Developer Perspectives: Anatomy of a Live Event
Behind the scenes look at live events, what really goes on and how they're put together.
Column By Sanya Weathers on September 04, 2009
One of the most successful live events I ever attended wasn’t planned or executed by the game studio. A group of players from a particular server got together and realized most of them lived within driving distance of a large city. One of the more enthusiastic people was an older woman – not “one foot in the grave” old, but mid-30s. (I realize that’s the same thing to many new MMO players, but let me tell you, an insane percentage of guild organizers ARE women in their 30s and older, and male or female they are people who are used to herding cats and coming up with last minute activities on rainy days and not being rewarded in any way for herculean efforts and being okay with all of that. But I digress.) She rented a banquet room at a centrally located restaurant, collected money for food and for the hire of a bartender, and finally, called the company that made the game.
Could the studio send over a t-shirt, or maybe a mug?
The studio did one better. They sent me and a coworker with a big box of loot. Yes, I had something to do with that (“please, I want to go, let me go, I found a ticket on Expedia for fifty bucks, pleeeeeeeease”), and yes, my much adored boss had something to do with that (“you don’t have to YELL, for crying out loud”). But it was an enormous benefit to the studio in terms of goodwill and relationship building, at absolutely no cost beyond a hotel room, two discount coach airfares, and a box of shirts and mugs that had been paid for out of a previous year’s budget.
The players did not appear to have measurably less fun than I’ve seen them having at official fan gatherings, sponsored parties, or cons. That’s because this gathering had everything that mattered: food, beverages, central location, a method of identifying each other, a critical mass of people with the same hobby, and no shame.
Official events are basically the same thing with more expensive signage and more devs pulling panel duty.
Whether we’re talking about legendary undertakings like Blizzcon and Sony’s Fan Faire, or the low key Player Luncheons from the Ultima Team that started it all, the differences are entirely relatively minor ones of cost and complexity. If you’ve ever planned an event, you could put one of these together. If you haven’t planned an event, here’s a look at what you need:
The political will to execute the event. Someone in control of the budget needs to believe that there is value in facilitating a celebration of the product. The person who writes the checks needs to believe that the emotional bonds forged at live events directly translate to longer subscriptions, multiple subscriptions, and subscriptions paid for long after the player has ceased logging in just because he wants to keep going to the gatherings. Finally, the purse holder has to be willing to choke up cash to put on an event that will help players see that the company is not a faceless monolith of corporate drones, but a group of passionate, devoted players. Unfortunately, very few companies have done the kind of data gathering to prove that live events have this impact, and even fewer employ people from other industries that have already done this research.
The backing of key developers within the company. The players can put together an awesome gathering without the game studio being involved. They DO put them together, and at considerably less expense to themselves. So why should players go to an official event? Access to developers, and inside information.
While a certain class of MMO player is satisfied with meeting ANYONE who works on the game, that class of player is also vaguely creepy, and will try to corner a developer to get him drunk so she can sleep with him. This is funny to watch, but not necessarily the kind of thing that wins over the guy in charge of next year’s budget.
Most players have social skills, and didn’t pay the fee to meet a newb whose job is wrangling spreadsheets. They want to hear from the people who have the power to make changes. They want to meet leads. The only acceptable substitute for a hands on lead is the guy who was there at the very beginning of the company’s founding, and can tell awesome stories.
But the players don’t want to meet anyone who had to be dragged there at gunpoint. If there aren’t enough high ranking devs who are capable of smiling for two days at the people who make careers in game development possible, then let the players put together their own gatherings.
A dedicated team to produce the event. If the developers don’t have developer tasks to do, something is badly wrong with the company. Someone has to book the room, hire the caterer, order the twelve foot banners, proofread the souvenir program, and run the badge making assembly line.
There also has to be someone who knows what the players are interested in learning, who the big guilds are, and what special topics are currently raging across the community. This is usually called “a community person,” but customer service people are equally well informed. No matter who it is, someone with this knowledge needs to be involved with planning, so player needs will be met and developers won’t be blindsided during the event.
This team can be augmented by developers right before the event –nothing says team building like stuffing two hundred goody bags on an empty stomach with a pitcher of something boozy nearby! – but the event planning team shouldn’t be all devs.
A sound system. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people are going to be attending. A guy with a loud voice is not going to cut it. Also, there needs to be some kind of bell to let people know that events are beginning, food is served, five minute warnings, whatever.
A method to let players find each other. A giant bulletin board will do.
