Gaming these days is often much more than just sitting alone in front of a screen.
Sure, playing solo can be great fun, but there’s something special about connecting with other people through games. Some games are particularly good at this, helping players team up, make friends, and build lasting groups.
These are what we call fun community-building games – they create spaces where people feel like they belong and share awesome experiences together. We’re going to look at some cool examples and figure out what makes these games so good at bringing people together and keeping them playing for a long time.
Why do fun community-building games matter?
In short, these games are designed in ways that actually encourage players to talk to each other, help each other out, share what they’ve done, and build real connections. Think of it like finding a really good club or team for a hobby you love, but inside a video game.
For players, this is awesome: you get to make friends who like the same things you do, and you feel like you’re part of a group, sharing exciting wins and maybe even some tough losses. It’s great to have people you can count on in the game to help you out or just have fun with. This feeling of belonging is super important and makes gaming feel much more meaningful.
For the games themselves, having a strong community is also a huge win. When players make friends and feel connected, they tend to play the game for much longer. Happy communities also create a lot of positive buzz around the game, which can attract new players – a win/win for all involved.
Examples of fun community-building games
Let’s dive into some games that are fantastic at building strong communities.
Minecraft
How can we not talk about it? What makes Minecraft amazing for communities is its incredible freedom, which has led to all sorts of groups within the community.
Some love the challenge of surviving together in a dangerous world. Others focus on building massive cities or detailed art projects. There are players who get super technical, making amazing machines with redstone.
Many people play with “mods” – special additions that change the game in exciting ways – or join servers where they can roleplay different characters and stories.
Minecraft really is a giant sandbox, a platform where players can be creative together and work towards common goals, whether that’s building an epic city or just helping each other gather resources to survive the night.
Warframe
Warframe is a fast-paced action game where you play as a super-powered space ninja. Unless you wish to play solo, most of the game is about teaming up with other players to complete missions.
What’s cool about Warframe is that its community is known for being surprisingly friendly and helpful, especially compared to some other online games. The game has built-in ways for players to connect, like joining “clans” (which are like teams or clubs) or trading items with each other.
It’s very common to see experienced players helping out newcomers, explaining how things work, helping them clear tough missions, and even giving things away for free. This helpful vibe really makes people want to stick around and become part of the community.
League of Legends and other competitive games
These games require intense teamwork, and you’re usually on a team of five people trying to beat another team of five. To win, you have to communicate well, make plans together, capitalize on enemies’ mistakes, and support each other.
Now, this can sometimes lead to frustration if things go wrong (we’ve all been there, don’t worry), but it also creates really strong bonds when your team works well together and pulls off a great victory.
Beyond just playing, there’s a huge community around these games – people share strategies, watch videos to learn how to get better, and follow professional esports players and teams.
There’s a lot to talk about and bond over.
MMO games
Huge online worlds like World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV, and Elder Scrolls Online are literally built around the community. They have features like “guilds” – which are big and organized clubs where players can make friends, plan activities, and help each other out.
Much of the exciting content in these games, like dungeons or raids (which require large groups of players to work together) can only be done with a team.
As these game worlds are always changing and getting new updates, players can form friendships that last for months or even years as they explore, quest, and conquer challenges together.
Social spaces with player creation tools
Examples here are Roblox, Fortnite Creative (a mode within Fortnite), or VR Chat. These platforms give players amazing tools to create their own games, worlds, experiences, or avatars. Communities naturally form around popular player-made creations.
Also, people might team up to build something cool together, visit worlds made by others, or simply use these games as a place to hang out, chat, and socialize with friends from all over the world.
In many of these titles, the community is the main source of new things to do and new people to meet. It’s less about what the original game developers made and more about what the players themselves create and share.
How do these games keep players engaged and connected?
So, what’s the secret sauce? Why are these types of games good at building communities and keeping players playing together for such a long time?
It’s usually a mix of different things that work together. Every game is different, of course, but many fun community-building games share some common traits.
A huge one is shared goals and needing each other. Many of these games have challenges or large-scale tasks that are much easier or only possible if you work with other people. For example: defeating a giant boss in an MMO or building a massive castle in Minecraft. When players really need each other to succeed, it naturally brings them together.
Good tools for interaction are also key. Games need to make it easy for players to talk to each other, make friend lists, form groups quickly, create/join guilds/clans, and trade items. If it’s easy to connect, people are more likely to do it.
Having content that encourages return is super important too. Games that regularly add new stuff give both individual players and whole groups reasons to keep coming back and playing together. By the way, this is often called a “live service” model.
Support for player creativity too helps community-building games. When players are allowed to create their own things – like custom maps and game modes (like in Overwatch) – they provide endless new experiences.
Having dedicated social spaces helps a lot. These are areas in the game, or even the whole game itself, that are just for players to gather, chat, show off their characters, and hang out without any pressure to complete a specific goal. This allows for more casual friendships to form.
Games that reward cooperation also do well, and all of this often leads to a strong sense of belonging. Being part of a successful guild or a fun server gives players a feeling of identity. They feel like they’re part of something special, and that social connection is a very powerful reason to keep playing.
These were just some of the most fun community-building games out there
To recap, fun community-building games are special in a sense: they create spaces for players to connect and form lasting communities. This comes from smart design that makes it easy and fun for people to interact, work together, and build friendships, all of which help keep players engaged for longer.
Dreaming of a game where players really connect and build something special together? Or perhaps you just need expert help on any part of your game project? We at Main Leaf can make that happen.
We specialize in creating memorable experiences, and we can directly help you design and develop games specifically built with strong community features in mind. Plus, we provide skilled outsourcing for any development need you have. Let us put our hands to work and build your awesome game together.
