“Do the Job Before You Have the Job“ ft. Community Manager Greg Castle

<p>Today's guest is Greg Castle, Community Growth Manager for Essential Mod at Spark Universe. Greg started out as an archaeologist before finding his way into the games industry, and it turns out the two careers have more in common than you'd think.</p><p></p><p>We chat about what a "community growth manager" actually does, the unique challenges of managing an 800,000-strong Discord server, and how skills from archaeology translate surprisingly well to community work.</p><p></p><p>Greg also shares the story of landing his dream job working on a game he'd been covering on YouTube for years, his philosophy of constant experimentation, and why empowering community volunteers as "bastions" is one of the most effective things you can do as a community manager.</p><p></p><p>Games mentioned in this episode:</p><p>- Minecraft: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.minecraft.net/" target="_blank">https://www.minecraft.net/</a></p><p>- The Bazaar: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1617400/The_Bazaar/" target="_blank">https://store.steampowered.com/app/1617400/The_Bazaar/</a></p><p>- Rodeo Stampede: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.yodo1.com/rodeo-stampede" target="_blank">https://www.yodo1.com/rodeo-stampede</a></p><p>- Crossy Road: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.crossyroad.com/" target="_blank">https://www.crossyroad.com/</a></p><p>- Train Simulator: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/24010/Train_Simulator_Classic/" target="_blank">https://store.steampowered.com/app/24010/Train_Simulator_Classic/</a></p><p>- Dota 2: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/570/Dota_2/" target="_blank">https://store.steampowered.com/app/570/Dota_2/</a></p><p>- Guild Wars 2: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/1284210/Guild_Wars_2/" target="_blank">https://store.steampowered.com/app/1284210/Guild_Wars_2/</a></p><p>- Overwatch 2: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/2357570/Overwatch_2/" target="_blank">https://store.steampowered.com/app/2357570/Overwatch_2/</a></p><p>- Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/292030/The_Witcher_3_Wild_Hunt/" target="_blank">https://store.steampowered.com/app/292030/The_Witcher_3_Wild_Hunt/</a></p><p>- Teamfight Manager 2: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/3009300/Teamfight_Manager_2" target="_blank">https://store.steampowered.com/app/3009300/Teamfight_Manager_2</a></p><p></p><p>Find Greg on:</p><p>- LinkedIn: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorywcastle/" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorywcastle/</a></p><p>- Bluesky: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://bsky.app/profile/divok232.bsky.social" target="_blank">https://bsky.app/profile/divok232.bsky.social</a></p><p></p><p>The Community Lounge is brought to you by Feature Upvote – Painlessly collect feedback from your players. More insights, less noise.</p><p></p><p>Subscribe to the Community Lounge newsletter and get notified of new episodes and articles: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://featureupvote.com/thecommunitylounge/" target="_blank">https://featureupvote.com/thecommunitylounge/</a></p><p></p>