Grats Zarhym! Community Manager of the Year

Thank you all for voting for us (and me)! <3

You can read my little attempt at an acceptance speech here: http://talkingcongas.tumblr.com/post/30904207924/cmoty ;)

09/04/2012 06:53 PMPosted by Alÿcia

What's a zarhym? he looks like a companion pet you get in dal

And I expect them all to be named accordingly. :D

Also, you enjoy Telefon Tel Aviv (now, unfortunately only Josh). I'd voted for you twice, having known that.

My Mage is called Bpitch for a reason (actually all my serious chars are named after electronic labels).

I gave him a tour of Blizzard recently! He's a major Diablo III and World of Warcraft player. ;)

http://on.fb.me/Q5nQYC

I accidentally dropped this picture of Zarhym here. I really don't know how that happened.

Don't you dare edit this post either, Zarhym!

http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/02/26/pvp-with-blizzard-today/2

>:o

09/05/2012 07:17 AMPosted by Dustfingur

http://thedailyblink.tumblr.com/post/30925979251/introducing-zarhym-evil-mastermind

I love The Daily Blink. So much.

And he smells amazing.

09/05/2012 01:03 PMPosted by Mælstromedos

Oh it wasn't stickied so I never saw it.... Was burried pages back :/

Either way, this wasn't a poll we hosted or had anything in particular to do with. I didn't even find out about our nominations until several days after Guild Launch posted the poll, at which time I made the thread Lull linked you to. We had no control over the nominations or the voting. We only promoted the categories for which we were nominated, so I'm confused as to why you're asking for more transparency on a poll conducted by a third-party site for an award show hosted at Dragon*Con.

09/05/2012 03:10 PMPosted by Flatspriest

And I expect them all to be named accordingly. :D

So we have your permission to name them after you???

That was more like a demand. :D

On a more positive note: Congrats to Zarhym. We had a ton of fun running the awards this year, and it has been great to see the community respond positively to his selection and win!

Enjoy!
Stephen

<3

09/05/2012 01:40 PMPosted by Alona

Is he the only Community Manager.........

Nope, there are lots of others out there working hard as well. They deserve mad props and the win they got on the CM team of the year in this contest too.

Also, for those curious about how our team functions, Bashiok posted a bit more insight on the different behind-the-scenes responsibilities of Community Managers over on the Diablo III forums: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/6489880484?page=4#70

Our internal structure is a bit opaque. You all probably think of me as a Community Manager, but my title is actually Editor. The past few years I've helped manage a small team of writers (with Nethaera, Lylirra, Kaivax and Daxxarri) which write, edit and publish the majority of articles that are posted on WorldofWarcraft.com, StarCraft2.com and Diablo3.com - among other writing duties. Obviously from my beginnings as a Community Manager (back before our team managed the website content I was Drysc, and now Bashiok) I still like to jump in and talk about the games when I have time. I was the dedicated "Diablo III guy" since we announced the game, so it was natural I kind of maintained that through the launch. There is a separate team (made up of Zarhym, Vaeflare, Crithto, Rygarius, Grimiku, Aldrexus, Traysent, and Brennvin) that’s dedicated to engagement on the North America forums for each of the games, various social media outlets, and other platforms, and they each have differing tasks and jobs on top of that.

With Mists of Pandaria and Heart of the Swarm ramping up, and the Battle.net World Championship nearing, there's just a lot of writing for me and my team to do, and a lot to get ready for. We are though looking for a senior manager role for Diablo III, (which is probably misleadingly titled) "Community Manager", that we're still hiring for. Tell your friends! (… Who have 5+ years of experience managing a community team. I know you all have one.)

In any case, I'll still jump in when I can.

09/04/2012 06:17 PMPosted by Furious

And of course, not forgetting that Blizzard was also voted as having the Top Community Management Team. Grats to all!

I'm late to the party, but felt it worth saying that since this was a vote that involved the community, it is both humbling and gratifying to know we have so much support behind us for what we do.

09/06/2012 01:29 PMPosted by Killercaitie

I'm late to the party

You missed the loot bags & tiny hats, but we saved you a bit of cake for you to stand on.

I missed the tiny hats? :/ So sad... so very sad...