Reddit Gaming subs can be amazing for gamedevs, but it can also give them serious headaches. Be sure that the same goes for marketers though. So here is reddit 101 for anyone that would like to have a look there, and if you’re a gamedev, you definitely should.
(6 minutes read)
Developers most often don’t know how to market themselves, so they are lost but in constant discovery mode. We, marketers, know how to market ourselves. Or rather, we THINK we know. But if we come over here like we do on other social media, it goes bad on reddit. So bad. Because Reddit is not like your other platform.
Day one. I land in a new territory apparently called Reddit. It seems familiar somehow, but different altogether. Foreigner among indigenous redditors, I lurk in between these blocks they call subreddits to find a way through the noise. And look for what I’ve been searching since year 2020: the perfect Indie gem.
Reddit: where forums meet feeds
First observation: reddit has some kind of forums called subreddits, that have a topic, objective and/or concept, just like our good old forums back in the days. These subreddits have posts like on other social media, regrouped in a feed. Posts from all the subreddits you follow end up in your home feed, but you can of course check each subreddit feed manually (by searching them). More on subreddits later.
Reddit for gaming is infinite
I already shared a list of genre specific subreddits here, but have a second look, you’re welcome again. Almost every genre, even the most confidential one, has a dedicated subreddit. I’m not saying all have potential sales wise since some are VERY confidential, but still. For general recommendations, I’d say go for r/indiegames and r/one of your genres.
But WAIT! Haven’t you seen the warning sign ?
Day 33. Discovery is exciting but I don’t seem to understand the local rules. Apparently my « karma » is not high enough so my comments are scrutinized then spit upon*, my writings burnt to the ground and my person is looked at in hatred while I was worshiped in my city, Linkedin.**
*I was not spit upon, even metaphorically, because I spent a fair amount of time observing things. But let’s romanticize things a bit and imagine I’m a Nathan Drake like explorer that exploded everything before realizing things do not work this way in that place. I’ve seen that in a subreddit, and it looked bad.
**I’m not worshiped on Linkedin. And frankly seeing what makes 70% of the posts, I’m kinda glad I am not (and what kind of hellish city would that be?). But you don’t have to gather tens of thousands of followers to thrive. And there are good people there, Jessie Chica (FR) is one of them. If you remember your French classes, or if you’re a native French speaker (wesh frère) she’s the reference when it comes to marketing your game there.
Most gaming subreddits have rules.
I’m not (day 111 me) entirely sure to have seen all the rules that could be on reddit gaming subs, but I’ve seen some for sure. Here is a non exhaustive list of rules I saw:
- Classic rules: no nsfw content, no discrimination, no disrespect, etc.
- No promotion rules: in some subreddits such as r/gamedevelopment, you can’t openly promote your game. You can ask for feedback, but no promotion. Some subreddits even force you to hide your game name in your trailers or not mention it in the post. But you sometimes can in the comments or always in your profile, people check that way more often than on other social media (more on that later)
- No spam rules: in r/indiegames, you get to post twice a week.
- Karma rules: Oh yes, there is a score called « karma » you grow by receiving « upvotes » on your comments or on your posts. You can also lose karma if you get « downvoted ». And some subreddits don’t let you post until you’ve reached a certain amount of karma. Now it sounds like some kind of cult, but don’t worry things will be fine (we have cake).
- Misc: no effortless questions, no emojis, no Large language models…
Game Redditors can be tough…
…But it’s like most social media nowadays (except bluesky, that place is a day at the beach). If you don’t respect rules, if you try to promote where you can’t, if you ask for feedback and your game doesn’t look that good… Reddit gaming subs members can be brutally, but politely, honest. But what better way to have honest feedback than facing an honest crowd rather than only receiving milk and honey from your relatives?
There even is a specific subreddit for that, called r/destroymygame. And that’s all that is, you post a video and people give brutally honest criticism about your game. But don’t worry, if you’re feeling insecure about your game they won’t harass you telling it’s horrible though, I assure you they are polite and well behaved. Most of them.
Day 77. Now that I have made my way in and got used to the do’s and don’ts of the redditors, I am able to communicate and be heard, even respected by some. They seem like a very serious tribe, searching and looking for information in their environment wisely. Unlike people from other nearby major cities like Facebook, Instagram or the most dangerous one ever, simply called by his evil mayor X.
… But they’re not lazy.
And it feels FREAKIN AWESOOOOOOME!
Oh. Wait. Too early, didn’t explain.
Usually, on social media as a marketer, you have to guide people to do everything. There’s a well known acronym known as CTA for “call to action” that I invite you to use (call to actions, not the acronym) to push your readers towards one selected action. One and only one per post.
« Wishlist now! » Or « Consider buying my game! » would be two examples of classic CTAs.
The thing is, everyone does that. And on most social media good games posts are drown in feeds full of 10 seconds videos that you never wanted to watch but were thrown at you without your consent and now you have to finish what you have begun *inhales* Oh boy was that sentence long. (Some say you sometimes stop breathing while you scroll). So when people interact, they sometimes don’t click or follow up. That and algorithms bash posts with links.
The good thing is, on reddit gaming subs, with rules and moderation, most often people are forced to dig a little to know more. They ask for steam pages, they visit profiles, they read comments (even when there’s 100 of them!) et cetera. And they take time to listen to other people arguments WITHOUT YELLING AT EACH OTHER !!! So as a marketer, and a human being that feels…
Day 111: This diary is over, I’ll stay in reddit forever. I hope after sharing my findings and observations my relationship with redditors will remain the same. If only they could leave me a sign of gratitude, such as an upvote, a comment or follow my newspaper we call a newsletter, that would feel…
… Freaking amazing.
And that folks, is how you make a CTA using storytelling.
Good luck have fun (with marketing),
