Stargate Worlds - Official Forums Discussion

With the recent information that EA Mythic has decided not to have official forums, the question is asked by Cheyenne Mountain at the official forums of Stargate Worlds whether or not it is the right decision to have official forums for a MMORPG:

Mark Jacobs of EA recently expressed his opinion that official forums were not necessary and therefore won't be created for Warhammer Online *.

Here at Stargate Worlds we feel Official Forums for the game are an important part of the developer-player relationship, not only during development but through beta, launch and far beyond.

What do you think? Are Official Forums necessary? Do they attract the worst kind of trolls and ultimately scare off the serious posters and would-be community builders? Or are serious fans able to weed through the chaff and find what they need to sustain a healthy relationship with the dev team?

Let me know what you think!

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More information.

OMG. All games need forums!

except games from China and Korea!

Tabula Rasa didnt have any forums - why should they? You pay the monthly
fee for the game - not for the forums.

Or are serious fans able to weed through the chaff and find what they need to sustain a healthy relationship with the dev team?

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Right on. Discussion forum is a barrier for real fans to have a relationship with the developers.

I dont see how the average fan could ever have a relationship with a developer except through live chat, but even that is abjucated by moderation. Forums are secondary methods, and some developers dont even pay any attention to what happens on forums (i.e. Vanguard; Darkfall).

Also, how else -- besides forums and chat events -- does a serious fan have any interaction with a developer? I dont see any way besides being in a beta forum and a beta game instance reporting bugs into the dev database.

There really isnt very much communication between fans and MMO developers. In fact, most MMO developers are out of touch with what real players want to play. That arises from 1) ignorance and 2) lack of communication.