ZOS - why no Community Director?

Gyudan

Community Director Job offer

Hierarchy for Community Management:
- Game Director and ZOS President Matt Firor
- Community Director (vacant)
- Community Managers (JessicaFolsom, KaiShober, MichaelServotte)
- Assistant Community Manager(s?) (GinaBruno)
(this is the limit after which messages are no longer displayed in dev tracker on the forum)
- Members of The Elder Scrolls Online Social Team
- Pet monkeys

This could contain mistakes, feel free to correct me @ZOS

Detailed position:

We’re ZOS - ZeniMax Online Studios. Established in 2007 by ZeniMax Media, ZeniMax Online was created to become a leading developer of online games, with special focus on Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs). In April 2014, ZeniMax Online released its debut title The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) - www.elderscrollsonline.com

At ZeniMax Online, you will have an opportunity to be part of an innovative environment that embraces new and different ideas. We are a passionate and enthusiastic bunch who love video games, particularly MMOGs. We have incredibly talented individuals who are empowered to create, challenged to learn, and encouraged to lead. It’s the ideas, virtuosity, and leadership of these individuals that ensure ZOS’s continued success. Life at ZOS is awesome because we build really cool stuff and are urged to eliminate all obstacles that may hinder our ability to develop a unique genre-defining style of gameplay. All of this means more opportunities for you to unleash your ingenuity, energy, collaboration, and dedication.

We are seeking a highly energetic and passionate Community Director to help expand, engage, and enthrall our awesome global community for The Elder Scrolls Online players worldwide. You will manage and nurture a highly talented team of veteran Community Managers, whilst setting measurable growth goals and overseeing day-to-day operations to ensure the team’s success (achieving world domination is a plus!)

Like our fanbase, your passion and knowledge of the games industry and the MMORPG genre must be rock solid. Proven experience in overseeing an MMO or a successful online game’s community is a must. This fast-paced and demanding position requires the ability to communicate across different levels within the organization rapidly, determining important customer-facing messaging on the fly with a solid understanding of how our fans think, feel, and act. In short, you are proud of your ability to adapt to new challenges both quickly and efficiently.

You lead by example, inspiring, supporting, and empowering your team whilst keeping a close eye on daily managerial duties, regular metric reporting, and long-term strategic goals. In summary, we are looking for that rare individual who thrives in a creative environment with people that have a natural passion for games, social media, technology, and the community experience that brings all of these awesome things together.

Responsibilities:

Work in conjunction with the Community Team and Studio Leadership to recommend, develop, and implement community engagement and retention strategies that nurture a healthy, growing, and vibrant player base.
Empower and support a team of international Community Managers to execute pitch-perfect tactics that both engage and grow the global ESO community.
Communicate and promote new community features, policies, and procedures to members and staff, seeking constant improvements across daily processes.
Maintain current best practices and research new trends for improving community and social media communication and engagement.
Act as a powerful advocate for the global ESO Community Team, supporting and influencing their ideas and efforts, and empowering their career growth.
Create and manage the annual budget for the Community Team and their efforts.
Work in close collaboration with the Community Management, Quality Assurance, Live, Customer Support, and Social Engagement team leads to synchronize vital messaging to be delivered to the global ESO community in a timely fashion.
Collaborate with the Community, Web, and Marketing teams to plan, schedule, and execute on community-oriented content plans for the website, including franchise content, and community-generated content.
Work in collaboration with stakeholders to oversee high-level policy for forum structures, social media policies, levels of acceptable behavior and moderation rules.
Collaborate with the Community Team, internal department leads, and across sister companies to ensure that important community feedback is addressed in the game, its business offerings, and the overall consumer experience.
Work in creative collaboration with the Community, Marketing, and PR teams to generate compelling in-game and out-of-game events that ideally generate new customers whilst engaging existing ones.
Develop and maintain community training resources, guidelines, and policies.
Maintain a consistent presence with Community Team members and ensure a world-class ‘voice’ that is heard by our loyal customers on our message boards and social media platforms.
Work with the Community Team to ensure regular community reports including community reaction, metrics, and research are delivered to stakeholders.
Assist with the company's involvement in trade shows, exhibitions, and other events via Community Team participation scheduling, presence strategy, and coverage plans.
Define Community Team KPIs and ensure that all community efforts are driving toward achieving them.

