From Hype to Habit
I’m sure you’ve heard of the "hype train" before. You may have seen some of the most positive reinforcing comments calling on others to “get aboard the hype train!”. It’s pulled by an engine of excitement, fuelled by trailers and gameplay snippets, running smoothly on the track of ongoing conversation and community building. On the express route to: launch day.
But what happens the day after? What does the station you built to that point look like where it arrives? Most commonly, the engine gets decoupled, the tracks just end, and the community that gathered for the journey slowly starts rusting away, left out on the open platform.
The problem is that many treat a launch as a single emotional peak to be scaled up to, rather than what it truly is: an emotional journey. Building a community around a brand that lasts requires more than just generating hype. It requires intentionally guiding your user through an emotional arc up to and beyond the launch.
If you get this right, you can convert the high energy of hype into a sustainable, long-term habit and belonging.
To do this, we can break this down into 4 phases:
Phase 1: The Reveal - Curiosity
This is the very starting point. The first hint. Your goal here is to establish a trigger a powerful feeling. A feeling that drives the user to wanting more, and (to stay with the train analogy) get themselves a ticket to get on the train.
Emotional Goal: Awe, Intrigue, and Anticipation. You want players to feel like they’ve just stumbled upon something new, maybe mysterious, but certainly full of potential. The dominant questions in their minds should be "I need to know more."
The Psychology: This phase is about grabbing the player's imagination. It’s a tricky balance where you want to give them enough so they know what they’re in for, but at the same time provide enough mystery so they long for the next piece of information. It certainly is about the feeling your reveal creates, where you’re selling the fantasy, not the feature list.
Content Strategy: This is the where we find the cinematic trailers, transmedia world-building, and teasers. It's cryptic social media posts, alternate reality games (ARGs), and teaser sites with countdowns. Remember, the goal is to create a powerful emotional mystery that players are desperate to find out more. A reveal of “the next generation of MMO RPG PvPvE Dedicated Host Engine FPS Platform” (Yes, I’m adding the buzz words) is rather boring. And misses the emotional target.
Phase 2: The Pre-Launch - Trusted Excitement
Now we have their attention. It’s time to earn their trust and convert curiosity into excitement.
Emotional Goal: Trust and validated Excitement. The feeling must shift from "This could be amazing" to "This is going to be amazing."
The Psychology: Now that the fantasy has been established, you need to prove it’s real. This phase is about transparency and substance. You are rewarding the players' initial curiosity by showing them that their excitement is justified.
Content Strategy: This is where you bring in your gameplay deep-dives and developer diaries. Let players see the passion of the team. Answer community questions honestly in Q&As and forums. With closed and open test phases to gather feedback and show you're listening. Every piece of content here should build confidence and make the fantasy feel solid and playable.
Note: This has become increasingly harder in games, due to a) a more informed player and b) a long list of overpromises and broken trust where the hype and excitement phase lead to unmanaged expectation that were crushed once released. Therefore it is all the more important that we do not forget about the trust component in this section.
Phase 3: The Launch - Celebration
This is the peak moment, the hype train’s final stop. Your goal is to make it feel like a shared cultural event, that actually serves as a starting point, not an end.
Emotional Goal: Joy, Celebration, and Unity. Launch day should feel like a festival. The dominant feeling should be along the lines of “We’ve made it! Let’s start this together!”
The Psychology: By creating a this moment of a collective experience, you start building the initial bonds of your community, that turn into your core community base.
Content Strategy: This is all about shared experience. From the right influencers and streamers, to in game and out of game events. Actively find and highlight the first player moments, screenshots, clips on social channels, and the first memes. Make everyone feel like they are part of this event.
Note: This is also why, when a problematic launch is struggling with performance, server issues, game breaking bugs, etc. it becomes a hinderance to the initial foundational community bonding. If people are too preoccupied finding out how to solve an issue, can’t get access, than all the positive get’s buried under the more pressing and immediate need of solving the issue. As a result your foundational core community is weakened and will require more building over a much longer period of time.
Phase 4: The Post-Launch – Becoming a Habit
This is actually the more important and critical time, which most neglect, or forget about entirely. The goal now is to convert this emotional energy leading up to the launch into a sustainable, long-term relationship.
Emotional Goal: Belonging, Loyalty, and Habit. The player's feeling should evolve from "I'm excited about this game" to "This is my game. This is my community."
The Psychology: Hype consumes a lot of energy quickly, but a sense of belonging is sustainable, longer lasting. Through social norming and a clear vision for the future, you make your community and game a comfortable, rewarding place to return to. You are building a hobby, not just selling a product.
Content Strategy: This is where we find roadmaps, community spotlights, community leader programmes, regular streams and updates, challenges and events, community picks, etc the list is rather long. All of which turns uncertainty into anticipation. This is where your community campfire becomes a permanent, reliable source of warmth.
By designing emotional arcs that guide players from the first spark of curiosity to the a place where they turn into fans, you can create a gaming culture beyond the rollercoaster of hype train after hype train. It has it’s place, but it’s only a tool to achieve longer lasting, sustainable growth. That is how you build a game that doesn't just launch, but lasts.
