Player Driven

This week’s episode takes a different angle.

What started as a conversation about Epic, Disney, and the state of the market quickly turned into something bigger… a discussion about systems.

From live service games to theme parks to parenting, the same core question shows up everywhere:

What behaviors are your systems actually driving?

We break down:

•  Why Fortnite’s evolution is less about content and more about system design 
•  The gap between Disney’s IP strength and product experience 
•  How Riot approaches game design through behavioral systems 
•  Why “day zero design” matters for community and retention 
•  And a personal story that brings all of this into a very real context 

This isn’t a trends episode. It’s a lens shift.

Key Takeaways

•  Systems shape behavior more than content ever will 
•  Engagement loops can work too well and create unintended outcomes 
•  Retention is a systems problem, not a content problem 
•  Community health is designed early, not fixed later 
•  The same behavioral patterns show up across games, platforms, and real life 

Why This Matters

For teams in player support, community, live ops, and trust & safety:

You’re not just reacting to player behavior.

You’re dealing with the output of systems that were designed upstream.

Understanding that changes how you:

•  Diagnose issues 
•  Prioritize fixes 
•  Influence product decisions 
•  Advocate internally 

Links & Mentions

•  Player Driven Workshop (Community + Day Zero Design) 
•  Lewis Ward’s GDC breakdown on Riot and system-driven design 
• Join the Discord

This week, we’re bringing back one of the most interesting conversations we’ve had on Player Driven.

Andrew Wagner didn’t learn economics in a classroom first. He learned it inside a game.

Before managing investment portfolios, Andrew was running a guild in an MMO, experimenting with supply, demand, reputation, and player behavior in real time. What started as “just playing the game” turned into a full system for production, scaling, and market control.

And the wild part… it worked.

He built a network of players motivated by progression instead of profit, scaled production, and ultimately flooded the market to outcompete everyone else. 

Why This Conversation Matters Right Now

A lot has changed in the last few months across gaming:

• Teams are rethinking LiveOps loops to re-engage players instead of just shipping content
 • Community is being treated as a system, not a support function
 • Player behavior is becoming the core KPI behind retention and monetization

We talked about this in our recent Player Driven workshop:

👉 You can’t fix a community after launch. You design it from day zero. 

And we’re seeing it play out everywhere…

From LiveOps refresh strategies discussed at GDC to how games are trying to balance monetization with player trust.

What We Cover in This Episode

• How Andrew discovered economics through an MMO instead of school
 • Why game economies mirror real-world markets more than people realize
 • The role of reputation and perception in player-driven systems
 • How player motivation (progression vs profit) changes everything
 • Why most players don’t act “rationally”… and why that matters
 • How communities shape economies just as much as design systems
 • The fine line between optimization and exploitation in games

The Bigger Takeaway

Games are one of the best environments to understand human behavior.

Not because they’re simple…
 But because the feedback loops are fast, visible, and unforgiving.

If you work in:
 • Player support
 • Community
 • LiveOps
 • Trust & safety

You’re not just reacting to players.

You’re shaping the system they operate in.

What’s New at Player Driven

We’ve been doubling down on connecting the people working behind the scenes of games:

• March Workshop: Focused on building community from day zero
 • New breakdown with Laura Hall (Schell Games) on what player support actually looks like early-stage
 • Player Driven Live: GDC takeaways, LiveOps trends, and game breakdowns (including Crimson Desert and emerging titles)

If you’re working in these spaces and want to connect with others doing the same work, join us.

Final Thought

Andrew’s story isn’t just about one game.

It’s about understanding systems, incentives, and people.

And once you see it…

You start noticing it everywhere.

