Newsletters and Raising Community Spirit

David Hamill on the forums posted a message about his DFA newsletters and correspondence to members within GW4. I've got to say they are great, going by the examples he posted.

This then spawned a discussion about how such newsletters could be used in FML and then turned on to the general point about creating more of a community vibe within FML. At which point I chimed in...

"I wouldn't pay for the paper, but I like the idea of it.

I think FA Organisers should have more tools at hand for match reports etc...

Need to try and make these sorts of thing as easy as possbile. So under the DFA page there should be an extra page for organisers that shows them key games, like cup finals, but also it should flag up games where extraordinary things happened - like a player scoring 4 or more goals in a games, milestones being reached by clubs and/or players, record high scoring games etc...

Then the Organiser could click on the game that interests him/her and then click a button to write a match report. A box would appear for them to type their report into and it would also have a side column with all the key events from the game in (like Eto'o goal '76) and if the Organiser clicks on an event in the column it would insert it where the cursor was situated in the report.

Once the Organiser has finished the report, they can hit send and it will go out to the members of the FA.

A way to really encourage more community spirit within GWs is to make it easier for people, give them the tools they need. At the moment the only way to truly get involved is by hanging out in the Lobby for extensive periods of time. Otherwise it is just pages and numbers on a screen and millions of mouse clicks.

This sort of thing could very well be the difference between someone that cant win in FML staying or leaving. If you can show managers that the game isn't just about winning, then they'll want to stay. It should be a living and evolving community that people want to be a part of.

There needs to be more ways for managers to get involved with each other. Incentives and encouragements. More opportunities to do business with and collaborate with other managers, whether it be a feeder club agreement, or the ability to bankroll another manager's youth academy in exchange for a cut of the player sales or first pick at a certain age. Those examples are quite detailed and intricate, but just rough ideas.

I am very friendly with about 20 managers in GW7, but I think that is just because I am online A LOT and I am very chatty in the chat rooms. If you are a more casual user that isn't quite so chatty, then the game could end up feeling a bit sterile; you log on, read your mail (which is probably hugely backlogged), look at your squad, look at transfer market, play a few outstanding games (glglgl, gg wp), then you log off... rinse and repeat. I know the game is really what you make of it, but if more could be done to entice, encourage, and excite managers, then they'd WANT to get involved a lot more.

Now the main gubbins of the game are complete, I think we should all concentrate of coming up with viable ideas to help emphasise the community side of FML. The game will be buzzing at retail for the first 3-6 months - but this is more about longevity and I will be a bit miffed if I spend 4 seasons developing my youth players only for my GW to then die because no-one can be arsed anymore. Although I think it is great that people will have the opportunity to switch GWs whenever they like at retail, I don't necessarily think that should be openly encouraged. No-one would give a crap about the English Premier League if Arsenal, Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea etc... chopped and changed their leagues every couple of years.

People reserve the right to do whatever they want. But with the right systems and incentives in place they might want to stay and be apart of a GW for the longhaul."

Check the full thread (if you have Beta access) here: http://community.sigames.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5032001723/m/3952093304