The Importance of Community

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">During this past Saturday&comma; April 7<sup>th<&sol;sup>&comma; I participated in an event called &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Populate Halo 3”&comma; where members of the Halo Community played <em>Halo 3<&sol;em> from as little as one match to 24 hours straight&period; The main goal of the event was to have a great time in a game we all loved&comma; but soon players began to believe that the event would raise <em>Halo 3<&sol;em> into Xbox LIVE’s &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Top 10 Most Played Titles of the Week”&period; We’ll have to wait until this Wednesday to see if that goal was achieved&comma; but the event left great impressions on all who participated that won’t go away anytime soon&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;importance-community&sol;awesomepower&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-10609"><img class&equals;"wp-image-10609 aligncenter" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;04&sol;06222247&sol;awesomepower&period;jpg" width&equals;"343" height&equals;"194" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I played the role of cameraman during this event and in the over four hours of gameplay I captured I saw a lot of love for <em>Halo 3<&sol;em>&comma; as well as distain for the current iteration of the franchise&comma; <em><a class&equals;"zem&lowbar;slink" title&equals;"Halo&colon; Reach" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;en&period;wikipedia&period;org&sol;wiki&sol;Halo&percnt;3A&lowbar;Reach" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"wikipedia noopener noreferrer">Halo&colon; Reach<&sol;a><&sol;em>&period; One player said that the Halo Community was stronger during <em>Halo 3<&sol;em>&comma; but when <em>Reach<&sol;em> came out it significantly weakened&period; As a huge Halo fan I can agree with that statement and it inspired me to write this editorial&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Video game communities are the foundation of a game’s success and longevity&period; Without <em>Halo 3<&sol;em>’s community people wouldn’t still be playing it after five years&period; Without the tools that <a class&equals;"zem&lowbar;slink" title&equals;"Bungie" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;en&period;wikipedia&period;org&sol;wiki&sol;Bungie" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"wikipedia noopener noreferrer">Bungie<&sol;a> offered in <em>Halo 3<&sol;em>&comma; the community wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t be as strong as it is&period; <em>Halo&colon; Reach<&sol;em> has been out for 19 months and it has struggled to bring the <em>Halo 3<&sol;em> Community in since day one&comma; mainly due to the large contrast between the two titles&period; A lot of the players I met said they are patiently awaiting <em>Halo 4<&sol;em> to win them over&comma; and that they will keep playing <em>Halo 3<&sol;em> until <a class&equals;"zem&lowbar;slink" title&equals;"343 Industries" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;en&period;wikipedia&period;org&sol;wiki&sol;343&lowbar;Industries" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"wikipedia noopener noreferrer">343 Industries<&sol;a>’ first entry into the Halo franchise comes out&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This hasn’t been the first time that a sequel has failed to come close to the apex of its predecessor&period; When the transition from <em>Call of Duty 4<&sol;em> to <em>World at War<&sol;em> came around a lot of the fan base refused to leave the former&comma; myself included&period; During <em>World at War<&sol;em>’s tenure there was a larger presence on both <em>Call of Duty 4<&sol;em> and <em>Halo 3<&sol;em>&comma; which both overpopulated the newer title for most&comma; if not every month in that year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;importance-community&sol;call-of-duty-4-galactic-warfare-1&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-10610"><img class&equals;"wp-image-10610 aligncenter" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2012&sol;04&sol;06222237&sol;Call-of-Duty-4-Galactic-Warfare-1&period;jpg" width&equals;"332" height&equals;"208" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The message I’m trying to convey in this rambling post is the importance of the community&period; There are games with great communities&comma; such as <em>Halo 3<&sol;em>&period; There are games that are losing or lost support from most of their community&comma; such as <em>Halo&colon; Reach<&sol;em> and <em><a class&equals;"zem&lowbar;slink" title&equals;"Call of Duty 4&colon; Modern Warfare" href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;en&period;wikipedia&period;org&sol;wiki&sol;Call&lowbar;of&lowbar;Duty&lowbar;4&percnt;3A&lowbar;Modern&lowbar;Warfare" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"wikipedia noopener noreferrer">Call of Duty&colon; Modern Warfare<&sol;a> 3<&sol;em>&period; There are even games with communities that are known for their lack of unity&comma; such as <em>DOTA<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There will always be a community&comma; but it is up to the developers to groom their titles to be accessible for the community to spread their wings and get noticed&period; That’s ultimately why the Populate Halo 3 event was so influential&comma; because 343 Industries fueled it with prizes and praise&period; If that’s not a developer that knows how to love their community then I don’t know what is&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"zemanta-pixie" style&equals;"margin-top&colon; 10px&semi; height&colon; 15px&semi;"><img class&equals;"zemanta-pixie-img" style&equals;"border&colon; none&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;img&period;zemanta&period;com&sol;pixy&period;gif&quest;x-id&equals;992ab12a-57c9-432e-b9cc-5ad35e3eeda2" &sol;><&sol;div>&NewLine;