The Community Lounge

Steve McLeod
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The Community Lounge is a place where community managers from video games studios and publishers tell their story of how they got into the role, talk about the challenges they face, and share tips to help other community managers.

  1. 6d ago

    "Online communities are societies" ft. Community Manager Faye V

    Today's guest is Faye V, Community Lead Advisor at Chaos Manufacturing. Faye got a psychology degree, taught English in Japan, and spent years as a professional circus performer. From there she moved through the Pokémon Company, Singularity 6 (Palia), and Fantastic Pixel Castle, finally landing at Chaos Manufacturing today. We chat about how her psychology degree shapes the way she thinks about online communities as cultures and societies of their own, and why understanding a community's context is the key to communicating with honesty and transparency when things go sideways. Faye also draws a great parallel between circus troupes and game development studios, and how years of "the show must go on" live-event experience taught her to stay zen when a patch needs to be delayed. Games mentioned in this episode: - The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Super-Nintendo/The-Legend-of-Zelda-A-Link-to-the-Past-841179.html - Lord of the Rings Online: https://store.steampowered.com/app/212500/The_Lord_of_the_Rings_Online/ - Minecraft: https://www.minecraft.net/en-us - Roblox: https://www.roblox.com/ - Elden Ring: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1245620/ELDEN_RING/ - Fields of Mistria: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2142790/Fields_of_Mistria/ - Icarus: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1149460/ICARUS/ - Final Fantasy XIV: https://store.steampowered.com/app/39210/FINAL_FANTASY_XIV_Online/ - Palia: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2707930/Palia/ - Ghost (Fantastic Pixel Castle, unreleased): https://fantasticpixelcastle.com/ - The Binding of Isaac: https://store.steampowered.com/app/250900/The_Binding_of_Isaac_Rebirth/ Find Faye on: - LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/fayevis/ - Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/acobi.bsky.social - Twitter: https://x.com/ac0bi The Community Lounge is brought to you by Feature Upvote – Painlessly collect feedback from your players. More insights, less noise. Subscribe to the Community Lounge newsletter and get notified of new episodes and articles: https://featureupvote.com/thecommunitylounge/

    "Online communities are societies" ft. Community Manager Faye V

  2. Aug 7

    “Don’t compete with your community for fandom” ft Community Manager Chandler Wood

    Today's guest is Chandler Wood, currently working with Skilltree Marketing. Chandler started his community management career truly in the deep end. He left games journalism, where he'd spent about a decade, to join Avalanche Software in his hometown of Salt Lake City working on Hogwarts Legacy. He only left the role years later when love took him to New York. We chat about Chandler's "oil in the engine" philosophy of community management — being the translator and connective tissue between brand, product, and audience rather than a mascot or figurehead. He shares what it meant to be a community manager for the studio as much as for the players, how he helped Hogwarts Legacy build its own fandom identity distinct from the wider Wizarding World audience. Chandler also gets into the power of listening, making broadcast content feel one-to-one, and his best advice for first-time community managers. Games mentioned in this episode: - Hogwarts Legacy: https://store.steampowered.com/app/990080/Hogwarts_Legacy/ - Expedition 33: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1903340/Clair_Obscur_Expedition_33/ - Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2909400/FINAL_FANTASY_VII_REBIRTH/ Find Chandler on: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chandler-wood/ - Website: https://www.chandler-wood.com/ The Community Lounge is brought to you by Feature Upvote – Painlessly collect feedback from your players. More insights, less noise. Subscribe to the Community Lounge newsletter and get notified of new episodes and articles: https://featureupvote.com/thecommunitylounge/

    “Don’t compete with your community for fandom” ft Community Manager Chandler Wood

  3. Jul 31

    “Do the Job Before You Have the Job“ ft. Community Manager Greg Castle

    Today's guest is Greg Castle, Community Growth Manager for Essential Mod at Spark Universe. Greg started out as an archaeologist before finding his way into the games industry, and it turns out the two careers have more in common than you'd think. We chat about what a "community growth manager" actually does, the unique challenges of managing an 800,000-strong Discord server, and how skills from archaeology translate surprisingly well to community work. Greg also shares the story of landing his dream job working on a game he'd been covering on YouTube for years, his philosophy of constant experimentation, and why empowering community volunteers as "bastions" is one of the most effective things you can do as a community manager. Games mentioned in this episode: - Minecraft: https://www.minecraft.net/ - The Bazaar: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1617400/The_Bazaar/ - Rodeo Stampede: https://www.yodo1.com/rodeo-stampede - Crossy Road: https://www.crossyroad.com/ - Train Simulator: https://store.steampowered.com/app/24010/Train_Simulator_Classic/ - Dota 2: https://store.steampowered.com/app/570/Dota_2/ - Guild Wars 2: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1284210/Guild_Wars_2/ - Overwatch 2: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2357570/Overwatch_2/ - Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: https://store.steampowered.com/app/292030/The_Witcher_3_Wild_Hunt/ - Teamfight Manager 2: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3009300/Teamfight_Manager_2 Find Greg on: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorywcastle/ - Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/divok232.bsky.social The Community Lounge is brought to you by Feature Upvote – Painlessly collect feedback from your players. More insights, less noise. Subscribe to the Community Lounge newsletter and get notified of new episodes and articles: https://featureupvote.com/thecommunitylounge/

