News Manager Keith Cross had a chance at the Austin Game Developers Conference to talk to Lee Hammock, the Lead Game Designer for the upcoming MMORPG, Fallen Earth.

Video Interview While at this year's Austin Game Developer's Conference, News Manager Keith Cross spoke to Lee Hammock, Lead Game Designer of Fallen Earth, where he went into detail about what set's this post-apocalyptic MMORPG apart from the crowd.

Check out all of our AGDC coverage here.

News Manager Keith Cross sat down with Mike Goslin, the Vice President of Virtual Reality Studio. The folks behind Pirates of the Caribbean Online.

Video Interview At the 2007 Austin Game Developer's Conference, News Manager Keith Cross had the opportunity to sit down with Virtual Reality Studio Vice President, Mike Goslin, to chat about what's been going on with Pirates of the Caribbean Online.

Check out all of our AGDC coverage here.

MMORPG.com's Community Manager, Laura Genender, attended one of the AGDC panels headed by: Cindy Bowens, past Community Manager for Sigil and current Consultant for Seashadow Consulting; Craig Dalrymple, Community Relations Manager for EverQuest II and today's panel moderator; Kelly Knox, past Community Manager for Lineage II and current Community Manager for Sony Online Entertainment; Victor Wachter, Online Community Relations Manager for Cryptic Studios; and Sanya Weathers, Director of Community for Guild Café.

Just think of it as an "anything I ever wanted to know about Community Managers article!

One of my favorite topics at this year's AGDC had to be all of the great community panels - not only is it my job, but it's a growing role in the evolution of our industry! In the panel, Community Management 101, we hear from some of the best minds in the business about what, why, and who does the community management for our games and websites.

The four person panel sported some long time community managers: Cindy Bowens, past community manager for Sigil and current consultant for Seashadow Consulting; Craig Dalrymple, community relations manager for EverQuest II and today's panel moderator; Kelly Knox, past community manager for Lineage II and current community manager for Sony Online Entertainment; Victor Wachter, Online Community Relations Manager for Cryptic Studios; and Sanya Weathers, Director of Community for Guild Café.

What makes a good Community Manager?

Sanya jokingly replied, "Don't hire people like us!" On a more serious note - you are looking for someone with no ego, a sense of humor, a genuine desire to serve, and someone who is articulate enough to reach their community in a professional and legible manner. "I tend to think that girls do it easier," Sonya remarks - this is one of the few departments where ladies represent a majority.

Kelly adds that you want someone who "won't take the bait." When working with volatile forums and (sometimes) angry emails, a Community Manager needs to keep their cool. Kelly also looks for impeccable writing skills and a whole lot of patience.

To Victor, it's vitally important to have a strong sense of judgment - sometimes "best for the company" is not "best for the players," or vice versa. The Community Manager has to be able to present the situation to both times in a non-aggressive way.

Cindy agrees with the above points, but adds in that a Community Manager needs to have a thick skin. CMs are the people who receive the angry emails from players who want more information, fewer rules, different rules, face-time with the devs, etc.

Read the whole article here.

Last week at the Austin Game Developer's Conference, SOE donated $10,000 to the local Habitat for Humanity, with the funds being gathered from in-game events during the recent demolition of unused player housing in Star Wars Galaxies.

At a cocktail reception during the Austin Game Developers Conference, Sony Online Entertainment's (SOE) Austin studio presented the local Habitat for Humanity (HfH) with a $10,000 donation to their efforts to end poverty housing in the area. The funds were raised as part of an in-game event for the company's Star Wars Galaxies Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) video game, where players were allowed to demolish abandoned or unoccupied player-created houses and buildings. Fighters from the Galactic Demolitions Crew swooped down from the stars and bombed the buildings.

A crowd of more than 150 was on hand at the Speakeasy in Austin to see SOE Austin VP of Development John Blakely present Austin HfH Executive Director Michael Willard with an oversized photo check for the donation.

Read more here.

Last week at the Austin Game Developer's Conference, Jeff Strain, a co-founder of ArenaNet, gave a talk about how to make a successful MMO. The Guild Wars official site has been updated with highlights from that speech.