Activities. These are MMO players. Their primary source of entertainment comes from logging into a virtual world and there being Something To Do. People shouldn’t have to do Live Quests, jousting matches, scavenger hunts, costume contests, movie contests, trivia games, puzzles, LAN duels, or roleplay story hours… but if you don’t offer those things, you might as well have saved the cost of the event and stayed home.
I planned a lot of activities in my time, with varying degrees of success. My favorite one was for an early DAOC gathering, and it cost virtually nothing. I thought it would be funny to have a “PVP battle.” We taped out a giant Camelot knot shape in masking tape on the floor. Then about a quarter of the dev team sat around blowing up balloons in the three realm-specific colors of blue, red, and green until we were all dizzy. Then we taped them to the floor.
I don’t remember how we chose the teams, but each “realm” got a pair of players. The object was to defend your own realm’s balloon color, and pop the others.
It was goofy. It was cheap. It was HILARIOUS. The crowd went wild. Total bedlam. The sight of one of the players clutching his realm’s last balloon while the other two realms stomped the rest of his… and then him picking off theirs while they tried to kill him… is burned into my memory.
My point is that it doesn’t need to be expensive if it captures something unique about the game and its players.
Appreciation. The event is to celebrate the game, and the people who play it – not the people who make it.
Sharing. Live webcam feeds. Twitter. Photo blogs. YouTube videos of key moments. We’re internet people: pics or it didn't happen!
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Nice Article one thing I wanted to comment on was the fact you mention people of age or to quote:
"One of the more enthusiastic people was an older woman – not “one foot in the grave” old, but mid-30s. (I realize that’s the same thing to many new MMO players, but let me tell you, an insane percentage of guild organizers ARE women in their 30s and older, and male or female they are people who are used to herding cats and coming up with last minute activities on rainy days...."
Many of gamer today are 30 - 50+ I know for a fact that many who play WoW are in that range actually it would not surprise me that many MMORPG are played by people in that age bracket. After all we played RPG's with the 20 D back in high school. I guess you can say that was also considered a "live" event. Now we play without the 20 D on our laptops.
I think the age comment had more to do with when the "event" in the story actually happened. Tho to be honest the foundres of my UO guild in 1997 were both in their 50's.
It was an interesting article.. it actually caught me off guard. When I saw the term "live event" I was actually thinking of things I did with the UO Interest Team aka "in game live event".
Thanks for the good read.
I think events like this will always succeed, as long as people are having fun.
The only live event I have gone to was a Camelot Round Table event in San Antonio,TX at Dave & Busters back in 2006. It was awesome! They showed us a preview of the new expansion and what was upcomming in the game. My girlfriend and I talked with everyone and bought some cool stuff. Plus they had food! Was an awesome experience. I would go again.
Sanya how am I supposed to attack your writing when you haven't used cliches or unneeded sarcasm in your last two posts..... making it difficult over here. Due to your last two articles being sound I will have to say my earlier comments are no longer founded with your new style of writing. Although I think the cat comment was in reference to yourself and I always pictured you owning many cats.
I think MMOs should hold lots of player gatherings and dev chats that are open to the general user, or at least something like a few members from each guild get to ask the questions if the chat room is too full to keep it sane. However I think at the same time a lot of companies are unwilling to do this due to time and money.
I think companies look at it as "Well anyone who would show up to these events clearly likes our game and will continue playing it anyways" so it's the it will cost us money but not bring us any back in. Unless you're Blizzcon and you charge admission and sell people stuff while they're there in which case you make another fortune.
If there was a local event, within an hour or two of me, for one of the games I play I'd most likely go and check it out. But I don't think there ever has been.
I'm sure she is sleeping better now that she has won your approval. I know, as a professional writer, I would be much more anxious about what the random stranger "SnarlingWolf" thought than say, my professional peers or even my employer would think. You write with such authority, almost as if you are her boss giving an evaluation, I am sure you must have a mountain of credentials to justify the pretetious tone you take.
And as for your acute perception of how many cats Sanya owns, I was wondering if living in your parents basement for 20 years is what honed such instincts?
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If you don't like the tone I am taking with you, perhaps you should stop taking it with others.
Your first paragraph is nothing but a backhanded compliment. Sanya's job is to entertain and inform you. You get this service at no cost. You made a conscience decision to read it. If you don't jive with her writing style you don't have to continue reading them. If you enjoyed this article, why insert a negative critique on her older ones? I mean beyond just being an ass. There are appropriate ways to disagree without being so smug, condescending and disrespectful.
I second the motion.
Always wanted to go to some major industry event. Never really had the opportunity (life happens ya know?).
