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The Community Lounge Season 4 Episode 4
(You can also watch this episode on YouTube.)
Today’s guest is Orchid, Community Manager at THOMIC, where she works on the cozy-but-brain-twisting rabbit breeding game Rare Rabbits.
Orchid’s path into games is one of the most unexpected on the show. She came from a family of journalists, worked in TV news in Ukraine, and only stumbled into the games industry after walking the catwalk at a local anime fashion show and striking up a friendship with a stranger from the Netherlands who happened to know some game developers.
We chat about how TV journalism skills turned out to be surprisingly useful in community management, her Ukrainian daycare story that perfectly captures her philosophy for welcoming new community members, and how she built the OddSparks Discord from scratch without being allowed to show a single frame of the game. Orchid also shares her no-nonsense advice for aspiring community managers and why she believes that when it comes to content creator outreach, knowing someone’s cat’s name beats a copy-pasted email every time.
Games mentioned in this episode:
- Rare Rabbits
- Neopets
- OddSparks
- Factorio
- Satisfactory
- Pikmin
- Dark Souls
- Tamagotchi Plaza
- No Man’s Sky
Find Orchid on:
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Transcription
Steve McLeod
Today I’m joined by Orchid. Orchid is currently community manager at THOMIC where she works on the Rare Rabbits game. Welcome to the show, Orchid.
Orchid
Hi, thanks for having me here.
Steve McLeod
Now, so many things I want to ask you about, but you told me in advance quite a few things. But one thing I want to start with is you told me that you switched careers from TV journalism to game stuff. The first time I’ve heard about that. Sounds like a fascinating switch. So would you like to tell me what happened? Shall we begin there?
Orchid
Yeah, absolutely. So I’ve been studying journalism. I come from a family of journalists and editors, so where it kind of runs in the family, there was the only the only thing, like the very straightforward choice. And then I started working on television and had a great interest for TV news, which it was really fun. It was really nice. And I was already like drifting towards technology news. What has been invented, here and there somebody made a game about this and that or the technology to detect early stage cancer and stuff like that.
So this kind of news, technology news from all over the world were already my favourite thing to do. But on TV I was feeling I had a great team. I was having fun working for the for I was having a lot of fun working for the news show. However, I started noticing that there is no there is like a glass ceiling. And I had to prove myself too much because of being a girl and being goth…
You have to fight more than you actually work. As ugly as it is, it is what it is, and I was trying to ignore it as long as I could. And I just kept doing my thing. It’s and I was doing some hobbies at on the side, as I usually do. So one of them is fashion design and turn into fashion, Japanese fashion. And then the switch actually happened through a fashion show.
Steve McLeod
Tell me more.
Orchid
That I was working on TV, also studying at the same time and then running multiple freelance things, so like always on coffee, always on energy drinks. I had a fashion show, I think it was on a weekend at a local anime festival in Kiev, Ukraine. And made a dress where the fabric did not match perfectly. I just wanted to have this thing done and was praying for nobody to notice the difference. Spoiler, nobody did. So I already wake up with a bit of like headache, not feeling my best, but I thought I can do that.
And I come out on stage and I hear people cheering ’cause they kind of knew me. I could feel, I could hear, they like my outfit. But then it’s like this very strong headache, it’s like a punch in the face and I cannot see anything. And my first thought, do not walk too close to the edge of the stage. Which I did not, because that was my fear. Like that that thing was I don’t know how high, but I would have become a pancake if I fell from there. Long story short, I did that.
Pose for images, three poses, turn around, show the outfit from all sides, go backstage, done. Then the girls pack me into a taxi and say just go home and sleep, which I successfully did. And the next day I was already feeling better, scrolling social media, hopefully in hope to see some images, because the official photos usually take time. So I was looking for social media if somebody posted some really quick snaps and I was wondering did my dress look okay or not.
Somebody did post those images and I noticed it’s a foreign name, which was kind of an interesting occurrence because the show was local and well I personally did not expect anybody from other countries to come for that or that was just highly unusual. And I said, Hey, thank you for posting the pictures, they’re really nice. And it’s really cool that you come from, this is all the person coming from the Netherlands. I said something like it’s really cool that you come from the Netherlands and you visited our local show and that was it.
