The document discusses community management and the importance of information sharing. It emphasizes that community managers must get to know their user base, build bonds through empathy, and recognize trends early. Correct planning is key, and the critical path method can help efficiently allocate information resources over the lifespan of a project. Maintaining open communication between community managers, developers and public relations is also important for coordination and meeting deadlines.

1. © Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

2. Just ask a home owner if
it‘s easier to build a home,
or to simply maintain one.
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

3. » Community Building
» Get to know your userbase
» Idiosyncrasies
» Make your name known
» Planning abilities are needed
» Lessen subsequent work load
» Be ready for exceptional circumstances
» Co-Operation
» PR
» Developers
» Project Lead / Managers
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

4. » There‘s only one chance for a first impression
»The community remembers everything
» A CM never changes
» Get personal
» Bonding with the community
» Empathy
» Recognize trends at an early stage
» Wishes
» Protest
» Forwarding
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

5. » What are Evangelists?
» … better than any PR campaign
» … the best friends of a CM
» Are Evangelists important?
» Yes!
» This covers PR, but what about Community?
» High forum activity
» Not always positive…
» … but almost always relativizing
» How do I get these super users?
» Enthusiasm (CM = Evangelist)
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

6. » Following the release is always the anticlimax.
» Idealism
» Expectations
» Try to keep contact
» PM
» Emails
» Talks and Interviews (Cons, Tradeshows, etc.)
» Always show that you‘re willing to do better!
» „No“ is not an answer …
» … unless it has a good reason
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

7. » The community as a nuclear reactor
» Critical phase
» Self-Preservative
» Where do I get the nuclear fuel?
» Information
» Controlled flow
» How do I benchmark if my community reached a critical mass?
» You can‘t.
» Lack of information
» Growth trend
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

8. People, whom you
withdraw information
from, you incapacitate to
help themselves. (Diether
Hildebrandt, Satirist)
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

9. » Time-consuming work
» Information pooling
» Dividing into classes
» Why should you divide, and how?
» ‚Dispensable Information‘ (There is no such thing!)
» Non-Essential Information
» Essential Information (Unique Features)
» Who should be involved?
» Everyone!
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

10. » Fan Sites
» ‚Say, do you have anything new for us?‘
» Specifically big info pool
» Graphics, exclusive snippets, short interviews, etc.
» Forum
» Regular updates (i.e. weekly)
» External ressources mustn‘t deliver more
» Small infos to ‚plant‘ into the forums by mods
» Press, Media, Events
» ‚Unique Features‘
» Live demonstration and presentation
» Pre-Release communities live off information!
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

11. » Hand in Hand with PR
» Target audience planning
» Deadlines (Milestones)
» Hand in Hand with the project lead
» Critical Path (Analystic technique)
» Deadlines (Milestones)
» Hand in Hand with the developers
» Communication guidelines
» Finding ways to integrate the community
» The Community Manager is an info hub
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

12. It's always standing out if
someone talks about
things he understands.
(Helmut Käutner, Director)
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

13. » PR and information
» Pure forwarding
» No direct customer feedback
» Rarely flexible
» Often exaggerated
» PR and publicity
» Mostly passive
» Rarely personal
» Success must be measurable
» CM and information
» Forwarding, Reacting, Responding
» Always immediate feedback
» Flexible to a certain extent
» Thorough
» CM and publicity
» Always active
» Personal, ‚showing face‘
» Success must be perceptible
Public Relations and Community Managent follow completely different goals
with their actions, and cover different target audiences.
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

14. » Common goal
» Selling the product
» Coordination
» Who, How, What, Where, When
» Contact sharing
» Press events
» Tradeshows
» Early warning system
» „Stirring up a hornets‘ nest“
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

15. » Everyone knows them…
. . . all those suggestions that one immediately thinks of while
playing a game that one hasn't personally developed on.
» The community doesn‘t have enough insight
» Technical feasibility
» Deadlines
» Already planned features
» … etc.
» What may help?
» Feedback between CM and devs on a regular basis
» Pre-filtering of suggestions by the CM
» Dev-Diaries and the like
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

16. » Facebook is one of the most-visited sites of the world
» Target audience
» ‚Right at home‘
» Easily maintainable
» Possibility of direct contact
» High proliferation through contacts
» Social Networks are optional for users
» Free choice
» High chance of using both the official site and the Network site
» Possibility to integrate game into Facebook
. . . yet, the Facebook icon is still hiding in a tiny box on most game
sites, or isn't even existing. Why?
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

17. © Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

18. » Fan site = External Community
» Support is only indirect, but important
» Constant contact
» Good feedback on fan sites helps a lot
» Fan sites can work as an early warning system
» Fan sites create opinions
» Big fan site networks
» Possible overlap between CM and PR
» No privileges
» Informational flow
» Information = Lifeline
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

19. » Fan sites should be on every invitation list
» Great PR
» Possibility for interviews
» Bonding with the player base
» Especially young fan sites are thankful for everything
» VIP Area / Business Area
» Small pieces of exclusive info
» Merchandise for drawings
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

20. » Correct planning is a key element
» Information is everything a pre-release community can live off
» It‘s important to think further than just Community Management
» Never forget about the needs of a community when planning
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

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Thomas Lagemann (CEO)
Nadja Bastawi (CVO)
Gerresheimer Str. 9
D-40721 Hilden
Germany
Tel: +49 (0) 2103 94 119 14
www.two-pi-team.com
www.wheel-of-games.com
Hergen Thaens, Community Manager
COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY
The future of gaming is:
COMMUNITY!
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany

22. » What is the critical path?
A method in network planning, which is used for project planning.
With this method, events that can occur synchronously are shown
next to each other, with the earliest possible starting point as well as
the latest possible ending point connecting the time critical events. The
critical path shows events, which can not be delayed to reach that goal.
» What does this have to do with information management?
» Efficient allocation
» Proper planing from start to end
» Flexible re-allocation, should ressources get freed
© Two Pi Team, Developers Gathering NRW 2010, Düsseldorf, Germany