How do you leverage social media and online platforms to gather player feedback and foster meaningful community interactions?

How do I leverage social media channels to incorporate player feedback? I think this is a really important question, and I think it's a question that every community team should factor into their daily work. So at PTW, we've got a number of ways of doing this. Sentiment gathering is one big factor of it. We gather a lot of sentiments, player sentiments, feedback for our clients, compile them into reports that can be done on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. And that gives clients a really good insight into exactly what the players are feeling about a certain update or a certain feature or any news that they've heard. It is a bit of a manual task depending on which platform you're kind of utilizing, but having the team be able to understand the language that their players are talking about helps us gather the positives, the negatives, the neutrals. So you break it down like that and deliver it in a very succinct, very visual presentation to the client. So they understand exactly which sentiment means what and the key top factors and top talking points of that specific data period that they can then address. So that's one way of doing it.

The other is one of my personal favourites, looking at how automation can help. So we've got a bot for one of our test servers that compiles a feedback channel. You set up a feedback channel, players get to go in, input feedback on anything that they want, but it's connected to a form. So they submit it almost like a questionnaire that then gets carried into a live database, broken down into loads of different compartments. And that live database is then shared with all of our teams. So it means QA can go in, production can go in, community can go in and look at all of the feedback that's been given and identify the ones that are applicable to them, take that away, discuss it, the dev team can incorporate it into any updates, iterations, and then we communicate that back to the players and say, 'Hey, your feedback coming from Discord, this is what we've done this week, this month, etc.' So that's another smart way of doing it as well If you're inclined into digging into the more technical and fun factor of it!

Why is it important for QA, localisation, and player community professionals to come together in one unique forum?

I think it's really important for departments like Global QA, player support, to be in one space at one time at a convention like this or an event like this because essentially, we're all working towards the same product, which is a final deliverable experience for players. And we're crucial elements of it as well. It's not just the development, but it's also the iteration and the refinement of that product. Community plays a big part. If you're able to get feedback, if you're able to listen to your players' voices and incorporate that into your gaming design or gaming fixes, etc., that's going to really help. And I think even just being in a studio or in a working environment where you're close together allows that communication flow. So it's really easy for you to go from one department to another and have that experience and that knowledge be accessible immediately there. And I think that's the same for the Games Quality Forum right now. You're able to access and talk to experts, professionals, and knowledgeable people in their field and be able to get really valuable information from them, share experiences, stories, especially if you've encountered similar challenges. Then it's sharing those solutions as well. So it can be applied to a working environment. I think that's historically as well. I've always worked embedded in studios. So for me, having that easy reach and that accessibility to the people I need to talk to the most is incredibly valuable. And I think an event like this bringing everyone together to talk about fundamental aspects that go into the development of the game is really key. Thank you.

What are some of your highlights from GQF 2023?

Yeah, I think one of the most memorable moments so far because it's obviously not the end of the day, but for me personally, I did a talk yesterday morning, and we talked about Automation and its impact on localization, QA, player support, and player communities. And one of the things, a small point really, that I put in there was Online safety and Discord Bots. It was just a couple of bullet points as part of my presentation. I didn't realize it would spark so much interest from other people, and it was really wonderful having people come up and want to talk about something that I'm so passionate about, particularly online safety. So I'm excited to know that there is that interest out there and that I'm going to be able to talk to these people, share experiences and stories, and get their input on something that I think is really important, especially for games going into the future. So that was a nice surprise for me, and it's always an honor and a bonus to know that what you're saying people are interested in and keen on. So yeah, that was really lovely, and it's nice to know that next year, hopefully, I can come back and update everyone and get their interest and share with them what I've learned in this coming year as well.

Describe GQF in three words or less!

Games Quality Forum in three words or less. Um, busy but amazing connectivity and a fantastic communication. So busy, connectivity, communication, those would be my three things. Um, so far from the event, I'm getting a huge amount of communication from everyone. The connectivity is there, the ability to connect, make new contacts, um, you know, catch up with old contacts. And it's so busy. You're on your toes, and it's just been really productive. I've enjoyed it.