What I Learned - 11

A lot this week, but next week covers the Indie Speed Run Game Jam's lessons!

What I Learned - 9/22 to 9/28

1. Game design is not about the shipping of a product, but the lifetime iteration to perfect a craft.
1. Eric Zimmerman; How I Teach Game Design: Prologue
2. Nearly any way you describe games is useful in someway, at some-point, to the definition of what games are; design fundamentalism should be faced with skepticism.
1. Eric Zimmerman; How I Teach Game Design: Prologue
3. A designer should never get hung-up on the "correct" application of game-making theory when faced with a problem; just go forth and do!
1. Eric Zimmerman; How I Teach Game Design: Prologue
4. Be prepared; always have an updated resume that can be sent whenever.
1. Lucian Tucker; Breaking Into The Industry: Daniel Lingen, Community Manager
5. If managing a community, the first best-practice is "adapt to your community".
1. Julien Wera; Online Community Management: Communication Through Gamers
6. The triad of Marketing, Public Relations, and Community Management are the only avenues players have to the game pre-release.
1. Julien Wera; Online Community Management: Communication Through Gamers
7. The rules of Community Management: Know your community, communicate, be honest, and don't underestimate the community.
1. Julien Wera; Online Community Management: Communication Through Gamers
8. Researchers have discovered 4 cornerstones to what a group needs to be considered a community:
1. Membership.
2. Influence.
3. Integration and fulfillment of needs.
4. Shared emotional connection.
1. Philip Driver; The Beginner's Guide to Community Engagement
9. A set of motivations that drive players to be a community are:
1. Anticipated Reciprocity, where players interact to get interaction back;
2. Increased Reputation, so they can improve their standing among peers;
3. A Sense of Efficacy, whence players believe a difference is being made by their presence.
1. Philip Driver; The Beginner's Guide to Community Engagement
10. All community specialists need to be player focused, game experts, able leaders, swell storytellers, educators, thick-skinned, and patient with all.
1. Philip Driver; The Beginner's Guide to Community Engagement
11. Jennifer Grayeh, from Forbes, lays out 4 pillars of community management: Growth, Engagement, Listening, and Improvement.
1. Philip Driver; The Beginner's Guide to Community Engagement
12. Riot uses five pillars in managing a world-class community:
1. Shield players from negative behavior.
2. Remove or reform toxic players.
3. Create a culture of sportsmanship.
4. Reinforce positive behaviors.
5. Create better match chemistry.
1. Jeffery Lin; The Science Behind Shaping Player Behavior in Online Games
13. Seeing the color red only briefly can hinder performance in goal-oriented tasks by ~20%.
1. Jeffery Lin; The Science Behind Shaping Player Behavior in Online Games
14. Hearing, reading, or doing something deemed "Elderly" can reduce a person's walking speed.
1. Jeffery Lin; The Science Behind Shaping Player Behavior in Online Games