How you built the tribal wars community

[DeletedUser123204]

Hi,

I played in maybe 4 or 5 different worlds. I was tribe leader once and I think my tribe did OK it was called MAINSTREAM, I ended up getting nobled by some loser called LordLOWDOWN or something like that. We actually merged our tribes then he snaked me. Learnt a lot from that merger.

Anyway, I am trying to build a training around how to build a successful community, not really specifically an online community but just a community in general. And at the moment people use the term 'building a tribe' . Like this https://www.fundera.com/blog/building-your-tribe

So i thought I'd ask you the experts:

What do you think makes and made Tribal wars successful? What makes people love Tribal Wars (me included)?

Thanks,
jonobono

 

[mch123]

For community/team/tribe building:
Honest and upfront communication with your members/followers/customers to build trust.
Need to be empathetic and do what's in their best interest and not your own.

Don't try to please everyone though. You need to layout a vision or direction that you want to move the community towards and then associate yourself with people who can align themselves with that vision. Focus on serving those people and not those who are not aligned with the same goals, values and priorities.

The best strategy to win a TW world doesn't really apply well with trust and honesty. There are a lot of politics, strategic plays and psychological games that require you to be dishonest to gain significant advantages. This directly conflicts and undermines your ability to establish trust with your members but if you are able to reap the benefits before the problems set in then people will stay for their increased personal odds of winning the world. This is far easier and less time consuming than building a real team based on honesty and comradeship, then making sure everyone can commit to it for the full duration, and then helping to educate those who are not as skilled so everyone gets to the level where you can win...

If you want to create a team/community that lasts longer though, you have to establish trust and good communication. That's why it's important to layout the key values and priorities ahead of time, and keep reinforcing those, so people know whether or not to align with your vision and if the community is still making progress towards it.

What do you think makes and made Tribal wars successful? What makes people love Tribal Wars (me included)?

It had all the base building elements that make many other games good but also had a structure and system that is either unique or just finely balanced (not sure which) so that you get fast paced and engaging PvP competition with the infrastructure that allows teams to form as the optimal strategy. It ticked all 4 of the player types in games:

It's been corrupted by the ability to buy power so the competitive element is now warped. When the game isn't fair to all it incentivises cheating, backstabbing and other means of selfish behaviour for personal gain and to sabotage the game. "If the game isn't fair to me why should I be fair to others". Like with trust, once it's gone it starts to compound problems. Once you've been burned and realise no one is doing anything to remove it from the game (because they don't care), your only option is to either join in (which makes the problems worse) or leave.

I think people loved it because no 2 worlds are the same, the many addictive elements and you can get a sense of belonging/social benefits from being in a good team.

Tbh, I think all 4 player types are being under served in todays version of TW and that's why only a few of us old timer continue to reminisce. That and there are no alternatives in the market currently fulfilling the standard left by the TW of old...
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I've been triggered again. I've really got to stop reading externals!

 

[DeletedUser123204]

Thanks for the response. I like how you answered from the perspective of the game as a whole and then discussed on a tribe level also.

Also I love the diagram of the four types of players.

For me I can see that it attracted the four different types of players. And that is a big advantage because it means you can really change your playing style when you approach different worlds and even when midway through a game. There's a lot of choice, when we call it a world it really becomes like life, where you choose what you want to focus on. I would have to admit that through playing this game I actually learnt skills which have made me better at my job in real life and ultimately earn more money. Even though this was never my intention.

I haven't played in recent worlds, but yes I know people automate a lot of stuff and there is always going to be cheats. But i played more for the enjoyment and the journey and i've never had it in my head that I could win as i am not that type of person to study the game that much and to have that as my objective...

There is something else I realised. Tribal Wars has a community which you can depend on. I posted this question and I was confident that I would get a good and well thought out response. Which is impressive as a platform.