1. Build the most fantastic website imaginable with every possible feature and user amenity known to Internet kind. Spend days and days on it tirelessly changing, implementing and crafting it before you even have 5 people registered. As Kevin Costner said, “If you build it, they will come” and it couldn’t be more true. Ideally you’ll want to use an open source CMS (Content Management System) like Nuke so you can avoid learning any HTML or PHP. Learning those languages just takes up valuable time that could be spent on trial and error with a CMS. In terms of look and feel, the darker the better.

2. Don’t worry about a theme/concept/purpose - that will take care of itself (assuming your website kicks ass esthetically). The main thing is to build it quickly with whatever layout comes to mind. Don’t worry, you can change it all around as many times as you need to because a CMS makes it easy to do. Once all the people arrive you can decide together what the website is for since it is after all, a community site.

3. Once you have your site completely built, you can start to work on the actual “community” part (ie. Bringing people in). If your new web-based, gaming community is slow to take off, visit other game communities and promote yours there. You can also offer admin/moderator/manager/writer privileges to new members in order to get them interested in joining. People will visit and contribute more when they feel like part of the team. If someone seems really keen to help but they don’t seem to fit into any of the traditional roles, just make something up like “manager”.

4. After you have your site essentially done (at least a live first draft), ask for advice on what to do from people who have been around awhile and seem to know what they are doing. If they like what you’ve done so far and offer to do any of the hard stuff for you, keep talking to them. If they have any negative feedback or suggest you delve into anything complicated yourself, find someone else to help you.

</sarcasm>

As described above, the process to build (and premise for) a new online community sounds ridiculous yet it is the honest-to-god, actual model I have observed at work for virtually every “online community” I’ve encountered between its conception and infancy – and few survive past infancy I’m afraid.

I don’t claim to be a force in computer gaming or a “major player” in the online community. I am but a small part of a small corner of the online gaming spectrum – a fact that renders all the more depressing, the sheer number of useless websites I have seen crop up in my time. So why on earth do people build their own online gaming communities or websites?

There are probably as many reasons as there are people taking the plunge but in my experience, most share many traits with entrepreneurs, the difference being that most Internet-based, game-related endeavors are not motivated by profit. Still, the analogy (in terms of personality type) often fits like a glove. Earlier sarcasm aside, I think the motivation of the people doing this typically falls into one of two broad categories – “Control Freak” or “Kilroy Was Here”.

The control freak can have a vague sense of what they want to contribute to the community but they often see it necessary to contribute under their own banner. They have typically seen something similar to what they want but they just feel they can do it as well (or better) and as with entrepreneurs, they are typically wrong. Another common trait is the tendency to see monumental differences between their idea for a site and other sites that already exist – even when those differences are imperceptible to anyone else.

While it is not my intention to crush the spirit of would be admins and webmasters, the reality is, if you take any concept, idea or implementation your mind can conceive, odds are there are numerous other sites/communities already doing it. What is more sobering is that they have been doing it longer and yes, probably better too.

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