Community
Building Strategies
4. Design a range of roles and develop a strong
leadership program
Looking again at offline communities, there is usually a series of roles played out by various members of the community. Some people are leaders or organizers, others are new members who are just learning the ropes. In the same way that a offline community designates individuals to certain roles, so does a successful online community. To begin with, a small number of designers usually act as the first c community leaders. As the community grows and matures, involved members should take on leadership positions. As mature community builders these individuals can assist newer members, plan events, answer questions, and help to maintain the existing community.
When new players enter Ultima Online they first create an avatar. Once the avatar is complete they move into a practice training world where they can hone their skills in a safe environment. This safe environment is staffed by longtime players, called companions, who have proved themselves to be competent and rule abiding. Companions are volunteers who offer help and advise to new players. They also introduce the new players to the Ultima Online community.
Within the game, other forms of group leadership exist. Players can join one of the 4,200 + guilds that suits their interests and goals. Guilds are member run organizations that are lead by at least two veteran players. Guilds can have a complex leadership hierarchy. To view the leadership structure of one of Ultima Online's largest guilds, The Syndicate, visit their guild site at www.llts.org/iiiguild2.html and click on the "leadership" button. In addition to guild membership, players can choose to create their own small party of players who will work as a team. Both parties and guilds have leaders who can invite new members to join the group and who guide the group's activities.
5. Encourage appropriate etiquette
While the Internet has been heralded the one place where rules cannot be enforced, a community can not exist without a set of behavior standards agreed upon by the community members. Because of the anonymity and lack of face-to-face interactions on the Internet, it is more easy for web behavior to be inappropriate and damaging than behavior in a offline community where members are made responsible for their actions. It is therefore necessary for straight forward guidelines to be posted in a virtual community. For these guidelines to be successful, not only do they need to be posted, they also need to be enforced, developed, and evolved as necessary.
Within the Ultima Online website there are clearly posted guidelines that deal with etiquette and with enforced rules governing inappropriate behavior such as harassment. The Britannian Etiquette page includes information about common etiquette on issues like snooping in other players belongings, screaming, and looting. On a more serious note, the Harassment page reviews the externally enforced rules of the Terms of Service (TOS) agreement that players must accept. This page also gives in-depth information on what harassment is and how it will be dealt with. While the TOS rules are externally regulated by Origin Systems, there are also sets of player created and enforced rules. For example, each guild has its own set of rules and expectations for its members. The Guild of Friends has highly developed set of guidelines for its members that covers a variety of situations from aiding other guilds and chat room meetings.
6. Promote cyclic events and integrate rituals into community life
Events and rituals are reasons for the community to come together. They help to build a strong sense of community presence and history by marking changes within the community or its members. Acknowledging rights of passage, celebrating events, and developing regular online events are a few of the possible ways of integrating this dimension into online community. Rituals and events can be based around real-time seasons or holidays or they can also be special community chosen times, like the community's launch date. In a fantasy world, unique events and rituals only found in the online world may be developed. For example, the players of Ultima Online celebrate seasonal changes that are not celebrated outside of the game world. Some celebrations such as Christmas, are also acknowledged in the game world. In addition, Ultima Online has real-time celebrations that can be organized by any player. Below is a announcement of a real-time wedding between two characters and an invitation to a St. Patrick's Day Party.
Wedding of Cherish Firekiss & Pariah| PLAYER LEvEL | ORGANIZED BY | SHARD | ||||||||||||
| Wedding | Newbie | Player | Siege Perilous | |||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| CATEGORY | PLAYER LEVEL | ORGANIZED BY | SHARD | |||||||||||
| Party | Newbie | Player | Chesapeake | |||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
Sometimes the rituals and events in Ultima Online extend outsides of the fantasy world and relate directly to events happening offline. In her book, Kim describes the story of an avid Ultima Online player who was killed in a motorcycle accident. His guildmates requested a memorial be placed in the fantasy world in memory of him. An Ultima Online staff member who knew the player created two memorials that remain permanent additions to the Britannia landscape. Other players responded by leaving flowers and offering at the gravesite memorial.
7. Facilitate member-run subgroups
Most people want to be a part of a community that provides them with a sense of belonging, where others know who they are. Like in any other community, if the group gets too large, this type of intimacy is often lost. To tackle this problem a larger community can be broken down into smaller subgroups. Subgroups might be based around areas of specific interest or geographical location. A smaller group situation allows for more repeated contact between group members and the development of strong relationships. Subgroups can organize their own small group activities and have their own meeting location while still remaining in contact with the larger community.
As the popularity of Ultima Online grew, players began teaming up and working as small groups, identifying themselves as group members by the color of their clothing or by their naming practices. Seeing that players wanted a connection to a group of other players, an official guild system was implemented. Each guild is a player run organization of likeminded characters. Within guilds there are also smaller subgroups based around professions or areas of interest, like the paladins of the Guardians of Light guild.
8. Integrate the online environment with the "real" world
Discussing Kim's last strategy, integrate the online environment with the "real" world, Dr. John Suler, clinical psychologist and professor at Rider University had this to say:
I like to call this [Kim's last
strategy] the "integration
principle." For a community to be healthy and productive - for it to
have "staying" power - its members must integrate their online lives
with their in-person lives. What does that mean? On the simplest level, it means
they talk about their online experiences with the people they know offline,
which will give them a clearer understanding of those experiences - especially
if the online world is an ambiguous text-only or fantasy/avatar environment,
where it's very easy to misinterpret other people's moods and intentions.
Without the reality testing offered by one's friends and family, it's too easy
to loose perspective, act out, and find oneself in a hurtful rather than
enjoyable situation. When that happens too often to many people, the community
can be destroyed. "Integration" also means the members of a community
contact each other offline, by telephone or meeting in-person. Face-to-face,
they become familiar with each other's lives. Again, more reality testing and
less acting out. As strong as online relationships can be, they are always made
stronger when people meet in-person, when they commit to the intimacy of
face-to-face encounters. While not everyone in the community can meet everyone
else in-person, it is extremely helpful when there is a critical mass of people
who have solidified their relationships offline. These people often become the
stable, enduring core that hold the community together.
Moving beyond online encounters, Ultima Online is supporting events were players can meet face-to-face. These events range from simple picnic luncheons to weekend get-a-ways at Walt Disney World.
Some other suggestions for developing on-line communities can be found in the article Nine Principles for Making Virtual Communities Work by Mike Godwin. The nine principles that he outlines for maximizing the possibility that a virtual community will survive are:
- Use software that promotes good discussions
- Don not impose a length limitation on postings
- Front-load your system with talkative, diverse people
- Let the users resolve their own disputes
- Provide institutional memory
- Provide places for children
- Be host to a particular interest group
- Confront the users with a crisis
- Promote continuity
Community Building Strategies - Page 1
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