The times are changing...

ArenaNet's Martin Kerstein wants to talk about building community in Guild Wars 2. Specifically, Kerstein notes that one big change they will have this time around is to have official forums (obviously) but not to have a traditional fansite program. He stresses that way back in 2006, traditional fansites and forums were typically the main social hubs for any MMORPG, but these days social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ (just kidding) have become integral community faucets.

With all of that said, while Kerstein doesn't go into detail about ArenaNet's community plans, he does stress the fact that ArenaNet wants to include all aspects of their community, and they want to encourage respectful, helpful, and friendly play. As to whether this will translate to new community outreach programs or simply reflects a single underlying philosophy remains to be seen, but if there's one thing I know, competitive PvP and a "respectful community" are going to be a pretty hard sell going forward.