This is an interesting little nugget of data:
So… when we finally get Alpha Hex done, all twenty of you please review it, and we can drive massive sales! Yay!
Sales… of a free open source game. Right. Sigh. There go my delusions of retiring when I’m 45. There’s still time to get in on the gommint bailouts, right?
Seriously, though, I wonder how well this maps to online games, considering the notion that most potential customers are already pretty tech-savvy and poking around online in the first place. There certainly is a need for MMOs to generate early critical buzz, to nab that key early adopter critical mass.
So yes, if you like a game, especially an MMO, write about it! The obvious examples to me are Saylah with Runes of Magic and Tipa with Wizard 101, but even Keen and Graev and Syncaine‘s love letters to Darkfall have piqued my interest, though the game itself isn’t up my alley. Blogging isn’t the same as writing reviews on Amazon, but getting the word out is key, and if you can do both, all the better. I’ve written about Atlantica Online, Puzzle Pirates, and will likely chime in on a few more games as time goes on. Blogs may not wag the dog, as it were, but if you like something, talk and write about it!
I only play games I read about in blogs. Well, Wizard 101 I read about in Massively, I think. Okay. I am MOST LIKELY to play games I read about in blogs 🙂
I didn’t know about your game until now!!!
Let me just take a fan moment and say that I really like what you’ve done to promote W101. 😀 Thanks for stopping by!
I’m really hoping to get Alpha Hex done soon, but since it’s mostly on the shoulders of the engineers Ryan and Howard, I’m just sort of puttering around with art and card design in the meantime. It’s been fun to play the paper prototype, so I hope it translates well to the digital version.
Interesting blog, I’ll try and spread the word.
I am a bit sceptical about Keen’s love letters to Darkfall. Ixobelle got sucked in, and is already “out” again.
Darkfall has some interesting ideas and they also did several things right. But also so many things wrong that it is frustrating.
I believe the “hype” for Darkfall is because people yearn for some new, innovative or oldstyle type of MMORPG. Just not another WoW clone again. Given the many issues of Darkfall, I am feeling too old and cynical to sift through a bucket of crap to get to the good things at the bottom. 😉
Heh, aye, I’m not really seeing a lot of love out there, just some interesting commentary on the things that Darkfall is doing. I applaud the fact that they aren’t strictly in the WoW mold, but it’s not a game that I’d ever actually play, both because it sounds like it has some too-rough edges, and because it’s not really my style of game in the first place.
You might find this post about Darkfall amusing, Tesh.
http://www.nerfbat.com/2009/03/14/darkfall-how-to-fix-the-queue/
CAPTCHA in MMORPGs!
Sometimes the cure is worse than the cancer!
Sometimes I think Darkfall heavy capitalizes on the intentional scarcity (the shop opens only for a few minutes per day and with limited numbers), the supposed hardcore factor, and, most importantly, on what I already mentioned, being NOT a WoW clone. 🙂
The cure is worse than the cancer indeed. That’s what I was getting at with the hobbled trials in MMOs over in the WoW Trial article thread. It seems like there’s little will to find the real problems and solve them. A CAPTCHA just won’t help.
The intentional scarcity is interesting, too. I’ve got to give them a nod for being able to create demand where it might not other wise exist, but it seems so… snake oily to me.
Thanks for the link, Wiqd! Crazy stuff.
I guess I’m one of the few captcha fans then. 😛 Not that I love captcha, but I don’t see what the huge fuss is about. If the box doesn’t grab focus, and if it’s not stuck in the middle of your screen, how is it any worse than other methods of doing things like rooting out afk macroers?
Granted, proper design is better than post-rollout hoom-checks, but still.
Anyway, I hear and obey. Just tell me what to review and when. 😉
That’s easy, Ysh: Any game that you like enough to feel like sharing, and as early as you feel you can give it a fair writeup. 🙂
I’ll admit, since I work for a game company, I’ve seen some great reviews and some idiotic ones. I can point to one in particular that probably killed a lot of potential buzz and ultimately, may have made developing the game a losing financial prospect. I’ll probably dig into that juicy tidbit later, but for now, it’s enough to note that the early buzz can go both ways, and far too often, it’s blind fanboyism or uninformed drivel.
Game promotion (since it’s not really journalism) really needs intelligent, informed commentary, both pro and con. The earlier it gets out there, the better. I’ve seen several blogs that are far better written than anything the “gaming” sites are putting out. I hope we can take advantage of that.
I’ll be posting a (perhaps overlong) review of Galactrix soonish. Early buzz on the game was markedly divided, and one of the things that actually made me dig deeper was Tobold’s offhand dismissal of the game. He was wrong in his snap judgment, as were many reviewers.
That’s another facet of the discussion; snap judgments based on incomplete information and/or prejudices and preconceived expectations are often very suspect. Good reviews dig deeper than the initial impressions. They may mention them, as they can be relevant to the new player experience, but far too often, what we see in “reviews” is extremely shallow, and it does many games a disservice.
Shallow reviewing is not a failing that is limited to games reviews, as I’m sure you know. Movies, books, etc – there are just more of those available for people to get 3rd, 7th, 23rd opinions.
Indeed. I’ve made it standard practice to read at least three reviews; one glowing, one grumpy, and one middle of the road. That usually gives me a fair crosssection of what’s going on. To that end, Amazon and Rottentomatoes are useful… but there’s still something to be said for the more informal blog format, which can also often afford much more in-depth commentary since writers aren’t constrained by the blurb format.
This blog’s great!! Thanks :).
Anyone else see the irony there? Reviewing != advertising, though they do intersect a bit.