Gearbox Community Architecture
A forum jail that rehabilitated trolls instead of banning them, at one of the largest game developer communities of its era.
A suite of community systems built at Gearbox Software during one of the largest game developer communities of its era.
The Ban Bin — a forum jail used instead of permanent bans, where violations were stated openly and could be disputed. Only two users were ever jailed twice; none more. Documented in the blog post "The Ban Bin: How Effective Is A Forum Jail?"
The Illuminate — a hidden reward forum functioning as an informal community council.
Internal Combustion — a members-only flame forum that turned complaints constructive.
Gearblogs — an early developer diary platform.
ARG campaigns — collaborative puzzle campaigns that unlocked game content.
Built on a custom PHP framework, later migrated to CakePHP. The moderation innovations anticipated rehabilitative systems adopted broadly years later.