site, pointing people to it so they could use its many resources even as they played. Global announcements, help files, directing people that answers and more can be found at this amazing place where the fans and developers have come together to make something out of the nothingness between.

Stuck in a mission? Well, there's a full-fledged wiki where you can find all the tips and tricks you need, customized to your desired level of spoilers (Just want to know what you're supposed to do next but don't want to find out the plot ahead of time? Want to figure out these answers yourself? Great. No, you want a map and a helping hand to guide you through everything? Well, we've got that, too.). Looking for a group to play with? Hey, we've got forums where you can get recruited into a guild. Want something a little less permanent, only looking to urn this particular challenging instance and need some help? Hey, we've combined the party search with a calender, so you can schedule a raid or plan to join a group ahead of time. Whatever it is you need, whatever you can't find in game, we've got it here, for you. By you. By the developers. By us, together. You. You can be a part of it all, too. All you have to do is take that one, trembling step into the brave new world. But it's a small step because we've worked so hard to knock down the barriers and ease your way. Join. Come join. It's easier than you think.

It doesn't replace the fan community. It supercharges it. It co-opts it and all the energy and volunteerism it brings. All those people, all those participants, it's a rich source of data, of feedback for the game and how it works. The stark truth with these sorts of places is that only smaller and smaller percentages of people take part or even barely manage to participate. But if inclusion is built right into the system then it's much easier for people to pass through those gates. And those who pass through find it harder to leave. The ones who are part of the community, who feel like they belong, who feel like they've got ownership over some small piece of it all, those are the ones who stay. Those are the ones who are the fans, who'll buy your game and extol its virtues and play it all the same. The more people you invite into the outer layers of that club, the larger the potential population even as the hard, cold knife of statistical reality slices away at the faithful.

I used to make posts like this all the time. In the dark, in the secrets, behind the walls at one fansite or another. To steer opinion, to focus our energies, to unveil some new project or initiative to drive us forward. Because that's the kind of administrator/moderator/manager/whatever I was. I'm an ideas person and every so often some bright, amazing idea pops into my head, and I just have to hammer it out there. When I ran those kinds of sites, when I had a say in how they would be improved, that's the kind of idea I shared. Not because I was paid. I've never accept a dime for any of that sort of thing, never even got a t-shirt, going so far as to turn down any credit, any compensation, I felt was undue. Not because I had to, because when I'd had enough, I was able to throw up my arms and walk away free of any obligations. But for the simple reason that I wanted to be part of it all and I don't know any other way of doing so that to do my best in service of whatever cause I've made my own. The thing is, I might be a unique individual, my own specific set of talents and motivations, but I'm not the only one who feels that way. Not the only who'd work so hard, care so much, for something I have no reason to. There are other like me out there, just waiting for the right chance, the right circumstances, to show everyone what they can do. And you know what? I started out as just someone who clicked a link, followed it to site, read a few threads, made a few hesitant posts and got swept up in the excitement, in the rush of events to find themselves somewhere, something different than just another face in the crowd. If only for a moment. And I like to think I made the most of my brief moment in the shining sun, used it as a chance to better not just myself but everyone around me, the only way I know how. But it happened to me. It can happen to others, too, if only they're given that chance. Why not give them as much of one as you can? Why not be better?