Welcome to a solo episode of the Community Lounge Podcast!

I'm launching the brand new Community Lounge Guides: A series of practical resources designed specifically for community managers: The first one is now available: "Becoming a Community Manager: Real Life Stories"

This guide explores the diverse paths people take into community management, organised into four categories: Volunteering, Transferable Skills, Study, and Community Creators.

It features stories from real-life Community Managers who were guests on the show, like Jarvs Tasker, Christian Jürgensen, Lyn Dang, and Erik Jakobsson.

Mentioned in the show:

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Today's guest is Vicki Fieldhouse, Senior Community Manager at Secret Mode. Vicki took an unconventional path into games, entering community management in her mid-30s after years of trying to break into the industry. Her journey involved customer service from running her own business, social media management, and streaming RPGs during COVID—all of which became the perfect foundation for her community management career.

We chat about how Vicki landed her first games job by streaming Fighting Fantasy books on YouTube, why being genuinely passionate about the games you work on matters, and the challenges of taking a lead management role that led her back to hands-on community work. Vicki also shares insights about the differences between working for developers versus publishers, the importance of honesty when you can't fix a bug, and her work on Cozy Quest: Secret Mode's annual celebration of cozy games featuring nearly 300 developers.

Games mentioned in this episode:

- Fighting Fantasy (Gamebooks): https://www.fightingfantasy.com/
- Kingdom Two Crowns: https://store.steampowered.com/app/701160/Kingdom_Two_Crowns/
- A Little to the Left: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1629520/A_Little_to_the_Left/
- Loddlenaut: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1644940/Loddlenaut/
- Winter Burrow: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3008740/Winter_Burrow/
- Sqeuakross: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2871440/Squeakross_Home_Squeak_Home/
- Everything is Crab: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3526710/Everything_is_Crab_The_Animal_Evolution_Roguelite/
- Spore: https://store.steampowered.com/app/17390/SPORE/
- Split Fiction: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2001120/Split_Fiction/
- Jurassic World Evolution 3: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2958130/Jurassic_World_Evolution_3/

Find Vicki on:

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriasteele/

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Today’s guest is Joshua Mathews, Marketing and Social Media Manager at Doborog.
Josh has spent years in community and marketing roles across the indie games scene, working on projects ranging from Calvino Noir to Clone Drone in the Danger Zone and its VR successor Clone Drone in the Hyperdome. Before joining the industry, Josh built a following as a YouTuber spotlighting under-the-radar indie games — a passion that still fuels his work today.

We chat about how his early experiences making trailers and talking with developers shaped his approach to community management, why empathy and gut instinct can be just as important as analytics, and how players often find unexpected meanings in games. Josh also shares insights on managing diverse communities across Discord, what to watch out for when your loudest fans don’t always represent the majority, and how he balances professional marketing work with his personal creative projects — from Warhammer storytelling to Vampire: The Masquerade cosplay.

Games mentioned in this episode:

Find Joshua on:

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Today’s guest is Charis Reid, founder of Cut Teeth, an ad-hoc community management agency. After unexpectedly being made redundant earlier this year, Charis turned a setback into an opportunity—launching her own business that lets her collaborate with multiple studios and projects at once.

We chat about how redundancy pushed her to build something new, the challenges of setting boundaries when running your own agency, and the lessons she’s learned from juggling clients across the industry. Charis shares her unconventional path into games—from studying game art and dreaming of building environments to discovering her passion for connecting players and developers.

She also tells a touching story about being honored in-game by a small indie team she supported, how an ambitious ARG campaign went hilariously off-script, and why knowing a community’s “deep lore” is the secret to succeeding as a new community manager.

Games mentioned in this episode:

Find Charis on:

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Today’s guest is John Lloyd, Community Lead at The Path, a UK-based games marketing agency. John’s journey into community management began long before his first professional role—he spent years building and nurturing player communities in games like Age of Empires II, RuneScape, and Guild Wars 2. His passion for fostering player connection eventually led him to a career at Ubisoft before joining The Path, where he now manages communities across multiple studios and titles.

We chat about how early online experiences shaped his community philosophy, the emotional toll of working in highly visible roles, and how he’s learned to protect his mental well-being after facing severe community backlash—including receiving death threats over in-game balance changes. John shares how he handles these difficult situations, the importance of empathy in community work, and why open communication between players and studios is vital.

