How To Keep Your Players Engaged With Communal Mechanics

Communal mechanics such as guilds have long driven engagement and loyalty in midcore mobile games, and by 2019 they were spreading into top-grossing casual titles. The central argument is that guilds are only a platform for building other communal features, and that most of those features can be implemented with or without guilds, regardless of genre. The analysis draws on GameRefinery's Market Explorer data, which tracks over 200 in-game features, and compares feature popularity inside and outside the US iOS top 200 grossing chart.

Key findings show that communal mechanics strongly differentiate top 200 grossing games from the rest of the market. More than half of top-grossing midcore games use co-op tasks, co-op development efforts, asynchronous co-op PvE, and guild wars or competitions, largely because their guild systems bundle these features. Co-op PvE is almost exclusive to midcore. Over a third of casual games use co-op tasks, and guild wars or competitions appear in a surprising number of casual titles. Guild wars or competitions are the most common communal feature in Sports & Racing, while Casino lags other categories.

The post categorizes communal features and illustrates each with game examples. Co-op tasks include Call of Duty: Mobile's clan milestone bar, Candy Crush Friends Saga's random-player events, and Sims Mobile's Parties. Co-op development efforts, nearly always guild-based, appear in Big Fish Casino's club levels and Pixel Gun 3D's Clan Fort, with marriage or mentorship systems as non-guild alternatives. Co-op PvE splits into synchronous modes (Black Desert Mobile, Langrisser) and asynchronous ones (Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes guild raids, Ulala: Idle Adventure). Competitive co-op covers guild wars such as Clash of Clans' War Leagues, non-PvP guild competitions such as Gardenscapes' team events, and random-team formats seen in Marvel Super War and Panda Pop.

The author concludes that genre should not limit adoption of communal features, but that they must be balanced and designed around the target audience, existing user base, and other game features. Done well, they can meaningfully improve KPIs.