THIS Is How To Become A Community Manager. Adam Skinner talks BMX, Community Management and His Journey To Kwalee

Adam Skinner talks about BMX, growing a community of over 600K and bringing his knowledge from Dalaran university to the games industry as Lead Community Manager for Kwalee. 

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Transcript

Well, hello and welcome to, um, our podcast. I'm joined by someone very special today. Very special to me, . We have Adam Skinner, and as always, I'm gonna give you an introduction. You probably have heard these words maybe somewhere. Cause I did scour the internet, as I always do to find out about you. So we have Adam Skinner, an experienced C senior community lead with a history of developing global communities in the games industry.

His skills include social media management, content creators, community development focused currently, and this pains me to say Gen Z values. And wonderfully aspirational driven engagement, passionate about community building, um, especially around YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch. Um, a comment I picked up from someone, um, who gave you a recommendation was, Adam is rad.

And, uh, there you go. That sums you up. How do you feel about that? We got this . Let's go. Cool. So,  as always, I'd like to start way back when and how you came to be here at Quali in this position. So let's start. What was your first experience with gaming and maybe what was the first game you played? Okay, so first game I played, it was, wow, it was a combination of a lot of games.

I, I don't really remember my very first game, but I do remember being back in the sort of mid to late eighties, um, being very obsessed with Ameer as a. Yeah, so Amigo being, um, is, it was basically a keyboard with a game system inside it and you would get floppy discs and put 'em inside and you'd get games and you'd go, go wild.

Where's pretty much, do you think, where I started? How many people do you think out there don't know what a floppy disc is anymore? Oh, absolutely. I would say at least. , 95% of the, the listeners are probably not what, what, what the hell I'm talking about. But um, yeah, I mean, maybe even a little bit before that I can remember playing on the BBC micro game called Exile.

Let's start there. On the what? On the BBC Micro? I'm sure you know what BBC Micro is? No. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Maybe it's just a generation af Before us there were these horrendous brick sized, well breeze, block sized computers that, uh, they had in the schools. Yeah. And. Were, uh, yeah. Yeah, they're basic games on some of them and it was a completely new concept.

It was all, and wow. And were you absolutely fantastic at the time.  the guitars got fun memories for you. Did you then also, were you in that mini clip era too? Did you play those on the browser? No, I was way before that. Okay. I was way, way before browser games, . Okay. And what age then was, were you.  sort of awoken to games.

What was the Okay. Roughly My first real sort of interesting games came during that Ameer era. Yeah. Um, I absolutely loved point and Click Adventures, so, right. Um, Lucas Arts. Yep. Owned a lot of ips, monkey Island, Indiana Jones, monkey Island, that kind of thing. Okay. Uh, monkey Island is definitely the roots of.

Uh, gaming, if I really think about it. Okay. Um, all my tattoos are monkey island tattoos as well. Amazing. So, yeah. So I've had, I love, I love that series. Yeah. I love the, I say I love the entire series. I don't love the entire series. I love the original 2D ones. Okay. Yeah, the original two Ds. And, and was this close to teenage years?

Were you playing with friends? Did it evolve to something else then? This would've been, we used to hang out, there was a huge family that lived down the road and they had a really cool older brother. Mm. And he was into Amiga stuff, so, okay. I'm not sure how cool he actually was, but  like super nerd or something.

He was a nerd. And uh, we used to go around and see what he was playing and then we'd become obsessed with whatever was the flavor of the week. Wow. So this was similar to you. I was speaking to dumb one about this. , you were before the age of Twitch and watching people play, and that got you excited about the game.

Mm-hmm. , you were doing that? Yeah. Way back when. Yeah. Yeah. To a, to a degree and that's, that's kind of been a thing throughout my gaming adventure. Mm-hmm.  as well. Like, I remember when the PS one first came out, I would, I would go around and watch my mates play Resident Evil. Okay. I wouldn't play it myself.

It was just like me watching a movie, basically. Yeah. I remember it vividly. It was, it was. A good time and it's always been that, that way. Yeah. And a lot of word of mouth would happen. Um, so imagine Twitch, but on a very, very small scale between a group of 10, 15 people maybe. Yeah. Uh, in a. Small village in Nottinghamshire, but I suppose back in the day then, as you are a community lead now, that's the sort of thing that was going on.

Your word of mouth, these communities, you all played the game together. Mm-hmm.  and enjoyed it together, which is what we're building here. Just on a larger scale, suppose. Absolutely. Yes. Yes. Cool. So going through teenage years, I've got here, one of your first jobs, well was a journalist and photographer for Southwest b m.

