4 ms·

Show HN: Beam.gg – Gamifying the online community experience

9 points by jazzprado 5y ago

jazzprado 5y ago
As a community management software, Beam.gg provides everything a brand needs to power its online community—from management and moderation tools, to subforums, data analytics, and gamification features. Our platform is entirely cloud-based and hosted, which means brands don't need to worry about upgrading or maintaining software or web servers. We also prioritize a mobile-first design to give users the flexibility to access and manage their community anytime, anywhere.
ddiniz 5y ago
When we first started working on Beam.gg, it was clear that online communities are essential to brands in the modern day. As we studied on how to improve the formula of discussion forums, Gamification felt like a natural evolution of it, and the team is very confident that it is the "X factor" of engagement, and our product's strongest point. I have learned a lot since working on it, and as the designer behind it it's exciting to see how people will interact with our app! Please let me know if you have any feedback, I would love to hear about your experience with Beam.gg!
- jazzprado 5y ago
  Always a pleasure working with you!
jazzprado 5y ago
With all the uncertainty and challenges brought by the pandemic, I truly believe that community is more important now than ever. We rely on those around us for solidarity, support, information, and empathy. And now thanks to technology, we can maintain and grow the bonds of community among us even while we’re physically apart.
kunaldhawan 5y ago
Architecting and developing a product like Beam has been challenging and fun at the same time. The team is passionate about our goals and is working hard to make all the visions a reality. As a developer, my experience in building a multi-tenant SaaS community platform like Beam has been incredible. we'd love to hear from everyone about the product and are always open to new ideas to improve.
jazzprado 5y ago
I'd like to know: what are your biggest challenges when it comes to community management? As a community manager myself, I personally know that engagement really is a big problem that brands and businesses face when building a new community or growing an existing one. People are often faced with the challenge of making the online experience more compelling or more engaging. No doubt, you've read hundreds of business articles claiming that content is king. And while that may be true, content can also easily be overlooked if you don't have the right engagement strategy.
- jazzprado 5y ago
  This is why we at Beam.gg thought of introducing game theory into the picture. In online communities, gamification is used to engage and excite members with playful user experiences that complement rewards systems. You can learn more about how gamification enhances your community’s experience by reading my article here: https://community.beam.gg/post/How-Gamification-Enhances-Your-Communitys-Experience-1g1rr9ko1k2xgc https://community.beam.gg/post/How-Gamification-Enhances-You...
  - jazzprado 5y ago
    Some of our best features include: gamification, moderation tools, subforums, full platform customization, community analytics, and community monetization What other features do you think Beam.gg should have? Excited to hear your suggestions!
DiabloD3 5y ago
Beam is already a well known brand as the Microsoft acquisition that got renamed to Mixer, and then sold to Facebook, and was the gaming community's favorite Twitch alternative. Any reason for the name collision?
- ddiniz 5y ago
  Our brand is Beam.gg, we are not affiliated with Microsoft's old streaming platform and didn't have it in mind when we created the name. We just thought of something that sounded cool and was easy to understand!
bovermyer 5y ago
So this is a... forum? Something like Forem? I'm not sure what I'm looking at here.
- jazzprado 5y ago
  Hey there! It's a community management software where you can build your own white-label community site with built-in gamification features like ranks, quests, badges, and leaderboards.
- jazzprado 5y ago
  You can try our product for free here: https://app.beam.gg/sign-up https://app.beam.gg/sign-up
  - XCSme 5y ago
    Before anyone tries to sign-up, the sign-up process is pretty long and it requires payment information up front.
XCSme 5y ago
I am not exactly sure what this is, is it similar to Discourse?
- jazzprado 5y ago
  Yes. It's a community management software where you can build your own white-label community site. But what makes Beam.gg unique from other community platforms is how it gamifies the online community experience to engage and excite members with playful user interactions. We introduce gaming elements like ranks, quests, badges, and leaderboards to incentivize members, increase engagement, and grow a more active community as a whole.
  - XCSme 5y ago
    Interesting. As far as I know discourse also has badges, ranks and leaderboards, but maybe they are not emphasized as much.
    - jazzprado 5y ago
      Yeah. As community owners ourselves, we know that engagement really is the number one problem when building a community or growing an existing one. This is why we really focused and put all our efforts on gamification. At its core, gaming is about competition — whether that’s against yourself or other people. It’s basically all about leveling up, trying to get a better score, finding the best loot, collecting the most badges, surviving the longest, and others more. Gamers take pride in being the best, and they also find a sense of belonging in games.
      - XCSme 5y ago
        The only think to consider is that relevant discussions are still more important than gamification. You want people to post because they have something to say, not to spam nonsense just to get virtual points.This is why upvotes/like work well, they are a gamification feature that forces people to post content valued by others. So make sure that the gamification features improve content, not make it worse.