Long story short, I start talking to the person because I like making new friends and this is what I also what I do as a community manager. And it came to the point that I said, yeah, I’m on television, I like that, but I feel like I’m not completely in my place, something it just doesn’t feel exactly right and of I often feel really, really bad. And then they say, then you should try something new. Here is an event here that like I’m familiar with, that I’m that I was there for.
Steve McLeod
Yeah.
Orchid
And I read about the event and I’m like, mm, if I have twenty dollars in my pocket at this point, it’ll be good. The price was this was way out of my price range. Then they write me, well what about the price? The press what about the press pass? You are a press person and I’m like, Yeah but I can’t get that. I’m not that special. I’m not big, like affiliated with anything I’m not officially with anything big. Then they got me in with a press pass from like another media outlet that was don’t remember how I arranged it but I found somewhere to write about it.
And I meet these people, these people who make games. I was not really a gamer to be honest by that time at that time. Maybe a little bit. I played Neopets which I still do. And then somebody needed to the people were just very welcoming and very nice. And at the end of the show somebody said, Hey you can write, right? Yeah.
We need some stories for our game character. Can you do that? We just have images and you just you have all the freedom to come up with background stories for each of them and I’m like, why not? And yeah, I wrote those stories for their, it was a type of social games, so it was for a social game. I read some stories, then somebody needed an emergency translation in a meeting and I’m like, ‘Hey, I can help with that and they…
Steve McLeod
Emergency translation from what to what.
Orchid
It was… I think it was between Russian, Ukrainian and English. It was before the war. Yeah, so at that time it was it was ages ago. And they dragged me in the meeting, they’re very happy that there is somebody to help. The point is that I have very limited knowledge of what they’re gonna talk about, what they will want. Like it’s just I know that those people need to make a deal. I think they did in the end.
So it worked out and I just had this context already and I slowly drifted into game development and I ended up working for this exact conference for eight years then.
Steve McLeod
No way. This is a Ukrainian based conference.
Orchid
No, it was it we’re all working remotely. The team was in the US. They have people in Ukraine.
Steve McLeod
Wow. Wow, that’s fantastic. And in what way do you think your journalism, TV journalism skills, were helpful in once I mean, obviously they were in in the story you just told, but once you started working in the games industry, were you finding you were using your TV journalism skills?
Orchid
Turns out yes, even though I didn’t think, I thought, okay, all I learned for all those years at university is just useless. Why? Why did I do this? But then turns out that I can find people, for example, for interesting news pieces, which transferred into finding speakers for the conference. I know who can, I can also detect who can explain who can present nicely and who would be struggling, for example.
Or who can bring it to the people better, this person or that person, or which topics can generate more engagement and can bring more people in. For example, this and also video cutting, video editing, this stuff always helps.
Steve McLeod
Of course, of course. So much of especially community management, so much of it involves video these days. Which some people say is not fair. Like you apply for a job as a community manager and then they expect you to be a video editor.
Orchid
Always.
Steve McLeod
I really like that story. Hey, there’s something I’ve discovered now. I’ve been going to video games industry events for two or three years. There are so many free tickets and there are so many ways to get free tickets. So that story you told me, I’m thinking, yeah, I also had that view once where it’s like, man, this is so much money. And then suddenly I find myself with a free ticket or a half price ticket.
Orchid
Yeah. There are ways. We were once on vacation too and we were at like exhibition about jail that was really interesting and we read something about there that just lives in my head rent free. When there is a will, there is a way.
Steve McLeod
I like it. I like it. Okay, let’s move now into your work as a community manager. So as we said at the beginning, you’re currently working at THOMIC on a game called Rare Rabbits. I had a quick look at that before we started talking and it looks very interesting. you know what Steam said to me? This game is not the type of game you typically play. And I thought, well, fair enough. it’s more for, it’s kind of a cozy game, I guess.
What do you do day to day on rare rabbits?
Orchid
So just sometimes I do really, really weird stuff. it’s not just for Rare Rabbits for example, the last week I spent a few days crocheting mini bunnies, putting bows on them and putting like a like small medals with a QR code to the game. Because yesterday was the day before yesterday there was a local showcase and I was showcasing Rare Rabbits. so that’s one of the things I do a lot of stuff as for indie games.