Don't be fooled by the much-hyped success of the top MMOs on the market. The game industry is littered with the carnage of MMOs that have failed over the past few years. Due largely to the social nature of MMOs, gamers rarely commit to more than one or two MMOs at a time. This is in contrast to the traditional game market, in which there is room for many games to be successful, even within the same genre. You may play ten different action games this year, but you are very unlikely to play more than one or two MMOs. This means that it is not enough to make a great game - instead you must make a game that is so overwhelmingly superior that it can actively break apart an established community and bring that community to your game. In today's market, that is a tall order.

Regardless of the business model, the primary factor that determines whether an MMO lives or dies is the size of its active player base. There appears to be a tipping point at around 150,000 players. MMOs that reach this critical mass within a few months of release tend to continue to grow and thrive, and those that do not tend to shrink and ultimately die. The majority of MMOs that are released into the market never reach this threshold.

Read more here.

Daron Stinnett, the Producer of Perpetual Entertainment's Star Trek Online took a few minutes out of his Austing Game Developers Conference schedule to speak with MMORPG.com about the progress of the game.

While we were at the Austin Game Developers Convention, Keith Cross and I had the opportunity to sit down and talk to Daron Stinnett, the Producer of Perpetual Entertainment's Star Trek Online. Now, we haven't heard a lot out of these guys lately, and with good cause. STO is still in the early phases of development and talking about too much, too soon, can be a dangerous thing for an MMO. They don't want to be in a position where they have promised too much and delivered too little.

"When we're ready to talk about it," Daron said with enthusiasm, "the world will know about Star Trek Online."

Stinnett told us that Star Trek is loved by millions and millions of people worldwide and if anyone looked at the franchise, it is immediately apparent as to why the game would make a good MMO. Throughout the interview, he was always clear that they aren't planning to rest on the laurels of the Star Trek franchise. They hope to make a game that will appeal to MMORPG players as well as fans of the franchise.

"We're not building a Trekkers game, we're making a world class MMO."

Read the whole report here.

News Manager Keith Cross had a chance at the Austin Game Developers Conference to talk to Lee Hammock, the Lead Game Designer for the upcoming MMORPG, Fallen Earth.

Video Interview While at this year's Austin Game Developer's Conference, News Manager Keith Cross spoke to Lee Hammock, Lead Game Designer of Fallen Earth, where he went into detail about what set's this post-apocalyptic MMORPG apart from the crowd.

Check out all of our AGDC coverage here.

News Manager Keith Cross sat down with Mike Goslin, the Vice President of Virtual Reality Studio. The folks behind Pirates of the Caribbean Online.

Video Interview At the 2007 Austin Game Developer's Conference, News Manager Keith Cross had the opportunity to sit down with Virtual Reality Studio Vice President, Mike Goslin, to chat about what's been going on with Pirates of the Caribbean Online.

Check out all of our AGDC coverage here.

MMORPG.com's Community Manager, Laura Genender, attended one of the AGDC panels headed by: Cindy Bowens, past Community Manager for Sigil and current Consultant for Seashadow Consulting; Craig Dalrymple, Community Relations Manager for EverQuest II and today's panel moderator; Kelly Knox, past Community Manager for Lineage II and current Community Manager for Sony Online Entertainment; Victor Wachter, Online Community Relations Manager for Cryptic Studios; and Sanya Weathers, Director of Community for Guild Café.

Just think of it as an "anything I ever wanted to know about Community Managers article!

One of my favorite topics at this year's AGDC had to be all of the great community panels - not only is it my job, but it's a growing role in the evolution of our industry! In the panel, Community Management 101, we hear from some of the best minds in the business about what, why, and who does the community management for our games and websites.

The four person panel sported some long time community managers: Cindy Bowens, past community manager for Sigil and current consultant for Seashadow Consulting; Craig Dalrymple, community relations manager for EverQuest II and today's panel moderator; Kelly Knox, past community manager for Lineage II and current community manager for Sony Online Entertainment; Victor Wachter, Online Community Relations Manager for Cryptic Studios; and Sanya Weathers, Director of Community for Guild Café.