Requirements:

5+ years of experience as a Community Director or equivalent position, with team-management responsibilities on a large multiplayer online game, MMORPG or entertainment-related product/service.
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Public Relations, or a related/equivalent discipline
Strong technical knowledge of online community platforms, systems and software
Strong passion and understanding of popular social networking tools and trends
Knowledgeable on latest technologies and techniques used in building and maintaining successful gaming communities
Strong experience creating and managing regular community content and a strategic monthly/annual content schedule
Experience working with metrics tools such as Omniture/Adobe Catalyst, Google Analytics, and native social media insights
Drive to innovate community practices and bring community management to the next level
Proven history of maintaining and developing an online community
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
Experience planning and executing on community and social media strategies for trade shows/conventions and fan gatherings
Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment and across all levels of management
Experience with evaluating ROI and defining KPIs for a Community Team and its associated efforts
Pluses:

A Motivated Leader. You’re an inspiring, motivating, and selfless leader. You put the needs and goals of the company and your team above your own. You have a focus on empowering your team, nurturing growth and career path advancement, and acting as their strongest supporter and advocate to ensure team success. You believe that a team succeeds and fails together.
A Passionate Gamer. You enjoy playing video games regularly on your own time, and keep up to date with the latest video game industry news. You have a firm grasp of and can speak to the latest releases and have personal experience and knowledge of recent MMORPG systems, news, community approaches, and challenges.
An Eye For Results. You’re driven and believe in working until the job is done, then doing just a bit more. Not because you have to, but because you want to. You are not afraid to work long hours if needed and to dedicate yourself fully to achieving excellence for your team and community.
An Excellent Communicator & Listener. You foster an environment of open communication and collaboration, where all ideas are listened to and considered, and every decision is a team effort. You ensure that your team always feels informed, involved, and listened to.
A Community Management Enthusiast. To say you love community management and being a community advocate is an understatement—you eat, sleep, and breathe it and bring with you a wealth of valuable experience and wisdom.
A Positive Force. You are an optimist. Your enthusiastic approach and positive outlook are infectious. You know how to keep morale high and focus on the ‘What can we do?’ rather than ‘What can’t we do?’ even in the toughest situations.
Hungry for Knowledge. You know that the world of social media and community management is an ever-changing landscape, and constantly seek new information about how to push the envelope. You’re driven to actively seek out the latest best practices, new trends, and emerging ideas, and are eager to share them with others.
Bethesda Softworks is a worldwide publisher of interactive entertainment software. Bethesda Softworks is recognized for critically acclaimed, high-quality blockbuster franchises such as The Elder Scrolls, DOOM, QUAKE, Fallout, Wolfenstein, The Evil Within, Dishonored, Prey and RAGE. www.bethsoft.com

How to Apply

To apply for this position, please submit an application through Taleo.

Apply to Position: Community Director

No Recruiters or Agencies Please

Please Note: Individuals submitting resumes or otherwise responding to employment opportunities are NOT considered applicants until they apply for a particular position and have been invited to complete the company's employment application.

According to Linkedin, the position has been opened for 182 days. That was 31/05/14.
Why is the position still vacant? I'm sure there are many qualified people out there for the job (probably not on this forum but still ...)

I've noticed some improvements in communication lately but it can still be better and having one single person in charge of the community instead of separate community managers would be a positive change imho.

Is ZOS getting a new public face anytime soon?

Enkil

I think you need to elevate Gina to be on par with Jessica. This is clearly something that ZOS hasn't chosen to focus on. They have a reputation as being a tight-knit team of dev's that doesn't pay much attention to player feedback and established canon for the franchise. Instead they forge ahead with their own vision which usually includes some previously established (read: DAoC) templates.

Even when their designs do not agree with Elder Scrolls canon, they do not even acknowledge it or try to reconcile it. They must not realize they are at the helm of the online version of one of the most beloved and popular franchises of all time. It could quite easily transcend DAoC and almost all predecessor MMO's but their team is short-sighted, lacks vision, relies on old conventions and doesn't have the capacity to move the genre into the future, even with a blockbuster franchise.

