3 ms·

I have this problem. I run a small MMORPG and I'm known for being very hands-on with my community both in the game and on Discord. It's a great selling-point an

by hopfog 6y ago

I have this problem. I run a small MMORPG and I'm known for being very hands-on with my community both in the game and on Discord. It's a great selling-point and I think my players really appreciate me answering all their feedback and suggestions. It is however very time-consuming to the point where my productivity becomes zero. What has helped me is to be very transparent about this, telling them that I will need to close down Discord and focus on the new patch. They understand since everyone is always very eager for the next update. During crunches I normally have Discord closed and only hop on once a day to go through the messages. The in-game chat is impossible to keep up with so I tend to say away from there completely between patches, which means a lot of feedback is lost but the players know this and direct newcomers to the Discord instead. After a patch is released I dedicate a couple of days just interacting with the community both in the game and on Discord. I used to be very stressed out by all this but being transparent about my limited time and priorities has helped me a lot.

smichel17 6y ago
If you wanted to capture in-game feedback, you could add it to the chat. Like, /feedback or /bugreport commands. Then you could do whatever with those. Email to yourself.. Or even set up a discord bot you post them to your existing feedback channel.
- hopfog 6y ago
  That's a great idea. For next patch I'm actually making a Discord integration that will post major game events to a channel so it would be pretty trivial to set up. Thanks!
Folcon 6y ago
As someone who's working on amateur game, this is super interesting to learn. At what point did you decide it was worth setting up the discord? Early on, before you had anything to show? Based on player feedback?
- hopfog 6y ago
  I've been working on the game for years and used to have a pretty big community that I only communicated with through the in-game chat. Then life got in the way and the server was down for two years which meant I lost most players (I don't require an email address so no idea who they are). I really wish I had set up the Discord much earlier so I could at least have kept a communication channel for the early adopters. All in all the Discord server has been a major turning point in community building so I recommend setting it up and promoting it as soon as possible. I've even added a quest for new players to join the Discord server that gives some in-game rewards.
  - Folcon 6y ago
    Cool, thanks for the info =)... Sounds like when I start sharing it a bit more I'll need to budget some time to put together a discord.
aphrax 6y ago
Could I ask what the game is called? Did a quick check in your comments...to no avail..
- hopfog 6y ago
  It's called Canvas Legacy. The game is pretty dead right now since most players are waiting for the major patch I'm releasing at the end of the month.

by hopfog 6y ago

smichel17 6y ago

If you wanted to capture in-game feedback, you could add it to the chat. Like, /feedback or /bugreport commands. Then you could do whatever with those. Email to yourself.. Or even set up a discord bot you post them to your existing feedback channel.

hopfog 6y ago
That's a great idea. For next patch I'm actually making a Discord integration that will post major game events to a channel so it would be pretty trivial to set up. Thanks!

Folcon 6y ago

As someone who's working on amateur game, this is super interesting to learn. At what point did you decide it was worth setting up the discord? Early on, before you had anything to show? Based on player feedback?

hopfog 6y ago
I've been working on the game for years and used to have a pretty big community that I only communicated with through the in-game chat. Then life got in the way and the server was down for two years which meant I lost most players (I don't require an email address so no idea who they are). I really wish I had set up the Discord much earlier so I could at least have kept a communication channel for the early adopters. All in all the Discord server has been a major turning point in community building so I recommend setting it up and promoting it as soon as possible. I've even added a quest for new players to join the Discord server that gives some in-game rewards.
- Folcon 6y ago
  Cool, thanks for the info =)... Sounds like when I start sharing it a bit more I'll need to budget some time to put together a discord.

aphrax 6y ago

Could I ask what the game is called? Did a quick check in your comments...to no avail..

hopfog 6y ago
It's called Canvas Legacy. The game is pretty dead right now since most players are waiting for the major patch I'm releasing at the end of the month.