Creating a Community

Trying to become a visible and active member of such an incredible community as the hobby tabletop gaming community is a bit intimidating to a newcomer.
There are some very clearly known names in the industry, particularly the social aspect of the world, that I am seeing.  Some names include...

Jamie Steigmaier
James Mathe
Daniel Zayas
Tom Vasal

But there are so many out there and I have no idea how many games they have made or what their full impact on the community has been.
What I do know is that if I plan to gain some awareness and followers I need to do my part to keep interacting with others without a goal to gain their business.  Its about creating trust, friendship, and understanding that I am here to help them enjoy the hobby and develop their games as well.
Recently I have been playing prototype games of other designers for fun (examples are Necromagis and H.E.R.O.  by Chris Miles and G. Wesley Cone respectively).  Their games were simple to play as they are just card games, but it still took time, energy, and some money for printing to do this.
Giving them feedback and suggestions hopefully will help improve their future games.

I have also participated in a few rules review exchanges.  Basically I post my rules for anyone interested to review and critique, and in return I promise to read their rules and do the same.  This was pretty challenging the last time as six people read my rules front to back, which means I had to read six peoples rules and do likewise.  This is a hard thing to do when you really just want to focus on completing your own game.  But it was important, as their feedback did help me improve my game so I needed to reciprocate.  One rules review I did took over an hour!

And most recently, as a way to carve my own name and involvement into the gaming community and promote my favourite types of settings and games, I have created a new free for all facebook group called Fantasy Tabletop Companions.  It is a group that is just there to talk about our favorite fantasy games, share stories and ideas, and allow others to promote their prototype games and kickstarters to fantasy fans.

After two days the group has 80 members, and I hope that will continue to grow over the rest of the year so I can learn and see more from the great members that have joined.  There is the potential that it will create an active audience for some fantasy games I plan on brining to life in the coming years, but the goal is not to push that on the group daily.

Hope it grows into a large group of fantasy superfans!