For Fans By Fans

Fandom is a powerful thing. Many people are big fans of many things but what does this mean? It mean that people are passionate about something and have devoted their time and appreciation to their activity, movie, music, or objects. People who have common interests band together and form a fan base for the common interest. Sometimes companies reach out to their fan bases for some advice on what to do next. This fandom can help make or break a company on what to do next.

We watched a video in class about how the president of a Star Wars fan club got contacted by Lucas Films and was hired as a representation for the fan base. Her main focus was to keep in touch the fans of Star Wars and eventually the Star Wars Celebration was created. It is still going on to this day as a yearly event. Lucas Films listens to the fan base and uses their suggestions to create the fan base’s ideal experience in the celebration. When a corporation listens to their fan base it creates a sense of loyalty and a personal connection between the fans and the corporation. But if the fans are offering things that they want to see and are not listened to, it forms the feelings of being ignored by the company and feeling unappreciated. On the other side it creates disinterest in the fans because of not having your wants and advice listened to. I wish more companies were like Lucas Films and listened to their fan based more. Especially in the area of videogames, where the interaction of fans and company is more direct. When fans offer up advice, or things need to be fixed, or even what the fans would like to see in the future of the games and don’t get listened to, it can anger the fan based. I remember a time where I was playing Call of Duty and half of the features in the new game didn’t work and would bug out when you tried to use them. The whole fan base lost their minds trying to get the company’s attention and make them aware of the problems and in the next update, what do you think happened? They decided that making a new loading screen was more important, so when the features didn’t work you could at least look at a cool screen, right? No. The fan base went bananas and the next update just a few days later made the fixes we needed. It took an outcry of anger from the community to get the changes we needed. If more companies listened to their fan base the way Lucas Films does, it would be much easier to maintain and grow a fan base.

Fans need to be listened to if a company wants to succeed. If the fan base is neglected, how loyal do you think those fans would be? The answer is not very. They are going to go somewhere where they will be listened to and where their comments will be taken into consideration. A fan base that is considered is a fan base that is happy. Do you have any interests that are strong enough that you would consider yourself a fan? Have you made friends by bonding with other people in a fan base over your common interests?