I still think there is confusion regarding my previous post about the need for official forums. Here are some clarifying points:
- I have zero issues with the content of Mark’s blog or that particular post. I think that kind of information is valuable – and hearing it from the horse’s mouth is a very positive thing at times.
- I have zero issues with Mark Jacobs himself. I respect him greatly and think he’s done a wonderful job getting WAR to where it is today.
- My blog post was simply to say that I wouldn’t want to work for a company that didn’t have official forums or blog for that kind of communication. As a community manager, it’s my job to stay on top of my game’s fans and control the tone and messaging and be able to jump in at any time to ease concerns and provide more information. I also am able to make decisions about whether or not to have official forums or not
- I think that information from the horse’s mouth about downtimes and development should be either on official forums or blogs, in a press release, or in news articles. Not on private developer blogs. (It’s easy for you bloggers to find that pertinent information, but what about those who don’t follow blogs? There is no link from the WAR official site to Mark Jacob’s blog – and for good reason.)
- I have never once been against the ‘free speech’ of developers. Two loves of my life – game/web development and blogging – are a great mix.
- A community manager has to deal with the backlash of all of this. When the community responses positively – then everything is hunkydory and perfect. But when the community reacts negatively to something like this, it’s going to come down to the CM to ease the fire. That’s why I’d always prefer to avoid situations like this where the conversation is happening somewhere that I have no clout.
- You can’t say “I didn’t brand the site as Company Name because I didn’t want what I say to be representative of my company or taken as official communication” but then also address the community and your players about something major like downtime. You can’t have it both ways.
In other news, the layoffs at NCSoft are saddening. Several very good CM’s were laid off and I’m sure they’ll be snatched up soon. I wonder when companies will stop seeing their community teams as expendable and the first to cut?
