I've never played an MMORPG, but I do understand how important they are in the lives of the people who invest in them... they're both entertainment and community, not the escape that they're usually portrayed as, but rather just a different context for socializing.
So I was pretty amazed to see that the Star Wars Galaxies MMORPG radically changed the nature of their community without sufficient (any?) notice. Now, I don't doubt that Galaxies as a game was probably vastly improved, but even as an outside observer, I could have guessed people would flip out when you threaten their perception of the space they live online. Maybe it's just experience talking. Clay "Social Soundbite" Shirky said it best, as always:[W]hen you create community, you engage people's emotions. Period. Community membership precedes rationality, both historically (all higher primates are social) and literally (children attach to their families before they can talk.)
Interestingly, people won't be disappointed with you if they already have incredibly low expectations. This truism was reinforced to me when the AOL Instant Messenger team recently decided to unilaterally add a few bots to the buddy list of everyone on the service. (Or at least everyone I know who uses AIM.)
Amazingly, there was almost no hue and cry. Aside from some of the inevitable "WTF?" responses, there was no blogosphere outrage. My suspicion is that most people attribute that kind of intrusiveness and presumption as intrinsic to AOL's corporate culture. Having been on the receiving end of the blogosphere's wrath for misjudging a community's reaction in the past, I can say it is far better to have a mistake greeted with flames than with indifference or a resigned disgust.
Thought exercise: How would various communities act if you were automatically "buddied" by the service. On MySpace, people seem to tolerate that Tom is their friend, but I can't imagine they would add anyone else to the list. Maybe it's because I'm not in the target demographic, but Tom Is Not My Friend. And when Microsoft adds bots to your MSN buddy list (Bot Live 2006!) I'll be glad to help write the hysterical news.com headline: "Bill Gates Spies on Online Activity!" When Google does it? "Web 2.0 Grows to Encompass IM, Thanks to Gtalk Gbot".
You probably need a new example for a company that gets a free pass: I didn't pay very close attention to the Google Reader reaction, but I think if you ask Shellen he'll tell you they can't count on a uniform postive reaction to everything anymore.
On second thought: it took me almost 24 hours to realize that their cute and quick Firefox extension to show you weblog comments on any page you view is a cute and quick Firefox extension to tell them every page you view, how long you view it, where you go next, and how interested in it you were. Maybe they do still have some free passes left.
Oh, I definitely agree with you Phil, lots of stuff Google does gets a rough ride instead of a free pass (anti-Gmail legislation, anyone?) but I do think that overall they're still the shiniest apple in the bunch.
Except maybe Apple itself. I didn't think anything could be sexy enough to distract from DRM, but that just shows what I know.
Also, you are now my friend. pwn3ed.
This post comes at an interesting time for me. A community I belong to that has been in the form of a listserv for years (I think seven) just went to a bulletin board format which, while it has lots of bells and whistles, doesn't allow for the same type of interaction the community is used to.
And it was done unilaterally by the listserv's owners, with just two week's notice. More than half the members dropped out immediately, and most of the rest are struggling, complaining, and generally ticked off and threatening to quit.
Our high expectations are not (yet, anyway) being met, and there already is grumbling about the owner turning into Big Brother, using posts for nefarious purposes, etc. If they start automatically "buddying" us up, or collecting data on us overtly, I think the now struggling community will just move elsewhere, or die out altogether.
A community likes to think it has some say over its environment, and to have trust in its leaders. When those two things cease to exist, it falls apart.
Jason Santa Maria brought up similar points recently, but with respect to small companies getting swallowed up by larger, faceless corporations.
I've never played an MMORPG
Lies! Hate speech!