Nobody Cares About You Or Your Game (And Why That’s A Good Thing!)
Today, we’re going to talk about something that I think is really interesting yet a lot of developers miss. That’s the idea that nobody cares about you. Legitimately nobody cares about your game, nobody cares about things that you do. All the stuff that you build in the internet, nobody really cares. At first that can sound sad, daunting, lonely, and depressing. But when you start to understand it, it helps you understand the world, it helps you understand why people react the way they do, and why people do the things they do. It helps you become a better communicator and reach out to them a little more effectively.
Many of us spend a lot of our time working on our projects. We pour our heart and soul into these projects. We build these awesome things that we spend so much time on. We put so much love into it. And when you show it to someone, and they don’t have the same enthusiasm for it as you do, it’s easy to feel that your project has been dismissed. Or that their reaction towards it is negative, and it’s not. It just comes from the fact that no one will ever care about your project as much as you do, ever. That is just how life is.
Once you accept this, it helps you understand a few key different things:
- It helps you in marketing.
Many people think that their project is more valuable than it is. Therefore, you see a lot of shitty games, or people that build these games that aren’t really ready for primetime. They push them out there and expect to get a million downloads. They expect the world to adore them. That can be dangerous because it can shut you down when the reception isn’t good. It can feel like a betrayal, like the world is after you. Like, “Holy shit! No one cares about me.” And coming to terms with that after you’ve released the project that you put much time into can be a bad thing.
- It helps you get authentic feedback.
When you actually push your game out there to show people and you want to get feedback, the realization that they don’t have the same care and love for your project as you do, is actually a good thing. A lot of people I notice, when they show people their game for the first time, are emotionally attached to their game, and can be hypersensitive to some of the things that people have to say about it. In reality, even if their feedback is harsh, they probably don’t intended to shit on your project. Sometimes they do, but very rarely.
Keep in mind that when you show people your game, they don’t care nearly as much as you do and they never will. Even if they are close friends or family members, it’s hard for them to care as much as the creator does because that’s just that’s how it is. So when they give you feedback, notice that the intention probably isn’t to hurt your feelings. The intention probably isn’t to shut down the project or to make you feel like shit. The intention just comes from a, “Hey, I don’t understand this or I don’t get this or it wasn’t fun for me or whatever.”
Even if then feedback is harsh, you need to learn how to take that feedback and understand where it’s coming from. They don’t care about your project as much as you do.
- It helps you in your approach to doing things.
A lot of people in the marketing space, especially in the ramp-up for launch and stuff like that, they assume that when they put their game out on social media, or they put the game on Reddit, people should like it, people should comment on it, people should do this and that. And they just don’t care. They really don’t care.
As a developer and a marketer of your game, in order to make people care, you have to take that extra step. You have to take that extra precaution. You have to make the landing page super easy, you have to spend a lot of time recording game footage and pick the perfect five or ten seconds of your game to show off something and put it into a gif. You have to take that extra care, that extra time that it takes to make someone care. Show them why you’re different. Show them why they should care because ultimately that’s your responsibility. A lot of people when they push their game out there, they take it personally when no one cares, and it’s not personal.
Everybody has their own shit going on. Everybody is worried about their jobs, or their money, or their bills, or their own game or whatever it is. Your game comes along and it’s not that they hate you or your game, they just they have other things to think about. Your game is not one of those things that they care about. As a marketer, as someone that has to learn how to market the game, it’s your job to make them care. You need to remember that. It’s completely up to you 100% to make the person care.
They don’t care by default, and you have to understand that. If you go on assuming that they’re going to care, you’re going to be disappointed. No one cares even about the best games from the best studios out there. It’s up to these studios to create these trailers, and these epic things that get people excited. That’s all your job too and you have to remember that. Don’t get discouraged if you throw your game out there and no one does anything or no one downloads it because that’s what happens by default. That’s the natural flow of things. People just don’t care. It’s up to you to make them care.
There are a lot of different ways to make people care. You can watch my marketing series on my YouTube channel that will go in depth on each social platform and how to do specific things on each of them to make people care. You also need to learn the art of headline writing. It’s a great way to make people care because the right headline will really make them click, make them really understand what you’re trying to get across better. Communication is obviously a huge factor in making them care.
Just keep in mind that nobody cares by default and it is your responsibility as a game developer, as a marketer, as the seller of your game, as the business owner, to make them care. You need to remember that. It sucks but that’s the way it is. If you don’t think of things that way, you’re going to get lost in a sea of marketing.
So that’s my message for today. I hope you found it helpful. If you did, please leave a comment below, I’d love to hear from you guys.
