Does player status matter?

[Digital]

We all want to be loved and admired, maybe for some us even worshiped :heart:

My question is how can this be used in a game? How do you use the extrinsic need to be part of, and to feel important in that part of in your game's community to encourage your users to stay playing? Do you have a community structure that shows off user contributions? Are users able to show off their achievements?

This can really be for either games in development, or fully live games. It is more of a "how I do it" or a "how I want to do it" type of scenario.

@Nate, @Aminirus, @tiff, @runeowl, @Pepper-Head, @Regnant, @Anoua

 

[Pepper-Head]

I think it's important for players to feel that they are listened to and welcomed in a community. For Kasaria, I hope to have community driven goals, highlights, channels for feedback, and will work hard to help keep a positive atmosphere in the forums. 

A lot of pet sites, especially smaller dying ones, clearly don't have enough content or fresh additions to keep people coming back. But I've seen many cases where the small community stays for a good while, even years. Maybe people bond over mutual nostalgia for pet games? Or don't want all of their play time to be a complete waste? There will typically always be a small handful of players who seem to log in and chat daily, which I think is amazing.

However, I don't think games should have to solely rely on the community aspect to keep players around. It is a game to play, after all! But if they can boast about gameplay accomplishments, chat with people of similar interests, and not have to deal with cliques or elitist figures (very important), then I think the forums could be a happening place. 

I know this isn't exactly the question, but I thought it may be important to add Interested to see what others say!