ContributionsOnlinePR & Marketing

Community Manager’s Daily Schedule: Plarium’s Story

June 2, 2016 — by Ilia Ageiev, Community Manager at Plarium

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ContributionsOnlinePR & Marketing

Community Manager’s Daily Schedule: Plarium’s Story

June 2, 2016 — by Ilia Ageiev, Community Manager at Plarium

The rooster crows (the alarm clock sounds), and our hero wakes up at the break of dawn. Our hero is a warrior. Without steel-plated armor or fine weaponry, but with an arsenal of game knowledge, verbal cunning, and iron resolve.

Community management is not just a job - it encompasses your whole life. You begin to feel like you live in the story you present to the game community, and it’s an intense one, complete with daily quests, PVP challenges and crafting, says Illia Ageiev, Community Manager at Plarium.





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Illia Ageiev from Plarium shares a typical day of a community manager.

Indeed, community managers must place themselves in front of a drastically diverse group of people from around the world, with thousands of opinions to consider, questions to answer and issues to resolve.




What does the day of our renowned knight look like?

7.30 AM
Wolfed down your morning porridge? Time to don your armor, saddle your two-wheeled mount and hasten to work to conquer the world.
8 AM
A true warrior has to be fit, because this job takes energy – physical, mental, psychological! A short workout in the morning serves to wake you up and gets both your body and mind running well! The gym awaits you.
10 AM
Check that everything is in order. Offense in the Catacombs? - Good. Time to begin!

Offense in the Catacombs? - Good. Time to begin!

10.30 AM
A round table with the moderators. Check on the prison of banned users, and discuss the weather forecast for the atmospheric conditions of the community.

It’s important to remember that moderators are not company employees, but players. They are the brave knights who have chosen to ride with the production team, and to respect and defend its position.




Important to remember: moderators are not company employees, but players.

While the moderators never fail to impress and surprise us, as the community manager you must periodically check to see how they’re conducting discussions and replying to enquiries. New moderators need guidance and support more often than seasoned veterans. Once you deem your companion is ready for the adventure ahead, hand them their armor, a sword with their username etched on it, and a shield of iron confidence to protect them in case of an incoming barrage of harsh comments or personal attacks (which, regrettably, do happen!).

11 AM
After quickly checking to confirm all the moderators’ responses are on point, and offering constructive advice where we can, it’s onto other business.

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There’s a game update coming tomorrow, and it’s hard to predict the community’s reaction.

There’s a game update coming tomorrow, as an email from the Lord Regent (management) himself advises me. A few changes were made, so the game is going to look a bit different. One can never predict the community’s reaction to this, so we ensure that beforehand we go through the changes with the trusted moderators. This way, they will not be caught off guard, and will be ready to address any questions or complaints that come up!

11AM – 2 PM
Assume your position on the watchtower and take a read of the atmosphere at the forum. Is it lively and positive? That means that you’ve done your job well yesterday. Dark forces, complaints and negativity abound? No worries! Listen to all the players diligently and provide solutions. Your  moderators should be able to welcome to your aid and assist you in replying to everyone, as well. Well-versed in the art of diplomacy, you should be able to address the concerns respectfully and gracefully.

As every community manager and every gamer knows, all too often, some of the mechanisms that form the regular gameplay are cursed with bugs and glitches. Listen, and heed the words of the Lords and Ladies discussing the matter on the forum thread! Enter the game yourself, and verify whether the issue proves to be true, or whether the complaints are naught but rumors. If there is a real problem, make haste and send a Jira bug-report to the programming wizards. Once they have mastered a counter-spell, inform your people about it without hesitation! Make a detailed post to assuage any panic!

Identify the real experts, and reward them for contributing to your game wiki.

Scour the land for news of great feats and epic battles. Now grab your quill and contact the doers for an interview, so we can have our heralds and troubadours proclaim their heroism on our blog. Serious players often demonstrate their expertise skills in threads debating particular game aspects - why not make use of those ideas? Identify the real experts, and reward them for contributing to your game wiki so less experienced players can find all the information they need on strategy and gameplay in one place.

2:30 – 4 PM
Next on the schedule, we check the unofficial communities.

Try to be a part of any and all unofficial communities that you can find.

Your official community’s rules or atmosphere may not be suitable for all players. For example, Stormfall’s official page does not allow posts to be made in languages other than English. Players seeking a different arena might create their own pages and communities. As much as possible, try to be a part of any and all unofficial communities that you can find. Carefully take heed of all the ideas expressed in those venues. Word of the most monumental of battles spreads rapidly across the realm by these means, and in unofficial communities there are many truly interesting stories to be found about the players’ lives, both inside and outside the game.

Do not forget to make time in your day to survey the goings-on in the outer world as well! A cursory sweep of news outlets across different continents shall give you context and ensure that you are aware of any events that might affect your community.

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Do not forget to check on the news from “outer world”!

4 – 6 PM
Community management involves much more than posting the occasional meme for people to “like”. We take time to write up posts with different types of content. Some days are right for motivational posts, sometimes we share game knowledge – and yes, sometimes we do post humorous things just for fun. We also need to find corresponding images, either from the game, sent to us by users or somewhere on the internet, as long as it’s public domain.

Community management is much more than posting the occasional meme for people to “like”.

If you can’t find an appropriate picture, or you have something specific in mind, the talented art team will help make it a reality – as long as you give them proper notice! This is why it’s important to plan several days ahead. Often, we must create game-world related content, and organize contests for players allow them to be a part of the specific games history.

Before you hit the “post” button, always imagine how you would react to the content popping up on your timeline. Would you have something to say about it; would you like it or share with your friends? Or would something in it offend or bore you?

Before you hit the “post” button, always imagine how you would react to the content popping up on your timeline.

7 – 10 PM
After finishing your daily tasks and returning home, you have a few hours to yourself. If you are like most of us, though, you’ll find yourself unable to fully dismiss the job from your mind.




Illia Ageiev is the Community Manager at Plarium, one of the fastest growing developers of mobile, social and web-based games with over 250 million users. In his role, Ageiev oversees Plarium’s gaming community where he facilitates communication between the players and the development team.

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Ilia Ageiev, Community Manager at Plarium

Ilia Ageiev, Community Manager at Plarium

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