You need to be more than creative and you need to be the sneaky F word. I don’t wanna curse that we don’t have to censor that, but yeah, you have to be everywhere. So I check social media. I talk to people on social media a bit, then I write to content creators. I just got an email that somebody made a video about the game. So I’m gonna after this podcast, I’m gonna check out that video, write back to that person, share the video with the team and we’ll discuss it in the meeting tomorrow. so I would today…
For example, I’ll be preparing some social media posts in advance because I gathered some material and I can just make a batch and schedule it out. And if something comes in between, something interesting that we can post, then I’ll just I’m just gonna post it outside of schedule. So schedule is just like the skeleton and the meat on that we decide as we go, as part of it as planned. so it’s very different things. usually I don’t write emails before my first coffee, so I check social media before then then coffee, then emails.
Then more like planning the strategy part. I like doing that in the second part of the day. I´m more awake, I’m not a morning person at all. There is that. Also when I’m totally drained but I still want to do something, I go on YouTube and look for content creators that would probably enjoy the game and whose vibe is just fitting us. So with Rare Rabbits it’s a deceivingly cute game because yeah it looks cute. It’s very cozy. It’s very I would say immersive.
Steve McLeod
Mm-hmm.
Orchid
Just it you just feel good playing that, but also it twists your brain into a pretzel and then it´s 3AM and I’m still trying to breed that rabbit. So it’s really makes you think. And a short session turns into a multi-hour session.
Steve McLeod
Is it children child friendly? I mean we’re not supposed to be here talking about promoting the game, but I’m actually curious, is it child friendly?
Orchid
The I would say so.
Steve McLeod
Because I then I think I’ll have to play it with my daughter sometime, check it out.
Orchid
That’s actually yesterday the most passionate player was the son of the developer who was showcasing right next to me. Not only he played he like he figured out in no time, like he was also helping me engage the people. Because he already figured it out, he wanted to share it with the people and that was really contagious.
And I don’t really know if he already studies biology at school or not, or if he has any interest in that but he was totally hooked and then I saw that he is like looking into this genetic thing, there is this and that and then together it will give that. Which was totally fascinating for me to watch.
Steve McLeod
Perhaps he’s gonna grow up to be a a rabbit breeder or or a biologist because of the game. Hey, I often admit the in these episodes that we do prepare in advance by having a key like shared notes and that helps us know what to talk about. And there’s one thing you wrote about that really grabbed my eye, and I want to ask you about that already. and now that I’ve said that, I’ve lost it.
Yeah, a story of tell me about this memorable positive moment you’ve had as a community manager. Because this one this is unusual, like what I see there. Or maybe it’s your ability as a journalist to know how to get me hooked. But tell me more about this one.
Orchid
Well which one exactly? ‘Cause I have so many.
Steve McLeod
Okay, you mentioned a Ukrainian day-care story on social media.
Orchid
That’s like that’s my absolute favourite. So really great choice. So I sometimes I need to explain how I build my communities to very different people like from developers to those decision makers who might not necessarily understand the importance of community. Sometimes I have to talk to people like that too. It’s hard, but yeah, can do that. So the other time I was scrolling social media just like which I try to limit.
But I was looking through social media this threads the Twitter from Instagram and one story caught my eye about it was from some person I don’t know her I don’t know her family but it was about the a morning in Ukraine after Russian shelling at night so nobody got proper sleep but people still need to go to work. Morning, day-care after the Russian shelling nobody has slept. The teacher is drained but she’s trying to be welcoming.
A mom comes in with a son who is not fully awake, he doesn’t understand what he where he is, what he’s supposed to do. He’s like just standing there. The mother is exhausted trying to get herself together because she needs to go to work after this. The teacher comes out welcoming this saying hi to the mother, welcoming this boy to the playroom. And he’s just standing there totally lost and like confused.
Then out of the playroom two boys run out and say to this to the sleepy one “Hey, you know what? Mark found a snail in the backyard. Wanna go see?” And suddenly this kid lights up. “Yeah, sure, let’s go.” And then they all run into the playroom. So this principle is pretty much how I want my communities to be that when a new person comes who does not know anybody there, who might be a bit awkward, who might feel well, you know, when you walk into a a room full of strangers, even if you’re not if they’re nice, you don’t know that they’re nice.
You just feel awkward and then somebody comes out and like, hey, let’s I want to show you something. Hey, let’s go play. And they just drag you in and then suddenly you’re no stranger anymore. You have a person that you kind of know. So this is the the, this is how I try to build my community that when a new person comes, the existing people just drag them in in a very friendly and very welcoming manner.
