Hey There!
I am currently in the process of making a bunch of games. One of which is close to release. I plan to build a community around said game. Doing so will help make the game better by introducing new people to hardcore players and helping them play. It will also help improve the game with community ideas and creations. Though Im wondering how I can implement said “Community Involvment”.
The Game
The game is “When Dust Settles: Sandstorm”. A simmilar game yet unique take on the game After The Flash. You may find the lore here. The game is a Role-Playing Game. In After The Flash, their community helps them create story to add to the game and they participate in events.
So I was thinking, maybe I could do something simmilar? Have the community participate in events. Also in contests etc. Only problem: How would I get / encourage them to participate?
My Ideas
My first thought was: Offer rewards to active Community Event Participation. Though, Im questioning weather that would work because It runs into the same problem, would the rewards actually encourage them to participate?
Im going to put a poll. If you have any ideas please comment below! It would be greatly appreciated! 
- Give Rewards To All Participants In Community Events
- Give Rewards To ACTIVE Participants In Community Events
- Give Rewards To No One
- Other Opinion (Comment Below)
- Force Them To Participate (This is a joke)
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I chose to give rewards to all participants, and here’s why:
When a community event happens, I expect players of all skill levels (you mentioned the goal of introducing new players to hardcore players) to attend, and I would assume that there will be some sort of difference in what can be done between a knowledgeable player vs a new player.
With that established, the idea of being someone new, seeing an event, and to get nothing for my time spent simply because I wasn’t as good/active sounds like something that would discourage me from participating in the future.
Of course, there is always the option of rewarding everyone, and then providing extra benefits for those who do better. That would at least give everyone something, and still provide an incentive for people to try harder.
In my opinion, if an award was handed out to everyone who participated in lets say egghunt event for the game, most players would slack off and i guess they wont be active as much as they know they don’t need to really do anything. If the award was handed to people who were the most active, it would motivate the inactive players so they could get an award.
I don’t know much about how role-playing games operate, but I do know that, from what I can find across sources online, positive reinforcement (e.g. Giving players for doing well) is a better way to encourage behavior than negative punishment (e.g. Withholding rewards from inactive players). I assume the same would apply to game design.
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