    “Do the Job Before You Have the Job“ ft. Community Manager Greg Castle

  4. Jul 24

    “Every Community Manager has a different way of doing things” ft. Community Manager Danreb Victorio

    Today's guest is Danreb Victorio, Community Coordinator at Gamers Outreach — a nonprofit that brings video game entertainment to children in hospitals through their signature GO Kart kiosks. Danreb has over ten years in community management, starting as a volunteer moderator on GameSpot at just fourteen years old, co-founding the games media site Smashpad, and spending seven years at Glu Mobile on the Tap Sports Baseball series, including through the company's acquisition by EA. We talk about what it's like to build a community around a game you're not personally a superfan of, and why Danreb insists on genuine one-on-one human interaction. Danreb shares how going through thirty interviews and not landing a role affected his mental health, what helped him through it, and what he'd tell anyone today who wants to get into community management. Games mentioned in this episode: - Tap Sports Baseball: https://news.ea.com/press-releases/press-releases-details/2022/Electronic-Arts-Launches-MLB-Tap-Sports-Baseball-2022/ - League of Legends: https://www.leagueoflegends.com/en-us/ - Grand Theft Auto: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3240220/Grand_Theft_Auto_V_Enhanced/ - Bubsy 4D: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3237970/Bubsy_4D/ - Bluey and the Quest for the Gold Pen: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4127530/Blueys_Quest_For_The_Gold_Pen/ - Forza Horizon 6: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2483190/Forza_Horizon_6/ - Mixtape: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2582320/Mixtape/ Find Danreb on: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danreb/ - Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/danreb.bsky.social - Website: https://gamersoutreach.org/ - Smashpad: https://smashpad.com/ - Day 0 Update Podcast: https://smashpad.com/series/day-0-update/ The Community Lounge is brought to you by Feature Upvote – Painlessly collect feedback from your players. More insights, less noise. Subscribe to the Community Lounge newsletter and get notified of new episodes and articles: https://featureupvote.com/thecommunitylounge/

    “Every Community Manager has a different way of doing things” ft. Community Manager Danreb Victorio

  5. Jul 17

    "We work with real people, with real emotions" ft. Community Manager Kristoph Zandecki

    Today's guest is Kristoph Zandecki, a passionate community manager and marketer in gaming based in Poland. Kristoph was seconds away from becoming an English teacher before a Junior CM offer came in at the last moment. He's spent the majority of his career in the VR space, working with studios including Incuvo and VR indie publisher GameDust, and has also built up broad experience managing communities for everything from indie titles to big-brand IP, and from adult players to children. We talk about what makes VR communities so distinct — smaller but intensely dedicated, and quick to spot anyone who doesn't really know the space (never call the headsets "goggles"). Kristoph shares how he immersed himself in VR culture, learned the hard way about motion sickness, and watched the platform shift as Meta pulled back and left its community feeling abandoned. Kristoph also walks us through his approach to revitalising a dead Discord: what to keep, what to cut, why you should expect a wave of members to leave when you start making improvements, and why that exodus is actually a good sign. Games mentioned in this episode: - Green Hell VR: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1782330/Green_Hell_VR/ - Batman™: Arkham VR: https://store.steampowered.com/app/502820/Batman_Arkham_VR/ - SUPERHOT VR: https://store.steampowered.com/app/617830/SUPERHOT_VR/ - Half-Life: Alyx: https://store.steampowered.com/app/546560/HalfLife_Alyx/ - Kingdom Come: Deliverance II: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1771300/Kingdom_Come_Deliverance_II/ - Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1903340/Clair_Obscur_Expedition_33/ Find Kristoph on: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krzysztof-zandecki-community/ The Community Lounge is brought to you by Feature Upvote – Painlessly collect feedback from your players. More insights, less noise. Subscribe to the Community Lounge newsletter and get notified of new episodes and articles: https://featureupvote.com/thecommunitylounge/

    "We work with real people, with real emotions" ft. Community Manager Kristoph Zandecki

