Say a player pulled off an incredible combo in your game, instantly sharing it across Discord. The Discord chat erupts. Screenshots flood the channels. What a “wow” moment, right?
Then it hits – the reward screen freezes, or an in-app purchase doesn’t come through. Watch how quickly the moment fades into “What just happened?” as they flood your support team with 1000s of inquiries. Both moments shape the player experience, but often, one factor goes unnoticed – customer support.
The player experience is not only the intended experience the game designer wants the player to have for most of the game but also the after-care services and support that the company provides to achieve it.
Achieving a better player experience once your product is all designed and ready to roll involves both before and after phases of your product – Let’s see it.
Why Player Experience Makes or Breaks Your Game?
Gaming is a $455 billion industry that puts the players at the center. Every pixel, sound effect, gameplay mechanic, localization decision, test cycle, and marketing campaign serves one purpose — to satisfy players.
Your players demand instant gratification. When they face an issue, most expect a solution within minutes. Miss this window, and they move to competitors (taking their spending power with them).
The math is simple: Better player experience = Higher retention = More revenue.
Let’s break down why player experience matters:
Revenue impact: When a payment flow works smoothly, players complete purchases. When support resolves issues quickly, players return to spending. When game mechanics feel fair, players invest more. But if there’s a friction point in the player experience, it directly affects your conversion rates.
Player retention: Sure, great gameplay hooks players in, but it’s the gaming experience that makes them stay. A player who gets quick help after a failed purchase will likely stick around. One who has to jump through hoops? They’re probably already downloading your competitor’s game.
Brand protection: Your players talk about your game. They post reviews, share screenshots, and discuss issues on Discord and Reddit. These conversations shape your market position. Your player support quality determines if these discussions help or hurt your brand reputation.
Tactics to Provide a Better Player Experience
After you’ve perfected your game mechanics, your next challenge is maintaining that quality across every player touchpoint. Your player experience strategy needs three key pillars to succeed.
Conduct crowd-testing to solve issues early
You’ve run the QA tests. Your dev team’s given the thumbs up. Perfect time to get the game live? No.
The Stars Group needed to expand its geographic reach, acquire new customers, and improve efficiency. The traditional testing approach wasn’t enough — they needed real-player insights across different markets.
Despite their focus on customer-first gaming, they faced a challenge: expanding into new markets while keeping support costs efficient. Lab testing alone wasn’t cutting it — they needed to understand how real players would interact with their games before launch.
So they changed their approach. Instead of relying solely on internal testing, they put their games before actual players across their target markets. The result? Their support team finally got ahead of issues instead of constantly playing catch-up. They cut costs, found new opportunities, and, most importantly, created better player experiences.
To achieve these key results, focus your crowd testing on the following:
- Where players typically need support
- How different markets interact with your game
- What support issues can you prevent before the launch
- Which features need more clarity or guidance
- Where you can personalize the experience
Once you identify the pitfalls, work around them.
Collaborate with the gamer community to improve the gaming experience
After crowd-testing highlights potential issues, your core gaming community steps in to stress-test everything.
Take Blizzard’s experience with The War Within. Their community forums became an early warning system. Just two months into Blizzard’s The War Within, their community documented critical patterns:
You will find many more issues raised and solutions provided in the same thread.
Now, consider a player who spends six hours daily on your game, knows every mechanic, and runs a custom gaming setup. They’ll spot issues your QA team might miss: control schemes that falter during tournaments, interfaces that cause motion sickness after marathon sessions, or payment flows that break during regional peak hours.
These are invested players who shape market perception and influence buying decisions. When they provide feedback, they’re protecting their own gaming experience — and by extension, yours.
Top studios leverage this. They create spaces where players do more than report bugs. They share workarounds, guide newcomers, and flag cultural nuances that impact regional player satisfaction. This natural support system cuts ticket volume and strengthens community bonds.
The result? Your support team stays ahead of issues instead of drowning in tickets. Marketing spots trends early. Development gets unfiltered feedback. And most importantly, players feel heard.
Maximize this community insight by:
- Setting up dedicated bug-hunting events with rewards
- Creating direct channels between top players and your support team
- Building a knowledge base from community-discovered solutions
- Tracking recurring issues mentioned in community discussions
Helpshift takes this further by integrating QR codes into console games: players scan codes placed strategically in-game, on packaging, or during error screens to instantly join discussion boards, share strategies, and connect with experienced players.
