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Threshold · 08-06-2007, 08:00 PM

Wow, that's cool that Zugg went to Sony Fan Faire. That kind of thing is great for MUDs.

I don't see libraries as being a particularly effective place to recruit gamers. The overwhelming majority of people there have absolutely no interest in gaming, and a significant percentage are not even into computers. That doesn't mean it hurts to drop off flyers or other promotional materials. It doesn't take much time to do so and getting information out there about MUDs never hurts.

MMO players already like gaming, and even in a graphical game reading is still a significant part of the experience (reading chat channels to coordinate activities, reading combat logs, reading descriptions of abilities, reading web site forums to understand your character development paths, etc.). That may change somewhat when voice chat is more common, but for now reading is still a major part of MMO gaming. Almost everyone on the internet enjoys or is interested in reading to some extent. That is why the Web and email are such killer apps.

You have to figure out what is the most important (or most critically necessary) desire that has to be present in a subset of people to create the opportunity for members of that group to try MUDs. I believe the most important factor is that the group be people interested in online gaming. That is the biggest hurdle you have to get over when trying to target your marketing.

If you go to book stores, libraries, reading groups, etc. you have only gotten past the "I like to read" barrier. You haven't gotten very far yet (unfortunately). While MMO players often respond with the immediate "I prefer graphics" mantra, even for them graphics are not the ONLY element of gameplay. There is at least the possibility they might at some point put gameplay and feature variety above graphics when choosing a game to try.

This leaves us with MMOs and gaming web sites as our two best bets for exposing new people to MUDs. The $64,000 question of course is HOW to interest those people in MUDs.

In fact, that question is the actual subject of this thread. The question of whether or not it is worth recruiting from MMOs is probably best done in its own thread to keep this one on topic.

08-06-2007, 08:00 PM	#6
Threshold Legend Join Date: Apr 2002 Home MUD: Threshold RPG Posts: 1,260	Re: Ganking MMOs Wow, that's cool that Zugg went to Sony Fan Faire. That kind of thing is great for MUDs. I don't see libraries as being a particularly effective place to recruit gamers. The overwhelming majority of people there have absolutely no interest in gaming, and a significant percentage are not even into computers. That doesn't mean it hurts to drop off flyers or other promotional materials. It doesn't take much time to do so and getting information out there about MUDs never hurts. MMO players already like gaming, and even in a graphical game reading is still a significant part of the experience (reading chat channels to coordinate activities, reading combat logs, reading descriptions of abilities, reading web site forums to understand your character development paths, etc.). That may change somewhat when voice chat is more common, but for now reading is still a major part of MMO gaming. Almost everyone on the internet enjoys or is interested in reading to some extent. That is why the Web and email are such killer apps. You have to figure out what is the most important (or most critically necessary) desire that has to be present in a subset of people to create the opportunity* for members of that group to try MUDs. I believe the most important factor is that the group be people interested in online gaming. That is the biggest hurdle you have to get over when trying to target your marketing. If you go to book stores, libraries, reading groups, etc. you have only gotten past the "I like to read" barrier. You haven't gotten very far yet (unfortunately). While MMO players often respond with the immediate "I prefer graphics" mantra, even for them graphics are not the ONLY element of gameplay. There is at least the possibility they might at some point put gameplay and feature variety above graphics when choosing a game to try. This leaves us with MMOs and gaming web sites as our two best bets for exposing new people to MUDs. The $64,000 question of course is HOW to interest those people in MUDs. In fact, that question is the actual subject of this thread. The question of whether or not it is worth recruiting from MMOs is probably best done in its own thread to keep this one on topic.