Getting 'em in the door

[Tynian]

TFC has three very basic high level problems. The first is getting a new player to try TFC for the first time. The second is getting that player hooked and playing regularly. The third is long-term retention of the player.

We can stand to improve in all three areas. This thread concentrates on step #1, getting a new player in the door.

The simple question is 'how'?

My off the cuff reaction is that word of mouth is our most effective ally. If you tell your friends to play, they are more likely to give it a try, than, say, finding a TFC flyer on their car windshield. Friends getting friends to play also helps us out with goal #2, since you tend to help your friends get started, both with knowledge and equipment.

Any suggestions on how to most effectively attract new players?

[Solaron]

I believe word of mouth to be the most important, but online advertising is a close second.

That said, we also need to look at newbie retention.

[Tynian]

That said, we also need to look at newbie retention.

We do, and I'll tackle that soon. :) Best to keep some focus to help my sanity (and the time spent composing replies ;))

[wish]

In my opinion, because of the aging population of TFC, word of mouth is not the best tool. Here is why.

When I started mudding sometime around 1995 or 1996, I was young, right out of college, and I worked at a place with a wide open network. No firewall, no policies, nothing. I worked with a bunch of guys my own age, we were all doing IT support, and all of our downtime at work was spent doing one of three things: playing network Doom, downloading porn, or playing mud. All of my friends tried all three.

I am the only one who still muds.

Now, I am 38. I work in a highly professional environment, I have a wife and kids, and quite frankly I just don't meet the kind of people anymore who I could "turn on" to TFC.

I have a feeling that I am not alone in this and that for all of us players who have been here for a while and are getting long in the tooth, this is a common problem. We just don't meet anyone to recruit. Even for those of us who do meet folks, that is still a very small group of people. In my opinion, online advertising is the best method, since that initial introduction to TFC will reach a far larger group of people.

Wish, Foul Sepiod of the Black Conclave

[Tynian]

In my opinion, because of the aging population of TFC, word of mouth is not the best tool. Here is why.

[...]

When I started mudding sometime around 1995 or 1996, I was young, right out of college, and I worked at a place with a wide open network. No firewall, no policies, nothing.

[...]

I am the only one who still muds.

[....] quite frankly I just don't meet the kind of people anymore who I could "turn on" to TFC.



Yep, you've essentially described my circumstances, as well. There's really not anyone I can "evangelize" to.

I tend to agree with you that there is a large chunk of us in a similar boat. We've been around a few years, and our life circumstances have changed. On the other hand, we do have players that have not been here for years, who might be younger, and may have those connections.

I wish I knew whether that was 1 player or half the player base, though. ;)


In my opinion, online advertising is the best method, since that initial introduction to TFC will reach a far larger group of people.

Alright, so how do we find the people who will be receptive? What sort of online advertising would you suggest?

[wish]

The preferred method to gain online advertising would be to trade for it by agreeing to put some other website banners on the TFC web page in exchange for ours going on theirs. The websites don't have to be related. For example, an online comic book store would be a great place to have a TFC banner. And a mud sight would be a good place for a comic book store banner. Etc., Etc.


Wish

[orpik]

I think the best way is to have links to us all over so that people only have to click it and they are in the game. If my brother says check your email and go to the website, I am usually too lazy. If someone sends the link to me on the mud or msger and i can cust paste, I will do it. yes it is not a big deal, but I think it matters. So we want links out there not just web addresses etc that require people to do lots of steps.

I am going to post another idea about this but I'll start a new post as I'm afraid it will be lost in this poll

[Jashon]

Word of Mouth once the best tool. I started when I was 14-- a friend introduced me. In fact, all the kids with internet (dial-up at the time) in this certain class played.