We also talk about his involvement with Limit Break, a UK mentorship program helping underrepresented people find guidance and opportunity in the games industry, and his perspective on mentoring the next generation of community professionals. Finally, John explains what it’s like working at an agency versus a studio, and how he balances multiple clients while staying authentic and transparent.

Games mentioned in this episode:

Find John on:

LinkedIn

Limit Break

Email: [email protected]

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Today’s guests are Dale Stiffell and Kallum Hoy, the dynamic community duo behind Transformers: Earth Wars at Yodo1 Games. The two met while working together at Space Ape Games and have since become inseparable collaborators—often joking that they’re a “package deal.” Between them, they bring years of experience in community management, player engagement, and storytelling through live service games.

Their journeys into the industry couldn’t be more different. Dale’s path began as a teenager running one of the internet’s biggest Habbo Hotel fan sites—an experience that taught him resilience and the foundations of modern community management. Kallum’s story started in the world of pensions and finance before a chance opportunity as a volunteer moderator opened the door to game communities like RuneScape and BattleBit Remastered.

We chat about the emotional rollercoaster of seeing Transformers: Earth Wars nearly shut down and how the team found a new home at Yodo1, the importance of mental health and burnout awareness in community roles, and why empathy, transparency, and humor are the best tools for managing passionate fanbases. Dale and Kallum also share powerful lessons about teamwork, trust, and building communities that feel seen and heard—even during studio transitions and major updates.

Games mentioned in this episode:

Find Dale and Kallum on LinkedIn:

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Today’s guest is Jarvs Tasker, Head of Communications at Happy Volcano.

Jarvs has held several community and communications roles across the games industry, including at Raw Fury, where she worked on Dome Keeper and Blue Prince. She’s also an award-winning accessibility advocate, recently recognised at Game Dev Heroes 2025 for her work championing disabled and neurodiverse representation in games.

Her journey into the industry was anything but typical—she began her career as a drama teacher before disability forced her to step away. That experience, along with her training in behaviour management, shaped her empathetic and people-first approach to community building.

We chat about how those teaching skills translate into managing online communities, why listening and understanding can turn angry players into loyal ambassadors, and how setting clear community rules helps everyone feel safe and included. Jarvs also shares her joy at seeing the Dome Keeper community come together for a hilarious black-tie modding jam—and how that moment became one of her favourite memories as a community manager.

Finally, we dive into her current work on Modulars, a colourful and creative factory automation game from Happy Volcano, and how she balances being a marketer, writer, and accessibility lead all in one.

Games mentioned in this episode:

Dome Keeper

Blue Prince

Modulus

Death Stranding 2

Hades 2

Expedition 33

Find Jarvs on:

LinkedIn

BlueSky

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Today’s guest is Victoria Tran, Games Communications Director at InnerSloth, the studio behind Among Us. She’s also the creator of the Community Dev Newsletter, an organizer of the Wholesome Games Initiative, and the author of the upcoming book Mastering Community Management.

In this episode, Victoria shares how she “accidentally” became a community manager—and ended up one of the most respected voices in the field. From moderating Discord servers to playing Among Us with politicians like AOC, her journey is packed with surprising moments and hard-earned wisdom.

This episode is full of practical insights and real talk about what it's like to be the public face of a game with millions of passionate (and vocal) players.

Victoria's book: Mastering Community Management

Games mentioned:

Find Victoria on:

Victoria’s book: Mastering Community Management

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Today’s guest is… me, Steve McLeod!

In this special solo episode, I share why I created The Community Lounge podcast and how it connects to my product, Feature Upvote.

I tell the story of how the podcast become a way for me to connect with community managers, learn how they work, and provide a space to share their stories. I talk about how it all started, the lessons learnt on the way, and how feedback from the games industry helped shape Feature Upvote into what it is today.

And especially, how one person's help made Feature Upvote what it is today.

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Today’s guest is Sofia Pettersson, Community manager at Apog Labs in Malmö, Sweden. Sofia’s journey into the games industry is both personal and inspiring—after a major life upheaval, she found her way into community management, combining her passion for creativity with a growing interest in games.

We chat about her non-linear path to the games industry, what it’s like building community for a game still in development, and how her hobbies as an artist—painting, sewing, and more—give her a creative edge at work.

Sofia also discusses the platforms she’s using (hint: TikTok is key), the challenge of always producing fresh content, and the differences between nurturing a player community and supporting an internal team. She shares how her outsider perspective helps her appreciate her colleagues’ work and her thoughts on Sweden’s humble-but-thriving game dev culture.

Games mentioned in this episode:

Find Sofia on:

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