4 Pillars of Building a Community

Recently, I’ve been asking myself a lot “what makes something a community?” and “what is community?”. We’re all part of one, or want to be, but we never really stop and think about what it is or how it was formed.

As it’s been on my mind, you might have noticed me posting about it recently; the importance of community, especially when building games. It’s what sets a successful game apart from one that has gone into the huge pile of great games that “could have been”.

The truth is, we all love to speak about the issues that are in gaming, especially around how difficult it is for games to stand out nowadays with around 50 new Steam releases each day. I do too. But I believe the answer is in community, authentically, organically grown ones. And yes, we all love to beat the drum that we have strong communities in gaming. We march to that beat, but we never really explore as to why they are important, or how they’re even built. It all sounds so easy, like registering for an X or TikTok account.

I think to truly build a successful community, you need to understand the deep rooted reasons as to why people want to be a part of one, so you can create the environment for them to grow naturally. My thoughts on 4 pillars crucial in building a community:

1. Purpose

The shared why and what draws people in. It could be a belief, an aesthetic, a vision, a game mechanic, anything that makes someone say, “this feels like me” or “this speaks to me”.

Communities without purpose fall apart fast. There’s no glue, no direction. Purpose gives a community an identity. It’s what keeps people coming back even when nothing new is happening.

If a game can’t clearly answer why people should care beyond content drops, then it’s not building a community. It’s just holding temporary attention.

2. Belonging

People don’t just stay because they like your game (or brand for that matter). They stay because they feel seen by the people around them.

Belonging comes from culture: shared rituals, inside jokes, live experiences, even arguments. It’s the difference between “I follow this account” and “these are my people.”

In gaming, this can look like clans, modding scenes, Discord drama, fan art, or late night WoW raids. It’s the emotional layer most forget about, but it’s the part that makes people stay long after they’ve finished the game (believe me, I’ve finished Cyberpunk and Skyrim so many times that for the average person it wouldn’t make sense)

3. Participation

A real community isn’t a passive audience but it’s a co-creator.

Most treat their community like a content bucket; engagement means likes and replies. But true participation means giving people ownership; a way to leave their mark.

Let your community create and shape, start rivalries, become known. Build the tools and mods, the memes, the maps. The more people can add to the world, the more it becomes theirs.

4. Structure

Yes, a community needs to grow organically. But even chaos needs scaffolding.

Structure is what makes a community sustainable. It’s the behind-the-scenes systems that keep things moving, without killing the authenticity.

In games, this can mean anything from moderation tools, to community roles, to content pipelines or fan events. Or the “user orchestrated experiences” as we call it at ELO. Done right, it’s invisible, but done wrong, it either overwhelms or kills momentum.