-What it takes to build a successful online gaming community
The odds are against a business that is trying to build a branded online community (not unlike an online gaming community). According to a study performed by Deloitte and Beeline Labs, 35% of branded online communities have less than 100 members, and only 9% have more than 10,000 members. These businesses are investing heavily in these online communities, with 43% of the online communities operating with an annual budget of more than $50,000, and 6% with more than $1 million per year. These businesses realize that a successful online community has an incredibly high ROI, but the chances of failure are also high.
Agora Games, Inc. has successfully developed over a dozen successful online gaming communities, with total community members exceeding 1.2 million. Our most recent gaming communities have hundreds of thousands of community members. While complex software engineering is needed to efficiently transfer terabytes of in-game data to and from the web, we believe that half of the success of an online gaming community is due to the community design and management of the site.
Community design focuses on the creative process of “getting into gamers’ heads” to design web and in-game features that add value to the online community and video game. Before an engineer begins programming or a graphic designer starts drawing, our community designers develop a deep understanding of how the game will be played, and who will play it. The design process creates a framework for the online community experience that will help software engineers visualize how features should be implemented.
Community management includes forum and content moderation, hosting and promotion of tournaments, email communication, YouTube video production, and many other proactive actions. Community managers are on the front-lines interacting with community members. The community managers and volunteer community members are integral to building a successful online community because they are the game fanatics that jumpstart and guide the community through its lifecycle.
According to the Deloitte online community study, 34% of the communities only have part-time community managers, and only 16% have more than 6 full-time community managers. Directly after the launch of an online community, Agora dedicates multiple community managers exclusively to a community, which may scale-back over time. However, community managers are always needed for moderating the site, creating new tournaments, disseminating communications, and reporting community activity back to clients.
Developing a successful online gaming community requires so much more than just the engineering of the underlying software. Half of the effort should be expended on software development, and the other half should focus on the creative process and engaging early community adopters. Too many companies think “if we build it, they will come.” Gamers are especially sophisticated, and desire quirky sites that connect with their identity. The end goal is to have an active site with engaged community members that extends game life and enhances game play.
