DRIVING A COMMUNITY
MARTIN POLÁŠEK discusses the reality of being a community manager
Martin is senior community manager for WorldofTanks, and is in fact in charge of community managers in the European region. This follows a journey of ten or so years, a journey he began when he decided to switch focus from graphic design in the printing industry to videogames.
In his early teens, he discovered what he describes as the “magic” of multiplayer games via LAN gaming and internet cafes. When he later in life decided to focus on games professionally, it was something of a challenge. “I come from the Czech Republic,” he says, “and in central Europe it was not as easy, right? Unless you had a lot of experience.” So, he started a ‘quest’ to gain that experience, which began with IRL community management.
Martin would, with the help of Blizzard’s Versailles team and the local distributor, organize launch parties. “We got some goodies, we called the community together to some pub or a bar or something, and we basically celebrated the launch together.” From there he moved into publishing, and then into esports where, again, he was responsible for working closely with people. As an account manager for the Czech and Slovakian region, he made sure that marketers and clients were taken care of; but he also looked after the players, making sure that they were happy and doing his best to deal with any grievances they may have had.
In 2020, he noticed that Wargaming had moved its publishing office to his home city of Prague, and was hiring for senior community manager. Needless to say, he got the job. So, what does he do now? What is a community manager?
MANAGING EXPECTATIONS
“I think if you ask ten people, ten people will give you a different answer,” he says. But for his part, “It’s basically glorified customer support for the most dedicated players. We are the people employed by the company to talk with the most engaged players, and make sure that the company listens to them. We go and talk with the players about things that are currently happening in the game. It can be a new tank, a new map… it can be multiple things within this kind of ecosystem of the live game.”
Martin has learned some important things about the job within a few short years, including the fact that it’s not just about listening to the community. He’s fed into improving their experience, too. Community managers are an important tool in a live service game’s kit when it comes to shaping the game.
When the World of Tanks community asked for an extension of the map pool to introduce some more variety, the developers were happy to oblige. However, map design for such a tactics-heavy game is important, so a new map was first introduced to players via a time-limited mode.
“They had an opportunity to share feedback,” says Martin. “Which positions they felt were too strong, which positions they felt needed a little bit more cover, etc. And out of those iterations, we sent those bits and pieces to our friends in development”.
As a community manager, Martin has also had chances to see how his game’s community is made up of varying ages, such as one occasion he vividly remembers from Tankfest 2021. He saw somebody bring a friend, their father, and their grandfather; and they all sat down to play together. “It was magical for us to see how cross-generational it actually is. And we’re like, that’s pretty nice. Here’s a bonus code for extra goodies!”
Community managers get to see the best of a game’s fanbase, while also having to contend with the fact that they are the most visible face of the company to their most enthusiastic players (“Our community has an almost perfect photographic memory,” says Martin, “and they can go years back and say, ‘But you said this, and you said this!’”). Don’t treat CMs mean, and you can be sure that you’ll keep ’em keen.