2. Community »Why do I want one? »What do I need to build one? »How do I manage it?

3. US Sites by Time Spent »1. Facebook »2. Yahoo »3. Google »4. live.com »5. »Feb 2009 – Compete.com Pogo

4. How does it help my business? »Community leads to committed players who spend more  - Pogo ($100M) vs Yahoo Games  - WoW ($1.2B) vs Oblivion  - Runescape ($50M) & Club Penguin ($65M) vs. other Flash games »"Maplestory items only have value because of the community" – Min Kim of Nexon »First Pogo connected downloadable converted at 7% (14x normal)

5. You’ll make better games »Immediate communication with users leads to better design choices  - Flickr started as “Game Neverending”  - In-game chat with users revealed the photo tools were more fun than the game »Careful which users you listen to  - Hardcore players are opinionated

6. Elements of Community »Ways to show gaming prowess (leveling, achievements, level creation, etc)  - Gives you something to talk about »Ways to show social affiliation & standing (guild membership, friends list, wall posts, Yelp useful/funny/cool points) »Communication tools  - Text chat (big groups, strangers ok)  - Voice chat (best with a few friends) »Text chat is dominant for a reason »Personalization & self-expression (avatars, collectibles, etc)

7. Oh yeah, it’s the Internet »Penny Arcade says it best:

8. Setting the Tone »People take their cues from the behavior of others »'Broken Windows' applies to online communities as well as cities »'Community policing' beats 911 – having sociable members as moderators sets the tone »Very social 'homesteaders' can turn chaos into community »Intimacy of smaller groups/regular chat rooms helps break down anonymity of internet (greater f***wad theory), creates stickiness – room blogs, room events, room wiki pages »Sense of connection to the site or game creators is key – avoid a corporate tone. Be real. Post in your forums. Give users a sense of involvement in design and policy

9. Dealing with Jerks »Automatic language filters don't help much  - Avoiding them becomes a game in itself.  - “I suck” is OK. “You suck” isn’t.  - We filter 5 words (but track dozens for health monitoring) »Temporary bans & silences help some »Distraction most effective – trolling increases exponentially with boredom. Flame wars can be ended by asking for help with Gears of War »Avoid acting as an authority figure – users automatically rebel. Cool older brother, not substitute teacher. Humor very effective – off-color (but not explicit) jokes »Jerks can reform – a user banned for spamming chat rooms with penis pictures is now a moderator

10. Moderators »Employees or volunteers?  - Both, probably  - Pick great users to be mods (we have ~400)  - Hire great mods as community managers (we have 3) »Scalable system for picking mods (nominations + stats) »Beware of power-hungry mods »Look for sociable mods  - Kongregate mods disproportionately female (especially the most effective ones) »Training/orientation to set standards »Show them the love! Contact with employees, beta access, gifts »Set communication channels – 'ask an admin' forum threads, monthly roundtables reduce 1-1 support

11. Measuring Community »How sociable are users?  - chat, comments, forum posts, friendings »How much are users annoying each other?  - mutings, spam, vulgarity »What % of new users engage?  -earn achievements, fill out profile, chat, comment

12. Downsides (besides trolls) »People talk to each other  - Tough to A/B test pricing, features »Bizarre group dynamics  - The ‘bingo incident’ on Pogo  - Chain letters »Drama - French don’t like French Canadians - Suicide threats, online stalking - Pogo had a murder (and a rescue too)