Community is the lifeblood of an MMORPG. The strength of a community can retain players during content droughts and attract new ones. Part of helping that community along is on the developers, engaging with them in meaningful ways.
For some, this is down to in-game events, while some host regular live streams with familiar community team members to interact with community members. Other developers host player gatherings or support player-created ones, from small events to large affairs like EVE Fanfest, TennoCon, or BlizzCon.
Since the pandemic lifted across the globe, Pearl Abyss has supported community events wherever there is a community to support. From small gatherings like the Adventurer’s Oasis gatherings that have taken place across the states this year to larger events such as the Calpheon Ball last December, Pearl Abyss is engaging their community in meaningful ways.
During TwitchCon Las Vegas over the weekend, Pearl Abyss held the first community event focused on content creators. Makes sense, with the deluge of content creators making the pilgrimage to the Las Vegas Valley for TwitchCon proper. Thus, under the lights of the nearby Las Vegas Strip, creators gathered at TopGolf Las Vegas for some food, drinks, and conversation with each other and the developers - as well as some golf, of course.
Content creators have become an integral part of engaging a community over the years, especially with live service games like MMOs and ARPGs. Through content creators, new players learn about a game, existing players stay engaged with a game, and the developers have another avenue to reach players of all levels by working with the creators themselves.
Establishing A Relationship
When Pearl Abyss America CEO Jeonghee Jin (JJ) joined the company back in 2018, the company had also just acquired Icelandic developer CCP Games, known for building EVE Online. At the time, CCP Games hosted its annual Fanfest in Iceland’s capital of Reykjavik every year, as well as supported player gatherings around the world, taking over one in North America, EVE Vegas. JJ went to EVE Fanfest that year, the MMO’s 15th anniversary, and was blown away by what she saw there.
“I was shocked; I was so impressed,” JJ told me in an interview during the Creator’s Night event last weekend. “I kept saying, ‘Oh my god, we should do something like this.”
That first Fanfest for JJ was transformative, it seems, as she met with EVE players and the community at large throughout the weekend. As someone who has attended multiple EVE Fanfest and EVE events worldwide, I can understand this, too. There is something special about those events that really energize you, whether you’re a newbro learning your way through space or a hardened space lord intent on expansion with your corporation. This community really embodies the ethos of people you’re more than happy to shoot in New Eden and then laugh about it over a beer.
“I really wanted to bring that experience to the Black Desert community,” JJ says. So she set to work, talking with CCP Games CEO Hilmar Veigar Petursson to learn about the events, get data points, and more. Since EVE Fanfest 2018, Black Desert has hosted several events - none at the scale of a Fanfest, but all serving a purpose nonetheless.
One of the first events we attended was a community event as part of PAX East 2022, where Anthony Lowry (one of our Black Desert writers) met with the developers and community for the first time. Called the “Voice of Adventurers Event,” the gathering was a chance for North American players to meet with members of the Pearl Abyss team, as well as meet their community, all while having some food and drinks along the way.
From there, the team has hosted events worldwide, from the Voice of Adventurers Europe 2022, events near TwitchCon in Paris earlier this year, an event at Gamescom in 2022 and 2023, and more. Here in North America, there have been at least four events since last December, with the Calpheon Ball (the closest I’ve seen to a full Fanfest-type event with the scale) in Los Angeles last year, as well as multiple events called Adventurer’s Oasis, aimed at community meet and greets happening in SoCal, Seattle, and New York.
These community events are also a way for the developers in Korea to meet players from around the globe, to interact with them and learn from them as well, according to JJ. She tells me that at each event, they try to invite some of the developers from Korea, though it doesn’t always happen. This is so players can meet the developers actively working on the game, from artists to programmers, but also so the Korean team can meet players and have conversations with them in a meaningful way.
"As a game developer who was born in Korea, most of our game developers are Korean. When we do these events, I try to invite our developers, programmers, and artists, so that they can also meet the North American players. I think those were really helpful for them to understand what other players outside of Korea think about and how they should react to some of the things you're doing. So I think it was really helpful both ways."
