Community matters: How audience engagement in games is shaping other industries | Playable Futures

gamesindustry.biz:

This series of Playable Futures articles considers how the design, technology, people, and theory of video games are informing and influencing the wider world.

While game communities are famed for their passion and power, our medium cannot claim to have invented the concept of courting a fanbase. You might remember, for example, when records came with a small card form to fill out and return, handing over your details in return for getting access to offers and announcements from the band.

By today's standards, however, what were effectively 'fanclubs' now seem charmingly primitive. They would breed loyalty and make customer communities feel valued – and yet there is only so much a quarterly print newsletter could really achieve.

Fast forward to the present, and industries across the world are increasingly eying how game community managers like Wooga's April Laws are evolving and enacting their craft. Laws first joined the studio known for its prowess with story-driven casual titles as a freelance designer, but now stands as the team's lead social media and community manager.

"It struck me how similar community management and design are," Laws says of her earlier days at Wooga. "Design is about solving problems and communication, and I feel I'm still doing exactly that at Wooga. Our community really has become one of our biggest assets as a company. I think the way that we in games do community is so powerful, and has really marked on our success, because it's a competitive industry. And so the community and their loyalty is really powerful. Valuing these relationships is one of the ways a game company can make lasting success, as there's a lot of other games people can play – but our community chose us."

"So many companies take their lead from game community management. Nike, Adidas and other fitness brands now have apps with leaderboards and challenges – community gamification in itself"

Community building and engagement, then, exists in a place between your audience