Steve McLeod
I like that very much. And how do you encourage people to do that? What are some tricks or techniques we might use to encourage the community to behave like that?
Orchid
So this starts from a very, very beginning. You need to build the community with this in mind, kind of. I think you can also tweak the existing community in this direction, but that would probably be harder. Never done this, so I don’t know. But what I what I do, I try to make the basis of the community of this very supportive people who are just who just enjoy being friends with other people, being friends online. and then this there are new people who come, for example, from exactly from the game, who saw the game and then decided to check out the community.
And then there is somebody who’s just welcoming, getting them in. It’s the base of, so you form the community initially in a way that it consists of this of this type of people or it attracts this type of people. And then at some point you reach this critical point where they start they start doing it without you trying to get them in. Sometimes I take over too if so, because it can be that and like nobody of these people is there or they just they’re just offline or I happen to be there and then somebody comes and I drag them in. So I’m not like a stranger to my own community. I’m also one of those people.
Steve McLeod
Under the name Orchid, you’re always going as Orchid. And when you say community for I guess we’re for example, if we’re still talking about Rare Rabbits, where would that community be? Would you use Discord or a different platform or across multiple Yeah?
Orchid
Yeah. Yes. So I use the very different things. I use very different things to build the community. sometimes it’s like it depends on the teams. Some teams I worked with, they said that they would like to reach people here and there. So I respect that. But for Rare Rabbits I have a lot of creative freedom. So I try to get all the people on Discord because this is where we’re less, where we’re less dependent on those whims of social media algorithm changes and stuff. Yeah, this is really stressful. This is to be honest, this is the main source of stress.
Steve McLeod
Yeah.
Orchid
But I also use social media. I don’t let them use me. I use social media to reach out to new people, to get the new people in the Discord, or if something, for example, and I also did it for OddSparks, if it’s a bit too raw and too undercooked to show on social media, or if there is a question that I want to ask like real quick, or like the devs want to have asked, and I’m the one handling that, then it’s best to do in Discord.
So I’m trying to gather people everywhere and get them into Discord because that’s where they can also they can come they can come to Discord and see what’s new with Rare Rabbits or like they’re happy with something. They’re not happy with something. They know that they can always reach us on Discord. So all roads lead to Discord eventually.
Steve McLeod
Mm-hmm. I like that. And you’re actively encouraging that to happen rather than just letting people stay where they are.
Orchid
Yeah.
Steve McLeod
You mentioned threads, you mentioned Instagram, and you mentioned one other social media platform I’ve already forgotten, but you didn’t mention Twitter or X. was that intentional? Have you found like a lot of people have that Twitter it’s really hard to do anything with it these days, or are you still making it work?
Orchid
We’re still actually still making it work. It’s we’re still reaching people and one of the most engaged people comes from there. It’s, I still do that because also for the presence. I think it’s important for every studio, especially indie studios, because I assume that for big triple-A the marketing team takes care of that. For indie studios it’s more than important to grab the username on all possible platforms. Because there will be that one ‘butt’ that will try getting the name and then charge you for that.
Steve McLeod
Uh-huh, gotcha. Gotcha. And are you finding that Threads and Instagram are very helpful for promoting a game and promoting community?
Orchid
Instagram not so much. but here’s one small thing that people often confuse is that promoting is like a side thing for the community, for a community manager. Yeah, I partially do that too, but this is not what I what my main thing is. My main thing is to get people engaged, to have them talking, to get them curious. And then they will bring it, for example, to other people or they will discover it through our social media post. Like that’s the promotional part, but this is this comes more on the side.
So we’re if we’re talking about reaching the most people, Instagram, not so much. Threads can be, but you need to constantly be active there. So you need to dedicate, I don’t know, an hour or two a day to talk to people there, to talk to other devs, which is pretty cool because it’s just talking to really nice people who might like the game. I love doing that. Yeah. From the point of reach I would say TikTok, even though I’m personally not a fan as a user, but…
In terms of reach, it shows it to people for games with a cozy aesthetic. I think it makes sense. Cozy or some action, that stuff works because it’s visual heavy. It’s something that just it’s some kind of like biologically catches the people’s attention. So TikTok works there. Twitter is more of an extra, I would say. I still do this, I still do it, but I’m not focusing on it. Of course I talk to people on all platforms, but it’s not my focus point at this time.