But with changes in culture--and TFC lack of visual appeal (too much reading for some people) and the aging of much of the TFC population I think simple word-of-mouth is declining in its efficacy. Simply connecting to a game where you can chat and play with people from all over the world is not that cool anymore. (While i do believe TFC is one of the best games--it requires time to get hooked)

As for working hard to get a higher ranking on mudconnector, for example, I once actively worked to raise it--and last year I recall it got up to the 40s. I don't recall any significant increase in population (though this may change if we broke top 20 or top 10)

I've oft wondered how much an ad would cost and for what period of time. I for once, would be willing to contribute some money (not a lot mind you) towards such an ad. But I think that would be a good choice.

[Belsambar]

I think the problem is finding people of the right mindset to have fun on TFC. Any medium that gets attention, gets people to try, and possibly hooks them, is a good thing. It doesn't matter whether someone is posting to 25000 different blogs a day, buying an advertisement on MySpace or similar sites, or just going to popular areas around their house and finding rp'ers who play dnd and going 'Hey, want to play something like this without all the dicework?'. Whatever gets players, is a good thing. As long as people keep with it.

And as I've said, if you love the game, put some effort in. Every little bit helps, even if the people you start only play for 2 days and never login again, they at least tried, and maybe, just maybe, they'll pass along word to those who WOULD like it, or other possibilites.

[Solaron]

Word of mouth always will be the biggest selling point if we're doing it to the right people.

A friend got me to try a MUD, I found TFC, got my parents to play, then showed it to Orpik and his brother, they showed it to the rest of the family, who showed it to more people, etc. There's an entire crew in Vermont who played actively for a while, because of that. All because some guy in 7th grade was like 'Dude, check this out!' when I was walking by him in the computer lab.

[Tynian]

The preferred method to gain online advertising would be to trade for it by agreeing to put some other website banners on the TFC web page in exchange for ours going on theirs. The websites don't have to be related. For example, an online comic book store would be a great place to have a TFC banner. And a mud sight would be a good place for a comic book store banner. Etc., Etc.


Worth a try. Anyone want to volunteer to facilitate this?


I think the best way is to have links to us all over so that people only have to click it and they are in the game.


How would people find/get the links?

[jaerith]

How would people find/get the links?

Easier said than done. It'd involve turning TFC's main web page into advertisement central..something I'm guessing you would be unprepared to do.

[wish]

Jaerith said:

It'd involve turning TFC's main web page into advertisement central

Folks, let's face facts: the Internet is one big billboard. Either we take advantage of that fact, or we miss out on a huge opportunity. The key to success is mass marketing, NOT word of mouth. How many movies would be successful if Hollywood relied solely on the cast and director telling their best friends about it? I feel pretty confident saying "not very many". Even crappy underground movies like "Blair Witch" became successful through effective marketing.

Who really cares if the TFC website has a few advertisements or links to related sites? I already mentioned tie ins with online comic book vendors. How about online costume shops? Or a tie in with a RenFest site?

There are probably close to a billion english speaking people out there online every day. Waiting until you meet them to tell them about TFC is probably not going to work very well.

Wish, Foul Sepiod of the Black Conclave

[Gwyrdain]

While I don't dismiss the above comments about the efficacy of mass marketing, I'm not sure that I believe retention will be as high as with word of mouth -- duh, there's more reason to stay if your buddy is also playing.

Because of the reasons already given for the "aged among us" not being in the best position for proselytizing, I propose a theory -- the best recruitors are newbies. (I assume the logic is obvious -- excited about their new passion, more likely to know others it would interest, etc.) As such, I believe the "newbie retention" issue is not just "another important aspect" but centrally critical to growth. But what makes the difference between someone staying or going? The CFO at my office always says, "if you want something to improve, you first have to measure it." Are we currently tracking players at all? Do we know when someone starts a new character and gives an email address never previously given? Could some follow-up be done after some nominal time -- "hey, we noticed you're new... wanted to get your feedback... what do you/don't you like...."

I also like the idea of "targeted" marketing (i.e., Belsambar's "people of the right mindset") and the reference to dice rolling. In the e-world you could go with targeted markting via search engines, but as I mostly ignore these, I'm thinking something more like banner ads on RPG sites (e.g., pen-paper.net, rpgarchive.com, etc.). In the real world it might be nice to take advantage of "bulletin boards" at local gaming/comic shops. The idea would be to get some of our more artistic players to come up with some great looking full-page, color, pdf advertisements (maybe hold a contest with spectacular in-game prizes?) that the players could then print and post about town.