To put it in perspective, I have recently taken a break from ESO and have been playing a 4X strategy game. My bug reports are fixed within a week with a direct response from the Dev team. I was incredulous at first, but then I realized that's how it should be if the dev's are players and are in the trenches with us. ESO dev's act like they live in an ivory tower, but perhaps they really live in a bubble that could easily be burst. They don't interact directly with the community enough. We don't need an F'in Community Director, we need INTERACTIVE, RESPONSIVE, and PASSIONATE DEV's.

ers101284b14_ESO

Doesn't listen? This whole bloody game is based around them listening. The devs listening is why we have vet ranks, and why we are getting champ system. Them listening is why we have multiple PVP campaigns instead of just one type.

Them listening is why there is only a challenge in vet dungeons and the rest of the game is so bloody easy. Not responding and not listening are two different things. But they have community managers to consolidate all the questions and then give it to the devs to respond to.

Every time one of the managers respond its coming from a dev to them then to us.

nerevarine1138

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

Doesn't listen? This whole bloody game is based around them listening. The devs listening is why we have vet ranks, and why we are getting champ system. Them listening is why we have multiple PVP campaigns instead of just one type.

Them listening is why there is only a challenge in vet dungeons and the rest of the game is so bloody easy. Not responding and not listening are two different things. But they have community managers to consolidate all the questions and then give it to the devs to respond to.

Every time one of the managers respond its coming from a dev to them then to us.

Exactly this.

Most of the changes in the game (for better or worse) have been based around the developers listening to the players. If you haven't noticed that, it's because you aren't paying attention.

Enkil

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

Doesn't listen? This whole bloody game is based around them listening. The devs listening is why we have vet ranks, and why we are getting champ system. Them listening is why we have multiple PVP campaigns instead of just one type.

Them listening is why there is only a challenge in vet dungeons and the rest of the game is so bloody easy. Not responding and not listening are two different things. But they have community managers to consolidate all the questions and then give it to the devs to respond to.

Every time one of the managers respond its coming from a dev to them then to us.

I think I agree with you in some instances.

I didn't say they don't listen. I said they are not interactive and responsive (listening is not interactive). The OP is asking for some type of community director which is a role I feel the game dev's are responsible for filling.

The fact that there is little challenge in most of the game content is exemplary of how they do not adhere to Elder Scrolls canon. Just listening is not enough. One must listen, analyze, interact, exercise proper jurisprudence according to the game's canon, then respond and implement any changes accordingly, not according to popular requests.

I am grateful that they have listened to certain concerns, but nevertheless feel that their level of interaction and responsiveness could be greatly improved upon. In comparison with other games, which are not even of the calibre of this game, the Dev interaction and responsiveness is sorely lacking. In many other games there is more intimate interaction and discourse with the greater community. I don't know about those Dev-favored guilds, nor do I care, but they are not representative of the overall player-base. Many of us have been waiting for this Elder Scrolls MMO for over a decade and these Dev's lack proper interaction in comparison to other competent Dev teams... capisce?

nerevarine1138

Enkil wrote: »

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

Doesn't listen? This whole bloody game is based around them listening. The devs listening is why we have vet ranks, and why we are getting champ system. Them listening is why we have multiple PVP campaigns instead of just one type.

Them listening is why there is only a challenge in vet dungeons and the rest of the game is so bloody easy. Not responding and not listening are two different things. But they have community managers to consolidate all the questions and then give it to the devs to respond to.

Every time one of the managers respond its coming from a dev to them then to us.

I didn't say they don't listen. I said they are not interactive and responsive (listening is not interactive). The OP is asking for some type of community director which is a role I feel the game dev's are responsible for filling.

I am grateful that they have listened to certain concerns but nevertheless feel that their level of interaction and responsive could be greatly improved upon. In comparison with other games, which are not even the calibre of this game, the dev interaction and responsiveness is sorely lacking. In other games there is more intimate interaction with the greater community and in this game it is sorely lacking. I don't know about those dev-favored guilds, nor do I care, but in general, they lack in comparison to other competent dev teams... capisce?

No. No, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Just. No.

The developers are here to make the game, not to pat you on the head and congratulate you for your excellent suggestions. When they change the game in response to player feedback, that's interaction with the community, and it's the only way the developers should be interacting with the community. They aren't supposed to be in PR. They're game developers. Let them do their job.

ers101284b14_ESO

Exactly s nerevarine said. When one of the managers responds its coming straight from the devs. The devs don't get paid to drop everything they are doing to explain for the 10000th time why there is no auction house. But they respond by making the guild traders and adding the search function to make them easier to use.

