Overly Positive

Part of the way that you can tell how well the community is anticipating a title, especially if it’s an MMO, is the community interest behind it. You see blogs, fansites, podcasts, information resources and more drop in, increasing as the release of the game gets closer. Now, it’s no secret that sometimes there’s a dropoff, too. Some people put up sites, only to not update them or leave them hanging, while others get disllusioned with a title and remove their focus on it, killing the site in the process.

It’s pretty safe to say that as far as communities go, Star Wars: The Old Republic is off to a good start. Taking a look at the community creations forum on the official site, there are already a huge number of community sites out there and the demand for a fansite kit is so high that a developer had to post about it coming soon. 20-30 sites and blogs of varying types are already being actively updated, with more being added by the day.

Even though I command an extremely small readership and don’t cover TOR exclusively, it is nice to see that I and other sites out there can contribute to the community as it is laid at the foundation level. I have a side gig as a community manager at a major Warhammer Online fansite, and have always been interested in the nuances and mood of community on the internet. To see that there are not only so many sites dedicated to TOR but that they are all willing to work with one another is a heartening thing.

In the land of MMO community fansites, even though at times you see some drama, a community that can get along, collaborate, and organize is a good thing. Bioware is right on the money creating a forum where these folks can exchange links, talk about each other’s stuff, and post about things. I can only hope that like Mythic, they decide to reach out to the growing community with opportunities for marketing and spreading the buzz around. Having acknowledgment from the developer that your work is appreciated and recognized is always a nice boost, and can only help the game moving forward – even if, like TOR, not much is known about it in detail.