The smaller, more meet-and-greet style events, like the Adventurer’s Oasis events, are still meaningful in their own way.
However, the event this past weekend was targeting content creators, an important part of the community. Content creators have, for many studios, become part of their marketing strategy, with developers building relationships with those streamers to help build brand awareness and excitement around their games. Many studios now have Partner Programs where streamers and creators can qualify to be branded ambassadors for the games they specialize in, giving them and their communities at large perks that help boost not only the brand but the creator as well.
JJ, like many other studio heads out there, sees content creators and that whole ecosystem as an important aspect of the community, especially as traditional marketing and ways to reach an audience prove less effective.
“I think conventional marketing or PR is not really working as well as before,” JJ told me during the Creator’s Night in Las Vegas over the weekend. “It’s content creators who are the ones who hook up other players to try something new. These guys are really like an evangelist for your brand.”
Working With Creators
One of the more prolific Black Desert Online streamers out there, Choice, was in attendance at the Creators Night event. Speaking to a room full of creators eager to learn from him, Choice gave a speech all about growing a channel while playing Black Desert, touching on data points everywhere from what to stream to when to go live and more.
Choice tells me he pretty much exclusively plays Black Desert Online on stream, outside of sponsorships that see him switch gears occasionally.
“I really have no other game that I stream,” Choice tells me. “And that’s not because I can’t; it’s simply just because I think I love Black Desert, and I genuinely enjoy it. It’s the game that I play the most even when I’m not streaming.”
As an aside, I can attest that playing games for your job, it is the sign of a game you truly enjoy when it’s all you want to play when you are off the clock.
Working with content creators is key to cultivating a vibrant creation scene and engaging players long-term. Events like the one at TwitchCon Vegas or the Adventurers Oasis are a great way for both the creators (and community at large) to meet and greet the developers, but also a great way for developers to learn from the players as well. And, as JJ puts it, there is something valuable about meeting in person versus interacting through a screen.
“I really think the best way to get to know others is through in-person conversations,” she explained. “Sometimes you think you know somebody through screens. I also watch the streams a lot. But actually, it’s a very different experience when I finally see them in person and get to know them, their personality, and what they really like and don’t like, and listen to their actual feedback outside their streams. I think I learn a lot more.”
That back and forth between the player and the development team is something every creator I spoke to during the event echoed as a positive, including KanonXO, a streamer based in South Korea who was in attendance.
“Pearl Abyss has been just outstanding,” KanonXO told me during the event. “If I didn’t think that they were doing a great job with their creators, I would just be like, ‘Yeah, they’re pretty good, pretty decent.’ But they’ve just been very impressive.”
Choice, who has been working with Pearl Abyss almost since he started streaming Black Desert, has had some pretty cool opportunities as part of the creator program, even being flown out to Korea to meet the team behind the game, as well as stream one of Pearl Abyss’ other titles, the short-lived Shadow Arena from GStar 2019. KanonXO, for his part, has also had the opportunity to meet the Korean development team while as part of the partner program, providing direct feedback to the developers.
It’s that closeness, that direct line to the devs that makes this relationship so valuable to all parties involved. JJ talks about how these events aren’t just valuable to the players, but also to the developers and people who work on the game itself. Being able to take feedback from Adventurers, whether it’s good or bad, is paramount to improving a game. And with the creators in the partner program, they feel like that direct line is incredibly valuable, even if that feedback isn’t always incorporated.
“The level of just being able to voice our concerns directly to GMs and CMs who will forward that feedback to developers in Korea is very, very high,” Choice tells me. “Even if it’s not feedback that is directly taken, I do feel like I’m not hopeless in my voice being heard. I at least know that feedback is being taken and forwarded. I feel it’s a very, very good program; it feels very inclusive.”
“The team also listens to content creators,” KanonXO echoed. “They take feedback, and they care, and the fact that we’re talking right now at this event is a testament to that.”
