Recently after much playing of iToF, I come to realised that it too, is unbalanced, similar to what the parent game ToS is. While I try to make this as salt-free as possible, some parts still need to be taken with some amount of salt. The amount varies from player to player to dev, so do get ready your canisters of NaCl.
The importance of fostering a healthy community in MMOs
MMOs are all about communities. As in, why bother to play an MMO when one doesn’t care about interacting with others and how one affects others? With the digital age, people sought after reviews from users prior to even trying out a product. For MMOs more so, people do get influenced by how the community is before even trying it out. How many times have we decide to go for a restaurant or use a product based off reviews from the internet? How many times has a series of reviews and complains deter us to even try out a product or service?
Everything goes hand in hand
An MMO IP can’t survive without a good community. It is the community that will decide whether a MMO will thrive or die. An ideal, perfect MMO will not even survive if the community shuns it. Similarly, a bad game with an active community behind lasts and has time to improve.
One must take note that being a healthy community doesn’t mean that we should sing praises and forget all the shortcomings of the MMO all the time. Complains and feedback is always good to let the developers know how to improve the game and what their audience actually wants. Being healthy here means the community extrudes a feeling making others want to join the family and not leave it. And a healthy community invokes more interest in the MMO and revitalises the playerbase.
On iToF’s influence on iToS
One thing to note that iToF, reddit and Steam forums have big influence on the current players mentality and the ability of the game to attract new blood. Many of the players in game shun iToF due to its heavy ‘Yin’ influcences, it affects their mood to play the game. Personally many of my friends also decide not to ToS a try due to the general negativity in the forums. Perhaps that’s why we are leaking so many players, so much outflow but no inflow. Here I must quote what said by my RL friends:
The general forums feel so divided. Those complains felt that they are seeking to bring the game down rather than helping it improve. Others look oblivious to the game’s shortcomings, equally bad.
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Seeing how the community is like on forums, I feel no confidence in the game. What kind of game attracts what kind of players.
As salty as we may be on such comments, needless to say what we type here have influence in shaping how the game will be and how the future ToS community will be like. It depends solely on us on what we want the game and community to be.
Though divided into factions, the hues, whites, flames, greys and all… are we as one or are we not?
Solution minus (-)
No solution given here by Nekorin. Let your own feelings dictate what you want to do.
Ending notes:
Btw, do ask the moderators to participate more in the forums. Even if they hold a small question and answer as a thread weekly will be really great.
Eg. Devs: We know that transcendence is viewed differently in the community than what we envisioned. Community what’s your take on it?