Coming to the forums and saying sorry you find vet ranks a challenge is not necessarily better interaction than them nerfing it a month after launch.

Enkil

I'm just making my points guys.... not trying to convince fanboys.

AlexDougherty

I don't see a need for a Community Director, I mean what exactly would he/she be doing that the Community Managers are not?

Also these are not Developers they are Moderators, they act as a go between betwixt us and the Devs (I didn't want to use between twice in a row). They pass along serious issues to the devs, and give us answers to our questions when they know it.

Obviously a dev will say we are working on it for most issues, but no actual deadline, so the Mods/Community Managers say nothing, because saying anything will get people asking "Isn't it due yet, this was promised months ago" (even when it wasn't).

ers101284b14_ESO

Enkil wrote: »

I'm just making my points guys.... not trying to convince fanboys.

Ooh fanboys, did you come up with that all by yourself? Or did you need a Dev from another game to drop everything he was doing to tell you what insult to throw around?

Enkil

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

Enkil wrote: »

I'm just making my points guys.... not trying to convince fanboys.

Ooh fanboys, did you come up with that all by yourself? Or did you need a Dev from another game to drop everything he was doing to tell you what insult to throw around?

My intention was no insult, but rather trying to keep the discussion on topic (need for a Community Director) and not get off on a tangent that seems to be an obvious and inexplicable attempt to discuss nonsense:

The devs don't get paid to drop everything they are doing to explain for the 10000th time why there is no auction house.

I like the Dev team a lot. I LOVE this game. I am a true Fanboy. This is constructive criticism. Concentrate on the topic. I won't engage in some silly argumentative forum behavior. It's obvious to most, and has been cited by critics that the ESO dev's are neither interactive nor responsive. It's not a big secret.

Gyudan

Enkil wrote: »

My intention was no insult, but rather trying to keep the discussion on topic (need for a Community Director) and not get off on a tangent that seems to be an obvious and inexplicable attempt to discuss nonsense:

Thanks for that, it went directly to defending the game from non-existent attacks, which wasn't the point at all. Others: re-read OP if you disagree with this statement.

IMHO the hierarchy should be more along the lines of:
- Community Director: JessicaFolsom
- Community Managers: GinaBruno, KaiShober, MichaelServotte
(or whatever, ZOS can figure it out by themselves)

One single Community Director = More power when discussing issues brought by the community.

k9mouse

Just give Jessica a new job title. She is doing that (good ) job anyways, job titles have very little meaning in the big picture.

AlexDougherty

Gyudan wrote: »

Enkil wrote: »

My intention was no insult, but rather trying to keep the discussion on topic (need for a Community Director) and not get off on a tangent that seems to be an obvious and inexplicable attempt to discuss nonsense:

Thanks for that, it went directly to defending the game from non-existent attacks, which wasn't the point at all. Others: re-read OP if you disagree with this statement.

IMHO the hierarchy should be more along the lines of:
- Community Director: JessicaFolsom
- Community Managers: GinaBruno, KaiShober, MichaelServotte
(or whatever, ZOS can figure it out by themselves)

One single Community Director = More power when discussing issues brought by the community.

I can get that, especially making Gina Bruno a full Community Manager.

I just don;'t see what a Community Director is going to bring to the team, which I think is actually a good team, apart from someone for people to blame (which won't do any good, because the community team is doing everything it can).

Enkil

Gina and Jessica are already doing an awesome job. Giving them some new titles will not compensate for the lack of direct interaction with the Dev team (but go ahead and do it if they get a raise).

I am very surprised there isn't almost total consensus that direct regular interaction and response from the Dev team is a positive thing. I have been interacting as a player advocate with game Dev's since the early 2000's and it has always brought about positive change. Surely this is something that each Dev can dedicate 1 hour out of their day (or even their week) to....

AlexDougherty

Enkil wrote: »

I am very surprised there isn't almost total consensus that direct regular interaction and response from the Dev team is a positive thing.

Well I remember the few times a Dev talked to the community in SWTOR (an actual Dev not a Mod), half the community immediately misunderstood it (being generous, probably more like seventy to eighty per cent), most of the rest were outraged that that topic got a response while theirs hadn't. Only a handful were ok with it, and usually those were the few of us who didn't care that a dev had said anything, we were fine with waiting and seeing.

