What does it take to connect players with the games and stories they love?

For Steff, it’s a mix of creativity, curiosity, listening, and being willing to wear a lot of different hats.

Working across Product and Community at Series, with much of her time currently focused on Choices, Steff helps shape how we communicate with players, create content, and bring community feedback back to the team.

We sat down with Steff to talk about her path into games, what it’s like working with the Choices community, and why listening might be one of the most important skills in game marketing.

Meet Steff

Tell us a little about yourself! What’s your role at Series, and what do you work on day-to-day?

I work across Product and Community at Series, with most of my time currently focused on Choices. My day-to-day is a little bit of everything, which is exactly how I like it.

I spend a lot of time thinking about how we communicate with our players, managing and creating content for our social channels, working directly with the community, and collaborating with different teams internally. No two days look exactly the same.

Outside of work, you can find me spending time with my pets, baking or cooking elaborate meals, reading a good book, listening to my ever-growing playlist (which is all over the place), playing cozy games, or working on a puzzle.

I’m naturally curious and tend to bounce between interests, which probably explains why I’ve always been happiest doing a little bit of everything at work too.

What drew you to marketing and storytelling?

My career has taken somewhat of an unconventional path, and I’ve always gravitated toward roles where I get to wear a lot of different hats.

What I enjoy about marketing and storytelling is figuring out how to connect people with something they genuinely care about. Especially in games, you’re not just promoting a product. You’re talking to people who have formed real attachments to the stories and characters you’ve helped put in front of them.

How did you end up at Series?

Games and tech have been a big part of my professional world for the last several years, particularly at startups, so Series felt like a natural intersection of a lot of things I enjoy.

I originally joined the company in a different capacity, but my role evolved pretty quickly as I started working more closely with Product. Eventually, that led me to Choices and the community work I’m doing now.

Behind the Scenes of Choices

What do you enjoy most about working on Choices?

The Choices team.

I’m constantly impressed by how creative and dedicated everyone is and, more than anything, by how much they genuinely care about Choices.

Many of the people I work with know the stories and history of the game incredibly well, and that familiarity really shows in the work they do. There’s so much thought and care that goes into Choices behind the scenes, and I’m grateful to work alongside people who are so invested in making it the best it can be.

What does a typical day look like for you?

There really isn’t a typical day!

I might start the day checking in on the community and seeing what people are talking about, then move into planning social content, working with our internal teams on something upcoming, reviewing assets or copy, or figuring out how we want to communicate something to players.

There’s usually at least one unexpected thing that gets added to the list!

What’s a project or accomplishment you’re especially proud of?

I’m really proud of how I’ve been able to find my place within the Choices community.

I’ll admit, introducing myself to such a large and passionate group of players was a little intimidating at first! I knew how much history there was within the community and how much Choices means to so many people, so it was important to me to come in with a willingness to listen and learn rather than assume I had all the answers.

Since then, I’ve been able to build genuine connections with players and become a line of communication between the community and our team. I get to hear directly from players about what matters to them and where they have concerns, and then bring those conversations back to the team.

Building that trust and helping players feel like they have someone listening to them is something I’m really proud of.

What’s one thing people might not realize goes into marketing a game like Choices?

How many moving pieces there are behind something that might look very simple from the outside.

A single post can involve coordinating information, creative assets, timing, approvals, player expectations, and what’s happening elsewhere in the game or community.

There’s a lot of thought that goes into how and when we communicate something, especially with a game that has such an established and passionate audience.

Community, Creativity & Career Lessons

Where do you find inspiration for your work?

Everywhere!

I am what you would describe as “chronically online,” so I’m constantly seeing what different communities are talking about, what’s making people laugh, and what people are excited about.

I also really love games, music, movies, and TV, so I’m always absorbing ideas from different sources.

What’s one lesson you’ve learned in your career that has stuck with you?

Being adaptable is incredibly important.

My career hasn’t followed a perfectly straight line, and I’ve worked across a lot of different areas because I’ve been willing to learn things I didn’t already know how to do.

You don’t have to have every answer. You have to be willing to figure things out.

What advice would you give someone interested in game marketing or community building?

Learn how to listen.

It’s easy to think community work is mostly about what you’re putting out into the world, but a huge part of it is paying attention to what people are telling you, both directly and indirectly.

You also have to remember that there are real people on the other side. Players care deeply about the games they spend their time with, and respecting that goes a long way.

Steff’s Choices Favorites

Do you have a favorite Choices story or character?

Scream For Me!

I’m a huge horror fan, so the mix of horror and steamy is right up my alley. It’s such a fun story, and playing it already has me wishing spooky season would get here.

If you could recommend one story to a new player, which would it be and why?

The Elementalists, because it has pretty much everything you could want from a Choices story: a world you’d genuinely want to live in, a great friend group, fun LIs, mystery, magic, and enough choices that you feel like you’re really creating your own version of the MC.

It’s one of those stories that gets you attached to the whole experience and not just one character.

Lightning Round ⚡

Coffee or tea? Coffee
Early bird or night owl? Night owl
Favorite game? Spiritfarer
Favorite book? The Night Circus
Favorite movie or TV show? Mad Max: Fury Road
Current obsession? Book nooks
Dream vacation? Japan
One word your teammates would use to describe you? Innovative

One Last Question

What’s one thing you hope players take away from the work you do?

That there are real people behind Choices who care about the community and are listening.

I know how much these stories and characters can mean to people, and I hope the work I do helps players feel a little more connected, not only to Choices but to the team behind it and to each other.

Steff’s fur babies!

(a small grey kitten stands in a kitchen beside a grey and white doodle, a brown chow chow lays to the right, and the cutest Keshond stands towards the back)