作者：Dennis Fong

在过去几年里，我们总是看到游戏发行商们坚持着“游戏就是一种服务”的理念，即意味着微交易，付费货币，定期内容更新以及深层次的玩家行为参数的结合。但是关于GaaS的问题则在于，许多使用这一模式的发行商都以创造长期的成功为代价而致力于发展短期收益中。

玩家们都很聪明。如果他们所投入的金钱和时间得不到奖励，他们便不会愿意再坚持下去。但也有一些不是很明显的情况：对于玩家有利的内容通常也对业务有利，成功游戏的真正关键取决于一个成功的在线社区。所以我们可以说社区也是一种服务。

这是一种更好的方法

让我们着眼于现今最受欢迎的在线游戏。像《英雄联盟》，《军团要塞2》以及《星战前夜》等游戏都获得了巨大的成功，而它们的成功并不是通过从玩家身上榨取巨额的金钱，而是提供给社区所需要的工具并推动社区的发展。

League-of-Legends(from League of Legends)

举个例子来说吧，多亏了免费业务模式，《英雄联盟》才能取得巨大的成功。其开发商Riot Games每个季节都会举办竞赛，在此呈现出游戏中最厉害的竞争对手，并推动着玩家能在竞争水平上继续玩《英雄联盟》。它也使用了Tribunal和观众模式去支持《英雄联盟》社区。

这些事件和功能旨在提高玩家的用户粘性，并为游戏累积商誉，但同时它们也刺激着一些本质的内容。Raptr自己的案例研究表明，多亏了游戏持续的社区支持，《英雄联盟》以每个月7.6%的百分比而发展着，并在主要的电子竞技后新用户注册数增加了10%。

《军团要塞2》是另外一款有效对待游戏社区的游戏，并因此获得了回报，即在游戏发行5年后仍然保持很好的发展。在这几年里，Valve一直通过更新内容去保持游戏的新鲜感，玩家可以在著名的Steam Workshop创造属于自己的道具和地图。

着眼于Steam Workshop，我们会发现当玩家创造了自己的内容并将其带到喜欢的游戏里，他们便会更久地留在游戏中，更频繁地玩游戏，并对游戏更加忠实。2011年，当《军团要塞2》为Steam Workshop添加了支持时，游戏的每日活跃用户提升了271%—-《军团要塞2》从而成为了让人印象深刻的免费游戏。

《星战前夜》的创造者CCP通过将社区当成游戏设计的一大核心元素而取得了巨大的成功。《星战前夜》依赖于用户去创造有关银河的故事，并带有很棒的结果—-我并未玩过游戏，但是我读过许多有关玩家驱动的间谍活动以及世界战争等故事。CCP甚至就设计计划和玩家问题而咨询了从社区中挑选的玩家群组，Council of Stellar Management。CCP知道，玩家便是《星战前夜》成功的基础，该公司也知道，如果想要推动着《星战前夜》继续发展就必须想办法取悦这些玩家。

我所列举的这些游戏并未举办现场活动，而是让用户能够自己创造内容，并将其回馈给社区；这些服务都是他们成功的核心组件。如果你想要创造一款带有健康，持续发展的玩家基础，你不能只是高高兴兴地拥有社区，还应该将其应用于业务中。

从商品转向社区

很多人都说，在接下来的主机时代中，社交互动性将变得更加重要，所以如果你想要创造一款能够取得长期成功的游戏，那么创建社区便是重中之重的任务。

当你拥有一个强大且活跃的社区时，你的玩家将更长时间地待在这里，更频繁地玩你的游戏，并更加忠实于你的品牌。如果你能够提供给玩家玩游戏的正当理由，他们便会更愿意为游戏花钱，因为这里存在着真正的价值。将玩家放在第一位——服务导向型开发原理很难取得成功，除非创建社区是该原理中最重要的环节。

当然了，并不是所有工作室都拥有足够的资源去模仿Riot或Valve等产业巨头，但这却不是他们忽视社区创建重要性的理由。如果未拥有游戏社区，开发者注定将只是平庸之才，或遭遇失败，所以他们必须尽最大努力去支持用户。

幸运的是，今天的玩家能够基于更多方式沉浸在游戏中，而工作室们也利用了各种不同的工具让玩家间能够分享自己的体验。

开发者可以通过Twitch，YouTube以及游戏内部工具或竞赛等活动去推动玩家进行实时交流和视频分享，这也是他们与社区进行直接交流的主要方法。Raptr的数据表示，当玩家面对能够在游戏外部进行消费的视频内容时，他们会更愿意长期待在游戏中。

同时，也有些玩家更愿意着眼于你的设计过程，我们发现，Q&A能够有效地留注玩家的兴趣以及对游戏品牌的忠诚。在Raptr上我们已经创建了一些Q&A，也有些开发者转向Reddit去举办自己的AMA活动，所以，对于任何规模的工作室来说，与用户维持这种直接的对话并不是什么难事。

当然了，其它工作室将给予玩家一些模块工具去创造用户生成内容，或提供游戏内部奖励。不管怎样，还有很多方法能够用于创建开发者与社区间的互利友好关系，如果你能在这点上有出色表现的话，便能创造出双赢局面。

社区服务

我们将走向一个新时代，在那里，社区是运行服务的最主要元素——特别是当提到游戏时。我们已经在Kickstarter上进行了募资，游戏也变得更加社交化，而我们是否需要更多证据去证实这些内容的重要性？

考虑到这一点，游戏创造者需要更加重视社区，将其当成游戏创造过程的核心。开发者应该考虑提高交流，鼓励用户参与，并奖励那些支持游戏的玩家。不管你是自己创建，购买还是租用工具，你和工作室都必须将社区当成一种服务。

在未来的几年或几个月里，游戏产业不只需要考虑游戏的制作，同时还应该考虑玩游戏的人们。对于那些创造服务型游戏的开发者而言，你们必须牢记：不要再榨取玩家的钱财；开始为明天的成功创建游戏社区吧！

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Developers: Community matters, so stop milking players for cash

by Dennis Fong

Over the past several years, we’ve seen game publishers embrace the idea of “Games as a Service,” which often means a mix of always-on, microtransactions, premium currency, regular content updates, and above all, deep player-behavior metrics. But the problem with GaaS is that many publishers using this model devote far too much effort to maximizing short-term gains at the expense of building for long-term success.