What makes a good Community Manager?

Sanya jokingly replied, "Don't hire people like us!" On a more serious note - you are looking for someone with no ego, a sense of humor, a genuine desire to serve, and someone who is articulate enough to reach their community in a professional and legible manner. "I tend to think that girls do it easier," Sonya remarks - this is one of the few departments where ladies represent a majority.

Kelly adds that you want someone who "won't take the bait." When working with volatile forums and (sometimes) angry emails, a Community Manager needs to keep their cool. Kelly also looks for impeccable writing skills and a whole lot of patience.

To Victor, it's vitally important to have a strong sense of judgment - sometimes "best for the company" is not "best for the players," or vice versa. The Community Manager has to be able to present the situation to both times in a non-aggressive way.

Cindy agrees with the above points, but adds in that a Community Manager needs to have a thick skin. CMs are the people who receive the angry emails from players who want more information, fewer rules, different rules, face-time with the devs, etc.

Read the whole article here.

Last week at the Austin Game Developer's Conference, SOE donated $10,000 to the local Habitat for Humanity, with the funds being gathered from in-game events during the recent demolition of unused player housing in Star Wars Galaxies.

At a cocktail reception during the Austin Game Developers Conference, Sony Online Entertainment's (SOE) Austin studio presented the local Habitat for Humanity (HfH) with a $10,000 donation to their efforts to end poverty housing in the area. The funds were raised as part of an in-game event for the company's Star Wars Galaxies Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) video game, where players were allowed to demolish abandoned or unoccupied player-created houses and buildings. Fighters from the Galactic Demolitions Crew swooped down from the stars and bombed the buildings.

A crowd of more than 150 was on hand at the Speakeasy in Austin to see SOE Austin VP of Development John Blakely present Austin HfH Executive Director Michael Willard with an oversized photo check for the donation.

Read more here.

Last week at the Austin Game Developer's Conference, Jeff Strain, a co-founder of ArenaNet, gave a talk about how to make a successful MMO. The Guild Wars official site has been updated with highlights from that speech.

Don't be fooled by the much-hyped success of the top MMOs on the market. The game industry is littered with the carnage of MMOs that have failed over the past few years. Due largely to the social nature of MMOs, gamers rarely commit to more than one or two MMOs at a time. This is in contrast to the traditional game market, in which there is room for many games to be successful, even within the same genre. You may play ten different action games this year, but you are very unlikely to play more than one or two MMOs. This means that it is not enough to make a great game - instead you must make a game that is so overwhelmingly superior that it can actively break apart an established community and bring that community to your game. In today's market, that is a tall order.

Regardless of the business model, the primary factor that determines whether an MMO lives or dies is the size of its active player base. There appears to be a tipping point at around 150,000 players. MMOs that reach this critical mass within a few months of release tend to continue to grow and thrive, and those that do not tend to shrink and ultimately die. The majority of MMOs that are released into the market never reach this threshold.

Read more here.

Daron Stinnett, the Producer of Perpetual Entertainment's Star Trek Online took a few minutes out of his Austing Game Developers Conference schedule to speak with MMORPG.com about the progress of the game.

While we were at the Austin Game Developers Convention, Keith Cross and I had the opportunity to sit down and talk to Daron Stinnett, the Producer of Perpetual Entertainment's Star Trek Online. Now, we haven't heard a lot out of these guys lately, and with good cause. STO is still in the early phases of development and talking about too much, too soon, can be a dangerous thing for an MMO. They don't want to be in a position where they have promised too much and delivered too little.

"When we're ready to talk about it," Daron said with enthusiasm, "the world will know about Star Trek Online."

Stinnett told us that Star Trek is loved by millions and millions of people worldwide and if anyone looked at the franchise, it is immediately apparent as to why the game would make a good MMO. Throughout the interview, he was always clear that they aren't planning to rest on the laurels of the Star Trek franchise. They hope to make a game that will appeal to MMORPG players as well as fans of the franchise.