Guests:  

• Karin Johnson: Co-founder of Magic Potion Games (Veteran of Club Penguin and Fortnite)
• Hege Tokerud: CEO/Founder of Aiba (Cybersecurity and AI moderation specialist) 

Episode Summary

In this strategic primer for GDC 2026, we sit down with industry veterans to discuss why community is no longer just a marketing checklist—it’s the new competitive advantage. From the "social-first" origins of Club Penguin to the technical scaling of modern hits like Fortnite, we explore how to design communities alongside your game mechanics to ensure longevity, safety, and player loyalty.

Key Takeaways

• Community as Design, Not Reaction: Successful games like Club Penguin were built on "social loops" (e.g., Penguin Chat) rather than just adding multiplayer to existing mechanics.
• The "Grey Filter" & Social Engineering: Discover how "silent muting" and empowering players with roles (like the Club Penguin Tour Guides) can police toxicity more effectively than heavy-handed bans.
• The Business Case for Safety: Data from 2023 shows that "nice" games can generate up to 80% more revenue than toxic ones. Safety isn't just ethical; it’s a growth engine.
• Empowering the Flywheel: Learn how leaning into player-driven lore and "happy accidents"—like Fortnite’s accidental cross-play launch—can create massive spikes in retention and investment.
• Scaling Without Burnout: Why 2026 is the year to move from manual moderation to AI-assisted tools that allow small teams to focus on making the game "magical" rather than just policing it.

Notable Quotes

Resource Links

• Play Imagine Island: imagineisland.game 
• Connect with Aiba: Aiba.ai 
• Event: Visit the Community Clubhouse during GDC 2026 (Tuesday, March 10th).

Episode Overview

In this episode, Greg sits down with Renee Gittins — studio founder of Stumbling Cat, former IGDA Executive Director, ex-General Manager of Phoenix Labs Vancouver, Forbes 30 Under 30 for Games, Reddit legend, and now a debut author. Renee unpacks her wildly non-linear path into the games industry, the lessons she learned shipping her indie game Potions: A Curious Tale, and her hard-won wisdom on community building, marketing, and navigating the chaos of game development.

Guest Bio

• 🌐 Website: Renee Gittins
• 📚 Free studio resources: gamedevfoundry.com
• 🎮 Game: Potions: A Curious Tale — available on Steam and all major consoles
• 🔗 Connect on LinkedIn

Key Topics

• From Biotech to Game Dev: A Winding Road – Before gaming, Renee built concussion detection sensors and early wearables, eventually pivoting to game development after realizing she could turn her passion into a career during her senior year of college.
• Going Viral on Reddit – As a "Reddit native" with a 15-year-old account, Renee leveraged her genuine community standing and knowledge of memes to host a verified AMA that reached millions of views.
• The Technical vs. Bureaucratic Reality of Porting – While Unity made the technical porting of Potions: A Curious Tale manageable, Renee found that the publishing paperwork and platform management took 10 to 20 times longer than the actual coding.

Key Takeaways & Advice

• Embrace Critical Feedback – While new developers often become defensive, Renee argues that experienced developers should actively beg for critical feedback to truly improve their craft.
• Simplify Your Call to Action (CTA) – To increase conversion, developers should remove barriers; for example, asking players to wishlist a game on Steam is often more effective than forcing them to join a Discord or sign up for an account.
• Research Before You Launch – Renee spent nearly a year researching Kickstarter by interviewing both successful and unsuccessful developers to avoid common pitfalls like underestimating the cost of physical rewards.

Resources Mentioned

• 🌐 gamedevfoundry.com — Free studio operations resources (marketing templates, HR guides, production best practices, pitch decks, and more)
• 🌐 Renee Gittins — Renee's personal site with links to talks, white papers, and more
• 🎮 Potions: A Curious Tale — on Steam and all major consoles
• 📖 How to Be Enough — self-help book for perfectionists and those with imposter syndrome (recommended by Renee)