Steve McLeod
We’re doing a little experiment at the moment with Twitter. Kind of like we kind of given up on Twitter from our own products for Feature Upvote. And then now we’re trying to actually use it not as a way of posting information about us. We’re partly doing that, but also to engage. So we follow our customers where we can and we can we try to engage in their posts about what they’re doing because we generally are excited to see our customers releasing updates and announcing news.
So far there’s nothing much to show. It’s a new experiment. But for me, it’s like a one last try to make Twitter do anything. Twitter has changed so much.
Orchid
Yeah, sadly it’s not as like this ads in your face and what whatnot. But it’s a good idea to do it on the side. So for example, you can I think Bluesky. You could give you could give it a try. I have a feeling that you’ll reach more people there. It also requires an hour or two a day, you just need to go there talking to people. And then you can you can focus on Bluesky and then you repost the same stuff on for example on Twitter. That’s pretty much what I’m trying to do.
Steve McLeod
Right. Okay, nice, nice. You mentioned OddSparks before. What’s OddSparks? What can you tell me about this?
Orchid
Yeah. OddSparks was this my very first job here in Germany since I moved. So this is again deceivingly cute automation game, but it’s like it’s very the automation is surprisingly deep. Think of Factorio, Satisfactory. I like both of those two. But it’s in wrapped in a cute aesthetic and the mechanic of getting things done is throwing creatures around. Think of Pikmin.
So it’s like Pikmin meets Factorio, something in this direction. I like games that are uncommon, therefore a bit harder to get out there. I like a good challenge. So I’ve been working on OddSparks for two years, and the community there is I would say one of those where I’m which I’m most proud of.
Steve McLeod
Yeah, why are you proud of it? Tell me, tell me a story that shows why you’re proud of the community of OddSparks.
Orchid
There is a lot. First of all there is the game community, there is this game community and there is also the team that is a community of itself, which is we’re still like all friends and all I’m pretty close. so with the with the OddSparks community I had a big challenge. At the in the beginning I could not show or say anything – What the game is gonna be, Work in progress, nuh-uh.
But I needed to get the people somehow. I needed to start early to get the people to look, to get the people to know us, the team. And I thought, okay, we have really good people and we have office dogs. And that was the key thing. Everything that has paws works just wonders on social media. And I knew this as a cat owner to three spoiled rescue cats, I knew this trick.
Steve McLeod
Haha, Okay.
Orchid
And I thought, okay, let’s give it a try. So I basically built the community on the fact of love for pets and showing off the people and the team what they do. So it was it was like a connection between the team that are making something awesome. We’re gonna tell you about it once we can. And of course office dogs. Like, why didn’t we get anything done today? Because of this thing here. And then there is this cute face with the snoot, the ears, the eyes and all that.
So, the challenge was to build the community without actually showing the game. So we already had some solid base and pretty wholesome base. That’s what I was mentioning before. This base of nice people who are generally friendly and who would make friends with others. I built this base because I thought people who love pets, they are less likely to be bad people. And I was right.
And then they were also so supportive of us that even they were some were very upset when we had to do something different or when we changed stuff. So they took it very personally, which is a double ended sword. You have to be super careful here. But I was lucky that mostly people were very understanding of it. And this yeah, it ended up in over five thousand people on Discord, after release that I don’t remember how much there is now. Haven’t checked for a while.
But the fact that we managed to build it from like not being able to show anything into a lot of people playing and yeah.
Steve McLeod
Yeah. That is a challenge. And how did you go about making sure you’re attracting the people who would actually be interested in a Factorio-style game? Was it and not I mean if somebody comes expecting a Dark Souls game and it’s a cozy game for example, then that’s hard. So yeah, was there any tricks you had for that?
Orchid
That was something that most people would not like because it’s a lot of a lot of time and a lot of things that look from the side as if I’m not doing anything. I was checking out a content creator, for example, but again we were not really doing creator like influencer marketing. It was reaching out to content creators who do give a demo, who really would enjoy this game. So my focus was not on the big guys, not on “Oh he has so many followers, therefore he’s relevant for us.” That was never on my radar.
The focus was on does he like this kind of games or not? Or she played a similar one, maybe? Well let’s say hi. So it was that. it would the head it’s like I spent days looking at people’s accounts and discovering creators. It was also really cool. It was very enjoyable. And I built a database of a few hundred people that were that could possibly be interested.
