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Written by FrostByghte
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I would like to welcome Cuppa Jo back once again. Every year we have a nice sit down chat with Cuppa Jo, but this year is very special. For one Cuppa Jo has been with City of Heroes for at least 3 years and counting, and we are also in Cuppa Jo's final days with the CoH team. Cuppa is now moving on to Tabula Rasa where I am sure she will rule with a caffeine fist.
Cuppa Jo, welcome again to Coldfront! I thank you again for taking time out to answer our questions. I would like to start out by asking your opinion about how the launch of City of Villains has affected City of Heroes since it went live, specifically from your vantage point as Community Coordinator?
Thanks for having me! It's always fun to be here.
Wow - City of Villains was a crazy launch. Looking at different beta's and launches going on here at NCsoft and recalling the Villains launch makes me realize just how big and action packed it was! The beta program for City of Heroes players was great for rewarding the community - but it was crazy from a logistical standpoint. I am glad we made it through with all our hair!
Did Villains change the community? Some, but less than many people anticipated it would. I think the biggest change is that it's harder to
appeal to players Heroic Roleplaying to be nice, help others and to be a hero. We could do that in the past and it was part of what made our
community such a great one, but as Villains released you had a whole dark side come forth that wasn't interested in any of that, but instead
was interested in the exact opposite. At first it was a very different community.
Now it seems good and evil have balanced somewhat and since the community seems generally good natured in real life anyway, I feel like
we are getting back to a less antagonistic-for-the-heck-of-it mentality.
Considering the framework of both games, putting Heroes and Villains head to head, I will assume you found yourself in the middle of a few fights (verbal and ingame). Was this more challenging for you as a Community Coordinator than what you dealt with when City of Heroes was a standalone product?
Absolutely. However, once the initial zerg passed I found it made the community more dynamic and interesting for both them and me – so it was worth it.
There was some unfortunate restructuring at NCSoft. I was wondering if this played a part in your move to Tabula Rasa or if there had already
been plans in the works for your move to this position?
We had discussed it before, but nothing had been decided yet. If anything, the restructuring made it less likely that I would move to
Tabula Rasa, but in the end I moved over.
In our last interview you mentioned that long term you had an interest in 'producing games'. Does the move to Tabula Rasa help you accomplish
this and is being a producer still a long term goal for you?
I think the more products you have experience with, the more you learn. With Tabula Rasa, I get to start from the very beginning of a
product launch and I get to make the early community decisions that I didn't at City of. I also get to work with the development team - I sit
next to Richard Garriott - and can walk down the hall to discuss an issue with them. To be frank this was one of my main reasons for wanting
to work on Tabula Rasa after having a development team 2000 miles away.
I think all of this experience and exposure to the development side of the industry make me much more marketable as a possible future producer.
However, I think I have a talent for community and I may just stay in it for a good long while. It is a very small group of people that do
community and they are all very cool, amazing group that I really enjoy being a part of.
You cut your teeth on Ultima Online and now your working with Richard Garriott, will you let us know in a year if he doesn't live up to your expectations? :)
*Laugh* Of course – we do this every year now don’t we?
Does taking on the position of Community Coordinator for Tabula Rasa offer any new challenges for you or is this more of the same?
There are new challenges with Tabula Rasa. As I mentioned prior, with TR I get to make a lot more of the decisions about community matters
during the game's infancy. These decisions were already made when I got to City of Heroes and continued with City of Villains.
Once the game launches I believe the challenges will be similar to those I faced with 'City of', but with all the experience I got on 'City of'
it will be less of a learning experience and more of a creative implementation challenge. I am very interested in a dynamic community
approach that pools the resources of not only the publisher and the developer, but also of the players, press, fansites, radio stations and
partners more than ever before.
The other challenge will be finding the right level of information release for each stage of development as we move to launch. Keeping
people interested and excited about your product before it launches is a challenge with a new IP.
You mention a lot more decision making in TR, but in regards to your work with City of Hereos/Villains you have had a serious impact on this game. If I'm not mistaken you have an entire legion of fans. What specific methods of dealing with the community do you feel led to this sort of reaction from the player base?
One of the few nice things about leaving the community was getting some feedback from the players on my tenure as the community person for City of Heroes/Villains. People seem to like it when you are generally nice, easygoing, helpful and honest but don’t suffer any fools gladly. But mostly I think it was that I did my best to give people honest information that isn’t obscured in confusing or pedantic marketing or PR speak. Because really, that’s what the players really want more than anything else when they look to a community manager: Honest, clear, helpful information. I just try to give them that.
Thank you for taking a bit of time and answering a few questions for us Cuppa Jo. I know your gearing up with TR, so hopefully we will be discussing more with you when Tabula Rasa goes live.
Good stuff! Thanks for the interview!
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