Episode Summary: While the team is away at GDC in San Francisco, we’re bringing you a deep-dive encore of one of our most provocative conversations. Greg and Colan sit down to dissect the mounting pressure from the U.S. government on Tencent to divest its massive stakes in Riot Games, Supercell, and Epic Games. We explore the reality of data privacy in the modern age, the "cultural war" of gaming IP, and whether the West is prepared to compete with the sheer output of Chinese development.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• The CFIUS Investigation: Why the U.S. government is increasingly wary of Tencent’s influence over American gamer data.
• The "Privacy Myth": Colan breaks down the sobering reality of how our data is already bought, sold, and modeled in the ad-tech ecosystem.
• The Rise of Chinese IP: How games like Genshin Impact and Marvel Rivals are shifting the balance of global gaming power.
• Bungie’s Marathon: Our initial impressions of the "grimy" extraction shooter and why Bungie is pivoting away from its "simplified" gameplay roots.
• Sony vs. Steam: Analyzing Sony’s recent decision to slow down PC releases and the long-term threat of the Steam Deck and SteamOS.
• The Lego Takeover: A lighter look at the massive world of Lego-gaming crossovers and why your favorite IPs are being "blocked".

Featured Links:

• Join the conversation on our Discord: playerdriven.io
• Follow Colan's Newsletter: Patch Notes on Substack

In this episode of Player Driven, host Greg welcomes back industry veteran Sharon Fisher to discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of content moderation. From her early days building moderation at Club Penguin to her current work with AI-driven platforms like Checkstep, Sharon shares her unique perspective as both a trust and safety expert and a concerned parent.

Key Discussion Points

• The Evolution of Moderation: Sharon reflects on the shift from manual work and simple keyword blocking 17 years ago to today’s complex machine learning and contextual understanding.
• The Changing Role of the Moderator: Why the rise of AI doesn't mean the extinction of human moderators, but rather their transformation into data analysts who challenge bias and understand culture.
• The "Wild Wild West" of the Marketplace: Insights into why legacy moderation companies are phasing out while new, AI-first competitors like Checkstep are entering the space.
• Privacy vs. Safety: Addressing the pushback against age verification and the critical need for better communication and education for parents and caregivers.
• Bridging the Gap: How integrated technology can finally break down silos between customer support, marketing, and moderation to provide a holistic view of the user.
• Predictions for 2026 and Beyond: Sharon forecasts a year of "stress and adoption" as companies rush to reduce costs through technology, leading to a eventual search for balance in 2027.

About Our Guest: Sharon Fisher

Sharon Fisher is a leading voice in the trust and safety industry. With a career spanning roles at Disney (Club Penguin), Two Hat, and Keywords Studios, she now provides strategic consulting for gaming companies and technology firms like Checkstep. She is also a passionate advocate for digital literacy, frequently speaking to school districts to help parents protect their children online.

Notable Quotes

"The moderator role becomes even more important because they are who they are—they understand your community, they speak the language, and they live the culture every single day." 

"Think about that area of your city that you would not go on your own at night time... that's the same that translates into the internet. Know where your kid is playing."

Resources Mentioned

• Connect with Sharon: Sharon Fisher on LinkedIn 
• Featured Technology: Checkstep 

Join The Player Driven Discord

https://discord.gg/c9YgMctb

Episode Summary

Why do we play the video games that we play? Is interest in the strategy game genre truly waning globally over time? Greg and Lewis sit down with gaming psychology pioneer and Quantic Foundry co-founder Nick Yee to answer these and many other questions. From dissecting the Proteus effect to comparing and contrasting the psychological motivations that drive GTA Online, Fortnite, and Europa Universalis players, Dr. Yee takes us on a whirlwind tour of his company's Gamer Motivation Model that contains insights from >1.75 million gamers.

