| Gamers (including influencers) |
Building community |
Well, we cannot establish relationships with players too much, because there are too many players to talk about relationships with a single player. Here, you can possibly talk about relations with the gaming community (…) for example, CD Projekt is known for having a very good relationship with the community that likes The Witcher, or Cyber Punk soon too. Because it cares a lot about this community, and it has a lot of such support. [G1] |
| Building the credibility of the product and the company |
Interviewee: We are already available [before the game’s release] as a product card on Steam, even though the game is not available yet. (…) My point is that people who visit our Steam newsgroup usually focus on one issue – will the game actually come out, right … There are a lot of concerns about games that have already been announced and have not yet come out because many other developers have lost their way somewhere during the production stage … (…), so the game never comes out, players are disappointed, and it kind of raises some concerns, so players very often ask if we could start so-called day blogs, that is, we describe specific stages of production from the perspective of people involved in various fields. Researcher: Do you moderate, that is, create SR? Interviewee: Definitely, we prove all the time that the game is still in development … That it hasn’t been abandoned … [G10] |
| Game development |
Interviewee: I mean, I think that without these SR, no … well, we wouldn’t be able to create anything really, that’s … Otherwise … here specifically games created in isolation from everything in some vacuum, well, I think they can be created only for the people who create them, and yet the point is that other people would also like to play our games, so without contact … Researcher: There must be a target audience and it must be tested. Interviewee: Yes, without contact with other people we don’t think we can create something that other people would like to play. At least it would be much more difficult. [G6] |
| Promotion and sale of the game |
Interviewee: A really important goal is to show the game to those who, those influencers in quotation marks, to those who promote it further, show publishers so that they believe that the game can actually be successful, show the players, but those who are within the framework of the community or those who seem to be interested in games at all (…) at the moment most of the premieres take place by promoting games, how to say it … organically, that is, you throw something out somewhere, you show what it looks like, meetings are held, but that’s just out there online, it shows up like someone is playing, and talks about what you can do with it. As if interest is built up, expectations are fueled, and then this interest is managed. These are those relationships on a higher level. Researcher: Yes, at this higher level, that is, these SR, you establish some kind of cooperation, that is, cooperation may be interorganizational, and it may sound strange to this organization, but these are the influencers, right? Okay? Interviewee: If we treat them as a group, yes (…) hence reaching influencers, that is, those who have so-called followers, you probably know what’s going on … (…). The point is that those who watch can be potential customers in addition to being players, they should also buy it … it also has a price too, right? You will not survive on fame itself, unfortunately you have to have influence. [G4] |
| Building the image of the company/product |
(…) we want to create games that are not worthless, that offer a certain amount of play time, for a certain amount of money with a certain quality that we are satisfied with, and that is something that we are convinced that our values are right and can sort of form the basis of this relationship, we release this product into the world, and then it collides with the expectations of players (…) next to the things that I mentioned earlier, as if we wanted to build a brand for ourselves, as developer who reacts to customer feedback. So for example, especially with our first game, if it was specially released like a little sooner, because we wanted to see how people would react to it. The response was positive, but there were a lot of opinions that it was cool, but not much more. So, in response, we spent the next few months adding additional levels to this game for no fee. [G11] |
| Motivating to work |
Here in [company name], it is very important for us to maintain this committee, we have a large crowd of fans also… this production process takes quite a long time for us, it is now about four years and without those moments where we go out, for example, to trade fairs. We show these things that we do to a wider audience, it would be difficult to maintain this level of motivation, because we would forget that we are doing it for someone, and this reminds us that there are people who are really waiting for it, who react vividly to what we show, they give us such particularly positive feedback that motivates us to further action. After all, we are ultimately doing it for them, not only for ourselves, right? [G7] |
| Giving feedback when the game is not satisfying for players |
Of course, it is also not flat, there are ups and downs, but for example, [company name] has been around for a long time. It is still considered by the community of the most active players as a company that only looks at money and how to get more and more money and make weaker and weaker games. Recently, they released one or two really good games, players noticed them, but I think that this relationship is more difficult. [G1] |
| Stimulating the company’s innovation |
In the case of games, [innovativeness] is basic, one of the basic elements that helps create something. Gamers don’t like to play the same game over and over again. For the most part, there must be some new element, a new surprise, something cooler. [G12] |
| Finding employees |
There is a Cybermachina pub that simply has branches in many Polish cities. There are also meetings called Pogradajmy [Let’s talk], which bring together not only developers, but also players and listeners. So these are, let’s say, lectures over a beer. But I have often witnessed how many such informal job interviews took place there, how many employees just somewhere, at least here in Silesia, later found a job thanks to this networking somewhere in a pub dedicated to players. So it seems to me that there are a lot of such initiatives, smaller or larger, and it just works. [FR2] |
| Business partners |
Continuing the financial involvement of investors/shareholders |
It is also important, of course, what other stakeholders we have, we do have shareholders or potential shareholders, that is, investors in general. Well, here it seems to me that we meet with single individuals too rarely to create any deeper relationships. We have a relationship with our main shareholders, and this is also important, because although we have poor [financial] results, we can make up for it a bit through our relationships. [G1] |
| Increasing the sales volume |
We often help each other with promotion, when we know that a game is supposed to come out, other games support it. When the publisher is big, then it makes sense. So creating such a community actively supports the game and contributes to faster business growth and simply better sales results. [G8] |
| More advantageous offers/larger assortment than contractors |
