Even if new content isn't coming in the next few weeks, players appreciate NCsoft's new communication

About a week ago, Aion's North American Producer, Chris "Kinslon" Hager, posted some translated patch notes from Korea's 1.9 Aion Client Patch, and, a week before that, North American Community Manager Andrew "Tamat" Beegle "leaked" the early patch info to Aion players via an iPhone picture of his super-secret meeting itinerary. If you consider it objectively, these two pieces of news are really the smallest of small tidbits when it comes to new information.

Anybody who's been eager to see what's beyond 1.5 has known for months that Aion's next big patch is set to hit in Q2 (so April-May-June of 2010), but just weeks prior to Tamat's and Kinslon's "leaked" info, Aion's fan base was awash with anger and disgruntlement. Flash forward to the present day and, while we wouldn't say that players are delirious with happiness, it is fair to say that there's a slight trace of optimism wafting in the air. Objectively speaking, Aion as a game has not really changed in the past month, but just looking at the attitudes of most fans, there is a palpable difference from a few short weeks back.

What gives?

Well, it just so happens that NCsoft is finally learning what many MMO companies have ignored (to disastrous results) in the past: the value of open, honest communication, even if it means asking for more time. For those of you who don't understand, allow us to explain. A few years after Asian MMORPGs hit North American markets, fans slowly began to realize that, for a lot of these F2P MMOs, their focus just wasn't on their western clientele. In reality, Asian MMO developers and North American publishers, wanting to break into the market early, rushed through their localization processes to get their games out as fast as possible.

Unfortunately, after these Asian MMOs were out in the public eye, many companies just couldn't spare the resources to devote themselves to continually localizing content for North America while also developing new content for their gaming communities back home. Ask any Asian F2P MMO veteran out there and they'll tell you the tale of some of their favorite MMOs that died because communication and player populations started out high, but new content would just start coming out slower and slower, and teams would become quieter and quieter until, eventually, the game would just fester on the spot with its dwindling player base.

Of course, with the rise of media relations and the power of the public image, many MMO companies took the age-old stance "don't pick up the phone if you don't have good news to share." In other words, they clammed up until they could get new content. Now, we're not too sure when this was considered a great idea in the business world, but what inevitably follows when a company remains silent about new content is that many players assume there just isn't any new content. Then, once you get to the point where players believe you've abandoned them, well, there's nothing stopping them from doing the same.