What You’ll Learn

• The Proteus effect: How inhabiting an attractive or tall avatar can impact your real-world confidence level and negotiating tactics.
• The Strategy genre slump: Why interest in strategic thinking has dropped from the 50th to the 33rd percentile since 2015 in Quantic Foundry's gamer database, and how it appears to be linked to a global drop in conscientiousness (one of the "Big Five" personality traits).
• Gamer motivation models: What are some of Quantic Foundry's 12 psychological traits that drive video game play (i.e., Destruction, Power, Community, Strategy, Completion, Excitement) and how is this framework used to answer different questions than SDT (Self-Determination Theory).
• Industry Insights: How studios psychologically segment players to help guide their future content roadmaps, drive UA, and more.
• The RPG accident: Why the RPG genre is actually a bundle of two different player types.

Episode Timestamps

• 01:45 – The "wildly optimistic" era of mid-2000s MMOs .
• 02:35 – VR Lab Experiments: Putting people in bodies that aren't their own .
• 05:30 – Does the "virtual" you linger after you log off? .
• 08:50 – The 12-Factor Gamer Motivation Model explained .
• 11:50 – The "Bummer" Stat: The steady decline of strategy games .
• 14:50 – Is Social Media or AI "shortening" our collective attention span? .
• 18:50 – Why Balatro succeeds in a world that hates long-term planning .
• 21:10 – Quantic Foundry vs. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) .
• 32:10 – The hidden psychology of Idle Clicker games .
• 35:45 – Breaking down the player profiles of GTA Online vs. Fortnite .

Resources Mentioned

• Quantic Foundry: quanticfoundry.com
• Gamer Motivation Profile: Take the 5-minute survey here .
• Games Discussed: World of Warcraft, Civilization VI, Europa Universalis V, Balatro, GTA V, and Fortnite.

Connect with our Guest:

• Nick Yee: LinkedIn

Call to Action

Discover your "Gaming Posse": Take the Gamer Motivation Profile to see which of the 2 million surveyed gamers share your psychological DNA and get custom game recommendations.

Join the Player Driven Discord: https://discord.gg/kPS6yPrB

Episode Summary
How do you break into the games industry later in your career? And once you’re in, how do you build a meaningful life and community without burning out? In this episode, Greg is joined by Amir Satvat, a Business Development leader at Tencent and the winner of the "Game Changers" award. Amir is one of the industry's most important connectors, having built a community that has helped thousands find jobs and opportunities.

Amir shares his incredible journey from finance at Goldman Sachs to gaming in his late 30s, offering a practical playbook for career pivots. He breaks down his disciplined, non-negotiable approach to balancing a high-stakes job with being a present father and husband, and reveals why true networking is a 12-month game of building relationships, not a last-minute job hunt. This conversation is packed with wisdom for anyone looking to build a sustainable and impactful career in games.

Timestamps

• (01:55) The Pivot: Amir details his unconventional path from banking and healthcare into the games industry.
• (11:00) The Non-Negotiable Framework: How Amir uses rigorous time-blocking to protect family time and avoid burnout.
• (25:49) Confronting Ageism: Amir discusses the industry's challenge with retaining and valuing older talent.
• (32:25) The #1 Networking Mistake: Why you need to build relationships long before you need them.
• (39:40) The Financial Modeling Trap: How a finance-first mindset can be both a powerful tool and a creativity killer in game development.

Guest Bio

Amir Satvat is a leader in Business Development and Strategy at Tencent and the founder of a professional gaming community that has helped thousands of people. Known as one of the industry's most important connectors, his work is driven by a deep passion for helping others succeed.

• LinkedIn: Amir Satvat
• Community Hub: ASGC's Games Jobs Resources | WELCOME

Key Topics

• Breaking into the games industry mid-career
• Effective networking strategies for long-term success
• Balancing a demanding career with fatherhood and family life
• Transferable skills from other industries (finance, tech, healthcare)
• Community building and the power of trust
• Continuing education and staying relevant
• Industry challenges: ageism, the future of consoles, and business models

On this episode of Player Driven, Lewis and Greg are joined by Joost Vervoort, Associate Professor at Utrecht University (in the Netherlands) and Science/Impact Director at Speculative Agency. We dive into the "imagination factory" of the games industry and explore how video games can move beyond simple escapism to become tools for systemic societal change and climate activism.