Finding That Niche
Black Desert Online creators focus on very different things as well, something it seems Pearl Abyss highlights when working with them. Choice started out Node Wars in Black Desert, which he became known for in the community. However, over the course of his time streaming, that changed a bit as he’s become more prominent and focused as a streamer.
“So when I first started streaming, there’s a piece of content in Black Desert called Node Wars, and that particular piece of content was like the main thing people knew me for because I did perform very well at it. So I’d always start my stream with that piece of content and then I would go into the latter half of the stream where I would talk to the chat and things like that.”
Choice describes a situation where he felt he didn’t really feel it was his place at the time to talk about the newer updates and provide insights into them as a smaller streamer back then, he shifted his focus over the years where that is now what he leads off each stream with as he’s grown. Now each stream effectively starts with Choice chatting with his community about the updates and goingson in Black Desert, saving the Node Wars content for the “Main Event.”
I don't know where all my pics went butttt it was great meeting all the BDO staff and creators at the @NewsBlackDesert event. @im_choice @xDivios Frosty, and ty for allowing me to bring my boys @Stoopzz_TV @saintoneLIVE, super fun event! Wish i had more photos w/ the others ): pic.twitter.com/FVcZPvXuzh
— Kanon (@Kanon_XO) October 25, 2023
KanonXO, meanwhile, provides an interesting angle for those new players interested in Black Desert but might not know where to start. As a creator who played BDO back when it first launched in the SouthEast Asia region, Kanon left the game for years only to return this past July. While streaming Black Desert when he came back wasn’t his first foray into streaming - he was a partnered Lost Ark streamer before this - it did provide a unique angle as a returning player having to effectively relearn the game all over again.
Choice provided a key piece of advice to me when asked what he would tell a new streamer who is looking to grow: don’t be afraid of backseat gaming. KanonXO seems to have taken that mindset and run with it, as much of his stream is built on exposing himself, and newer players, to content he might not have seen before, with people in the chat helping along the way. It helps, though, that KanonXO had played before, so it doesn’t take much for him to “get” what is going on.
“I had a unique opportunity when I came back because a lot of new streamers were oblivious,” KanonXO explained. “So it was a really raw new player experience. For me, it was a little bit different because I knew the game very well because I no-lifed it. But I was oblivious to the new changes. So there was an interesting, balanced mix of me knowing what I’m doing and being able to be backseated by my audience. So instead of my audience telling me to do something and I have no idea what they’re talking about, they’ll say something, and I’ll immediately receive and understand what they are saying. So I feel like that was a little bit of a better viewing experience for them.”
“Committed Romantic Relationship”
During the event, JJ equated the relationship the MMORPG developer and the community, even its partner program members, have as a “very committed romantic relationship.” There are ups and downs, but at the end of the day, the relationship is one built on passion - passion from the creators for the game and a real desire from Pearl Abyss’ side to make Black Desert Online the best MMO it can be for its community.
This means that sometimes they hurt each other, especially when feedback isn’t always given in the best way, especially when it’s delivered through the anonymity the Internet can provide.
“Sometimes we hurt each other,” JJ explained. “But I think we realized that it’s coming from passion.”
As JJ explained, people who are angry and leaving feedback like this but are still playing the game - that’s valuable feedback. So many unsatisfied players stop playing without providing any indication as to why.
“But our players who are complaining or giving us bad feedback, they want to change, they want an improvement. So these are things that actually we probably have to hear more because happy players really don’t say anything.”
By meeting the community and these content creators in person at these events, the bad aspects of that feedback are seemingly stripped away, as people tend to open up more in person.
“I think also, in this type of event, people are nicer,” JJ said with a laugh.
It also helps that the developers care what the community thinks. This is something that was echoed by everyone I spoke to, both for this interview and just casually: Pearl Abyss cares about its community and what it thinks.
“I could see why the game as an MMORPG, after X amount of years, is still around and doing really well,” KanonXO said. “Everyone at the office genuinely loves their game.”
