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How Can Game Developers Improve Gamer Involvement?
TimCrider asks: "TeamXBOX is running an editorial about how console game developers can get the gaming communities more involved in the games themselves. Does anyone have any suggestions on how console developers can help build a gaming community?"
While the question is about encouraging a gamer community I think it's worth looking at the way Tecmo discouraged it. All the people at NinjaHacker.net (now offline) were fans of various Tecmo franchises, particularly the DOA games. They had worked out ways of changing the costumes of the characters in these games, which spurred a huge number of alternate costumes for the various characters in the games. One costume made a character look like the Terminator, one make Ryu in DOA look like he did in Ninja Gaiden and there were dozens of others. These were the dedicated fans a games company would love to have, yet Tecmo decided to sue the site's owners under the DMCA and threatened to go after the people who contributed the alternate costumes! While that is a valid response, surely the first step should have been to just ask NinjaHacker.net to cease whatever it was that they objected too? Surely threatening to sue all your fans isn't the best way to endear them to you?
Conversely Bungee love their community, would we have Red vs Blue if Tecmo had made it I wonder? Bungee is an example of how to do communities right, as they support and encourage what people do. Heck they even offer advice to game modders on how to do things. I just boycott Tecmo games now on the principle that they do not allow modding, I should have the right to do whatever I want with software I've bought.
I tried making that point here but the asshole guy who wrote the article edited and deleted my posts because he only likes feedback that agrees with him... Perhaps I take a leaf from Tecmo's book and sue him for modding my posts?