Game community

Community: a group of people with a shared interest, purpose or goal who get to know each other better over time.

10 tips for strong communities:

1. Foster friendship

a. The ability to talk: for a community to form, players must be able to speak to each other freely.

b. Someone worth talking to: what kind of friendships are my players looking for?

c. Something worth talking about

d. How do my players break the ice?

e. When is the moment they become friends?

f. What tools do I give the players to maintain their friendships?

2. Put conflict at the heart

a. Spur players to demonstrate that they are better than everyone else.

b. The kind of conflict that is more likely to be resolved when people work together.

3. Use Architecture to shape your community

Many MMOs have areas where people tend to casually congregate and chat - these areas are often at a place where many players pass by regularly on their way to some important game business.

4. Create community property

5. Let players express themselves

a. How am I letting players express themselves?

b. Are players proud of their identity?

c. Use rich avatar creation systems and allow players to convey emotion or choose colors and style for their text to display.

6. Support 3 levels

a. The newbie (create situations where they get to interact meaningfully with more experienced players.)

b. The player

c. The elder (keep them through a more difficult game, governance privileges, the joy of creation, guild management and a chance to teach.)

7. Force players to depend on each other

8. Manage your community

9. Obligation to others is powerful

Designed systems of player-to-player commitment are an excellent way to get players to play your game on a regular basis.

10 Create community events

a. Events give players something to look forward to and an opportunity to connect with others.

b. Events create a shared experience, which makes players feel more connected to their community.

From: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Game-Design-Book-Lenses/dp/0123694965

Creating compelling game characters

1. List character functions

a. Hero: the character who plays the game

b. Mentor: gives advice and useful items

c. Assistant: gives occasional tips

d. Tutor: explain how to play the game

e. Final boss: someone to have the last battle against

f. Minions: bad guys

g. Three bosses: tough guys to battle against

i. Hostage: someone to rescue

2. Define and use character traits

3. Use the interpersonal circumplex

4. Make a character web

(explore how the characters feel about each other, and why.)

5. Use status

a. Conflict of status are interesting- how are my characters vying for status?

b. Changes of status are interesting- where do they happen in my game?

6. Use the power of the voice

7. Use the power of the face

8. Powerful stories transform characters

a. How are we communicating those change to the player?

b. Are the changes surprising, interesting and believable?

From: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Game-Design-Book-Lenses/dp/0123694965

Market

1. Game design should base on the game business mode.

2. Market segment refers to player group which are divided by culture, pay ability, skill, habit and technical condition.

3. A good market strategy is to find a undeveloped market segment while this strategy may take high risk and hard to implement.

4. Game compose of a serious of market value and those are designed for attract some player groups.

5. Use the value curve to demonstrate all of your game's market value, and make sure that your strongest market value is better than any competitors.

6. Creating market value take energy and resource, and new market value may not combine well with those existing market value, so just focus on few target and make it great.

From: http://gamerboom.com/archives/59080