Sage Sundi

What?  An update on JPB?  It’s been a long time since the last update when we talked about the WorldPlay Initiative.  Since there, there hasn’t been much to talk about.

Surely, Vanafest 2010 is coming up.  People who want to keep up to date on that should check out Elmer’s coverage at ZAM or the live event presented by Pet Food Alpha and Limit Break Radio.  Information on that can be found on their respective websites or at Eorzeapedia where they do a joint FFXIV podcast. There is also a chance that something might appear on JPB in the days to come.

Of course, for official information, follow the new Vanafest2010 twitter accounts (presented in English, French, and German) or watch the Vanafest page.  According to Destiny on the Creator’s Voice blog, there should be streaming live video of the event, including a mini concert from The Small Onions.

While separate from Vanafest and yet also a big part of it, there will be a version update soon.  This isn’t terribly surprising since they have done something similar in the past.  Also, the Nomad Mog Bonanza entry page said prizes would be distributed after the next version update, so you know it had to be coming up.  Perhaps it will give us lots of interesting things to talk about.

In the meantime, I stumbled across an interview with Sage Sundi featured in the March 2010 issue of Connect!On magazine.  Sage Sundi, as the majority of you already know, is the Global Online Producer for FFXI.  This particular interview is about Sage Sundi’s personal experience with online gaming and community building.  After reading it, I got a better understanding for why certain things are included in FFXI.  It was also like seeing a softer side of Sage Sundi compared with the one we normally see talking about GM tools and fighting RMT.  Let’s take a look at what he shared with the interviewer at Connect!On:

A Sage Sundi history
The bulk of the interview is talking about how Sage Sundi got involved in online gaming and eventually went to work for Square Enix.  People who have gone to Fanfests for FFXI in the past might be aware that Sage Sundi can speak English.  He spent about 7 years in America in his teens.  At that time, he was more into the computer scene, using his computer and a modem to run a server and operate a BBS.  That was when he felt there was something there, something fun and entertaining.  “When you were online, you were connected with other people to make a community which made it fun.”

Later, he began playing online games.  The first was Diablo and then later trying Electronic Art’s Ultima Online right from the beta.  At first, he was just an adventurer like anyone else.  However, UO used a counseling system and he soon became a part of that.  Counselors were volunteers who offered to share their time and knowledge with other adventurers.  For example, teach them the basics of how to play.  As a counselor, he felt that online games really bring out the desire in people to share just how much fun they can be.  Making those connections, between veterans and beginners, was also very rewarding.

This led to a career in online gaming.  After being a volunteer counselor for half a year, he thought he’d try becoming a Game Master (GM) for UO.  From the way he talks about it, it sounds like this was a really formative time for him.  In addition to being a lead GM, he decided to become proactive in creating a community for players.  One example of this was his idea to translate the official UO website into Japanese.  He realized that the deciding point for MMOs surviving as a business lied in how strong you could make the community.  “Of course the game itself is important, but people really come back because of their friends there.  These days it is easy for anybody to make a forum or a blog, but back in those days, it wasn’t.  I felt like we had to give players tools to support the community.”  He realized that he couldn’t do that as a GM and so transferred over to the administration side things to become a service manager.  They made a more formal system where “Companions” would assist new players in addition to the volunteer counselors.  They also trained volunteers, called Seers, to help run in-game events.  Eventually, he became a producer and director for Ultima Online as well.

At that time, EA operations in Japan were done by EA/Square.  As such, he already had a connection to people working at Square.  That included FFXI Producer Hiromichi Tanaka who, with others, asked Sundi questions about running an online game.  When he heard that Square was going to create an MMO, he thought it might become the de facto standard for all MMOs created in Japan.  He also hoped that it would be one that made it easy to form a strong community.  In the end, they offered him a position to work on the game and he moved to Square.

MMOs in 10 years
MMOs are still relatively new all things considered.  As such, Sundi says he can’t really picture what MMOs will be like 10 years from now or if there will even be MMOs as we know them now.  However, he wants to continue to support community development regardless of the type of game and remain at the forefront in that respect.

What it takes to be a GM

GM from FFXI

The last portion of the interview was on what it takes to be a GM.  Sundi names a few things that he thinks are important.  For starters, you have to enjoy helping people.  After that, you have to be able to deal with customer support.  This includes claims from players about harassment and fraud.  If you don’t think you can deal with that stuff, you probably wouldn’t make a good GM.  You also need to have a good sense of fairness.  However, for Final Fantasy XI as a global game, you have to understand that people from different countries have different ways of thinking about things.  For example, what might be common sense and fair in Japan might not translate the same way in other countries.  As such, GMs have to create and follow global standards and be able to explain those rules to players from many cultures.

The interviewer asked how Sundi developed that sense of fairness in himself.  He responded that it probably has something to do with the fact that he can speak both English and Japanese and that has allowed him to get a sense of how different cultures can be.  English is used around the world as a international language for communication.  By using English, he can get a feeling for how players feel in different countries and he feels that has been a great strength for him when doing his job.

Mentor Status

Back in 2004, a mentoring system was added to Final Fantasy XI.  The idea was to give new players an easy way to find experienced players who were willing to give them advice.  This goes back to the core of Sage Sundi’s beliefs about community in MMOs.  The system never really took off for a variety of reasons but the same idea was already being practiced in linkshells across Vana’diel.  New members would learn tips and tricks from veteran players.  The cycle would repeat when newer members would join, as information would get passed down from generation to generation so to speak.  Even in one of the linkshells I’m in now, a veteran linkshell member is always responsible for teaching the basic rules to new members and acting as a mentor.  It helps develop that sense of community, one of the greatest pluses and problems with online games.

I also agree with Sage Sundi’s thinking that the companies that make the games have to work hard to support the player community.  Without players, there is no game.  Certainly it is easy enough now for any linkshell to create their own website.  There are also numerous larger community websites where people exchange opinions and information.  However, it would be problematic for game developers to expect players to develop and support the community all on their own.  In-game and official tools are needed to help players maintain smaller communities.  For example, some people wish there were more in-game tools to manage linkshell property, gil, and so on.  Players also need to reach out to the community teams and let them know what they need.

The next big event, Vanafest, is on the horizon.  Players have complained in Japan about the limited number of people that are allowed to attend.  Players in America have complained about the events always being in California and not being able to fly out just for a weekend event.  It seems like the teams at SE have listened to players and are trying a new compromise.  The event is still small in Japan, but it has more global outreach than we’ve ever seen.  We’ll have more up-to-date official information in all 4 official game languages from the event.  There will also be a live video stream, something people that live far from the events have been calling for as well.  Things like this give the player base hope for how the community will be treated when it comes to FFXIV.  Let’s hope that things continue in this direction!

＊＊As always, even the direct quotes are translated from Japanese and are not direct quotes given in English.  The original interview ran in Connect!On magazine.