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This topic has moved here: Subject: How do we compare?
  • Subject: How do we compare?
Subject: How do we compare?
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My friend, you would not tell with ſuch high zeſt
To children ardent for ſome deſperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum eſt
Pro patria mori.

As the hours close in on 2006 ready for the kill and my infection of this place enters its fifth year, I took to wondering just how well the Bungie community compares with those of other developers. I've only ever really followed the Bungie, Master of Orion 3 [during that brief time the released game looked fixable] and Bizarre Creations scenes, and though Bizarre do make an effort to communicate with their fanbase they don't do nearly as complete a job of it compared to Bungie.

So what do youse out there think? Do you have any examples of good or bad developer/community relationships that particularly stand out in your minds? Can you think of any practices that we and Bungie could learn from?

  • 12.30.2006 7:14 AM PDT

Well, I'm not a close follower of many other game companies either, largely because many of them are no longer making good games, if they are even still around. (i.e. Interplay and Origin). Some companies worth following include Valve and Bioware, who I believe are very interested in the thoughts and opinions of their fan base.

Posted by: Sir Fragula
So what do youse out there think? Do you have any examples of good or bad developer/community relationships that particularly stand out in your minds?

I think the most obvious example (although I don't use it very often) is Steam. While Steam has been the bane of people with slow internet connections trying to install Half-Life 2, it has also been a powerful tool for connecting the Valve team directly with their fan base. The ability to easily download not only official Valve content, but also numerous third party apps is still remarkable even a few years after its inception.

  • 12.30.2006 7:34 AM PDT
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I've only ever been part of this community. Although I can say that I am satisfied.

  • 12.30.2006 7:46 AM PDT
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More than three years part of the Bungie(net) community and almost five years of part of Bioware's. These are basically the only two developers that I "follow". And this is mostly because of the way they communicate with the fans. Most developers don't really bother.
The cool thing about the Bungie.net forums is the personality, despite all the jerks, it's fun. It has a face of it's own. the Bioware forums, even with all the maturity, feels a bit bland it misses personality. However, when it comes to interaction between community and developer, Bioware does a few things better than Bungie. Both companies are always tight lipped about games (although is quite open about multiplayer stuff), but Bioware appears much more open.
Plenty of times do you see the BW employees post on the forum, and they happily tell you some of the things they just ran in during development, even though they make sure they don't reveal any secrets. A while ago, an employee even came to the Mass Effect forum, asking if we had any cool ideas for a mini game. Bungie just doesn't seem to do that. Also, they really help out with the modding community and are really supportive when it comes to implementing new patches and community ideas in one of their current games.
Still, when it comes to having fun with the community, Bungie gets a heads up. The humpday challenges, the interviews, reports, etc. I don't think too many developers do that.

  • 12.30.2006 7:58 AM PDT
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My friend, you would not tell with ſuch high zeſt
To children ardent for ſome deſperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum eſt
Pro patria mori.

I spent a bit of time looking at the KotOR forums at Bioware's website. Didn't see an employee post myself, but other people there seemed to reference it.

  • 01.01.2007 7:54 AM PDT
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Read about the Forgotten Spartan I Program
Butane: To protect the world from devastation!
sir_brilliant: To unite all people within our nation!
Rainman89: To denounce the evils of truth and love!
sir_brilliant: To extend out reach to the stars above!
SpaceGhostFlyer: Jessie!
Butane: James!
sir_brilliant: Team Rocket blasting off at the speed of light
Butane: Surrender now or prepare to fight
sir_brilliant: Meowth, that's right!

Like many others, I have not really been as big a follower of other developers. That is not for lack of trying, though. I have followed other sites, and just liked Bungie more. Then add a lack of unlimited free time, and I just picked Bungie.

[Edited on 1/1/2007]

  • 01.01.2007 8:40 AM PDT

I'll be on my own side.

I never "followed" a developer before Bungie. Before Halo, I adored Rare for the art that is Perfect Dark, GoldenEye, and Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie, but I didn't have Internet access at the time. I had always been faithful to Nintendo, but I never went to their website or anything. Then I played Halo.

I signed up here to see what exactly a "forum" was, and I enjoyed myself. So I stayed. Been here a little over 3 years.

