From 'Race Or Die' to growing online community for small business

Race or Die is a massively multiple player online car racing game available on the Apple Iphone OS and Ipod touch released in October 2009. If you have play Marfia War and Ninja Live, you already know what it is all about.

In R.O.D, you, the player, have to manage equipment, cash flow and socializing at the same time in order to advance to higher levels. You and your crew (other players) go out to race against other crews to earn exp points and money. The larger your crew size is, the better chance you will win the next battle. However the game also is added with random factors to determine winning when it comes to a close combat. Crew size is everything in R.O.D. You can take on a player on a much higher level if your crew is big enough. Think of 100M civilians fighting against 100 well train soldiers. Mean while as a higher you can pick on any lower to bully. Most of the time the higher will win because they have access to more powerful equipments that are only available for players reach a certain level. This makes the game more interesting. The possibility of challenging the highers and the evil sprite in all human kind to feel empowering by damaging the vulnerable ones.

Every game has an end. R.O.D. doesn't make an exception. The highest level one can reach is 998. However most players in level 998 (which by the way I am personally impressed by the time and effort these players put into one game) becomes regulators, not by the authority, by themselves. They are the most powerful ones in the realm and they can pretty much pick up anyone and kill in seconds. Some of the 998s become bullies, some become bullies hunters. Which ever side they decide to join, they essentially on the same mission, attacking lowers. There is so much drama involved, enough is enough.

It's interesting to observe how we behave in a world of much smaller scale reflecting what we do in the real world. In Tim Ferris' book The Four Hour Work Week he saids "Don't be the chess, be the player". For me the most fun of gaming comes from observation, either by standing aside to watch players fight against each other in a single battle, the trash talk, the stand off, and the bloody combat, or by looking down to watch and learn how players push the game forward by managing their relationship with other players. Often is I see a bully attacks a lower, the lower asks for help from a higher. The higher threatens the bully to leave the lower alone. Some bullies got sprite, the trash talk starts, while some try to ease the tension to stay away from getting killed. There is no supervisor from the development company in the game. The world of R.O.D. is self-regulated by those who have the power. They pick up and build characteristic on their way up. The lowers don't need much guidance to get start, because the interface is designed is a way that a 7 year old can understand easily, there is no need for 'teachers'. Most highers then become 'cops' or 'pirates'. The sense of empowerment and entitlement are the motivation behind these characters. They spend substantial amount of time pushing the world of R.O.D., a world in which they find satisfaction and respect.

I am often asked by small business owners about effective methods to establish their online property. Some of them come up so many good ideas in a time but the plans are often too big to execute in a short period. The most asked question is how do some website generate so many quality content so frequently. The answer is, they don't. Instead they establish rules for users to follow, and the users populate valuable content form them. The pay out? Nothing as far as the business is concern. But from the user's point of view, it's reputation. Reputation exists in the form of points, experience and interactions. Similar to the world of gaming, people do things for fun and satisfaction which can't be measured by money. If small business can establish a system that's interactive enough for people to participate for fun and satisfaction, people do it for free and they will get other people to do it for free as well, just because it is fun. In R.O.D. the rules are simple, kill or be killed. But many things happen before the killing, the stand off, the trash talk, the threatening, and then after the killing, the revenge, the insult, the blacklist and the hunt down. These are possible actions to be taken by any player in the game. In the mean time there are things that are not allowed in R.O.D. such as blacklisting a lower or paying money to buy moves. These rules found the the community and the program itself is the enforcement. No player can surpass them. However many use the rules creatively.

Small business should take advantage of its flexibility and compact management to fast execute ideas. Spending massive amount of time to pump content though the social media channels will get you somewhere but not too far in the short run. From my experience working with small business. A better way is to create a community with simple rules to follow. Focus on the motivation that drive your customer to participate. Think of why should anybody be contributing to the community. You, on the other hand, spend most time and energy to create the motivation.

When you have a small group of audience, it's very important that you spend time educating them to the point that they are capable of educating the others. What you are looking to create is an environment where people learn from each other and obey the basic rules, further more use the rules to develop the community on its own. One good example is stackoverflow.com. A community for software developers. The rules are simple. You ask a question about a problem that you can't solve. Someone, say John, posts an answer, by doing so the John earns points that put him in a ranking system. The developer who solves the most puzzles appears on top of the list. He/she gets a badge that he/she post on his/her site as a symbol of knowledge. The motivation behind it? Satisfaction and potential opportunity.

All in all, in today's web where it's over flooded by meaningless tweets and feeds, content is still the king, but it may not be the best choice for small business. The key, or the alternative key, to rapidly grown an customer base is to make fun rules and let the customers play.