Players are smart. They know when they’re being nickel and dimed, and if their time and money isn’t rewarded, they won’t stick around. But here’s something less immediately apparent: What’s good for the player is often good for business, and the way we at Raptr see it, the real key to a successful game is a successful online community. Call it Community as a Service.

There’s a better way

Take a look at some of today’s most popular online games. Titles like League of Legends, Team Fortress 2, and even relatively cult hits like EVE Online have achieved incredible success not by squeezing money from their players, but by giving their communities the tools they need to thrive.

League of Legends, for instance, didn’t become a huge success and eSports phenomenon thanks only to its free-to-play business model. Developer Riot Games funded seasonal tournaments showcasing the game’s top competitors, giving users incentive to keep playing League of Legends at a competitive level. And it supported the LoL community with features like the Tribunal (a player-run disciplinary system) and spectator mode.

Those events and features may seem designed to drive player engagement and build goodwill, but they also drive the bottom line. Raptr’s own case studies reveal that League of Legends is growing an average of 7.6% each month thanks in part to the game’s ongoing community support, and after major eSports events new player sign-ups jump about 10%.

Team Fortress 2 is another great example of a game that treats its community right, and it’s obviously paid off, as the game is still going strong five years after launch. Valve’s kept the game alive and fresh with constant updates over the years, and players have even had the opportunity to make their own items and maps for the game via the popular Steam Workshop.

Looking at the Steam Workshop in particular, we’ve found that when players can create their own content and give back to a game they love, players will stick around longer, play more often, and remain more loyal to their favorite games. When Team Fortress 2 added support for the Steam Workshop in 2011, the game saw a a 271% increase in daily active users — making the game’s post-free-to-play numbers all the more impressive.

And then there’s EVE Online creator CCP, which found success by making community a core part of its game’s design. EVE relies on its users to create their own narrative of galactic intrigue, and with amazing results — I haven’t even played the game, yet I’ve read multiple fascinating accounts of player-driven espionage and game-world-wide wars. CCP even consults a community-elected group of players, the Council of Stellar Management, on design plans and player issues. CCP knows that its players are the lifeblood of EVE Online’s success, and the studio understands that it needs to keep those players happy if it wants EVE Online to continue.

In fact, that’s the single largest takeaway from all the above examples. The games I’ve pointed out aren’t hosting live events, enabling user-generated content, or otherwise giving back to their communities as a form of charity; these services are actually core components of their success. If you’re looking to build a game with a healthy, ongoing, and supportive player base, community services aren’t just nice to have; they’re a must have for your business.

Shifting from commodity to community

By all accounts, social interactivity is going to become even more important in this next console generation, so community-building is going to be vital if you want to build a game for long-term success.

When you have a strong and active community, your players will stay engaged longer, play your games more often, and stay more loyal to your brands. And when you give them legitimate reasons to keep playing your games, they’ll be even more willing to spend money, because there’s real value in doing so. Put your players first — a service-oriented development philosophy can’t succeed unless community-building remains the most important part of that formula.

Of course, not every studio will have the resources to imitate industry giants like Riot or Valve, but that’s really no excuse to ignore community-building altogether. Without nurturing the community, developers can doom themselves to mediocrity or outright failure, so they should do everything they can to support their users.

Luckily, today’s players already engage with games in an ever-increasing number of ways, and studios have access to a variety of different tools to enable players to share experiences and milestones.

Developers can drive live streaming and video sharing via services like Twitch and YouTube with in-game tools and/or contests and other events, and also as a direct communication method with their communities. Raptr’s own data shows that when players have access to video content they can consume outside of a game, they’re far more likely to stay engaged.

Other players, meanwhile, might want to have a better look into your design process, and we’ve found that developer Q&As are a great way to keep players interested and loyal to a given brand. We’ve hosted a number of these Q&As over at Raptr, and several developers have turned to Reddit to host their own AMA events, so it’s easy for studios of any size to maintain that sort of direct dialogue with their audience.

Of course, other studios might choose to give their players mod tools for creating user-generated content, or perhaps reward their loyal players with in-game incentives. Regardless, there are countless ways to build a mutually beneficial relationship with your community, and when you get it right, everyone wins.

The age of community

We’re moving into an era where the community is the most vital aspect of running an online service — especially when it comes to games. We’re already crowdsourcing funding on Kickstarter, and games are quickly becoming more social by the day — do we need much more proof that this stuff matters?

With that in mind, game creators need to do everything they can to embrace community as a core pillar of the game-making process. Developers should think about increasing communication, encouraging user participation, and rewarding the players who support their games. Whether you build, buy, or rent your own tools, you and your studio need to think about leveraging community as a service.

In the years and months ahead, the industry needs to consider not just the games it’s producing, but the people playing them. For those of you making service-based games, remember: Don’t milk your players for cash today; start building a community for tomorrow.(from gamasutra)