Unfortunately, I'm one of those evil, despised "soloer's" and have not met many "real life" gamers, so I'm probably doomed to continue my obscure existence.
I really can't say how much I enjoy your articles. Always a refreshing look at things we may not normally have access to.
Thanks
Ah, I always though "live event" was when the developers actually got in game and decided to interact with the players. Not much of that goes on nowadays, does it? On topic: an interesting article. I've often wished I knew or was friends with more people who share the same passion for games as I do.
I was confused and thinking the same until towards the end. So its more like a REAL live event, something I haven't known about until now but it does sound like a blast. Its like LARPing with the Devs. :)
The sight of one of the players clutching his realm’s last balloon while the other two realms stomped the rest of his… and then him picking off theirs while they tried to kill him… is burned into my memory.
Haxor. I hope someone got a screenshot and petitioned.
That's a great idea on the gamers' part, and really awesome of you. Great article! ^^
I've met some of my very best real life friends by playing in the same MMO guilds for years.
Great article. I have been lucky to be a part of several live events and most of them were what I needed from an MMO. I love player housing, crafting, pve and pvp but live events are crucial. I remembber in SWG, pre CU, when "Tuskens" invaded Mos Eis and "Black Suns" invaded the royal palace in Theed. These were amazing and the player base rallied and fought as a team. I was a part of a few smaller ones in EQ2 and they did not have the umph that the others had. I hope more devs and comapnies realize that live events are needed.
I'm sure she is sleeping better now that she has won your approval. I know, as a professional writer, I would be much more anxious about what the random stranger "SnarlingWolf" thought than say, my professional peers or even my employer would think. You write with such authority, almost as if you are her boss giving an evaluation, I am sure you must have a mountain of credentials to justify the pretetious tone you take.
And as for your acute perception of how many cats Sanya owns, I was wondering if living in your parents basement for 20 years is what honed such instincts?
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If you don't like the tone I am taking with you, perhaps you should stop taking it with others.
Your first paragraph is nothing but a backhanded compliment. Sanya's job is to entertain and inform you. You get this service at no cost. You made a conscience decision to read it. If you don't jive with her writing style you don't have to continue reading them. If you enjoyed this article, why insert a negative critique on her older ones? I mean beyond just being an ass. There are appropriate ways to disagree without being so smug, condescending and disrespectful.
You were astute enough to catch the backhanded compliment, congratulations. But no unfortuantly your tone affects me exactly zero, it does not matter to me and will not change how I post.
One thing people forget is everyone is entitled to their opinions, whether someone else likes them or not. And anytime you are hired to publicly post your thoughts in a forum atmosphere where others can respond to you, you do so knowing the risk that there will be people who disagree with your line of thinking. So not only is she not exempt from such things, neither is any of the other staff/blog posters on this site. Nor am I free from someone attacking my attack as you have. But I am sure that she is as affects by my comments as I am by yours, which is not at all.
So carry on defender of the article writer, you sir are a real man of genius.
You were astute enough to catch the backhanded compliment, congratulations. But no unfortuantly your tone affects me exactly zero, it does not matter to me and will not change how I post.
One thing people forget is everyone is entitled to their opinions, whether someone else likes them or not. And anytime you are hired to publicly post your thoughts in a forum atmosphere where others can respond to you, you do so knowing the risk that there will be people who disagree with your line of thinking. So not only is she not exempt from such things, neither is any of the other staff/blog posters on this site. Nor am I free from someone attacking my attack as you have. But I am sure that she is as affects by my comments as I am by yours, which is not at all.
So carry on defender of the article writer, you sir are a real man of genius.
I never attacked your right to an opinion - as highlighted above. But as you are entitled to post yours, so too am I. And my opinion is that you are smug, condescending, and unqualified to critique her writing style. My opinion is that you have no real reason to criticize and thus your opinions are worthy of being called for what they are.
So I say that what people like you forget is that if you post an insulting opinion, expect that others will post theirs to call you out.
And I agree, Sanya is not exempt from critique. But just because you can do something, or just because you have a right to do something, doesn't necessarily mean you 'should' do something. And besides, it was not your right to an opinion that rubs me the wrong way, its the way you present it. You have a right to your opinion, you have a responsibility to show respect - in my opinion. If you have the right to be an ass, I have a write to say I expect more civility. Sounds like you are the one who believes they are exempt from critique.
I see you excercised your right to call me a 'genius', I myself will excercise my right more directly:
- you sir, are a real ass.
Sanya, and other posters I apologize for the hijack but my opinion is he should know that the only one impressed with his attitude is himself.