the importance of user communities in gaming

All for One and One for AllThe importance of user communities in online games

- Julien Wera -

Julien WERAEuropean Public Relations Manager @ Gala Networks Europe Ltd.

Who is GALA ? Free to play online games publisher

gPotato Europe / North America / Brasil / Japan

“Global Online Community Company”

7+ million members among the gPotato portals

Introduction

1. What is a gaming community ?

2. What can a gaming community bring you ?

3. Community Management : What you can bring to gaming communities

4. Conclusion & Questions

Agenda

A gaming community is a group of people bound by a common interest, a common passion, and the will to share it.

There are communities about everything. To start one, the only two things people need are :

- a topic to be passionate about- a place to discuss about it

Communities are micro-societies with their own social rules, languages, codes, legends and heroes

1. What is a gaming community ?

Game-bound communities : World of Warcraft fans, Flyff fans, etc.

Publisher/Developer-bound communities : gPotato users, Bungie fans, Blizzard fans, etc.

Website/Place-bound communities : Online Welten, JeuxOnline, TenTonHammer, etc.

Users belong to various communities at once, each of them having a particular “community spirit” more or less prominent

Various types of gaming communities

1. What is a gaming community

The Birth : A topic and a place to discussCan happen earlier or later, depending on the communications madeabout a game

Youth & Changes : Launch and first generations- The pre-launch community will be the base of early adopters for the game- After the release, a new generation of users will join the community, users who didn’t follow the game from the start- Several generations of users will follow throughout the operation of thegame, each with different spirits and expectations- The evolution of the community is very much impacted by the publisher’s actions

Migrations :- Many players will leave the game in groups to go to another game- Players changing alone will look for former community members toestablish in a new game

The “lifecycle” of a gaming community1. What is a gaming community

User Acquisition- Word of mouth - Virality- Peer factor- Community migrations

User Retention- Users may come for the game, but they will stay for the community- Community features are crucial to user retention in online games- Gaming communities build loyalty to a brand, a developer, a publisher, etc.

Support- Feedback & Suggestions- Mutual help

2. What can gaming communities bring you ?

A community doesn’t need the publisher/developer’s support to exist.

The game operator can influence the community by giving it tools and support to help its growth and build a positive synergy with it.

New discipline in communications : Community Management

3. Community management in gaming

The role of the community manager

Publisher/Developer

MediaFansites

PR/MarketingDepartment

CustomerSupport

Community

Manager


Official website Official forums Fansite Kits Blogs Podcasts Newsletters Live events Etc.

Common community management tools


1. Know your community

2. Remain trustful and reliable

3. Inform

4. Entertain

5. Never underestimate your community

Common rules of community management


Gaming communities are a two-sided blade and need to receive professional and quality support from the games operators.

Well managed, gaming communities can bring many benefits to games business

Community Management is just beginning, and evolving very fast

Conclusion

“Online Community Management, Communication Through Gamers” Gamasutra.com : http://tinyurl.com/gamingcommunity

Community Manager’s Group : http://www.communitymanagersgroup.com/

Sanya M. Weathers : http://eatingbees.brokentoys.org/

More resources

Questions

Thank you very much!

Please contact us with any questions! We look forward to work with you!

Contacts

Julien Wera (European PR manager)

e-mail: [email protected]://www.linkedin.com/in/juwera

http://www.slideshare.net/Juwera

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