According to Indie Cade survey, more than seventy percent of indie developers say community feedback has shaped their final game. Reddit remains one of the fastest places to find that feedback. Yet many small studios struggle to get noticed among millions of daily posts.
Some teams now turn to aged or pre-built Reddit profiles to skip years of slow karma grinding. Known in marketing circles as ready-made accounts, these profiles often come with established post history and subreddit memberships. One popular source developers quietly use is RedAccs accounts, which offer profiles aged from several months to over eight years.
The logic sounds simple. A fresh account posting “Hey, check out my game!” gets ignored or removed in minutes. An older account with real-looking history can share a trailer in r/IndieGaming or r/playmygame and spark real conversation. Early upvotes create momentum that carries a Steam wishlisting campaign for days.
How Developers Actually Use These Accounts
Several indie marketing leads shared their playbooks anonymously. Here are the five most common tactics:
- Seeding honest feedback threads: Post a genuine “What do you think of my demo?” thread weeks before launch from an aged account. Real players respond because the profile looks legitimate.
- Cross-posting to niche subs: Join small genre communities (r/roguelites, r/cozygames) that ban self-promotion from new accounts.
- Running “accidental” discoveries: Have one account “find” the game and share it excitedly. Other aged accounts chime in. Curious users follow.
- Damage control: When a buggy demo drops, trusted-looking profiles defend the team and share road-map promises faster than the dev can type.
- Boosting launch-day posts: Coordinate early upvotes so the Steam page hits the subreddit hot page within the first hour.
The Ethical Red Flags
Reddit bans vote manipulation and astroturfing for good reason. Users hate feeling tricked. When the community discovers coordinated accounts, backlash can kill a game’s reputation overnight. Past examples include devs who lost thousands of wishlists after sleuths exposed their purchased profiles.
Moreover, platforms keep getting better at detection. Reddit’s algorithm now flags sudden activity spikes on old dormant accounts. Bans hit fast and affect every subreddit the profile ever joined.
Safer Alternatives That Actually Work
Plenty of studios build huge Reddit traction without risking their accounts. Try these proven paths instead:
- Grow one real account slowly: Comment helpful feedback on other indie posts daily. Karma compounds faster than you think.
- Partner with micro-influencers: Many Reddit gamers with 10k to 30k karma happily play demos for free if the game is good.
- Host AMAs early: Announce “We’re two devs making a cozy fishing RPG, ask us anything” months before you need wishlists.
- Share devlogs religiously: Post GIFs of new features every Tuesday. People root for consistent creators.
- Join feedback Fridays: Most gaming subs have weekly threads where self-promotion is not only allowed, it’s encouraged.
One studio that followed this slow-and-steady route, Paper Cult, gained 48,000 wishlists for their game Knightmare by posting weekly dev updates from a single honest account over eighteen months. No shortcuts, no bans, pure community love.
Want to see these tactics in action? Check out 5 viral Reddit posts from indie devs and what actually made them explode. The patterns are surprisingly repeatable when you stay authentic.
The Bottom Line
Ready-made accounts like RedAccs accounts can deliver quick visibility, but the risk-reward math rarely favors small teams. A single exposed campaign can poison years of goodwill. Real players smell inauthenticity fast.
Build slowly, share generously, and let the community carry your game. The wishlist numbers might arrive a little later, yet they stick around when launch day comes.