Importance of Community in Product Design
Tags: Esports, Gaming, Product Design, Community

The Big Bang Theory crew engaging in a multiplayer session.

The basis for this article is my experience with the drive of social gaming and its contributions to community features.

Some background…

At the time I placed the marker to develop this article back in October, an update to the game StarCraft II was the implementation of a stronger Chat UI. Making the chat consistent and persistent across the lobby of the game shows an awareness that social interaction is a strong component in their product and culture. That implementation occurred prior to the launch of Legacy of the Void, the 3rd iteration within the StarCraft II arc and did not have this type of chat structure before. Hell, the chat structure before felt fairly minimal and a bit disorganized. Chat channels were cumbersome, chat filters didn’t exist, so overall the limitations of the social interfacing made it better to just shut the chat off or ignore it.

I’ve marked the video at 1:19 minutes, to get directly to the improvements of the system.

Beyond StarCraft II, many mobile apps have a chat interface. Clash of Clans for instance is an example of having a social community, allowing for camaraderie between strangers in a digital space with a shared interest and/or goal.

Some might say, “Sure, its because Social Media became a strong contributor for gaming’s growth.” I’ll have to disagree. Being a part of the community that played MMO games since the 1990s, even playing MUDs (Multi-user Dungeons) in its simple narrative chat format, community is what drives the longevity of products. Social Media helps things spread quick, but a strong community will be recognized regardless of the technology which it is based on. Dungeons & Dragons was still recognized enough that it became a focus of controversy decades ago, thanks to the devotion of a community (and there was no Social Media at that time).

It is only in the last decade that we see a testament to this idea of Community-Empowerment Platforms. CEP? Good acronym, I’ll run with it! For me, CEPs are any platform where social interactivity, growth, and bonding, can exist. Meetup.com is a CEP, dating platforms by IAC are CEPs, Reddit is another, and even blogs with enough traction become CEPs. For MMOs, a strong community emerged from EverQuest, the platform which inspired the likes of Dark Age of Camelot and World of Warcraft.

Product Impact

Weighing a product as to whether it should allow social interactivity features or not, depends on your goals with the product. I highly advise against thinking of social features as something you just tack onto a product, you should be mindful of how a community would impact the integrity of your product.

Some questions to ask:

Does the vision for my product support the interest of a community?

Do I have the resources to build the material and understanding for establishing and growing a community?

Will a community benefit my product?

How much time and resources would it take to build a community?

How much time and resources are required to maintain a community?

These questions are easier to answer when you incorporate social features as an important aspect to your product.

It also helps if you do NOT focus on Social Media extensions as a part of your product, like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, etc. If you are looking at Social Media as your method of developing a community, it can work for outreach but not retention. In my experience working with Nerd Reactor and using blog features with other clients, Social Media outreach has users pay attention to the content which was shared, but does little in bringing retention.

While Social Media extensions are often what I’m seeing people target with e-commerce sites and blogs, I have advised that the experience of the actual product is the better advertisement of the content. So when you develop a CEP as part of the product, it will make more sense than tacking on peripheral social marketing features. For Social Gaming, this is why Microtransactions are effective, because it becomes a platform where services and vanity items can be achieved. And from Social Gaming, gamification has been an inspiration for retention in products like Waze, who possesses vanity and achievement items in a community space.

Is community important?

Let me put it this way. At this year’s CES (Consumer Electronic Show) in Las Vegas, I attended a series of panels focused on how they feel the industry is flowing. A professional from Yahoo! put up a slide that focused on: Where does the industry professionals see things going?

Community-centered.

Originally posted at www.linkedin.com