![\"Visual](\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/designing-communities-for-kindness.jpg\")
Visual representation of me lurking in our Discord at 10pm to make sure everyone is behaving.<\/small><\/p>\n
Devs tend to know they want a community, but neglect considering what <\/em>kind<\/em> of belongingness they want from their communities. And then those who do consider it might decide they want \u201cpositive\u201d, \u201chealthy\u201d, and \u201cengaged\u201d communities, which is a great goal, but doesn\u2019t concretely describe what actions to take.<\/p>\n How do you get there? That\u2019s where community developers come in.<\/p>\n To be clear here, kind community design doesn\u2019t mean chanting positive affirmations into your community every single day. (I mean, you can if you want though?) It means creating a safe, low pressure, helpful, and encouraging interactive space among the players. So even when times of tension or anger come up (e.g. a troll), they still actively work together to help make the space a kind and accepting place.<\/p>\n *** Note:<\/strong> Our community strategies MAY only have been as successful as they are because we\u2019re relatively small. We don\u2019t really have experience with giant mega-communities that million-unit-selling games tend to have, which probably need different strategies. ***<\/p>\n So for a bit of background information, here\u2019s what Kitfox\u2019s community is like, at the time of writing this. We\u2019ve been around for 6 years, have released 3 games, are currently developing 2, and publishing 4 more. Dwarf Fortress and Boyfriend Dungeon are our biggest communities right now.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve had people join specifically because they heard Kitfox was a nice place to be in, people who have used their preferred pronouns for the first time with us, and so on. Or, when someone comes in with a problem with the game, they all try to help each other and offer solutions.<\/p>\n This post is made assuming everyone is joining from a place of common goals and interests \u2014 that is, they\u2019re joining because they love your game.<\/p>\n So what do you want your community to feel<\/em> like and bond over? It\u2019s influenced not only by your structures and rules, but also the kinds of games you make. It will attract certain kinds of people seeking a certain kind of experience. The audience will be influenced by a number of factors, including: studio culture\/voice, game genre(s), game tone, and number of players. From this, you can judge where your primary<\/em> community demographic will come from, and how you can design appropriately. (Check Tanya\u2019s blog Designing for Coziness<\/a> for more on the game aspect.)<\/p>\n Examples of the type of community ethos a certain game may attract:<\/p>\n Mastery<\/strong> \u2014 comprehensive knowledge or skill in a subject or accomplishment Competitiveness<\/strong> \u2014 having a strong desire to be more successful than others Kindness <\/strong>\u2014 friendliness, coziness, generosity, trust, or inclusion dynamics Of course, these are not exhaustive or exclusive\u2014 communities can be and usually are a mixture of many. But by knowing what type of community ethos you\u2019re aiming for, you can appropriately plan for things such as:<\/p>\n I want people to be mindful of how<\/strong> they love and interact with our games, and not just what <\/strong>they love. So let\u2019s talk about designing communities for (what I consider to be) kindness. Every community has different needs, but these are the ways I\u2019ve encouraged kinder community growth.<\/p>\n Understanding social systems is key to understanding communities.<\/p>\n Social systems are the relationships between individuals, groups, and institutions. They can predict and shape how your behaviour is influenced by the institution or group someone is a part of. For example, the way you behave and interact at work are very different than how you would behave at home. The same goes whether you\u2019re in a hospital, a library, school, etc. These systems have their own sets of rules that allows the group and institution as a whole to function smoothly. Breaking the rules causes chaos or \u201cresistance\u201d.<\/p>\n Game communities are the same!<\/p>\n In the book The Forest and the Trees<\/em> by Allan G. Johnson, he uses the board game Monopoly as an example.<\/p>\n Monopoly is a mini-social system with rules. Following these rules offer the \u201cpath of least resistance\u201d to playing the game, but following them also impacts player behaviour.<\/p>\n That is, players are led down one path \u2014 greed. If you\u2019ve played Monopoly, you know the whole goal is to control the board and winning involves making sure your opponents lose all their money and property. It\u2019s a rule set that not only encourages greed and all the attributes that come with that, but makes it a necessary part of the experience. The point isn\u2019t about if the game is fun or not, but that the rules encourage a certain behaviour for participation, regardless of personal values.<\/p>\n And if you refuse to abide by them, like by cheating? The other players will probably get angry at you, or they\u2019ll kick you out.<\/p>\n So, when we talk about social systems here, it\u2019s important to consider what you, as a person privileged to be setting the rules, do with this. What outcomes are you looking for, with your ruleset? What is the path of least resistance for community members? In Monopoly, it\u2019s greed.<\/p>\n For Kitfox? It\u2019s kindness.<\/p>\n Especially for forums or Discord, where your community will probably be interacting with each other, you NEED to have rules for your community to clearly see so everyone is on the same page. And you NEED to enforce them in a timely, specific, and equal manner \u2014 mods can help with this. For reference, you can check the Kitfox Games Discord rules<\/a>.<\/p>\n People will have different ideas of the rules and how they should be implemented. But, at the very least, these are the universal principles for the rule of law:<\/strong><\/p>\n Don\u2019t fear rule enforcement. It helps drive more productive conversations and weeds out those that are there under false pretenses. Often what I\u2019ll do when I know we have a BIG announcement coming up \u2014 meaning our Discord will be flooded with new people \u2014 is warn the community that the censorbot will be hypersensitive to more words. This helps drive the tone of what I expect from new people entering, and once the initial boom is over, I go back to relaxing the rules.