Hey adventurers!

Thanks for checking out this week's MythForce interview with Julius Borisov!

After working for ten years as a lawyer, Julius Borisov turned his hobby into a gaming career in 2016. Advancing from a Beamdog forum user to a volunteer moderator and then to a Community Manager allowed him to feel the community’s pulse. Julius lives gaming 24/7, keeping up with industry news, learning new social media and community management practices, studying players' behavior and habits, and playing games.

What games first attracted you to working in the games industry?

My family got their first PC in 1998 when I was just 11 years old. Watching my parents enjoy this new form of entertainment and playing games myself left an indelible impression. Those first games became part of me forever. They included Age of Empires, Diablo, Dungeon Keeper, and Baldur’s Gate.

I never stopped playing, even when studying at university and working as a lawyer. My colleagues and I often stayed after work to play games such as Heroes of Might & Magic III.

When Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition was announced in 2012, I felt the hype. I had already played Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II, but returning to one of my very first games with new quests and other features sounded extremely appealing. I joined the Beamdog forum and started to participate in discussions. It was such a great community, and the camaraderie was so strong, that interacting with other users became my everyday habit. That forum became my first real social network.

When the opportunity arose, I applied for the Community Manager position. I wanted to put my communication skills from the legal field to good use at Beamdog, especially since I knew the community inside out.

How has your background as a lawyer influenced your work as a community manager?

I had to learn the new job from the basics, but there are more similarities between managing the community and being a lawyer than it might seem. Balancing feature requests from players and resources available to the developers is similar to the mediator role in a legal case. Offering feedback and solutions to the biggest community issues can be compared to a consultant's role. As in the legal field, everything starts with a set of rules that help shape the core of the community, its culture, and goodwill.

Can you talk about how you started in community management with Beamdog?

There were a few big challenges for Beamdog when I started in 2016. Together with the PR department and the senior management team, we developed a voice for our brand and maintained alignment on an overall strategy. My first task was to arrange and run a private beta for Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition (2017). It was a rewarding experience to use connections I had been building with other community members to gather a group of passionate testers.

How does living in Europe affect how you are able to manage a worldwide community?

There are pros and cons. One of the pros is that, once the Edmonton office opens, all departments are immediately presented with appropriate reports on what happened in the last 24 hours. I can see and highlight problems that started while the North Americans were asleep, which helps to find quick solutions.

One of the cons is that I can’t support livestreams and announcements if they happen in the afternoon or the evening in Canada. Thankfully, we have a great Marketing and PR team, and others are ready to substitute for me. Together, we can cover all 24 hours, which allows us not to miss anything happening around our games.

What’s something you wish everyone knew about community management?

Community Management lets you find friends not only among your peers but also among people in the community. Interacting on a daily basis with community members is priceless. It’s beautiful to see how people connect with each other and become friends, and you can be right there with them. I met a few people who became my dearest friends by interacting with them on the forum, playing multiplayer games together, and chatting daily on Discord.

I play competitive ranked games and participate in tournaments with our Axis & Allies 1942 Online players regularly. I managed to forge good relationships with many players. We discuss strategy, approaches, tactics, and sometimes even non-gaming subjects every day.

What's the most satisfying/challenging/unusual task you’ve had while working on MythForce?

Creating a Roguelite Audience report. I had to do research about the demographics, geographics, gaming habits, and personalities of future MythForce players. Trying to identify these stats before the game was announced turned out to be useful, and it’s been a fun process that made me learn and grow as a specialist.

Which is your favorite MythForce character to play, and why?

Maggie. I like playing caster types where you can mix swords and sorcery. Maggie has a nice personality, she’s a scholar who has a sense of humor, and she has a cute owl familiar.

What is the most exciting, ridiculous, triumphant, or humiliating moment you’ve had while playing MythForce?

I need to mention the moment we almost beat MythForce during a Beamdog livestream. It was Trent, Luke, Olex, and me. It was so fun to play, joke, and discuss together. Of course, we got slammed by Beastor in the end. https://youtu.be/7CXBWl6DV-I

What makes MythForce unique compared to other games you’ve worked on or played?

Even though I don’t have any nostalgia for the 80s, I still find the art style unique and appealing. MythForce paved the way for me to watch 80s cartoons and listen to 80s music. For many people, it’s the other way around. It’s fun when a game can bring different forms of entertainment together.