I had never seen such community interaction from any other developer. I was taken aback. There are always things that they could do, like what JAF said about the guy on the Mass Effect forums, but I don't care either way. What we do get satisfies me.

[Edited on 1/1/2007]

  • 01.01.2007 9:03 AM PDT
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SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

I don't really follow any other developers, so I'm lacking in experience here. The only one I ever cared about as much as I care about Bungie was Single-trac. But they're gone now, so I'm a bungie fan, through and through. So, I can't contribute to Sir Fragula's intent for this thread.

I do know that this developer has a much wider and committed community than most other companies. With the exception of Blizzard and Valve. Our community is much more interesting anyway. At least that's what I think. I love the updates, the whambulance, the fan-sites, the ilovebees.com potential that we are always looking for. There is so much going on, and so much to like.

Well, Bungie is moving into new territory with the pre-alpha and limited public beta thing. I don't know if it will change the way they interact with us in the coming months, but I'd imagine they'll have to give us some more insight than they usually would. I mean, they have to stay ahead of all the data we will hear about from the testers.

I think this next year will be the best yet, in as far as Bungie and its fans growing. I'm looking forward to everything we will see and do.

  • 01.01.2007 10:34 AM PDT
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Posted by: Sir Fragula
So what do youse out there think? Do you have any examples of good or bad developer/community relationships that particularly stand out in your minds? Can you think of any practices that we and Bungie could learn from?
id Software and Epic are two great examples of a good developer/community relationship. Dice is a pretty bad developer. Pretty much any partner with EA.

  • 01.01.2007 11:02 AM PDT

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Cortana 5 is a carbon-based lifeform that frequently visits these forums, currently residing in the United States. Practically every male on the site responds to her posts.

The Joyeuse IP Formula

Ubisoft.... In a way.
They sponsor the Frag Dolls. These girls aren't game developers, but they do communicate with the fans a lot.

  • 01.01.2007 11:21 AM PDT
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Posted by: cortana 5
Ubisoft.... In a way.
They sponsor the Frag Dolls. These girls aren't game developers, but they do communicate with the fans a lot.


But that's only because ubisoft know that pubescent 15 year olds enjoy thinking they're actually playing with girls. The frag dolls aren't actually real gamers, they were all ubisoft employees paid to form the team and play every ubisoft game in sight at every opportunity.

CCP (makers of eve online) probably have the best relationship, their employees are active ingame and on their forums, and their community is one of the strongest i have ever seen.

I'll actually be honest here, too. Bungie's relationship with its official community is crap. We have several people who are meant to deal directly within the community, who haven't been sighted within a mile of b.net for months, and whenever an apparantly crap decision is made by bungie and then announced in a confusing manner on other websites, the regulars of b.net are left to have the situation explained by the webmaster, someone who should only have to post when there's problems with the website, not to explain community matters that should be handled by the community dudez.

  • 01.01.2007 12:04 PM PDT
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This is the only forum I've been to for more than one post, so I can't say how other companies do.

[Edited on 1/1/2007]

  • 01.01.2007 12:20 PM PDT
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I haven't really Gone to many other developer websites besides Bungie because Bungie is the best. It is a great community with a pretty design. Lately I have been visiting the Star Trek Legacy forums, and the people who work at Bethesda interact with the comunity quite a bit. In fact, they asked us to help them come up with names for the achievements in the game. The writer of the games story has a thread on the forum to help clear up any questions players have about the stroy. However, they do not have regular news stories and updates like bungie does, and I think that kind of interaction in the comunity means alot.

  • 01.01.2007 12:37 PM PDT
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The only other gaming community I follow isn't a video gaming forum. It's the Magic: The Gathering site. I really like the fact that there are regular columns posted on the site, which describe new decks, provide news on tournaments and the top decks being played, tell anecdotes about the development of past and future sets, and most importantly discuss card strategy. They also provide regular card previews for the weeks preceding the release of a new set, something that gets me really psyched for the release. Overall, I think MTG has more to talk about concerning their game than Bungie, but they do a good job of posting regular polls and incorporating reader feedback into their articles, something I think Bungie could do more of.

  • 01.03.2007 7:58 PM PDT