After more than half a decade with the Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 team, Regina Buenaobra has no shortage of great stories and valuable advice for anyone considering a community management career.
You can also see what Regina had to say about Guild Wars 2 and its community development in our first interview.
What is your advice to someone who wants to become a Community Manager?
Regina: “Know what you’re getting into, especially if you want to get into community management in the videogame industry. Community management is a challenging career and the videogame industry isn’t exactly the most stable of industries. While I personally have been lucky enough to call one studio my home for the past six years, my experience is not representative of other community managers in the industry. It’s not unusual for community managers to frequently move from job to job.
“Know what you’re getting into, especially if you want to get into community management in the videogame industry.”
“Community management itself is a growing field, especially outside of videogames, so there are a lot of opportunities. Outside the videogame industry, community management is much more metrics-driven and, increasingly, this is the case inside the videogame industry as well. It’s important to understand the business side of things, especially if you end up as the only community manager at a company.
“If you’re not a community manager right now, you should start getting experience right away. Start thinking of yourself as a community manager. You don’t necessarily have to have a paid position to get relevant experience. A lot of professional community managers started out as volunteers.
“Reach out to professional community managers and talk to them. Community managers are often accessible through social media and many are willing to discuss their career with aspiring community managers.”
Editor’s Note: Bold was added for emphasis
What is the best part about your job?
“It’s really special to work in an environment like this, where everyone is driven and happy to be there, and I feel lucky every day.”
Regina: “The best part of my job is coming to work at a studio where everyone loves what they do. Seriously. My team loves being here and we’re all passionate about Guild Wars 2. While we were all doing different types of jobs before we became community managers here, we are all gamers and fans. It’s really special to work in an environment like this, where everyone is driven and happy to be there, and I feel lucky every day.”
What is the toughest part about your job?
“…this job is a blast. There are challenges, but those are things you adjust to and roll with…”
Regina: “Sometimes we don’t get what we want. Like renting out a small country for an event or taking a tour bus on a multi-national, multi-continent road trip. Seriously, though, this job is a blast. There are challenges, but those are things you adjust to and roll with – just like any other job.”
Any favorite community stories you want to share?
“Some of the more unusual presents include a beer pong table, a 5-foot plush statue of a charr, high-visibility safety vest with hard hat and gloves, and someone’s senior art project.”
Regina: “Sometimes players send us gifts to show us their appreciation for the work we do. Gifts are certainly not solicited, but it’s definitely great to know that they love the game we’ve built for them to play around in and for them to show their love. For the most part, we get things like candy and sweets, letters and cards, plush toys, or decorative items. On rare occasions, we get unusual presents. Some of the more unusual presents include a beer pong table, a 5-foot plush statue of a charr, high-visibility safety vest with hard hat and gloves, and someone’s senior art project.
“What these have in common is that they’re all from the heart, and we appreciate that fans take time to show us their support in whatever way they feel expresses that.”
Many thanks, Regina!
Love GW2? Check out the latest news from Guild Wars 2 revealing the ending to their first season of Living World story – the battle for Lion’s Arch – coming March 4th, 2014.