Then you had the occassions were a Dev had spoken, but it was immediately apparent they had no clue what they were talking about. Actually that usually cheered everyone up, in a sordid perverse way.

In short Dev response usually, but not always, made the matter worse.

Enkil

That's not been my experience, although I never played SWTOR. The Shadowbane MMO Dev's (Wolfpack Studios) were totally awesome and solicited feedback from designated class advocates and all players back in the day. Currently, Endless Legend (Amplitude Studios) responds regularly to bugs and general player concerns directly.

I wanted to be a game designer in my late teens and I knew players would be one of my greatest sources of inspiration and feedback. It may be difficult with a huge marquee title but they need to get over that and interact with the community. In the early MMO days that's how it was with every MMO and is partially why many of them have such staying power. It shouldn't be some commercialized, PR, Bulls*it.

They're players. They know we want more interaction and responsiveness.

AlexDougherty

Enkil wrote: »

That's not been my experience, although I never played SWTOR. The Shadowbane MMO Dev's (Wolfpack Studios) were totally awesome and solicited feedback from designated class advocates and all players back in the day. Currently, Endless Legend (Amplitude Studios) responds regularly to bugs and general player concerns directly.

I wanted to be a game designer in my late teens and I knew players would be one of my greatest sources of inspiration and feedback. It may be difficult with a huge marquee title but they need to get over that and interact with the community. In the early MMO days that's how it was with every MMO and is partially why many of them have such staying power. It shouldn't be some commercialized, PR, Bulls*it.

They're players. They know we want more interaction and responsiveness.

Well I envy you on good Dev community integration, and Swtor is a good game, it's just story driven and I did all the stories.

k9mouse

The Devs do interact with the players. The Mod Mangers do the leg work and they interview the Devs on their biweekly show (Friday Live @ 4PM Eastern on Twitch). Also, they have Quakecon and trade shows to interact with the players as well.

A Dev that is posting on a forum will drive so much drama, it is better to let a go-between do the interaction and they reply via ways stayed above. The Devs have said many times that they do read our posts on the forums, but they do not post anything on the forums. I understand why, what they said can take way out of context by the players. The "Road Ahead" write ups is another way to tell us fans / players what they are thinking and they read our posts to see what we think of their ideas.

Another way, Devs had said they do play their own game as a player on the live sever on their own time as well. So that player that you (in the general meaning) being a jerk too, could be a Dev. One never knows who is behind that screen. Something to think about....

Overall, I think ZOS does very good job telling and interacting with us. It will be cool to have forums post by the Devs, but it is not realistic to expect that.

nerevarine1138

Enkil wrote: »

That's not been my experience, although I never played SWTOR. The Shadowbane MMO Dev's (Wolfpack Studios) were totally awesome and solicited feedback from designated class advocates and all players back in the day. Currently, Endless Legend (Amplitude Studios) responds regularly to bugs and general player concerns directly.

I wanted to be a game designer in my late teens and I knew players would be one of my greatest sources of inspiration and feedback. It may be difficult with a huge marquee title but they need to get over that and interact with the community. In the early MMO days that's how it was with every MMO and is partially why many of them have such staying power. It shouldn't be some commercialized, PR, Bulls*it.

They're players. They know we want more interaction and responsiveness.

And this is why we went "off-topic". This isn't the developers' job, nor should it be. Their job is to make the game. That's it. If you want them to tell you stuff about making the game, then go to a seminar/class on development. But there's absolutely no point in them interacting further with the community.

As it is, I'd rather they listened to fewer player suggestions, since the overwhelming mass of players make terrible suggestions.

Gyudan

Does ESO have a dynamic and thriving online community? Probably not.
Could a "Community Director" help? I think so.
Take this thread about Tamriel holidays for example. A good suggestion, lots of potential for community events and yet ... nothing from ZOS. It's not even the first time that this idea is brought up.

Many threads, feedbacks and suggestions would deserve some attention and I'm not sure that they are getting it.

Examples:
- Info on the Naga race for Murkmire
- Warning about port forwarding and network security
- Rant on notification spam
- Vote for MMO of 2014
- High expectations for the champion system and game balance

Draxys

what they need is better leadership/management

Ragefist