So once we got a green light from the publishing team I started writing to them personally. And here’s also something that it sounds wild but it works. I don’t like the automated emails, I don’t like the copy pasted emails. The most copy-pasted thing I could do, like the description of the game, but still I explained it differently to different people because I wanted to show why I think that he or she should play the game. And this was not the generic, “Hey, I saw your channel, and I think you’re gonna like our game.”
Sometimes It that would be enough, but sometimes I need to say that yeah, I saw that that and that and I think this piece of humour in our game would make you would make you interested. So it’s a lot of work and a lot of like direct outreach. And it was not like a table with an email and that gets sent just sent to everybody because the name is changed. No, it was a direct letter to everybody. I know what their cat’s name is. I know what their favourite snack is. Yeah.
Steve McLeod
Ha ha. Outreach is hard, really, really hard. And I think it gets harder and harder. And doing it this way, we’re showing, it’s better to write ten individual emails than a thousand that are all generic. I think you’ve already hit onto something there. I also liked in the whole story of OddSparks, I like the way that you set the tone of the community right from the beginning. Like you it’s not an accident what tone and community gets, you have a lot of choice in that as a community manager, if you’re starting from the beginning. I guess it’s different if you inherit it.
Let’s move on for tips you might have for people wanting to become a community manager. Again, you wrote something in our shared notes there that made me smile, but I’m not gonna say what that is. I’ll let you say it in your own words. So tell us, tell us your tips you have for people wanting to become a community manager.
Orchid
If you have this idea in your head, just don’t and get a better idea, honestly.
Steve McLeod
Why do you say that? Why do you say don’t?
Orchid
Because the other way to become a good community manager is to grow up as an neurotic people pleaser and there you go, you’re just a you’re a good community manager. But to be serious, this it’s really like I would reconsider now, even though I really love what I do, it’s really fun, it’s fulfilling, it’s satisfying and it’s never boring. So I absolutely love what I do. But a lot of companies will try to skimp on you. They will try to they don’t understand how much time and effort it is that it’s a full time commitment, that it’s like that it’s not something that can be done within five minutes during your day and like you’re scrolling through social media and want to make money.
It’s not like that. But companies and especially not the creative people but the people who are not familiar with creative processes, they often think that this is something that they can give to unpaid, to people they’re not paying. And I think this is highly unethical. I’ll probably get cancelled for this, but yeah, but I find it really because this is work. This is a lot of work.
The second thing is that with the current state of the games industry with the layoffs and stuff, again the layoffs are not usually not initiated by the dev teams, not by the creative teams. But people who make those decisions, they will be first to get rid of you as the nonessential. Of course this will have consequences, but they don’t know it and they will probably not see it so much. They will just see the numbers in a spreadsheet. So there is that and it’s really disheartening is really unpleasant.
The third thing is that again this there is this I’m not trying to talk anybody out of that, but I just want to spare people some nerve cells. There is one thing that is butt-ugly. It’s like honestly I’m trying to keep my breakfast in there while talking about it because it’s disgusting. It’s more disgusting than a snail. For me there’s nothing more than disgust more disgusting than a snail, but this is.
Like if you come from a country that’s not lot like one of the biggest ones. There will also be not-so-nice people who will try to squeeze more of you for less just because you’re based not in I don’t know, not in the EU, US, UK or other big countries. So I am begging you I am asking you again for your do not go for it. Like protect your sanity because this is a one way ticket to Burnout Land.
I’ve been halfway to Burnout Land, I turned around and jumped out of that lane. But it’s just something that you need to keep an eye on. Like you know what you if you already decided that you want to build communities. You know that it’s work, you know that it takes your energy, your health, your time, your brain power. It takes it takes a lot, so do not sell yourself for cheap. That’s one thing. Of course being reasonable is important. If it’s something that’s like smaller part time.
But you just feel like that, then you can then you can you can go for some more like where you can find a compromise. It’s always about that. But if it’s some bigger company that you see that they would probably support somebody more if they were from somewhere else, you just think twice if you need it.
So if you’re aware of all the possible negatives and all the dangers and you still want to do this, you keep an eye on what makes you want to join this or that community. I’m not just talking about the game communities or offline ones, but generally what makes you want to come and hang out with these people?
