The State of the Community

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   Hello all,
As the new community manager and public relations manager, I wanted to take a moment to go over exactly what my vision for the community (and press) is. The first order of business is to explain exactly what it is I do.

What is a community manager? 

I am taking over for GM Luna, the last CM/PR. She left very nice, large shoes to fill, but she also left tons of great info and clarifications for me to explore. A community manager acts like the voices of the two sides of the game, the players and the developers. That means I take player concerns to the developers, and work with the developers to announce items or discuss changes with the community. That also means that I am not a coder; I will answer anything and everything I can but tech support questions. Those go into a petition so the coders can be let out of their cages long enough to fix them if possible. 

I also act as a moderator for the in-game chat and forums. If you have questions about moderation/rules, check out this thread and this one. You can also find them on my in-game profile. As usual, feel free to send me an in-game-message with any (and I mean any) questions about moderation. It is much better to ask me about moderation than to "hear" about how it works from players who might not know. (I have already had to shut down several "I heard"s!)

What is a public relations director? 

It's a fancy term for someone who contacts the press, attempts to attract the press to the game/s and acts as the go-between for the press and developers. I also cover social media and write blogs/communications. When you see an article or coverage about one of Illyriad Games' games, that's due to the PR manager, usually. This is the part of the job that you players rarely see me doing because it's all done in emails and social media. 

Keep in mind one major thing before reading below: I can and will host community-based events, but things like tournaments are developer-based events. Community-based events do not, generally, require heavy coding or can require nothing but player participation. In other words, I can pull these off myself.

OK, so what am I planning?

Several things, but as is the general rule in game development (or should be) -- I will never tell you anything until it is practically ready to go. Why? Because gamers are horrible at the telephone game. That means if I say (as I have) that I am "thinking" of doing something for the community, it can (and has) turn into "He said it was today at 3:00 pm!" 

Having said that, there are a few things that I can talk about. 

1) Host an in-game event: This can be something like the recent instant-on event that asked players to attack two separate towns. The idea was that there was a pack of thieves who stole from the King, and he needed the items returned. The player who did the most damage to the town's army won a medal from the King. During the event, the towns suffered from scores and scores of attacks. When it got down to it (and because we kitted the towns out with a small army) the player who got there first with an army won. This was more of a race than anything. In the future (and if the King approves it) I would like to add more to these events, like puzzles or trivia or something else on top of the attacking or robbing. Keep in mind that these will not always be announced and, so, some players might miss them. Generally, however, I will try to use social media/forums/chat to let everyone know. Sometimes I might just toss it out there! Be warned! I am not afraid to upset a few players for the sake of spontaneity! Frequency: once per month.

2) Reigniting the Player Spotlight: I am re-opening the player spotlight because it is a great way for the public and for the playerbase to get to know the game. I am looking into switching out the "reward" for players who are featured from a t-shirt from our shop to Prestige or something similar, or a choice of either. Frequency: once per month.

3) Hosting a Strategy Monday livestream: This is a great way to gather with players to discuss the finer points of the game. Illy, in truth, is like a giant, neverending strategy boardgame. With that comes a million ways to play, and a playerbase that is able to make the game how they want. These livestreams will be hosted by me but we have plans to include the rest of the developer team. If you would like to participate, check out this thread. Frequency: once per month.

4) Random contests/trivia/etc: These are quick, fun and easy ways to get involved with the community. I might ask trivia one night, host a poetry contest or (something I really want to do) host a player profile contest. I can hand out various "prizes" for these, but will hold off listing them off until I talk with the developers. Frequency: often, when I can, etc.

The general idea is to have some "thing" happening once per week, on average. Again, bear in mind that these events have nothing generally to do with the developer events like tourneys, etc. When those come they will be treated in a different way altogether!

If you have any ideas for a contest or event (and I have received a ton already) please put them in this thread, send them to me with an IGM or send to community@illyriad.co.uk ! Feel free to discuss all of this below.

Many of you might have noticed, but we have been gaining tons of new players. This is due to coverage, other games shutting down, Age of Ascent's recent popularity and crossover, etc. Be welcoming to these new players because one day you might need a target!

GM Rikoo

Edited by GM Rikoo - 05 Dec 2014 at 15:06