Why I Gave Away $232,772.2 in Free Advertising on r/MMORPG

The Story Behind r/MMORPG

r/MMORPG is a subreddit with its share of challenges, rough edges, and the occasional bad apple in both the community and the moderation team. However, what truly defines it is its dedicated community. These are people who love a very specific niche of gaming, coming to Reddit to discuss, discover, and share their passion, even to hate on games they dislike, which is a different kind of love, I suppose. This combination, though, makes the subreddit a bit of a minefield for developers. Even a whiff of positivity is sometimes dismissed as astroturfing, and many devs struggle to figure out how to engage without crossing invisible lines.

Yet, it's hard to ignore the platform when r/MMORPG has over 50 million views annually and an average of 635k unique visitors per month, and it's still growing. For indie developers, this audience is too important to pass up as it is their core audience.

I joined the moderator team more than eight years ago, and six years ago, I became the subreddit’s owner. Well, "administrator" is a better term, after all, this is Reddit, not my private domain, and any value we create here ultimately belongs to the platform of which we see no return. Meanwhile Reddit is making deals selling user content to AI companies. But I’ve tried to make a positive impact where I can to improve the community for the people who enjoy it.

The Developer Spotlight program is one such initiative I introduced to bridge the gap between game developers and the r/MMORPG community. It allows developers to showcase their projects, gather valuable feedback, and engage with our passionate audience.

How the Spotlight Came to Be

Not many know this, but I used to work at an indie dev studio. Thankfully, I was an employee rather than one of the founders, but I still saw firsthand the struggles of promoting a game on a shoestring budget. It became clear that devs needed more opportunities to connect with audiences without paying an arm and a leg, and ideally, these opportunities would benefit everyone involved. To put things into perspective: GamesRadar charges about $5,000 for ads, estimating roughly 3,000 wishlists from the campaign. Meanwhile, OTK Media, the company representing streamers like Asmongold and Sodapoppin, charges $75,000 to showcase your game during their winter expo, and a 60-second ad during that same event costs $10,000. People deserve to be paid for their services, but for small developers, $75,000 could represent a year’s worth of income, something most simply can't justify spending.

That’s what the r/MMORPG Developer Spotlight was designed to do: offer a week of prime exposure where devs could introduce their projects to our community, share insights, and foster conversations, all without spending a cent. In return, we’d get great content for the subreddit, and our community would learn about upcoming games. It’s hard to beat free advertising, especially when it comes with a click-through rate of around 30%. Many of these spotlights have sparked articles, conversations, and lasting interest. By my own calculations we provide approximately $4,952.60 worth of free advertisement per spotlight. If you want to check my math, or check out what I estimate the value would be depending on a different CPM you can do so here.

We’ve had some standout examples over the years. Corepunk’s spotlight drew significant attention, as did Profane. One smaller project even managed to attract a bigger development team thanks to the exposure. It's moments like these that remind me why offering the platform for free has been a privilege, even if the community isn't always 100% supportive.

Challenges and Limitations

Of course, the spotlight isn’t without its flaws. The biggest limitation? Me. Organizing these spotlights takes time and energy, and I haven’t been able to delegate the workload effectively, as not many people are interested in working for free. Burnout is real, and sometimes I just can't find the time.

There’s also the challenge of making judgment calls, deciding which projects to feature and which to decline. Is a solo dev’s game a passion project or a thinly-veiled scam? I’ve denied games because I didn’t trust the developer, and I’ve tried to systematize the decision-making process, even going so far as to create a points system at one time. But in the end, it’s all subjective.

Then there’s Reddit itself. We don’t own the platform; we’re subject to its rules and limitations. I can’t set up a newsletter, add new functionality, tweak the CSS, or even send notifications, all things that could help us improve the spotlight program. Our reach and growth are ultimately limited by Reddit’s decisions.

To make things more complicated, Reddit’s mobile interface is taking over, which makes it even harder to highlight the content we want to feature. It’s something we’re still trying to work around.

The Future of the Spotlight, r/MMORPG, and My Place in It

I want to kick off another big round of developer spotlights, ideally with new developers, and collaborate more closely to create engaging content. As for the subreddit itself, it's doing well: we’ve grown significantly over the past year, with views increasing to 50.5 million and a steady rise in unique visitors and subscribers.

But as we move forward, I’ve been questioning my own place here. By 2026, I’ll have been involved with r/MMORPG for ten years, and I’m starting to think it might be time for me to step aside. There are others who could do an amazing job. And I’ll admit, I’m scared of letting go, scared of losing the industry contacts, scared of being just another player again. It’s something I’ve been mulling over for the past two years, and by the ten-year mark, I’ll have made my decision.

Closing Thoughts

What a roundabout way to announce I might be stepping down, all while just wanting to highlight the spotlight program and give a bit of context! But I’m genuinely proud of what we’ve built here. I’ve met incredible people along the way, and I hope I’ve made a difference, even if the community doesn’t always appreciate my efforts. I’m not looking for validation anymore; I just want to keep making things better, for however long I'm still here.