🎙️ Episode Highlights & Timestamps

• [00:50] Introducing Joost Vervoort: Background in ecology, political science, and 10 years of "action research" at the intersection of games and sustainability.
• [04:13] Formative Gaming: How the labyrinths of Doom and the emergent storytelling of Vampire: The Masquerade shaped Joost’s view of games as "imagination factories".
• [09:00] Project STRATEGIES: An EU-funded initiative exploring how the game industry can decarbonize while using games as a cultural phenomenon to influence societal discourse.
• [12:34] "All Will Rise" Deep Dive: A courtroom deck-builder inspired by Ace Attorney where you take billionaires to court for environmental destruction.
• [24:57] The "Dark Souls of Politics": Why high-difficulty games like Hollow Knight: Silksong and Elden Ring teach "perceived self-efficacy"—the belief that you can tackle messy, complex real-world challenges.
• [37:21] Examples of Excellence: Discussing Wolfenstein’s explicit anti-fascism and Citizen Sleeper’s focus on community resilience.
• [50:00] What’s Next for 2026?: The All Will Rise Kickstarter, visiting schools to promote game literacy, and Joost’s new research into "infrastructures of mystery".

🧠 Key Themes & Learnings

⚖️ The Power of the "Speculative"

• Moving Beyond "Goody Two-Shoes" Design: Joost argues that games about climate change often fail because they are "too polite." All Will Rise embraces a "wild, poetic, and slightly naughty" vibe to make activism feel dangerous and exciting rather than like a lecture.
• Local Over Global: Instead of abstract "climate change," the game focuses on a burning river in a fictionalized South India (Kerala) to make the stakes concrete and personal.

🛠️ Games as "Action Research"

• Self-Efficacy through Play: Beating a difficult boss in Dark Souls or Silksong can fundamentally change a player's relationship with reality, giving them the confidence to engage with "messy" politics in real life.
• Culture Building: Change doesn't happen through information alone; it happens by creating a gaming culture that normalizes new identities and standards.

🏗️ Challenging the Industry

• The Publisher Paradox: Publishers often avoid "politically threatening" or narrative-heavy games for fear of backlash, driving innovative, "courageous" projects toward platforms like Kickstarter.

🔗 Related Links

• Join the Community: Jump into our Discord to discuss the episode!
• Speculative Agency: Check out the upcoming All Will Rise Kickstarter.
• Project STRATEGIES: Learn about sustainable transition in the game industry.

Recorded live at Pocket Gamer London, Greg sits down with Hill from Checkstep for a wide ranging conversation on trust and safety, AI powered content detection, parenting in a gaming household, and why moderation is no longer just about removing harm.

Hill shares her journey from data analyst to GTM leader in trust and safety, how Checkstep is building on top of the rapidly evolving AI ecosystem rather than competing with it, and why “build vs buy” decisions are becoming existential for modern studios.

They explore:

• What trust and safety really means for multiplayer games and UGC platforms
• Why content detection is replacing traditional moderation language
• How large language models are changing speed to value for studios
• Where humans still matter in AI driven workflows
• Detecting grooming and harmful behavior without exposing moderators to trauma
• Why keystroke detection and behavioral patterns are becoming new signals
• The real ROI conversation studios want proof on
• Promoting positive player behavior instead of only policing bad actors
• Parenting in a gaming household and how Greg thinks about kid safe play
• Why balance beats bans when raising young players
• Continuous learning, newsletters, and staying sharp in fast moving industries
• What success looks like for startups scaling with investors
• Hill’s 2026 goals and growing meaningful industry partnerships

The conversation blends operator level insight with personal stories, from renovating bathrooms at night to Wordle streaks and Goat Simulator family sessions.

If you care about LiveOps, community health, AI in CX, or building safer game ecosystems at scale, this episode is for you.