What does a community manager do at Blizzard?

[Shagadelic-21122]

I get that the whole job description is not about posting on forums, so I am curious on how a day in the a CMs life looks like (specific to Overwatch here).

What are you actually working on and how it impacts the community?

Thanks!

[Malbosiiq-1808]

Sits in a empty room, then leaves at the end of his shift knowing he put in a full days work.

[danny-18840]

they would manage the community but the community is unmanageable so they get paid to pretend to do something

perfect job

[FlankSinatra-2631]

http s://careers.blizzard. com/gb/en/job/R013258/Overwatch-Community-Manager

[FRIEND-21266]

“Engage indirectly, and at times directly, in key topics of conversation within franchise owned and earned channels.”
Haha that’s interesting

[XyZ8086-1146]

The real question is what did the lore guy do for half a decade!

[Goodgame-11119]

@Shagadelic-21122

What are you actually working on and how it impacts the community?

They spend a good portion of their time trying to figure out how to tell the development team that players are not happy with different aspects. They likely have reports that need to filled out. Probably several meetings to discuss what they can’t talk about yet.

[FlankSinatra-2631]

There is a massive launch coming - I’d be amazed if a lot of their time isn’t spent planning.

[Esoterica-1106]

@Shagadelic-21122

I get that the whole job description is not about posting on forums, so I am curious on how a day in the a CMs life looks like (specific to Overwatch here).

What are you actually working on and how it impacts the community?

Thanks!

Collects a paycheck, mostly.

[ŘïĝĜèĐ-1974]

People like WM (forum mvp) and other CMs have been critical for “guiding” the community forums and lubricating the dialog between internal (work there) vs. external (post here) viewpoints.

Since the 2010s the CM role has moved into more social media engagement, manipulation etc. Liaise with marketing for all that viral shadow hype and the like. Annoying and uncalled for honestly but w/e helps sales to an objectively lower IQ generation.

@XyZ8086-1146

The real question is what did the lore guy do for half a decade!

omg that guy. and right next to him 2-3 of my “friends” from WoW (talb and hoodr)

[Orthane-1403]

Look for people having problems and then copy past them an unhelpful bunch of nonsense that links them to a website which won’t help them just like WoW GMs.

[JCglitchmast-2941]

@Shagadelic-21122

What are you actually working on and how it impacts the community?

It’s all of Activision Blizzard. I remember during MW 2019’s peak, I saw maybe 3 posts maximum of the community manager and I was on the reddit every day and really engaged with the community of that game. I checked their Twitter and they barely said or addressed anything outside of blocking people. Infact, one of the art team members communicated more with the community on general issues than the community manager and would often comment on peoples posts trying to offer help with whatever problem they had. DICE is the same.

I get they could be gathering community feedback and relaying it to the team, but this doesn’t make sense (atleast for Blizzard) since they literally came here saying people posting here/Reddit are the minority so they don’t particularly care what we have to say.

[MrFriendly-1434]

I assume it’s this, I’d imagine they are silently taking notes on what we say in the forums, reddit, twitter, YouTube video/comments and present them to the development team. The development team themselves are probably busy solving problems we have no idea that’s going on in the background so having someone to collect player feedback is helpful.

[Shagadelic-21122]

If this is true, I wonder where they get their feedback from

[Baja-11423]

some answers from the CMs themselves on subject taken from several threads

@AndyB-11735

A large part of what community managers do is to try to remove the personal biases from player feedback, and then communicate what’s the root cause of player friction to designers

@AndyB-11735

Part of my being more active and present here is to encourage folks to engage with us in a more constructive way. Through consistent posting, and answering of relevant questions, my goal is to shift the conversation away from hyperbole and to demonstrate that constructive criticism and dialog creates space for us to engage in conversation with y’all in ways that are additive and beneficial.

@AndyB-11735

To be clear: as a community professional, I have a responsibility to both the development team and the players to ensure that any conversation we’re facilitating is productive and as free from hostility as possible. While I understand the sentiment that we should “rise above” vitriol and toxic comments, I will not knowingly put developers in a situation where they could be exposed to high amounts of toxicity that ultimately ends up muddying the original message and conversation, just as I would not knowingly impose such a conversation upon any of you.

@AndyB-11735

As a Community Manager, I’ve spent my career managing the rigors of player sentiment and conversation. I understand the toll that this works takes on the mental health and well being of those who spend any amount of time interfacing directly with community.

@AndyB-11735

I tend to try to observe and be a participant in community conversation rather than leading it. I am self aware enough to understand that my presence in a thread is a way of guiding or leading community conversation, however I’d rather create space for players to help identify the best moments to jump in.

and from our newest CM (before he was):

@Kaedi-11739

Video game community management is not just being a voice on official channels for a given game. You need skills in copywriting, graphic design, social media platforms, Agile/SCRUM/Jira, Google SEO Analytics, content creator outreach, and so much more. Not to mention you need to have a strong interest in the game you are a CM for AND be willing to put yourself in the line of fire of flames and trolling that occurs on channels like these forums.

[YOURFRIEND-1420]

Arranging buzzwords in various configurations, it seems.