Every Game Has the Community It Deserves
We have a busy day of Game Developer headlines tonight, with featured blogs on game communities, publishing and ownership, and news from the likes of Nintendo, Helldivers 2, and more.
If game designers are to have any success combating toxicity, we must acknowledge that our own design choices are often the underlying systemic cause, and that it is our responsibility to change them.
However, just as a game’s design can impact its community negatively, so too can it promote cooperation and kindness, as shown by the Souls series’ open world successor, Elden Ring. While players have been able to leave messages to other players ever since the release of Demon’s Souls in 2009, Elden Ring doles out rewards for those who leave messages that are rated positively by the community, allowing for even complete strangers to engage in mutually beneficial cooperation.
There is great potential for video game companies to use this digital future to promote better-preserved products, but they must choose to respect the consumer’s right to ownership.
The shooter hit 360,000 concurrent players across PC and PlayStation 5.
"Around half of the people who play this game do so in multiplayer mode."