As the editor of a site about browsergames, I tend to e-mail browsergame creators a lot. As a result, I’ve noticed that there are some things that I really like about the ways that certain games handle having users contact them, and some things I don’t like.
First off, make it easy to get in touch with you! The users who are willing to go to the extra effort of getting in touch with you are the users that you want to listen to – they’re probably also your game’s biggest evangelists.
What does it take to make it easy for your users to get in touch with you? The answer might surprise you: not much. Here are a few ways to make it really easy for users to contact you:
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Have a ‘Contact’ Page
This has to be the very first option that I look for when I’m looking to get in touch with the owners of a game. I scan their navigation, and look for the word ‘Contact’ – or, if I can’t find that, ‘About’. Usually, one of those will lead me to either a form I can use to get in touch with the owners of the game, or an e-mail address that I can just send an e-mail directly to.
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Use IRC
While this isn’t as applicable if you don’t have technically-savvy users, for a user who does know a thing or two, being available on IRC is always a bonus – a lot of things can get resolved faster via a quick chat than over e-mail. You can simply idle in a room dedicated to your game – and who knows, maybe the really dedicated players will start idling there too.
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Blog
If you have a blog on your game’s site, leave comments enabled – you’d be surprised at how many users will leave you comments about any piece of your game that they like or don’t like – whether it’s relevant to the content of your blog post or not.
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Use Twitter
One more option that is starting to gain a little more traction these days is Twitter – a micro-blogging service. The idea is that you would create a Twitter account for your game, and then use it to respond to any users on Twitter who are having the problem. This is just about as good as talking to the user on IRC, because if you’re both online at the same time you can have a quick chat about whatever’s on their mind. You can also use Twitter to market your game, by sending out tweets whenever you change something or a new version rolls out.
These are just a few of the myriad ways that you can keep in touch with your users – what do you use?