Often, a person we have known professionally for a longer time trades with them, maybe gets better offers, maybe a better assortment, maybe faster offers … This is also important in today’s trade. [R3] |
| Certain services for free or in barter |
Interviewee: As our association works only locally, our only two events a year are Pyrkon and PGA. In both of these cases, we are happy and well matched with the organizers and if we turn up, if we exhibit, we get space, simply for free, under certain arrangements. Researcher: And it is also the SR that helped to achieve this? Interviewee: Yes, definitely. And as part of this, let’s say, exchange, we get a space where we can exhibit ourselves, but as an association we help to animate the independent games zone. [G10] |
| Knowledge transfer (including tacitly) |
Yes, I think such knowledge transfer, flow of know-how, is absolutely necessary in this creative industry, and it is often done through informal channels. [R1] |
| Help in crisis, unusual or problem situations |
On the other hand, if it ended really badly, if good relations can cushion the fall a little, these relationships can help. [G8] |
| Faster, more direct contact |
Researcher: And do you prefer to work this way when these contacts are looser? Interviewee: Yes, because first of all I know that the other party will present his expectations directly to me, that it won’t be passing the buck between both sides, that this person will be direct with me in such relationships. [G10] |
| Staying on the market |
Well, as I say, it is crucial for us to acquire new titles for the publishing house, also … and that’s how we run our business. [D1] |
| Starting cooperation, making it easier, realizing it at a lower cost |
(…) without them [SR] we are also able to establish cooperation, and we do it very often, but nevertheless, if we know someone personally and privately, we cooperate with such people much more willingly. D2] |
| Create a network of contacts for the future |
There are some benefits [of cooperation] that, let’s say, we didn’t expect or did expect, but we didn’t know, that they would be so great. For example, if we work with a better-known publisher or partner each time, it promotes us a lot from the very fact that we work with them. And that opens many more doors for us. And it is a bit like a snowball (…). Well, it’s as if the greatest such effect, which was ignored by us earlier, is the opening of the next door. [D2] |
| Finding employees |
But somehow it all started when someone was looking for an internship, and somewhere with some university I signed something so that he would come to us for an internship. [FR1] |
| Limiting inappropriate behaviour |
As if the industry is small, everyone knows each other here. This meeting is accidental, and I think I know two faces at least. And it also shows some scale of this industry. So fooling someone out is not in anyone’s interest. [FR4] |
| Employees – previous and current |
Possibility of doing business |
(…) it is known that a product as large as the games we make require hundreds of people to cooperate with each other, so these relationships, for example, in a team, because the smallest cells are functional teams, where there are, say, from four to twelve, fifteen people rely very much on trust. Because if someone does not help me do something, it means that either I won’t be able to do my job, or a lot more work will fall on me. [G7] |
| Building a team and ensuring the employment of valuable employees in the future, thanks to a good working atmosphere that motivates to work |
If we make sure that we are perceived reasonably (…), then it will be easier for us to establish relationships with potential employees, which will largely affect their coming to the company or not. [G1] |
| Easier, cheaper, faster, and more effective recruitment process |
The first that comes to mind is, however, in this industry, where it is very difficult to … just recruit a new employee, that is … especially one who is very experienced, who is so to say valued on the market, and in addition, he is still loyal in a given job, employing him for a new job is possible only by building such relationships. [G7] |
| Increase of work efficiency |
So we invest time and energy counting that it will help us in our future work and make it more pleasant and fun and more effective (…) I personally would not like to work if I had to work with people who are good, but I don’t like them, I don’t want to work with them. [G1] |
| An easier way to communicate and work |
There is the aspect here that it is possible [thanks to social relationships] to talk to this person about the corrections. [G11] |
| Greater transparency, easier way to control what is happening in the company by employees |
(…) at the moment, some companies are trying to use so-called turquoise management, that is, participatory. (…) When there are actually closer relationships, in those very organizations, which are much smaller, that is, it is easier, first of all, to even informally control what is happening. It is not like we sit and watch what someone is doing, only after we just know that something is being done; we wait for something, someone waits for us, and we have to account for certain obligations. [G4] |
| Increase of innovativeness |
It is probably easier to do something new with partners if we have known each other for a long time, and as much as this man, this company that trusts us, or the other way around, will say “let’s listen, let’s do something different, let’s approach the topic completely from the other side.” Without these relationships, I think, it will be more difficult to initiate such an idea, to push it forward. [FR5] |
| Reliable performance of painstaking work |
Apart from people who are innovative, who have cool ideas and things, there is also a need for people who are, in a way, the workhorses for this idea to the end (…). To do it, you need to write a mathematical system, it is purely mathematical, with a mathematical formula, suitable for memory management, so you need a person who will sit down and write hundreds of formulas, test these formulas. Sometimes one formula is written over two weeks, and it is two lines of code, that is, two lines of text that is written for two weeks. And here you don’t need an innovative person, here you need a person who will sit down and for two weeks won’t throw it in the corner and walk away from it. [G12] |
| Competitors |
Maintaining good relationships for the future |
But in general I can see that developers live well with developers, at least as we know other tees, and we are absolutely not in competition with each other. On the contrary, it is a kind of safety valve (…) I, for example, have relations from the previous two companies, where they were crucial for our later projects, for finding a publisher or a client. Also, probably everyone sees it as an advantage to cultivate these relations in some way. [FR6] |
| Sharing knowledge |
So I think that these relations are generally warm, that representatives of our industry, which is very cool, share their knowledge. And it can be seen not only at fairs, but also in various discords, forums for developers, that here it is easy to get help, after all, from the competition. It is sometimes known, the smaller the company, the easier it is. [FR4] |
| Mitigating tensions among competitors |
Well, maybe not now, but two years ago, such events took place, of course, and everyone there are simply colleagues for each other, and as if it all mixed up somewhere and these relationships seem very important to me. [FR2] |
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