It eliminates the barrier between experiencing an issue and finding community-sourced solutions. Players can immediately tap into collective knowledge, whether they’re stuck on a level or encountering a technical problem — all while keeping your support team’s workload manageable.
Deliver seamless player customer support across channels
When a player’s perfect gaming streak gets interrupted by a glitch, your support team becomes the bridge between “wow” and “what just happened?” But throwing more support agents at the problem isn’t the answer.
Modern gaming support needs modern gaming solutions. Your players switch between Discord, Twitter, and in-game chat — your support needs to follow them seamlessly. When a player starts a conversation on social media, your team should see their entire history when they continue through your help center.
Players also expect support in their language right when they need it. Wait times that work in the US might cost you an entire player base in Asia. The solution? Omnichannel support that connects every player touchpoint, backed by multilingual capabilities that scale.
Here’s how Helpshift keeps your players in the game:
- Automated FAQ resolution: The Quick Search Bot analyzes player messages and delivers three relevant help articles in their preferred language. This automated system resolves 95% of common support queries without agent intervention.
- AI-enhanced agent workspace: The built-in Language AI automatically translates support content across multiple languages. Agents can read and respond to tickets in their preferred language, while players receive support in theirs.
- Multi-channel communication: The platform syncs multichannel conversations across Facebook, Discord, WhatsApp, and other messaging apps, letting agents access complete conversation history and continue support seamlessly across all channels.
- Data-driven analysis: Power BI integration generates custom reports tracking response times, FAQ engagement, and chatbot performance. Support teams can analyze trends to optimize player assistance and reduce resolution times.
Retain players with integrated in-game support
Think about it: every time players alt-tab to find help, you’re risking their engagement. In-game support keeps them where they belong — in your game.
Helpshift’s in-game support helps players get answers through AI-powered search or start agent conversations without leaving their session. Take Subway Surfers — with over 150 million monthly players, their email-based support system was pushing players out of the game to get help. It wasn’t working.
SYBO, the game’s developer, switched to in-game support.
- Response times dropped by 86%,
- Player satisfaction jumped from 3.8 to 4.3
- The support team handled more tickets without adding headcount
The key was keeping players in the game while getting help.
Their smart move? Using AI-powered search and automated responses for common issues. This handled 77% of player questions automatically, letting support experts focus on complex problems. When players did need human help, they got it faster — response times dropped to just 1 hour 40 minutes.
When support becomes part of the game instead of an interruption, it becomes as natural as any other game mechanic, keeping players engaged even when they need assistance.
Craft Superior Player Experiences with Helpshift
The best player experience beyond gaming design looks like this: A player spots an issue, asks for help right there in the game, and gets an answer within seconds. No endless web searches. No alt-tabbing. No lost gaming sessions.
Here’s what sets Helpshift’s support apart:
- Intelligent messaging: Built right into your game interface, letting players get help without leaving their session.
- Self-service: FAQs and automated responses handle common issues immediately, keeping players in the game.
- Smart escalation: Complex issues? The system knows when to bring in gaming experts.
- Cross-platform capabilities: Your support works everywhere your game does, whether on PC, console, VR, or mobile.
- Global reach: Not just another help desk, but a support system that speaks your players’ language (actually, 150+ of them).
- Discord integration: The only platform offering real-time player support through Discord.
Give your players the best gaming experience. Start with our 30-day trial and try the platform first-hand.
FAQs
1. What is a player experience?
Player experience is everything players feel and think during a game. The way controls, stories, and systems work together creates different reactions. When mechanics align with player needs, it creates fun gameplay moments and builds long-term retention across gaming sessions.
2. What is a player experience goal?
It’s a target that describes how you want players to react during gameplay. For example, in a strategy game, players should feel the weight of quick decisions and the tension of risk versus reward. These goals help teams create features that deliver the right emotions and challenges.
3. Can AI + human collaboration improve the player experience?
Yes, AI + human collaboration enhances the gaming experience. Helpshift’s in-game support improves player experience by connecting every player touchpoint, from inquiry to resolution. The system provides omnichannel and cross-platform support, letting players get help wherever they play. Our advanced AI capabilities, like real-time translation and sentiment analysis, help agents swiftly process and respond to global customer needs.