Okay. What happened there? Uh, so with that one, that was more of a vol volunteer job that wasn't an actual, um, job. I was kind of a guest photographer. Okay. I had a few photos published, pretty much. Right. But, um, I, my whole life I've been mad about BMX bikes. Um, okay. I did know that I, I helped to found, uh, two skate parks, one concrete, one wooden, um, okay.

Yeah. Um, it's only in recent as I've got older and my niece don't work. Yeah, I've not been able to do as much of that. See you skated? No, sorry. I rode BMX bikes. Yeah. Would you do all those sort of jumps and spins and, yeah. Yeah. I was, wow. I was pretty sick. You were pretty sick. Okay, so a question I had too was you went to Nottingham College, correct?

Is that right? Uh, that's what it's called now, yeah. Yeah. Notting College. Yeah. What was the reason that you decided to go straight into working as photography, graphic designer, motion designer, and not go to university? Was it a conscious decision that you were like, Or did you fall into something? Well, it is, I was kind of, I settled down quite young Okay.

With my wife. Uh, and we had children quite young. Um, and, and from there I was kind of more forced into work. Okay. So I, I didn't go to university, but I did learn a lot from games when I should have been at Universe. Yeah. I'm time, we'll get into that. We'll get into that. . I think this is good to know as well.

Yeah. I. We're pushed into this sort of path. You go to school, college, then university, but as obviously you've been successful in your field, there is another way and it's just good to hear that you went on a different journey and absolutely a nice lead. I am not the model of the usual journey into the games industry.

Yeah. Put it that way. Yeah. Which is, I think it'll be good for people to hear. Um, moving forward, one of the places you've sort of been the longest, and I'm not talking about Azaro. , um, is, uh, for Lockwood Publishing. Mm-hmm. , you started out as a video editor to the artist, moved on to community ma to management, and then lead, uh, the community management there.

Yeah. What was that journey like and how did you get into it to start with, without any sort of experience prior? Okay. So at the dawn of time, uh, I used to work in the motor trade, um, as customer service. Okay. So while I was doing, Um, uh, do you want me to go into Yeah. Please. Into, into the full journey here?

Yeah. Yeah. So while I was doing that, I was playing a lot of games as a hobby and making quite a bit ofk Yep. At the same time. And also building communities as a hobby. Yeah. Okay. Which we'll probably go into in a bit more detail soon. Yeah. Um, but yeah, so I basically didn't want to be in the motor trade anymore.

I was making these videos as a hobby and it was very, very apparent that. Should have been doing something creative as a job. So my wonderful cousin already had a job at local publishing. Okay. Uh, he reached out to me cuz he knew that I could edit videos and he needed some help with that. Um, so I ended up being a video editor in TD Artist, uh, for PlayStation Home.

Okay. Um, Lockwood were making, um, digital items, so clothes and stuff that would be sold in game and then. We would do the trailers for them. That would be shown on the, on the local YouTube, in, on the billboards around the town in PlayStation, home, that kind of thing. Okay, cool. Um, so that went on for a while and it was great.

Real lots of creative freedom, uh, wonderful environment, everything like that. And some really great people too. Unfortunately in PlayStation, home closed down in 2013, just completely out the blue for most of us. Right. Um, and there were unfortunately some cuts and, um, they had to close down a few departments in cleaning one that I was in.

Um, so I went away for a while. Um, and then I came back to Lockwood because I, while they were developing PlayStation home, they were also working on something called Ava Life, which is basically like a 3D online mobile version of the. . Okay. And because of my customer support experience and me building communities as a hobby, uh, and also the 2D and the video work that I'd been doing before, I said, Hey, um, you've got quite a good, a lot of potential to build a community here.

Mm-hmm. , would you like me to just help out a bit? Yeah. On the community side of things. So they said, oh yeah, that'd be great. Um, so I, I started and, uh, it was very, very, Small amount of work to start with, and gradually they started picking up some momentum. I was feeding back about the community and what they actually wanted to do.

It was a re really nice vibe. Yeah. Of what items they wanted making that kind of thing. And I would then take that feedback, organize it, pass it onto the developers of the developers, would make it, and then. Basically exploded. Right. It was great. We went from an, an example of this being, we went from 50,000, uh, sorry, 50, not 50,000.

Yeah. Five zero, um, followers on Instagram. And it grew to, I think it was just short of eight, 800,000 before I left. Wow. Um, wow. Yeah. So it, it is a very, it was a very community heavy project. Wow. And I learned quite a lot there. Um, yeah. But what I did was I.  a strategy around trust. And when you have trust, you become relatable.

You B carry on to B. Uh, building that trust within that community. And if communities feel listened to, the community will grow. Yeah, absolutely. And that's good to hear you. It went from almost a hobby. You enjoyed it in your spare time. Mm-hmm. , you saw a gap and you said, Hey, I can help. . Yeah. And then you learn the values of how, what it means to grow.