9 points by jazzprado 5y ago

As a community management software, Beam.gg provides everything a brand needs to power its online community—from management and moderation tools, to subforums, data analytics, and gamification features. Our platform is entirely cloud-based and hosted, which means brands don't need to worry about upgrading or maintaining software or web servers. We also prioritize a mobile-first design to give users the flexibility to access and manage their community anytime, anywhere.

ddiniz 5y ago

When we first started working on Beam.gg, it was clear that online communities are essential to brands in the modern day. As we studied on how to improve the formula of discussion forums, Gamification felt like a natural evolution of it, and the team is very confident that it is the "X factor" of engagement, and our product's strongest point. I have learned a lot since working on it, and as the designer behind it it's exciting to see how people will interact with our app! Please let me know if you have any feedback, I would love to hear about your experience with Beam.gg!

jazzprado 5y ago
Always a pleasure working with you!

jazzprado 5y ago

With all the uncertainty and challenges brought by the pandemic, I truly believe that community is more important now than ever. We rely on those around us for solidarity, support, information, and empathy. And now thanks to technology, we can maintain and grow the bonds of community among us even while we’re physically apart.

kunaldhawan 5y ago

Architecting and developing a product like Beam has been challenging and fun at the same time. The team is passionate about our goals and is working hard to make all the visions a reality. As a developer, my experience in building a multi-tenant SaaS community platform like Beam has been incredible. we'd love to hear from everyone about the product and are always open to new ideas to improve.

jazzprado 5y ago

I'd like to know: what are your biggest challenges when it comes to community management? As a community manager myself, I personally know that engagement really is a big problem that brands and businesses face when building a new community or growing an existing one. People are often faced with the challenge of making the online experience more compelling or more engaging. No doubt, you've read hundreds of business articles claiming that content is king. And while that may be true, content can also easily be overlooked if you don't have the right engagement strategy.

jazzprado 5y ago
This is why we at Beam.gg thought of introducing game theory into the picture. In online communities, gamification is used to engage and excite members with playful user experiences that complement rewards systems. You can learn more about how gamification enhances your community’s experience by reading my article here: https://community.beam.gg/post/How-Gamification-Enhances-Your-Communitys-Experience-1g1rr9ko1k2xgc https://community.beam.gg/post/How-Gamification-Enhances-You...
- jazzprado 5y ago
  Some of our best features include: gamification, moderation tools, subforums, full platform customization, community analytics, and community monetization What other features do you think Beam.gg should have? Excited to hear your suggestions!

DiabloD3 5y ago

Beam is already a well known brand as the Microsoft acquisition that got renamed to Mixer, and then sold to Facebook, and was the gaming community's favorite Twitch alternative. Any reason for the name collision?

ddiniz 5y ago
Our brand is Beam.gg, we are not affiliated with Microsoft's old streaming platform and didn't have it in mind when we created the name. We just thought of something that sounded cool and was easy to understand!

bovermyer 5y ago

So this is a... forum? Something like Forem? I'm not sure what I'm looking at here.

jazzprado 5y ago
Hey there! It's a community management software where you can build your own white-label community site with built-in gamification features like ranks, quests, badges, and leaderboards.
jazzprado 5y ago
You can try our product for free here: https://app.beam.gg/sign-up https://app.beam.gg/sign-up
- XCSme 5y ago
  Before anyone tries to sign-up, the sign-up process is pretty long and it requires payment information up front.

XCSme 5y ago

I am not exactly sure what this is, is it similar to Discourse?

jazzprado 5y ago
Yes. It's a community management software where you can build your own white-label community site. But what makes Beam.gg unique from other community platforms is how it gamifies the online community experience to engage and excite members with playful user interactions. We introduce gaming elements like ranks, quests, badges, and leaderboards to incentivize members, increase engagement, and grow a more active community as a whole.
- XCSme 5y ago
  Interesting. As far as I know discourse also has badges, ranks and leaderboards, but maybe they are not emphasized as much.
  - jazzprado 5y ago
    Yeah. As community owners ourselves, we know that engagement really is the number one problem when building a community or growing an existing one. This is why we really focused and put all our efforts on gamification. At its core, gaming is about competition — whether that’s against yourself or other people. It’s basically all about leveling up, trying to get a better score, finding the best loot, collecting the most badges, surviving the longest, and others more. Gamers take pride in being the best, and they also find a sense of belonging in games.
    - XCSme 5y ago
      The only think to consider is that relevant discussions are still more important than gamification. You want people to post because they have something to say, not to spam nonsense just to get virtual points.This is why upvotes/like work well, they are a gamification feature that forces people to post content valued by others. So make sure that the gamification features improve content, not make it worse.