Managed communities, admin’d Discord, engaged players, and fostered relationships with key creators & contributors.

Throughout my career in games, creative community work and player engagement have been integral to how I approach marketing. This can take many forms — traditional community management, providing content creators with access and resources, even just banter in the comments — but one of the most important is supporting the players that in turn support us.

The power of evangelists & dedicated advocates cannot be understated. They multiply your marketing efforts and become the beating heart of your playerbase, and in return, often they simply want to be acknowledged by the devs of the games they pour their passion into. So when we had the opportunity to do a small thing for League of Legends lore enthusiasts that might have a big impact, we went all in.

In addition to a one-of-a-kind framed piece of the world map, we sent creators a letter thanking them for their involvement over the years. Check out the video to see what it said and how one of those creators reacted.

On the other hand, for Trust No Bunny, we didn’t have those same resources — so we improvised something a lot more lo-fi, but no less meaningful: a Hall of Fame on the community Discord. Those inducted became some of the most stalwart players throughout early access.