Just some thoughts from an old-newbie or is that a new-oldbie? Hrmph.

[Tynian]

As such, I believe the "newbie retention" issue is not just "another important aspect" but centrally critical to growth. But what makes the difference between someone staying or going?

Totally agree with this.


Are we currently tracking players at all?

Not as such. We keep track of player counts. Identifying unique players can be tricky. Roughly 1/4 of the characters have emails supplied with them.

We could ask level of experience when a new character is created....

Thanks for your suggestions. I think the biggest problem will be in the execution. I can't do it all myself. Anyone wanna volunteer, for when the time comes? :)

[Gaul]

Ok folks, I wrote a freaking book here.

I think this is the core issue for TFC (and all struggling muds). How do we draw fresh blood in, how do we keep it. It never used to be an issue. The mud world was addicting, and there were far fewer "free" options for entertainment and chat online. When I say were, I mean 10 years ago.

We can learn a bit about what we need to do by analyzing our target player base and how it has changed. Consider, in '96 our primary audience comprised bored and/or lonely college-aged students. I know that's how I found the mud, and I was amazed to discover the depth and breadth of the player base living on campus around me (Nalya, Thaygar, Nayr, Jerald, Asia, Pixel just to name the immortals I can remember off the top of my head). Anyway, if you sampled the typical 80 character load on a Friday night most would be college students, and many would be Swedish, Norwegian, English, Canadian, etc.

Think about the alternatives we had back then. There was no MMORPG...well, aside from muds. You could play Doom over a modem or network. The concept of just standing in a virtual room, conversing with someone from across the country was both novel and invigorating.

Flash forward to now. I know all this is intuitive and obvious to the point of uselessness but the thought occurred to me and I'm sharing it. ::whistle:: Now, the online entertainment world is forever changed, broadened, and geared toward those with short attention spans. Tynian recently commented to me how he was told that Everquest would "kill the mud" and it didn't. I agree, but I suspect EQ, and all its spin-offs and 2nd and 3rd generation competitors each take a bite out of that pie. They set the bar for the younger generation. That typical 19 year old computer nerd might try a mud for an afternoon but can we blame him for not sticking around?

TFC's strength has always been that (constantly eroding) base of (constantly aging) players. I know this isn't strictly accurate but it seems to me that if you took away all players that started, say, prior to last year, TFC would be essentially dead. You couldn't say the same in 2000.

Word of mouth. It's always been our primary recruitment method. It's how many of us found the mud (though I found it on the old Primenet webpage). I would wager that virtually every old timer brought multiple players to the mud, either by accident or on purpose. I highly doubt this mechanism is still functioning. I also have my doubts that it can be revitalized. I definitely feel, however, that it's TFC's only hope for survival.

If each player currently active (maybe 50 or so? judging by the forum subscriptions, allowing for some multiple character accts.) brought one or two friends, relatives, etc. to the mud over the next year, the mud could endure for years to come.

I don't believe the population problem can be directly fixed through code changes or advertising, though they can help stop the bleeding. If we can go after other nostalgic mudders seeking old school worlds to explore, great. If we can streamline the mud to adjust to the changing times, great.

We need to be realistic about it. The mud exists so long as it has that "critical mass", as Tynian puts it, of players. I would say that we're dangerously close. Hell, I'm part of the problem, not the solution. I'm among those that basically abandoned the mud years ago and only stop by from time to time to lament "the good ol' days".

In closing, if we want to keep the mud. WE have to keep it alive but actively making revitilizing it, bringing folks in, helping them when they arrive, and allowing them to get hooked ::up::

Who's with me?!

Steps off his soap box.*

Gaul Stone, Nature's Pearl.
Last of Rhina's Jade Leaves.