For this Monday’s #BoardGameProtoHype, we’re focusing on Community. Evan (@sleepless_knights_games) and I had a wonderful chat about the group, why he set it up and what it might do in the future – please read, and then head back to the Instagram post to let us know your thoughts!
Joe: What made you start the #BoardGameProtoHype group?
Evan: I felt a bit at a loss really on what to post on social media or how to grow my following, and I was looking for a group of like-minded people to reach out to for mutual support.
I initially joined a couple of other weekly community hashtags, but there weren’t any specifically for designers, so while the experience was positive, it wasn’t quite right for what I needed. I reached out on BGDL Facebook page to see whether there was anyone in a similar situation to me, and the number of people who were keen to join was overwhelming!
You’ve been a part of the group from the very beginning – why were you keen to join?
Joe: I was new to instagram, and it was a little lonely. Most of the time you feel like you’re shouting into a void – you work really hard to post something interesting and then there’s nothing.
I love talking about games and making games.
I love talking about games and making games, so the BoardGameProtoHype group was a perfect place to finally be heard, ask questions and get some answers.
Evan: Wow, to go from “new to Instagram” to 1000+ followers in such a short amount of time is a testament to the content you’re delivering!
Completely agree with what you’re saying though, and I found that without any real feedback on what I was posting, I didn’t have much motivation to keep posting at all.
BoardGameProtoHype group spiralled into a community faster than I could have imagined
For me, the BoardGameProtoHype group spiralled into a community faster than I could have imagined, and I couldn’t be happier about that. Once you could see people reaching out for support, organising real-world meet-ups, and collaborating on posts and blogs like “What If?”, it was clear to me that this was a real community of supportive people looking out for one another and invested in each other’s successes.
We are, of course, a small community within a much larger board game community – how do you think our own community of designers can engage more with the rest of the board gaming community?
Joe: This is really interesting and something I don’t think we’ve quite got yet. My guess is that the protohype posts are mostly seen by the protohype folks. The algorithm will have likely locked our feeds into one another.
What’s useful for the group, I reckon, is to begin to explore ways of sharing and creating that promotes our work out into other groups. Probably groups that don’t design but play instead. This will be hard to do. But possible I reckon, by thinking about the questions we’re asking people who read the posts so that they can be involved and comment.
Evan: Yeah, I think this is vital for what we’re all trying to achieve. I’ve supported a few Kickstarters by members of our small community already, but for many, I’m not the target audience, and we need to help support that reach.
The questions really do make some posts far more engaging than others – something I often forget to include myself!
Joe: What have you learned most from being part of the community?
Evan: The biggest thing I’ve learned is how many people are facing the same challenges as me, but also how many other people have been through these challenges and are willing to support without anything in return.
What would your advice be to anyone currently on the fence about joining the BoardGameProtoHype community or another community like this?
Joe: From the outside, I think any community is either scary, or unknown (or both). My advice would be to join – you can always leave, and you’ll never know what you could have missed if you don’t try.
I used to be a little scared of asking for help
I used to be a little scared of asking for help, but I quickly realised that there’s something very friendly and fundamentally helpful about the board gaming community in general. Everyone is happy to give advice and share their experience.
I’ve been thinking recently about how we can develop the community further, there’s real power in the community at the moment, and I want to think about ways in which that support can help new designers beyond advice. Particularly for designers without budget for advertising.
Playing with ideas here, but what do you think the community could do in the future (I promise I won’t hold you to anything you say next!)
Evan: I’m really hoping for more meet-ups – both in-person and virtually. Everyone who went to UKGE got a real buzz from meeting these fellow designers they’ve been speaking with, and I’m sure there will have been plenty at GenCon too!
I’m always cautious about asking people to do too much, as very few of us are doing this as a full-time job, and we all have lives outside of this community, but I’m always open to new ideas and I think that’s where we look to the group for how they see the next steps for this community.
One thing I’m sure of – this community will definitely keep growing and succeeding with all of the great people already contributing to its success!
#BoardGameProtoHypers – here’s the call to action
- If you’re a member of the group – have a think about what our wonderful community might achieve – then let us know.
- If you’re not a member, get in touch with Evan, all are welcome!
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