19th November 2012, 3:29 PM
So, I've got a number of idiosyncrasies piled up experiencing the Wii U interface.
One thing's for sure though, as of today I'm really starting to "get" the Wii Universe. Nintendo appears to be attempting to generate a true community in the Wii U from the very start, and this method has incredible potential.
The XBox 360 has, bar none, the best system for playing games with friends. However, it can't be said that there is an XBox 360 "community" of any sort. Steam does better with actual community pages. While Steam has a lot of work to do in making voice communication across it's games seamless (the amount of time making sure everyone can actually hear everyone else is usually about the same amount of time as we actually spend in the games), it does have an actual community of people behind the scenes.
Here's something about communities. They involve people you haven't met before. At best, you might find someone you want to be friends with during a random multiplayer match. Good luck there though. One big consequence of there being no real community, just isolated islands of friends, is the cesspit effect that 360 players are known for. Nintendo's attempt up until now has been one of mind numbing fear of allowing that to ever happen again, resulting in terrible match making and NO way to make friends or even communicate with anyone you are matched with. Sony attempted a community with their odd Second Life clone. There's a LOT wrong with it though. It never really took off as well. I made my Sony avatar and never bothered with that thing again.
Nintendo has taken a BIG step in fixing the cesspit effect with the Wii Universe, and their implementation will get people far more involved than Sony's weird thing, potentially even more so than Steam communities. I really didn't "see" it when it was described to me in reviews, or even yesterday when EVERY post was just a Nintendo advertisement, I really just thought it was some dumbed down forum. But now that posts are flooding in from players, I see it now! Let me describe the biggest key difference between this and any other community of the sort. You're forced into it constantly from the moment you turn on the system. Now, that seems terrible when I say it, but it's non invasive. What ends up happening is you see a sort of bulletin board of the most popular posts (there is a voting system) on your TV in the main interface. There's this vast army of Miis standing around icons representing topics of conversation (mainly games), and of these most popular posts, your Wii U randomly picks one to display as a speech bubble, then another, then another, as a constant sort of feed popping in and out across the screen. It's hardly distracting. You may or may not decide to actually read any of it, and it's only on one screen, with the other being your menu of choice. However, this ever-present list of possible topics of current interest is always there. As a result, people are much more likely to jump in. People can even draw stuff. There's a "report" button for bad content and a voting system as well. What I have noticed is that the system self moderates very well. It's early yet, but I'm really surprised at the quality of posts so far. Few are amazing, but there's nothing resembling a Youtube comment so far. Some people ask for help, and these get responses rather quick. Some people just have something to say about this or that game, and others respond appropriately! It's simply amazing how well it's working to build a community and set limits on what's acceptable behavior! I've yet to see a single poorly drawn caricature of, say, Bowser in a toilet with a comment like "this is Obama lolololol". Oh yes, people can draw thing. The drawings tend to be at least decent because, again, there's a voting system in place.
I'm hoping for some steady improvements to a good start on Nintendo's new online system. As it stands, Nintendo has done something amazing right off the bat in an attempt to create a sense of community that is MS's biggest weakness. I really hope it works.
One thing's for sure though, as of today I'm really starting to "get" the Wii Universe. Nintendo appears to be attempting to generate a true community in the Wii U from the very start, and this method has incredible potential.
The XBox 360 has, bar none, the best system for playing games with friends. However, it can't be said that there is an XBox 360 "community" of any sort. Steam does better with actual community pages. While Steam has a lot of work to do in making voice communication across it's games seamless (the amount of time making sure everyone can actually hear everyone else is usually about the same amount of time as we actually spend in the games), it does have an actual community of people behind the scenes.
Here's something about communities. They involve people you haven't met before. At best, you might find someone you want to be friends with during a random multiplayer match. Good luck there though. One big consequence of there being no real community, just isolated islands of friends, is the cesspit effect that 360 players are known for. Nintendo's attempt up until now has been one of mind numbing fear of allowing that to ever happen again, resulting in terrible match making and NO way to make friends or even communicate with anyone you are matched with. Sony attempted a community with their odd Second Life clone. There's a LOT wrong with it though. It never really took off as well. I made my Sony avatar and never bothered with that thing again.
Nintendo has taken a BIG step in fixing the cesspit effect with the Wii Universe, and their implementation will get people far more involved than Sony's weird thing, potentially even more so than Steam communities. I really didn't "see" it when it was described to me in reviews, or even yesterday when EVERY post was just a Nintendo advertisement, I really just thought it was some dumbed down forum. But now that posts are flooding in from players, I see it now! Let me describe the biggest key difference between this and any other community of the sort. You're forced into it constantly from the moment you turn on the system. Now, that seems terrible when I say it, but it's non invasive. What ends up happening is you see a sort of bulletin board of the most popular posts (there is a voting system) on your TV in the main interface. There's this vast army of Miis standing around icons representing topics of conversation (mainly games), and of these most popular posts, your Wii U randomly picks one to display as a speech bubble, then another, then another, as a constant sort of feed popping in and out across the screen. It's hardly distracting. You may or may not decide to actually read any of it, and it's only on one screen, with the other being your menu of choice. However, this ever-present list of possible topics of current interest is always there. As a result, people are much more likely to jump in. People can even draw stuff. There's a "report" button for bad content and a voting system as well. What I have noticed is that the system self moderates very well. It's early yet, but I'm really surprised at the quality of posts so far. Few are amazing, but there's nothing resembling a Youtube comment so far. Some people ask for help, and these get responses rather quick. Some people just have something to say about this or that game, and others respond appropriately! It's simply amazing how well it's working to build a community and set limits on what's acceptable behavior! I've yet to see a single poorly drawn caricature of, say, Bowser in a toilet with a comment like "this is Obama lolololol". Oh yes, people can draw thing. The drawings tend to be at least decent because, again, there's a voting system in place.
I'm hoping for some steady improvements to a good start on Nintendo's new online system. As it stands, Nintendo has done something amazing right off the bat in an attempt to create a sense of community that is MS's biggest weakness. I really hope it works.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)