Kind of a weird thread to make. Not sure where this is most appropriate. Apologies this isn’t good here. I’d happily take this elsewhere if you’ve got a suggestion.
Online video games are very community driven. If a player base starts to shift away from a game, it can be a means of worry for everybody involved. Plenty of games have taken the route of involving community content as a means of retaining their users. The creatives have a place to share their thoughts with what they love, and users have a means of getting more out of the game they love! This also let’s other viewpoints be used, instead of just relying on the dev team internally to take care of everything. Halo always had systems in place for this exact scenario. It used to be a huge selling point too. That’s why I was always kind of confused about it not being pushed even more.
I was wondering, is there any reason why things like weekly community map playlists, community skin submissions, and other means of community driven content weren’t further incorporated into Halo: Master Chief Collection? ^Infinite ^at ^some ^point
This seems like something that would’ve aided heavily in the PC release of the games. I always assumed this was on the radar of the community manager(s) and was set to be done eventually, but it never really happened. Is there anything stopping this from happening at some point? I get that Halo Infinite is the focus now, but I highly doubt that it would do much to take away from Infinite’s player base, and would show consideration and value to more than just one Halo product. Seems like an easy win to me, not to mention a pretty simplistic thing to implement from my understanding.
Testing out a program like this on Halo: MCC now, would allow issues to be banged out early. Then it would set the ground work to get these sorts of deals implemented into Halo Infinite.
So what am I talking about, and how would one implement this?
Forge Map and Community Mode Playlist(s)
As we all know, there are plenty of pre-existing maps that have been made over the years. That, and adjustments to forge limits (albeit with their share of bugs due to engine(s)) have given us scores of maps to find and play! As of right now, things like the custom game browser definitely scratch a majority of this itch, but there’s still something to be said for running weekly/bi-weekly playlists that consist of maps made by Halo players! Doing it this way allows for more curation to be done, which can be useful. That said though, the value here is more along the lines of getting basic gameplay maps that users made into playlists that are more general. Basic slayer/flag/etc can already be done, sure, but these playlist(s) would give emphasis to users’ maps. Of course this isn’t to say that the more party game styled modes don’t have a place. It could be another playlist, or it could alternate between event periods. One week could be basic modes with forged maps. The next could have obscure modes with forged maps.
I can’t recall how long ago it was, but there was an “event” done with ForgeHub (I believe) where this exact situation was done pretty well. They ran a contest of sorts from map makers, found winners from the contest, and 343 implemented a playlist for their creations. This formula would be absolutely fantastic for the life of the game(s)! Again, this sort of thing can be overruled a little by the custom games browser, but I still believe there to be value in operating both.
So how would these maps be found? A lot of this can be done in a myriad of different ways. In my head, I envision pooling maps could definitely be done by a place like ForgeHub, but if they wanted it in-house, simply tracking and counting how often some maps are being played in custom game browser could be doable. This might not work super well as that isn’t just a haven of newly made maps of course. It’s just a basic thought for it. Possibly having tags implemented into forged map sharing could be a means of sharing the newest creations, then running customs games browser instances of them could do too. If not that, an employee or moderator taking a look at all the submissions might be feasible. This could be difficult considering the amounts possible. This would need more discussion.
Voting for maps pooled somehow via twitter polls, discord polling, in game voting, halo forums, etcetera. There are plenty of options for this sort of thing. Going the route of something like the Steam community workshop would absolutely do well, although this conflicts with users on console/Microsoft store. Designing their own version of this system wouldn’t necessarily be the most simple thing either. So the idea of pre-existing sites for sharing created maps would work as well. Again, not an in-house system, but still valid. This sort of thing can be fleshed out far more, but these were quick ideas for these systems. That doesn’t settle the matter of who is leading the decisions though.
Community Skins
While some users may find them tacky or taking away from the original version of the games, weapon and armor skins have proven to be a huge part of the online multiplayer (or not) gaming scene. The way this was handled in Halo MCC didn’t allow for monetization, of course, but it’s a huge deal in that regard as well. While I’ll not pretend to know who was in charge of the skin program tested out in MCC, I’m positive that there are plenty of artistic members of the Halo community that would love to share their own creations as well! This sort of function can lead to Halo becoming a means of artistic work for plenty of artists that love our games. Systems like this already lead to healthy economies in other games (CS:GO for example) that the player base enjoy taking part of, and is mutually beneficial financially for the artists in question. Essentially “free” money for 343, while also supporting artists. Obviously this doesn’t work for Halo MCC since there’s no monetization there, but it’s the foundation for Infinite that could be worth looking at, and building toward.
This program could be done similarly to my suggestions for the forge content. We’ve seen this exact system thrive extremely well in, again, the Steam workshop. I doubt this would work for us here as, again, it leaves out players on other platforms. Being sent designs by artists for review, then placing the designs on social medias for voting. Not too shabby of a plan, right? Developing a tool for the community to use for this would also be divine, although not sure if giving the resources for that to be made would be wise. Possibly releasing what is already in user internally for skin creation? Otherwise we’ll just end up with creations on a whole slew of 3d modelling software.
Who Would Be in Charge?
To my knowledge, community managers on games generally handle this sort of deal. It’s definitely not zero work though, so adding it to an already busy job would likely not be the best. I’m not sure who exactly would be the one in charge, but my hope is that an already working employee would be able to run it. If not, well received members of the community could helm possibly? Hell, I’d happily run it! ^lol As noted above, yes, Halo Infinite is the focus. I still believe it valuable, and somewhat necessary to support Halo MCC in this way. If not for the value of MCC, for the means of bettering Infinites future.
I absolutely adore Halo. I want to see it thrive for years to come! Focusing harder on community made content is a great means of extending the life of games like this, and giving larger platforms to what we already have (and could expand upon) would show the love of Halo. We may already have some of these things “covered” in other ways, but I dream of plenty more! I shocks me that something like community skins don’t have a place in Halo, especially when skins are the route of monetization for the newest title.
I hope this wasn’t too big of a mess, and I hope it wasn’t taken negatively. Again, I love Halo! I’ll continue to enjoy my time with it, I just know that more can be done to make it even better!
Thank you.