Marketing of Neocron

[Toxen]

People knew this thread was coming so hush. :P

First things first KK, and all staff members thereof, you are amazing, simple as that in the past year you have changed for the better. You started to talk to the community more actively about the games future (Balance Discussions) a move which mmo companies won't do in such depth, it shows guts and an unquestionable loyalty to the customer base.

From what i've seen on quan so far the games confusing as heck to me now but familiar enough I want to learn whats changed, and from the threads I've read there is a obvious improvement.

Just recently you announced the inclusion of paypal in your payment options, this almost universal payment system not opens up the game to a whole range of new players it also provides the alternative to other methods that the community has found a bane and have been reason many good veterans have left the game.

Even to the outsider these may seem like a couple of points too a neocron vet these are quite clearly significant and large improvements in the game and good enough reason to return.

So I urge KK and the community (because they can help too) to whack in that final piece to round things out by undertaking an active marketing campaign promoting the game and the two points discussed. Even if its one banner circulated to mmo news sites, but stress the points that theres an active discussion about the game design with community and that paypal has been added to the list of payment options. The community itself can help word of mouth and viral marketing can be incredible so get out there spread the word make your own banners and throw them into the pot for others to use themselves. But do something.

Edit:
If someone wants to whack out a couple of banners to that effect I'll whack em on my site it gets a few thousand visitors a day can also put em in my sig rotation on other forums.

[Dezh]

Amen.

[Tsukasa]

one addition needed to that they need to release the game in the United States, believe it or not there are more gamers, and more loose money laying around in the U.S. then any other country"."

p.s. an United States Server would help also 'wink'

[Fega]

Second Life did something similar, Advertised on Yahoo, member count rose to over 3million in a matter of weeks

[Dogface]

Oh the possibilities. It's almost painful to watch them go by ignored.

[Apocalypsox]

one addition needed to that they need to release the game in the United States, believe it or not there are more gamers, and more loose money laying around in the U.S. then any other country"."

p.s. an United States Server would help also 'wink'


Amen to that one, 200 constant ping isnt very nice :lol:

[CMaster]

p.s. an United States Server would help also 'wink'

I dare say that for Americans (and canadians) that would be very nice. However it would require a really quite large capital investment in the hardware and hosting, as well as futher dividing an already very small community.
And after the debacle that was "international release" I think boxed sales in the US are frankly unlikey (I don't work for KK or any major publisher. I could be horribly wrong). Marketing around 2.2 launch however - well it would be silly not to.

[Clive tombstone]

Maybe a new trailer as well? Something with some CG movie clips too to spice it up? Dunno trailers seem to be what really catch peoples eyes as well (hell, its what caught me with Vanguard and Supreme commander)

[jini]

Neocron 2.2 will speak for itself. There is vast improvement on the thing, and if we trust kk it will be very easy to adjust it, to follow simple guidelines. These factors alone, gives a promising future.

It's in human nature as a behaviour to be very afraid of changes. We all, one way or another, have found an overpowered character, some semi uber gear and have sticked on it for ages. I have chosen the xbow pe, some other have found apu/ppu pairs, others use drones/gliders etc.

Sad truth is however is, that populations are on the decline on 2.1 retail servers. Which really shows just one thing: time to change.

I'm sure they can understand when and if they will have to expand... For the ping thing, maybe it would be good for KK to advice future USA/CAN customers which route/provider gives better routings. However it's not that big of an issue for most, since we have/had lots of Canadians in the future that were and still are great pvpers (Rex Condo, Vegah and more.. Star...). If they can do it, then you can do it too, unless the provider you are using uses cheapo routers/routes (I don't know how these things work)

[Clive tombstone]

I still think that some advertising would be a smart choice, and in such a form of a trailer (adverting on maybe sites like IGN or Gametrailers.com) would be a really solid idea, Especially after the new paypal system has gotten in.

trailers really do attract a lot of people (believe me, Ive taken two marketing classes so far in my game degree, they do, trailers are pretty much a commercial with theatric appeal, people love em), And although we still have our "older trailer" it would maybe be a good idea to get something new for our "Change" to go with this whole Rebirth thing.

of course theres always also viral marketing as well.

[Dribble Joy]

I've said this many times:

I'll gladly pay for a weeks advertising on Penny-Arcade.

Or any webcomic for that matter.

[Sakletare]

I've said this many times:

I'll gladly pay for a weeks advertising on Penny-Arcade.

