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Dev's troubling silence


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(@Kurock - it wasn't a competition but a wager - you should of put money down ;P )

 

 

@Anonymous:
 
We can understand that you are concerned about our current lack of presence. However, you should understand in return that you can't expect the same presence from a Community Manager in a big company or being a part of a big structure than one in a small company. Why? Because in small companies (like indie studios), people are generally brought to do more than the exact job written on their contract. If not, then the company might quickly run into some problems to work properly. 
 
Just a few examples:
- Apart the communication from JC, all the comm from the devs is handled by the CMs (who are doing the link between devs and the community).
- Managing discussions on Facebook and Twitter is totally within the job of the CMs (it's really disturbing to say the contrary).
- This might be shocking but yes, Customer Support can be something a CM has to do (and right now, this is also part of our job).
- Internal, invisible tasks related to Kickstarter and hugely time consuming are also among the things we currently have to do.
- Despite what you're saying, Reddit can also be an appropriate place where a CM might have to interact with people interested in the game.
 
All in all, we would love to interact a lot more with you guys than what we are currently doing.
We will do our best to increase our presence in the coming months.
A few replies are coming soon to some important topics.
 
Best regards,
Nyzaltar.

 

Well, I for one am happy to have lost my bet. ;)

 

Note that I'm not for a second saying that Reddit, Twitter and Facebook (inc. G+, LI, Insta, Snap etc) aren't appropriate places for CM's to hang out - I'm simply saying that too often businesses spread their comms too thin and end up with channels and content they lose visibility of - the active Discord community (as opposed to the "Official Subreddit Community" which died within days) being a prime example.

 

(I can also assure you that working CM and Social Media management in Government is more like being in an indie start up than a big enterprise, and in many cases, is more akin to being a sole trader. Alas in that space, dedicated communications managers for social tend to be rare, so it's often a labor of love job you fit in between other roles because someone has to do it.)

 

Having just scanned all your statistics across SM in terms of engagement rate, post rates etc, I assume that it's the Kickstarter and Customer Support elements that are taking up most of the time. So while I appreciate the workload you have (as I am certainly not suggesting that being a CM is at ALL easy - it certainly is not!!) and that you are already appointing secret community mods etc - please do consider reaching out to the community here for able assistants across a range of disciplines - I for one would be more than happy to volunteer (he says, kicking himself given he's under pressure already to harass my existing French work connections to offer me a job in Paris) my time and expertise across a range of disciplines to help the NQ vision be realised, as I am sure many of us are.

 

(If on the off chance that's something NQ would appreciate, DM me and I'll send back my LinkedIn /shrug) )

 

All said - we are ALL really happy that NQ ISN'T a black box of silence :)

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No offense, Anonymous, but I get paid a pretty penny for social media management and consultation.  It's not  a labor of love so much as it is a valid and important part of any marketing plan.  You simply MUST, in this day and age, attend to it with the same amount of effort as you would any other aspect your marketing endeavors.  And that's what it really is.  Social is more of a marketing tool than anything else. So I'm glad they are out there tending to what social they can.  It will be critical to the success (or failure) of this game  - and pretty much every other business these days too. 

 

As for the CS aspect of it, you also MUST tend to these channels for that as well.  We live in unique times. Young folks don't remember a time without social. A lot of them think forums are outdated and old-school (and they are).  So if you don't use social for such things you leave out many of the younger crowd.  The older crowd is more reluctant to use social but is also very active in the gaming community, more so than the younger crowd, IMO.  So, you must tend to both on-site and social equally to reach as wide of an audience as possible for both marketing and CS or you're leaving millions of people out of your demographic either way.  I could go on and on since I love this topic, but you get the idea.

 

I don't know, might be different working in government.  Those folks are not really using social in the same way.  But for business, if you ignore it or keep it on the back burner "until you get time", then you're dead in the water before you even get going.   It's not cheap, it's not easy, but it simply must be done.

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No offense, Anonymous, but I get paid a pretty penny for social media management and consultation.  It's not  a labor of love so much as it is a valid and important part of any marketing plan.  You simply MUST, in this day and age, attend to it with the same amount of effort as you would any other aspect your marketing endeavors.  And that's what it really is.  Social is more of a marketing tool than anything else. So I'm glad they are out there tending to what social they can.  It will be critical to the success (or failure) of this game  - and pretty much every other business these days too. 

 

As for the CS aspect of it, you also MUST tend to these channels for that as well.  We live in unique times. Young folks don't remember a time without social. A lot of them think forums are outdated and old-school (and they are).  So if you don't use social for such things you leave out many of the younger crowd.  The older crowd is more reluctant to use social but is also very active in the gaming community, more so than the younger crowd, IMO.  So, you must tend to both on-site and social equally to reach as wide of an audience as possible for both marketing and CS or you're leaving millions of people out of your demographic either way.  I could go on and on since I love this topic, but you get the idea.

 

I don't know, might be different working in government.  Those folks are not really using social in the same way.  But for business, if you ignore it or keep it on the back burner "until you get time", then you're dead in the water before you even get going.   It's not cheap, it's not easy, but it simply must be done.

 

None taken.

 

And you -> preaching, me -> choir. We're from the same world :)

 

(And nooooo - don't ever work SM in Gov - just last month got to watch one of the biggest Gov SM fail's I've ever seen... was absolutely appalling... Australia's #censusfail ... Gov's problem is that they DON'T consider it a full time thing that takes a lot of time and effort. That and building empty cathedrals and expecting people to just show up and talk rather than going where the action is.)

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None taken.

 

And you -> preaching, me -> choir. We're from the same world :)

 

(And nooooo - don't ever work SM in Gov - just last month got to watch one of the biggest Gov SM fail's I've ever seen... was absolutely appalling... Australia's #censusfail ... Gov's problem is that they DON'T consider it a full time thing that takes a lot of time and effort. That and building empty cathedrals and excepting people to just show up and talk rather than going where the action is.)

 

Hehe, yeah, they never listen to us, do they?  Hire someone who knows what they are doing - BECAUSE they know what they are doing - and then ignore all of their advice. Typical.

 

That's how the government is with IT/Security as well. They don't want to spend the money on security since they can't actually SEE what the IT guys are doing.  Then when they get hacked, it's too late. 

 

I've never taken a govt contract for social or web dev I did once for some educational games and software that is used in our public schools nationwide though.  It was really great for a couple of years and it even got renewed for another grade level to do it all again.  Until the day our govt shut down the government for two weeks.  Lost the contract mid-project and almost went bankrupt over it since I didn't have any other clients booked.  Nothing I could do about it.  Never, ever will I take another government contract like that again. EVER!

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That's how the government is with IT/Security as well. They don't want to spend the money on security since they can't actually SEE what the IT guys are doing.  Then when they get hacked, it's too late. 

 

kek - Do NOT get me started!!! Even Reddit wouldn't have the storage required for my rants on THAT topic...

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