Notch's take on Pirates!

Building a strong community has several benefits to your existing projects or works-in-progress.  For those still working on their game, Wolfire’s John Graham suggests that it will build hype for your game passively.  Word of mouth is one of the best ways to advertise and by creating a channel for potential customers to communicate allows this to happen organically.  Jamie Cheng from Klei explained that “Olde Style PR” is dead.  Press releases are a defunct one sided way to talk press and fans.  By opening a 2 way communication channel you can head off potential miscommunications before they can negatively affect your game.  Interfacing with your customers is key.

Andre Clark and Peanutgallery’s game “pOnd” basically slaps gamers in the face.  I’ll leave the reason why for you to find out!  But rather than viewing angry reactive gamer’s comment in a negative light, they appreciate the feedback.  They figure that by slapping you in the face – you should be allowed to do it back.  They encourage feedback and value when gamers leave it.  Don’t fear the negative from your communities, but respond to it.

Minecraft’s famous creator Notch explained that one of the best ways to head off potential game piracy and copyright violation is by allowing them to get to know YOU.  It’s much harder to hurt a person than some unknown entity or company.  Notch communicates frequently with his player-base and they love him for it.  This pro-active method can help to stop problems before they even start.  The Humble Indie Bundle even went as far as to open up an anonymous survey to those who pirated their bundle to find out WHY!