<\/p>\n Some people will be turned off by our community space, but that\u2019s okay. Maybe while reading this, someone has thought \u201cgod the person writing this sounds insufferably sugary\u201d and I mean, sure, fair. It\u2019s impossible to please everyone!<\/p>\n And when rules are broken? Often what helps is a DM their way with an explanation or a warning before any action is taken, rather than an outright call out for everyone to see. Shame and embarrassment in public is usually more effective for making the person feel defensive, rather than receptive to change.<\/p>\n There are going to be times you can\u2019t monitor social \u2014 you\u2019re at a convention, vacation, busy, etc. A good community shouldn\u2019t collapse because you\u2019re not around.<\/strong> The better your rules, the better your community can sustain itself.<\/p>\n You are a person. Remind your community of this. You don\u2019t have to be infallible, but they need to understand you are a living, breathing person with emotions and boundaries<\/em>. If your community can\u2019t respect YOUR boundaries, they probably won\u2019t respect each others. On the flip side, remember: you are not their therapist.<\/strong> It\u2019s okay to offer a sympathetic ear once in awhile, but there are boundaries for your mental well-being too.<\/p>\n Some of the most difficult things in community development are not the angry trolls. It\u2019s the members who you know have your interests at heart, but cross some sort of personal boundary or seek a therapy-like relationship that you are not equipped to handle. These are hard to call out, and my tips for you here are difficult because it can\u2019t be vague generalized advice. I will say that above all, it\u2019s important to let them know that you DO care about their well-being and because of that, professional help is a better resource than you are. (And well. It probably actually is. Unless you\u2019re a trained therapist??)<\/p>\n Early clarifications, consistent actions, not ignoring concerns, and following through on community needs are key here. Soon, they will trust that you are doing your best when you have time with them, and not that you\u2019re neglecting or ignoring their needs. Just like how a community may expect you to act a certain way, you must also set expectations for them.<\/p>\n There are two kinds of norms \u2014 \u201cmores\u201d, which are norms that carry great importance (like laws, chat rules, etc.) and \u201cfolkways\u201d which are norms about casual, daily interaction. \u201cMores\u201d we understand well \u2014 rules should not be broken. Folkways distinguish what we think is rude or polite, and often in community development, this is overlooked but can plant the seed of unkindness when broken. That\u2019s why, as a community dev, you have<\/em> to mentally distinguish what you think is acceptable ways of your community will talk to you and each other. Rules are easily defined \u2014 politeness is not.<\/p>\n You will become the defacto leader for setting the folkways. Keep in mind how you interact and the jokes you make, because this will automatically be seen as the acceptable way to communicate.<\/strong> The more your community understands the norms of discourse \u2014 what is considered appropriate, or not \u2014 the better they interact with each other.<\/p>\n Other ways you can help foster a healthy environment include responding to nice comments or constructive criticism on your platforms. Identifying the core root of the problem helps guide how you respond (if at all) to the message. Slowly, people will see which questions warrant a response from the devs versus silence, and what kind of tone is appropriate for the community.<\/p>\n As you solidify your community pillars and uphold you community to standards you set, the better their reputation becomes. We\u2019ve had people join Kitfox purely because people had heard it was a positive place to be in. Most newcomers see how people interact, see the reputation your community has, and naturally go along with this. It\u2019s a pleasant (and beneficial) circle of events.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think I\u2019m a perfect community developer. Far from it. I am a person \u2014 people make mistakes. What matters is that your community trusts that you are doing your best with the resources you have.<\/p>\n There are different ways you can show you\u2019re sincere, but keep in mind these aren\u2019t some sort of\u2026 \u201cmind trick\u201d. You have to uh, be sincere about being sincere, and the trust will build slowly <\/em>overtime. Every positive interaction you have with the community builds this trust. Naturally, it can be REALLY difficult to show sincerity online so here are just some<\/em> strategies to show it:<\/p>\n To be fair, I am one community dev. I am able to keep track of mainly everyone in the community, and they get to see it really is just one person answering them. This has disadvantages, but one solid advantage is that they know and understand it IS a person. It\u2019s me!<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/designing-communities-for-kindness.png\")
More on this further on!<\/small><\/p>\nKitfox\u2019s Community<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nCommunity Ethos by Game Type<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/designing-communities-for-kindness-2.png\")
<\/p>\n
Example games: Dwarf Fortress, Darkest Dungeon, Cuphead, Monster Hunter<\/em><\/p>\n
Example games: Rocket League, Overwatch, Fortnite<\/em><\/p>\n
Example games: Boyfriend Dungeon, Ooblets, Animal Crossing, Slime Rancher<\/em><\/p>\n\n
Designing for Kindness<\/strong><\/h2>\n
1. Rules<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/designing-communities-for-kindness-1.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n2. Mutual Understanding & Expectations<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Speaking of kindness though, Kind Words<\/a> seems so wholesome and good.<\/small><\/p>\n3. Norms<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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WHY EVEN PROVIDE A GOLDEN LUMBER OPTION, HARVEST MOON???<\/small><\/p>\n4. Sincerity & Trust<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n\n
5. Home<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/designing-communities-for-kindness-5.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/designing-communities-for-kindness-6.jpg\")