“Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much”
Helen Keller
This quote perfectly captures the value of community. People come together for a shared cause or a common interest. In the gaming industry, the emergence of communities is promoting growth.
As technology transforms the industry and makes it easier for people to interact with each other, players and fans come together online. The communities they create include members from different countries, age groups, and cultures. Boundaries that differences often create in reality disintegrate.
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How gaming builds communities
The gaming industry is remarkable in its ability to foster communities. It does so in several ways.
- Allowing people with a shared interest to communicate with each other. This can happen within games and in online and offline groups.
- Reaching people in numerous international locations as the Internet expands.
- Creating quests and objectives in games to encourage collaboration.
- Providing built-in communication tools like forums and voice chat.
- Enabling user-generated content that promotes shared creativity.
- Organizing events and tournaments where community members can meet online and in person.
Many of these community-building methods exist across the gaming industry, including sectors like iGaming, where chat features, especially at sweepstakes casinos, allow players to discuss their favorite games and playing strategies.
These sites in countries like the US allow fans of slot games and table games like blackjack and roulette to communicate with other enthusiasts in a safe environment free from financial risk as people can play the games free of charge. The fact that there is no requirement to spend real cash makes sweepstakes casinos extremely popular in the US.
The player communication which is popular at sweepstakes casinos is something the wider gaming industry embraces as it aims to foster communities amongst gamers who are seeking this type of connection.
As wrestler Kofi Kingston says
“A lot of people talk about video games as something nerds do. But we look at it as a way to connect with people. It’s something that’s positive, that brings people together.”
The role of these communities in the growth of the gaming industry
Clearly, the gaming industry promotes communities of like-minded people. Doing this is beneficial to the growth of the industry. In the last decade, almost three million mobile gamers have emerged. Estimates suggest that around 40% of these gamers want to be part of a community where they can share ideas and experiences. It follows that creating these communities attracts gamers and promotes growth.
Creating gaming communities also encourages growth in the following ways.
- Communities provide feedback to developers, which allows them to improve their products and make them more attractive to gamers.
- Gamers who join a community become more invested in top games like the World of Warcraft series.
- Strong gaming communities promote loyalty.
- Promoting communities enables organic marketing as passionate members promote the games they love.
Continued growth relies on developing the positive aspects of communities
Gaming sometimes gets bad press when it’s accused of promoting an unhealthy obsession with playing games. Supporters of the industry provide advice and support about overcoming issues such as the stresses of long gaming sessions. There is still work to be done, as some gamers report experiencing problems like bullying and misogyny.
For communities to continue enabling the growth of the gaming industry, developers and gaming providers must work to overcome these issues while building on the positive aspects of communities, including,
- Allowing players to become fictional characters for a period of time and escape the traumas and barriers of everyday life, including the use of skins to promote further individuality.
- Empowering individuals who do not have a wide friendship base to believe they can be part of something that provides excitement and fulfillment.
- Creating shared experiences that people can own and enjoy together, including the games themselves and events like Quakecon and MineCon.
By focusing on these positives and working on addressing problems, the industry can elicit further growth by continuing to promote communities.