Or any webcomic for that matter.
Here's one webcomic that looks cheap and easy to advertise on.
http://www.little-gamers.com/

Right now a banner would cost about $4.5 per day as can be seen here.
http://www.projectwonderful.com/advertisehere.php?id=1309&type=4

[dark_reaper]

They need to do some serious marketing, especially over here in the states. Neptune was once a US based server back in the day.

I have thought up of a couple of projects I could possibly do that might help. Both of them are community involved.

[unreal]

I've had to simply close my browser a few times after writing long hefty posts to submit here, but they would most certainly be edited over a biased technicality. Might as well just list a couple of the things that are really worth noting from this thread so far:
Oh the possibilities. It's almost painful to watch them go by ignored.and especially

But do somethingThe latter of the two quotes contains the really key words in my opinion. Do something. At the very least make sure you get some kind of banner online that actually gets seen by people.

For example, take the recent gametime giveaway on that website I can't even remember the name of. There wasn't even an advertisement about the giveaway or anything mentioning Neocron on its main page from what I saw at the time, and doesn't appear to have done much to advertise Neocron as a result. Again, from what was observed, the contest seemed to be mainly advertised here on the Neocron forum meaning existing players tried to win the free gametime by signing up rather than potential new customers.

[Bishop Yutani]

No one said you couldnt buy your own ad and put it up for Neocron. I dont think that's illegal or anything.

Those who think like Dribble could put up a few dollars each and get an ad put up on PennyArcade, or you could start your own contest on this forum or any other.

As for KK, i certainly hope they're planning on doing something more than a freebie for a month when 2.2 releases, but it seems like money is tight, so i wouldnt bank on it.

Even a free Neocron DVD in a sleeve at the checkout line of local game retailers would cost quite a bit of money. On the other hand, it might be a worthwhile investment. Back on the original hand, :lol: it might attract more traffic than they can handle.

[Dribble Joy]

No one said you couldnt buy your own ad and put it up for Neocron. I dont think that's illegal or anything.
I'm sure there's a copyright issue and a plethora of legal issues about non-constented ad campaigns in KK's name.

[Bishop Yutani]

i won't get into a pissing/dribbling match with you :lol: but i would think its fair use just like an ad for asswipes in a supermarket circular or a link to NC on an online review.

But whatever, my point is, if you really want to make something happen, you could do alot wihtout involving KK, who probably dont have the time and money

[Dribble Joy]

I'm not getting into a pissing match :p. I'd just not spend £50 on advertising NC and then get sued by 10T/KK ;).

Anyway, I'm going to look into it, both in getting an ad space and getting into contact with KK about any legall issues they may have with me doing it.

[Leonard]

neocron was probably my favorite game of all time.

it's too bad that noone plays.

i've gotten tired of waiting for more players, and it just doesn't seem to be happening. i won't be resubscribing anytime soon, yes, despite the all new fantastic paypal option.

[Bishop Yutani]

I'd just not spend £50 on advertising NC and then get sued by 10T/KK .

yeah but maybe if you got sued, then KK would have enough money to hire an extra programmer or two :lol:

I have a friend who works at askjeeves, which owns all sorts of advertising avenues on the net. I'll drop him a line and see how we could get some attention.

I was just thinking, if KK does have a problem with it, we could always just advertise a fan site, like the wiki page or THN. That would indirectly attract customers.

[Brammers]

I was just thinking, if KK does have a problem with it, we could always just advertise a fan site, like the wiki page or THN. That would indirectly attract customers.

Warn if you decide to spend £50 to advertise the THN on Pennyarcade. ;)

[Bishop Yutani]

brammers, what would you rather have, bandwidth bills or low pops?? :lol: huh?? you cant have your cake and eat it too :D

[Faid]

It's actually you cant eat your cake and have it to :p Brammers for president :angel:

[Brammers]

brammers, what would you rather have, bandwidth bills or low pops?? :lol: huh?? you cant have your cake and eat it too :D

The Bandwidth is what I worry about a bit on the THN, since it's a shared server between 15 users, and I'm the 1 user who eats most of the Bandwidth used on the server.

However what I'm trying to say in my previous post is, I would do is tweak the front page a little so anyone coming to the THN would see page X with lots of "OMFG NC is so cool - play it now!"

[Leebzie]

I think the best way to get people, en masse into the game would be a F2P area. The cities of DoY and NC - all free to play. it would generate the thirst for adventure, to go beyond the exit. Also, the cities would be full, and tradeskillers would be plentiful.

I havent thought of any bad points yet... OK, maybe something about loads of noobs running around and talking crap , stealing items etc.. but hell, its better than the tumbleweed rolling by...