"We're not building a Trekkers game, we're making a world class MMO."

Read the whole report here.

On Wednesday, the first day of the Austin Game Developers Conference, Laura Genender had a chance to sit down and talk with EVE Online's senior producer Nathan Richardsson.

EVE Online's senior producer Nathan Richardsson Interview Today at AGDC, Laura Genender talks with EVE Online's senior producer Nathan Richardsson about Revelations 2.2, and what's up and coming in Revelations 3.0

You can watch more videos over here.

Another part of a prior interview with NetDevil, News Manager Keith Cross talked with Jumpgate: Evolution Producer Hermann Peterscheck and NetDevil President Scott Brown about about the recently announced Lego MMO.

Interview with NetDevil about upcoming Lego MMO On Wednesday at the Austin Game Developers Conference, News Manager Keith Cross took some time to sit down with NetDevil President Scott Brown and Jumpgate: Evolution Producer Hermann Peterscheck to find out a little more about the recently announced Lego MMO.

You can watch more videos over here.

One of many interviews coming from Austin GDC is this interview by News Manager Keith Cross and Jumpgate: Evolution Producer Hermann Peterscheck and NetDevil President Scott Brown talking about Jumpgate: Evolution.

Intervew with NetDevil at AGDC On Wednesday at the Austin Game Developers Conference, News Manager Keith Cross had the chance to sit down with Jumpgate: Evolution Producer Hermann Peterscheck and NetDevil President Scott Brown to talk about Jumpgate Evolution.

You can watch more videos over here.

...of Warcraft. On Wednesday morning, Managing Editor Jon Wood attending the opening keynote address at the Austin Game Developers Conference, where Blizzard co-founder and president Mike Morhaime discussed the secrets of Blizzards success.

Day one of the Austin Game Developers Conference kicked off with a keynote speech from Mike Morhaime, the President and Co-Founder of Blizzard. If you've been living under a rock in the MMO world for the last few years, Blizzard is the company that brought World of Warcraft to the market, and paved the way for an expansion in the MMORPG industry.

"Our industry is young, and moving fast."

Morhaime led off by talking about the major leaps that have been made by way of communication in the 20th century.

The world has become a smaller place," he said. He's right. Online communication has made it possible for people who may never have had the opportunity to communicate with one another to meet, share ideas and become friends. Online games were a logical consequence of that change.

Read the full article here.

Breaking news from the Austin Game Developers Conference:

Tonight at a special pre-launch event, Richard Garriott announced that the upcoming MMORPG Tabula Rasa will launch on October 19th.

More information is on the way, so check back soon!

On the first day of the Austin GDC, Keith Cross had a chance to sit with Kevin Balentine, PR Manager for Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment.

Stargate Worlds Art Interview On the first day of the Austin GDC, Keith Cross had a chance to sit with Kevin Balentine, PR Manager for Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment.

Head over here to watch more videos.

Today at the Austin Game Developers Convention, Community Manager Laura Genender attended a panel with a number of prominent community mangers, where they discussed strategies for building a strong community and rewarding community influencers.

Take a look at forums, blogs, fansites, in-game - the gaming industry is full of outspoken individuals, and I'm not talking developers and community managers. Many of our most important community members are people just like you: guild leaders, bloggers, tireless fansite workers, and just friendly, charismatic in-game chatters. And lately, the gaming industry (now I am talking developers and community managers) is starting to notice and appreciate the importance of those community influencers.

Today at the Austin Game Developer's Conference, EM Stock (Senior Community Manager, SOE Austin) moderated the Identifying Engaging and Empowering Community Influencers panel. Panel members Sonya Weathers (Director of Community, Guild Café), Charles Dane (Community Manger, CCP Games), Troy Hewitt (Director of Community Relations, Flying Lab Software), Sean Dahlberg (Community Manager, Shadowbane), Paul Della Bitta (Sr. Community Manager, Blizzard Entertainment), and Alan Crosby (Director of Global Community Relations, SOE) discussed the topic of community influencers, and methods they use to identify, engage, and empower them.

Read the entire article here.