Gamers are a vocal bunch, and Lionhead Studios‘ fans are no different.

Lionhead’s senior community manager Sam Van Tilburgh, who’s been with the company since “Fable,” is the guy responsible for watching over the fanbase as “Fable II” nears.

And while others working on “Fable II” start to plan vacations, his responsibilities are ramping up because much of the community effect comes after launch.

“My crunch only gets worse,” he told me at this year’s PAX. “When the game comes out, people start playing it and then everyone’s got an opinion! [Lionhead] said to me when I started, if you survive your first game as a community manager, you’re in it for life. Ninety-five percent of community managers don’t even survive the first game.”

Well, he’s still there. But that doesn’t mean he has an easy gig.

Just like “Fable” creator Peter Molyneux, “Fable” fans are passionate, often taking to the official Lionhead message boards to voice their opinions. Those opinions aren’t necessarily positive, which Tilburgh’s always found difficult.

“You take everything personal,” he said. “I spend, in a week, 40 to 50 hours in the office with my friends, my colleagues. They spend 10, 12, 15 hours a day in the office. We shower there, we eat together, we sleep on the sofa…and then to hear people say ‘This is s***! I don’t like this and I don’t like this!’ It’s hard not to take it personal. It affects you.”

“To hear people say ‘This is s***! I don’t like this and I don’t like this!’ It’s hard not to take it personal. It affects you.”

But these days, games can live or die on the communities behind them, which is why Tilburgh has found his job both rewarding and challenging. Luckily, he has backup.

“Peter Molyneux has always had a pro-active approach towards the community,” explained Tilburgh. “When I was a kid, I was on the forums as a member talking to Peter directly in the chat. I know that whenever someone gives feedback to us, I read it, or he reads it or someone on my team reads it, and if it’s a valuable point they make, we pass it onto the team.”

I asked Tilburgh if there were any features in “Fable II” directly influenced by community feedback. He said there were many, including the bread crumb trail meant to help guide players from quest to quest.

“The bread crumb trail is a perfect example,” he said. “When Peter first introduced it, everybody hated it on the team. Then, so many people started complaining about it that we came to the idea that we should actually lessen the effect. If you decide to not to stick to the bread crumb trail and go off the bread crumb rail, then it fades and becomes very soft.”

You have power, readers. Even over Molyneux.

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