Yes. I think that'd be good for people to hear as well. Um, really cool. Now we're gonna go onto something else that you like to do in your spare time. Okay. And that's wonder around Azaro. This is very true. So Adam is a big wow fan. What a Warcraft. And I also enjoy from time to time, we've got a quiz for you.

Now this is a quiz I've tried as to center it around Ratha Lich King. I know that was, was that when you started or, yeah, that's when I started. Just before we go into that, actually. Yeah. Just to mention, when I was, the game that I was talking about where I, um, got my interest in community and start making machine and my videos was World of Warcraft.

So there's a bit of an ingrain joke with our friend group that I didn't go to university. Like a normal person. I went to a digital university. I went to Dran University. Went to Dran University, which is the city during RA of the Lich King. Okay. It's, yeah. So you went to the Dran University got you to here.

Yeah, exactly. I think a lot of people will be happy to hear that. Yeah. Because I think a lot of people went to that Dran University. Um, okay, so here is the World of Warcraft quiz featuring Adam Skinner. Now some of these get quite d. , but we'll see how far we get. Okay. And for those of you who don't know, we've got Maddy here producing, and if you've watched previous podcasts, she got 10 out of 10 on hers.

Real test. I just wanted to add a bit of more pressure there. Okay. Question one. How many disks was the wrath of the Lich King? Uh, I believe that you've really tested me here, . This is not the sort of question I was, I think it was. , is that your final answer that I'm gonna go cuz I've That is a guess. Okay.

Yeah, the answer is one. One. That was the age where it moved from three. Oh no. So one. Oh no, I've, I've already failed it. Oh, no, no, it's fine. . It's fine. Um, question two. How many que surround thero frozen throne?

I'm gonna say six. No, I'm gonna pause for a second. Are you sure? No, . I've not been to the FRA France since 2010. , the answer is four. Ah, that was my second guess. That's close though. Nevermind. These are actually, sorry guys. Look at it. Okay. You, my guild is cursing me, right? This is gonna be quite funny for them to listen to.

Um, next question. . How many mounts did Wrath the Lich King add to? Wow. And you dunno, need to give the exact number. , I'll give you two choices below 60 or above 60. I think they went a little bit mad with it, if I remember right.

Oh, no. Cause this is when the, a lot of them became like proper achievement based, I'm gonna say less than 60. Oh no, you were on the right track. It's a no . Okay. Yeah. Well, I've got a new target and that's to get every question wrong. . No, I'm sure you'll get one. Okay, next question. How many phases does the Linch King have when fighting him?

On what difficulty? Um, I think this is taken from, at the time, heroic. Okay. There was no mythic then. Okay. So you. Have to work this out. Yep. Yep. And so just so I, it looks like I do know what I'm talking about. I might get this wrong, . So you've got the first phase where you just go hang on him. The second phase, he will bring in the val here and they'll drop you off the edge.

Yep. The third phase, uh, is a repeat of the first phase, but with, uh, defile. Yep. The fourth phase you go into Frost mo. And kill spirits cuz that's the heroic mode or the hard mode. And then, Fifth, five. Five phases. Okay. I think it may have confused. So if it's not heroic mode, then four. Then four. Yeah. Okay.

Correct. Cause you don't go into the spirit, into side frost one. Yeah. Um, so congrats. Yes. We're on our way  and add other comment. Down below if you think that that was actually fair. Yeah. Okay. , and, and also let us know if you got these right and, uh, and then you know, more than, more than Adam. Yeah. Just, I'll take it.

I know that you are a bit of a achievement hunter. Yeah. So this next question should be, should be right for you, . Okay. In, wow. How many achievements can you complete in Black Rock?

Do you know why I got this from an easy quiz as well? Do mean upper or lower or both? , that's so, so I think it's, it's, it's both. Okay. So, oh, wow. Okay. And it's not as crazy as you think. Okay. It, I would say there's two in each and maybe three and one of them. So five in both. Again, you are so close. It was four.

There is two in each. Ah, yeah, but very close. You're working out there was was getting there. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Looking at these questions, they are very, okay, next question. How many unstable flasks are there for fighting grl? Three. There are six.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry, mom. Yeah. This is why I've. And if you're part of Adam's Guild, please rinse in the comments. , I want to see complete rinsing. Okay. Now I know that you don't play this class. Okay, so this might be a bit tricky, but how many roons are displayed on the death night? Roons? Yep.

No idea. Do you know? No.  hang. Hang on a second. Um, so the, there's three specializations there. Just start to assume there's one room for each three. It's six. Six. Do you think you're gonna have some death night mains out there rolling in the Well, they, they, they can, but I, I'm a monk. I'm a monk in a rogue, what was the decision to play like a monk row?

