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Old 09-03-2007, 10:44 AM   #8
Perillus
 
Posts: n/a
Re: The Importance of Art

Other than websites, art can be a great marketing tool and could really help to deepen people's ties to the game (this is kind of textbook theory, since we haven't actually managed to DO it yet.) My home mud was trying to launch a line of products like T-shirts, coffee mugs, posters, notebooks etc, featuring artwork based on the contet. Aesthetics, publicity and revenue all in one!

Must say though that we ran into a whole heap of problems right off. Artwork wasn't one of them, because I was supposed to be doing it (with the head imm vetting it.) I did manage to produce one pretty good piece before (gasp) work caught up and I contracted a bad case of artistic block. The block was totally moot though. What happened was that firstly, we couldn't put in bulk orders because the playerbase was too small (no guaranteed demand) and storage/shipping would have been a nightmare. That left us with manufacture-on-demand, and the cost was moderately horrendous.

Secondly, we weren't allowed to do it for profit because the mud was registered as a hobby...so our product line died an abrupt death. If anyone can think of ways around those nasty little legal-financial problems, I'll take a day off work and contract you a design. (And hope Head Imm doesn't knock my block off.)

Anyway! I think art, while strange in a textual world for sure, is still very very important. Simply because we humans are visual animals, and linguistics still take second place to those pretty pictures. Sure it'll spoil some people's image of how things are (like how I'll forever see Ian McKellen's face every time I read LotR now) but for others, it'll give them something to focus on. Oh, those ties that bind!
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