Where if you’re if you if you’ve had a lousy day, where would you go to get your mind off things. Which people would you talk to? And you just make notes of this and this is a very good basis for you to build your community on. There is that. And make friends with devs. Like simple as that. Not that you are expecting something out of them. This is a big mistake that I’ve also seen. You just go out to events and you meet the indie developers.
That was what I did in different countries, different events. You follow them on social media, you stay in touch and once any of them needs support, you just see that they’re posting about that, you just offer your help, you just reach out to them. Like the worst thing is that they say no. If there are buts to you, it’s on them and not on you. This is also super important to remember.
Steve McLeod
Some really good answers there. The really good answers. I wanna just touch on the first part what you had to say. An interview I did recently that’s not yet been published was with somebody who was a community manager but is now working in the PR side of games. And I did that show for a reason. I wanted to show that community management doesn’t it’s not you forever. Like there are things to do.
It is a it is a role like you mentioned that often it’s the first to go. Although there are some community managers who’ve been in the same role for ten years, but often yeah, it’s the first to go. There are other places in the games industry that want you too. There are opportunities. and even outside of the games industry, there’s things that take the skills you develop as a CM but can use you in a place with less stress and usually more pay and so on.
Unfortunately, some people just have a fatal addiction, a fatal attraction to working in the games industry because it is an interesting career, right? An interesting industry.
Orchid
Totally more that and yeah, those skills are quite useful. I actually worked as a PR manager for a really awesome team for some time and it’s was just because of like legal stuff that I didn’t stay there longer. Otherwise I think I would still be working there because those people not only their the team is amazing, but the games they publish are just I want all of them. Like I already got a big part. But yeah, there’s and I will kind of study that partially, so also as a former journalist
This plus community stuff and then I can take all of it together and bring it to any other industry, or social media. I think you can as a former community manager, you can do social media for brands, for example, because they underestimate the power of community. So I would say the brand that understands that and actually implements it, even more sneaky, not so publicly, those brands are winning the people in the long run.
Steve McLeod
Mm-hmm. Yeah, good one. Orchid, we’re running out of time, but I still have the last and most important question for you. What games have you been playing lately?
Orchid
That’s kind of my gaming preferences are all over the place. So of course I’ve been playing a lot of Rare Rabbits because it just happens to be my type of game. Then there is something that is my addiction since forever is virtual pets. So I’ve been playing Tamagochi Plaza on my Switch, and I have the uni device, like the physical device, and you can connect those two and have like your creature play in the game, something like that.
That I have not yet done yet, but that’s the plan for the next weekend. there is that. And I’m also making a small virtual pet game, so I play a lot of these because I’m just into that. And No Man’s Sky. The all-time classic. Like if I’m not in the mood to play anything else that’s on my list, No Man’s Sky is always the way to go.
Steve McLeod
Wow, No Man’s Sky. This is the procedurally generated space exploration game that had a rocky launch, right? But you know, I amazing it’s amazing to see that it’s still around and I hear that it just gets better and better, that they’ve just steadily and slowly improved it.
Orchid
Absolutely. And this is also like an a very inspiring story for me. How like how you with good communication again this comes in my professional direction, with good communication you can turn things around and actually win people over again and win the new people over. On top of that, the music for the game is by one of my favourite bands, so it’s a win-win.
Steve McLeod
Which band is that?
Orchid
65daysofstatic.
Steve McLeod
Uh-huh. To wrap up, thanks again for being on the show.
Orchid
Anytime, was an honor for me.
Steve McLeod
And how can the listeners get in touch if they’d like to know more what we’ve about what we’ve discussed today.
Orchid
Mm-hmm. Yeah. So the I think the LinkTree it has all the links that are relevant. Also my LinkedIn. I’m trying not to hang out there too much, but if you send me a request, I will gladly confirm it because I like making friends, is just how it is. And email!
Steve McLeod
Okay. And your LinkedIn is on the link tree?
Orchid
Oops, nope. Thanks for the reminder. Not yet. And also the good old email. I’m a bit old school, so that’s the easiest way to reach me because that is something I check obsessively almost 24/7.
Steve McLeod
Okay, would you like us to put the email in the show notes or is that something you’d prefer to leave out of the show? Okay, great. Well we’ll have all that there. We’ll have all that there. So thank you again. Bye, Orchid.
Orchid
Thank you. Bye.
Steve McLeod
Bye everyone.