Why do you play that sort of thing? Is that like a game specific thing or do you always play that sort of class? Uh, I always. I, I play all sorts of classes to be honest with you, but, um, monk and Rogue, I like the idea of the sneakiness. Yeah. Initially, but then I got, uh, then when Monk came out, monk was like, it was less spammy.

So you're not necessarily mashing buttons, that kind of thing. There's a lot you were with the Chi and like, Slowly hitting buttons perfectly, that kind of thing. Okay. And, and it, and it became, it was like playing a more fun rogue, right. Okay. Yeah. A more fun rogue. Yeah. See, I've never played those classes.

Yeah. I mean qui, but not, yeah. Right. So you've got a question. Right. I hope your guild rinses you in the comments. Now I wanna move this to quali now. Okay. So you've been here. , I believe it was something like four months before me. So about a year and a couple months. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Um, what was the decision to move to quali?

Cause I know you are from Nottingham, right? This is quite, quite a way away. H how did that come about? Um, I, I saw an opportunity to work on, um, wow. I'm gonna wind it back a little bit actually. So when I was working,  on an African life, that was one product with a live mm-hmm.  live community. Um, and there wasn't much outside of the standard.

We make these digital items, the players buy them, the community grows based on fashion and things like that. Yeah. So the live service was, was very, it was very linear. Mm-hmm. , so to speak. Yeah. But what got me interested in quality was going from. Sort of flat single community experience. Yeah. To potentially having all of these indie developers come in with different genres and different kinds of communities.

Yeah. And lots of opportunities to grow communities in different ways. Okay. So for example, SC is very different kind of game to start by Blade. Yep. Different kind of audience we would have to pin. What would be their core community channels. Yep. Um, where it, where the best place to talk to them would be how we handle them at events, the different games bring different people.

Right? Yep. So that with community being a hobby is extremely interesting to me. Yeah. Yeah. So that's why. So you saw the opportunity and Yeah. And of course it was a new department at the time as well. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So we had, we had a, a pretty much a, uh, blank canvas. , um, start building these communities.

Amazing. So what we can achieve. Now, let's talk about this year. Obviously SCA came out last year, um, and I believe we have a video coming out soon, uh, with SCA that we did in-house. I know we had a lot of fun with that. And you played in that tournament? Mm-hmm.  as well? Mm-hmm.  coming up this year in 2023.

We've got a variety of games now. Our premises as I've done every podcast. We love all of our games. But for you, what's the game that you. Looking forward to playing because you like that type of game the most. Okay. Uh, wow. Okay. Um, I would say for me as I like MMO type content and an adventure, I would say Wild Manda.

Wild Manda. Okay. That's my personal preference. All of the games are absolutely soak though. Yeah. So, I mean, I'm looking forward to building the. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Now, this point I always ask as a community manager lead, what few tips would you give to someone who is looking? I know we've probably covered a few of those mm-hmm.

in this podcast, but what I guess practical tips for people looking to get into the industry in, uh, a, a community capacity from maybe they've been. Discord mods and they're looking to move to a gaming company. Something like that. Okay. So, um, I used to have this discussion quite regularly with, um, our head of QA at my last place.

Um, as community and QA are considered sort of foot in the door jobs into the games industry. So for me, if I was recruit. , I wouldn't need someone to show that they are legitimately interested in including communities. Yeah. And it's not just a gateway into getting where they want to be in the industry.

Mm-hmm. , um, showing actual passion for communities and, um, tactics. Yeah. On how to grow those communities and sort of. Be experimental on social media, that kind of thing. Just a little bit of passion. Yeah. Um, is, is what I recommend. So really think before you go for these jobs, if whether it's something that you actually want to do.

Yeah. Um, it can be very tough. Um, but it can also be one of the most rewarding jobs in the world. Definitely. Cuz you are a bridge, you're a bridge between those communities and the publisher developers. And it's, it is very important. Exactly. You are the, the mouthpiece.  anymore more for anymore. Um, yeah, I mean, don't be disheartened if you don't have the education you think you need.

Mm-hmm.  to get into the industry. Um, I am literally a living representation of that not being the case. Yeah. Or sorry, that being the case. The case, you know what, and you've done very, very well. Yeah. Um, well thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you for being. , we've got lots of more games coming up this year in 2023.

We've got Die by the Blade Wild Mender, space Chef, many, many games. And they're all amazing in their own right. And as you were saying earlier, different genres cater for different people. And I think that's really awesome as well. So if you are not a part of the Discords, the communities that Adam and the team grow, do be a part of those.

We'll have links down below, um, like, and subscribe, hit that notification be and, uh, any closing words, Adam? . Yeah, for the Alliance . Oh my goodness. All right. Thank you all. Bye-bye.