  6. Jul 10

    "Get people engaged and get them curious" ft. Community Manager Orchid

    Today's guest is Orchid, Community Manager at THOMIC, where she works on the cozy-but-brain-twisting rabbit breeding game Rare Rabbits. Orchid's path into games is one of the most unexpected on the show. She came from a family of journalists, worked in TV news in Ukraine, and only stumbled into the games industry after walking the catwalk at a local anime fashion show and striking up a friendship with a stranger from the Netherlands who happened to know some game developers. We chat about how TV journalism skills turned out to be surprisingly useful in community management, her Ukrainian daycare story that perfectly captures her philosophy for welcoming new community members, and how she built the OddSparks Discord from scratch without being allowed to show a single frame of the game. Orchid also shares her no-nonsense advice for aspiring community managers and why she believes that when it comes to content creator outreach, knowing someone's cat's name beats a copy-pasted email every time. Games mentioned in this episode: - Rare Rabbits: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3966790/Rare_Rabbits__Snuggle_Haven/ - Neopets: https://www.neopets.com/ - OddSparks: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1817800/Oddsparks_An_Automation_Adventure/ - Factorio: https://store.steampowered.com/app/427520/Factorio/ - Satisfactory: https://store.steampowered.com/app/526870/Satisfactory/ - Pikmin: https://pikmin.nintendo.com/ - Dark Souls: https://store.steampowered.com/app/570940/DARK_SOULS_REMASTERED/ - Tamagotchi Plaza: https://www.bandainamcoent.com/games/tamagotchi-plaza - No Man's Sky: https://store.steampowered.com/app/275850/No_Mans_Sky/ Find Orchid on: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/orchidgoth/ - LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/orchidgoth The Community Lounge is brought to you by Feature Upvote – Painlessly collect feedback from your players. More insights, less noise. Subscribe to the Community Lounge newsletter and get notified of new episodes and articles: https://featureupvote.com/thecommunitylounge/

    "Get people engaged and get them curious" ft. Community Manager Orchid

  7. Jul 3

    "It’s a full time job - and then some!" ft. Community Manager Ray Willmott

    Today’s guest is Ray Willmott, Social Media and Community Lead at Curveball Games and founder of Ready Mix Consult. Ray’s path into games began after a decade working in local government before transitioning into games journalism and eventually community management through volunteer writing and moderation work. We chat about how skills from public sector work shaped Ray’s approach to community management, why Steam reviews have become increasingly important for a game’s visibility and success, and how community managers can turn negative reviews into positive outcomes through thoughtful engagement. Ray also shares advice for aspiring community managers on avoiding burnout, building experience through volunteer work, and navigating the challenges of today’s games industry. Games mentioned in this episode: - Hades II: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1145350/Hades_II/ - Blue Prince: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1569580/Blue_Prince/ - PRAGMATA: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3357650/PRAGMATA/ - The Secret of Monkey Island - Special Edition: https://store.steampowered.com/app/32360/The_Secret_of_Monkey_Island_Special_Edition/ - Tetris Effect - Connected: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1003590/Tetris_Effect_Connected/ - Sente: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1005180/Sente/ - Planted: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3448000/Planted/ Find Ray on: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ray-willmott-90871054 - Ready Mix Consult: https://www.readymixconsult.com/ - Ready Mix Gaming: https://www.youtube.com/@ReadyMixGaming - Curveball Games: https://x.com/Curveball_Games The Community Lounge is brought to you by Feature Upvote – Painlessly collect feedback from your players. More insights, less noise. Subscribe to the Community Lounge newsletter and get notified of new episodes and articles: https://featureupvote.com/thecommunitylounge-newsletter

    "It’s a full time job - and then some!" ft. Community Manager Ray Willmott

  8. Jun 26

    "We're all really creators in some way" ft. Community Manager Milissa Maxin

    Today’s guest is Milissa Maxin, Senior Community Manager at Singularity 6, makers of Palia. Milissa’s path into games is anything but conventional. She began her career studying tuba performance at Berklee College of Music before discovering her passion for community building through online roleplay servers and virtual worlds. We chat about how growing up in early online communities like Toontown, Neopets, RuneScape, and Habbo Hotel shaped her instincts as a community leader, and how her experience organising roleplay servers in games like Grand Theft Auto V became an unexpected foundation for a career in community management. Milissa shares her journey from volunteer moderator to customer support at Linden Lab, and eventually into community leadership roles working on Second Life and Sansar. Games mentioned in this episode: - Palia: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2707930/Palia/ - Toontown Rewritten: https://www.toontownrewritten.com/ - Neopets: https://www.neopets.com/ - RuneScape: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1343400/RuneScape/ - Habbo Hotel: https://www.habbo.com/ - Minecraft: https://www.minecraft.net/ - Red Dead Redemption 2: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1174180/Red_Dead_Redemption_2/ - RedM (RDR2 Roleplay Mod): https://redm.gg/ - Grounded: https://store.steampowered.com/app/962130/Grounded/ - Parkitect: https://store.steampowered.com/app/453090/Parkitect/ - GoldenEye: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoldenEye_007 Find Milissa on: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milissamaxin/ - Palia Discord: https://discord.com/invite/playpalia The Community Lounge is brought to you by Feature Upvote – Painlessly collect feedback from your players. More insights, less noise. Subscribe to the Community Lounge newsletter and get notified of new episodes and articles: https://featureupvote.com/thecommunitylounge-newsletter/

    "We're all really creators in some way" ft. Community Manager Milissa Maxin
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About

The Community Lounge is a place where community managers from video games studios and publishers tell their story of how they got into the role, talk about the challenges they face, and share tips to help other community managers.

Information

  • Creator
    Steve McLeod
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    38
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Steve McLeod
  • Show Website
    The Community Lounge