It's Not Just For Improv
One of the phrases that has emerged from the lessons the gaming community is learning from improv techniques is "Here's how I make you awesome." This is a good lesson, one which folks can and should be taking to the gaming table. It's far more rewarding to the game, to the sense of camaraderie, to the social fabric of play, when everyone around the table is working hard to make everyone else awesome -- rather than grand-standing to show off how they are, by themselves, awesome. Don't get me wrong -- grandstanding is good and fun and has its place, but I find it works far better when it operates as the punctuation mark at the end of each sentence of communal play.
I'm using the word "communal" there with much intention, because here's what's going on with "here's how I make you awesome": when put into practice, it builds communities. This is in pat because communities form around emotional bonds with one another, and it is an incredible feeling when you get that moment of being awesome by being carried on the shoulders of those you're playing with, those people you respect and admire. It's a feeling of belonging, and as social mammals, that's a pretty important feeling for us to have.
So I'm glad that portions of the gaming community are picking up on this, and putting it into their play, whether through play-habits at the table or through systemization in the game texts themselves.
But that's just a starting point, if you ask me. The principle can, and should, be used more outside of games, inside the communities themselves, in social interactions with one another, online and off.
It's a principle I use when I'm participating in forums like RPG.net. I don't get into those threads to ring out the clear note of "me me me me". I get in there to say "here's how I make you awesome" to the rest of the folks in the discussion. I point at ideas that aren't mine that are cool and say "Yes! That's great! And here's something building on that!" When I act in a customer service capacity for either IPR or Evil Hat, I try to make use of it as well. It informs what I do and who I am online, whenever possible.
Heck, this is part of why good game reviewers are worth their weight in gold. When they do their job right, they are pure machines of "here's how I make you awesome" in action, bringing exposure, clarity, and insight to the good stuff out there. They are on the construction crews of community.
Yes, I do talk about my own stuff and the things that I do, but I do my level best to talk about the cool stuff out there that's not mine: that's how I make *them* awesome -- with attention, with audience, with respect, with praise. This is how I do what I can to feed and build communities I'm a part of.
(This is also why I go absolutely bug-nuts when folks who should be community builders suck the life out of them by failing to follow the principle of making others awesome. I try to go bug-nuts quietly rather than overtly, but it's hard to keep that particular demon down sometimes.)
There are plenty "be a good human" reasons to make this a part of your lifestyle. We are social creatures who wish to belong: create belonging through who and how you are online. But there are solid, pragmatic business reasons to do this as well.
If you're a game designer or publisher, you are your brand, you are as much a part of the product experience as the product itself. When people bond with you emotionally and positively, they're forming an emotional bond with your product, your brand. And you can take that to the bank.
This is why as a publisher it's so important to think about what you are doing as a community builder, as a participant who makes others awesome and in turn strengthens those emotional bonds that will keep the community strong and healthy. That's the currency -- in my opinion, the best kind of currency -- that you'll be investing in the years to come to build your success.
Make the folks who aren't you awesome.
The rest will follow.
Extra credit: Tell me who you made awesome today.
I'm using the word "communal" there with much intention, because here's what's going on with "here's how I make you awesome": when put into practice, it builds communities. This is in pat because communities form around emotional bonds with one another, and it is an incredible feeling when you get that moment of being awesome by being carried on the shoulders of those you're playing with, those people you respect and admire. It's a feeling of belonging, and as social mammals, that's a pretty important feeling for us to have.
So I'm glad that portions of the gaming community are picking up on this, and putting it into their play, whether through play-habits at the table or through systemization in the game texts themselves.
But that's just a starting point, if you ask me. The principle can, and should, be used more outside of games, inside the communities themselves, in social interactions with one another, online and off.
It's a principle I use when I'm participating in forums like RPG.net. I don't get into those threads to ring out the clear note of "me me me me". I get in there to say "here's how I make you awesome" to the rest of the folks in the discussion. I point at ideas that aren't mine that are cool and say "Yes! That's great! And here's something building on that!" When I act in a customer service capacity for either IPR or Evil Hat, I try to make use of it as well. It informs what I do and who I am online, whenever possible.
Heck, this is part of why good game reviewers are worth their weight in gold. When they do their job right, they are pure machines of "here's how I make you awesome" in action, bringing exposure, clarity, and insight to the good stuff out there. They are on the construction crews of community.
Yes, I do talk about my own stuff and the things that I do, but I do my level best to talk about the cool stuff out there that's not mine: that's how I make *them* awesome -- with attention, with audience, with respect, with praise. This is how I do what I can to feed and build communities I'm a part of.
(This is also why I go absolutely bug-nuts when folks who should be community builders suck the life out of them by failing to follow the principle of making others awesome. I try to go bug-nuts quietly rather than overtly, but it's hard to keep that particular demon down sometimes.)
There are plenty "be a good human" reasons to make this a part of your lifestyle. We are social creatures who wish to belong: create belonging through who and how you are online. But there are solid, pragmatic business reasons to do this as well.
If you're a game designer or publisher, you are your brand, you are as much a part of the product experience as the product itself. When people bond with you emotionally and positively, they're forming an emotional bond with your product, your brand. And you can take that to the bank.
This is why as a publisher it's so important to think about what you are doing as a community builder, as a participant who makes others awesome and in turn strengthens those emotional bonds that will keep the community strong and healthy. That's the currency -- in my opinion, the best kind of currency -- that you'll be investing in the years to come to build your success.
Make the folks who aren't you awesome.
The rest will follow.
Extra credit: Tell me who you made awesome today.