Moving Toward Promotion ...
Posted: 12 May 2010 21:52
Hmmmm ...
Gorboth's been ... quiet.
..... too quiet ...
*peer suspiciously*
Yes, well! It's true. I've been far too quiet. The time has come for me to
once again begin sharing my energy and visions for the future of Genesis
with you all.
It has been two and a half years since I became Keeper. In that first year,
we tried to get the ball rolling on all sorts of changes that we felt the
game needed. Huge amounts of change and upheaval have transpired since
October 2007. It can be easy to lose energy if the focus is only one what
needs fixing, so lets start by looking at some of the accomplishments
that have come to pass since that time:
- The game has moved from Sweden to Israel, and is no longer affilated
with Chalmers University, but is instead solely the enterprise of
the GIA (Genesis Internet Association.)
- The game now has a preliminary method by which people can play
from the webpage (much improvement still needed here.)
- The game now has an official web forum for wizard and player
interaction.
- A full-scale balance recode of all major guilds in the game has
been undertaken, and is more than halfway complete.
- A global quest-tracking system is now in place to let players know
which quests they have done, and which remain unsolved, along with
hints supported for most domains.
- The rules of the game have been streamlined to require less and
less wizard interference in mortal play. (a mine-field, as always)
- The game now has a dynamic mapping system which shows the position
of a player on pre-drawn maps. (currently only supported fully in
the tutorial, but slowly expanding more into the full game.)
- Two new guilds have been added to the game - The Free Mercenary
Guild and the Academics of Gelan. (both walk-up-and-join options)
- A system known as death-recovery has been implemented, allowing
players who die to get experience faster until they have reached
their former size.
And these are just to name a few obvious improvements. It feels good to
know that the game continues to develop and grow, and we should all take
a moment to smile on these accomplishments.
When I first became Keeper, a huge priority of mine was to enact a process
of discernment. I took many weeks to get feedback from wizards and players
as to what the most important things were that needed to be done to take
the game into a bold new future. Many of the above accomplishments are a
reflection of the work done thanks to this process. Many still remain to
be tackled.
As I've lived in this position for a while, my understandings have matured
and grown about the realities of trying to change such a big institution
as Genesis. Time, energy, hard-work ... these have all been implemented,
and the results have been visible. A few more things, though, I've realized
are just as important: patience and persistence. It has not, as I had
originally dreamed, been possible to quickly and easily grow the playerbase
to double its size in a sustainable way. Does this mean it is not going to
happen? Oh, no! It will happen. It just requires patience and persistence.
It also requires that we get specific and move into a new process of vision
and action. The big move that must be made to grow our playerbase is that
of full-blown promotion. This would involve putting hard-work, energy, and
(yes!) money into getting our identity out there for people to recognize,
and have the opportunity to sample. But this must not be done prematurely.
Advertising for a bakery that only offers half-baked cake only means that
word gets around to *avoid* the bakery at all costs, and thus you shoot
yourself in the foot.
So, my new focus is on discerning precisely what things *must* be
accomplished before full-scale promotion begins. These are things that
I feel are on the list:
- We must have a website that:
- Makes it easy to create a character.
- Makes it easy to play the game.
- Has exceptional visual appeal.
- Is distinctive somehow from the ocean of free RPG web content
- The character creation process should happen immediately, rather
than after a pre-tutorial.
- The tutorial itself should be streamlined, eliminate grinding, and
made slightly more user-friendly.
- The areas of the game immediately following the tutorial should
match the tutorial in terms of quality, user-friendliness, and
start-up development for new characters.
- Guilds of the game should be ready to accept new players. Guilds
that require council approval to join must be *forced* to have
active and responsible councils. This may require wizards to
either boot council members who are holding a guild hostage with
their selfish or irresponsible management, or (preferably) devise
workable methods to allow guilds to boot their own irresponsible
councils should the need arise. Bottom line - YOUR guild needs
to make itself available to new players. Period. If you are sitting
on a dead guild, and you only log in to check mail once a week,
be ready to talk to your friendly (but not happy) neighborhood
Gorboth. No, this doesn't mean you have to let idiots or unworthy
roleplayers into your guild. It does mean you need to get out
of the hot-tub and answer the doorbell, though. Those of you
already doing a great job at this, you have my highest esteem.
(*end rant*)
If you have ideas about things you feel are absolutely essential before we
go to full-blown promotion, (i.e. preventing us from serving a half-baked
cake) please do take the time to mail me. The Admin can do all sorts of
think-tanking but it often comes down to the expertise of the players to
help guide our actions most effectively.
Some of you may be thinking, "Wait! I don't see finishing the guild balance
recodes on that list! What what?!?" True, you don't. The guild balance
recodes are essential. They must and will be completed. This, however, is
not something that prevents us from serving tasty cake to someone who walks
into the bakery for the first time. This, rather, is ongoing work on
perfecting our already tasty goods. We can advertise and promote the game
with confidence if we have the above list completed, even if the guild
recodes are not. The above list is something that we can hope to accomplish
in a matter of months. The guild recodes take longer (as we have
discovered.) I feel that waiting for perfection is no longer a good idea.
We need to, instead, do the things that will matter to a new player as
fast as we possibly can so that we can move to full-scale promotion without
further delay.
Again, I urge you to consider the things you are aware of that will matter
most to a new player, and help me know what they are. If you see glaring
holes in the above list, fill them by shoving the missing pieces in my
mailbox, please!
Fairly soon, I will be coming to you with some specifics about the website,
promotion for the game, and what you can do to be a part of that process.
For some of you, it might involve time and energy (maybe even money!) For
others, it will just be something you wish to support with your positive
energy and encouragement. But that is just a teaser - more to come!
G.
Gorboth's been ... quiet.
..... too quiet ...
*peer suspiciously*
Yes, well! It's true. I've been far too quiet. The time has come for me to
once again begin sharing my energy and visions for the future of Genesis
with you all.
It has been two and a half years since I became Keeper. In that first year,
we tried to get the ball rolling on all sorts of changes that we felt the
game needed. Huge amounts of change and upheaval have transpired since
October 2007. It can be easy to lose energy if the focus is only one what
needs fixing, so lets start by looking at some of the accomplishments
that have come to pass since that time:
- The game has moved from Sweden to Israel, and is no longer affilated
with Chalmers University, but is instead solely the enterprise of
the GIA (Genesis Internet Association.)
- The game now has a preliminary method by which people can play
from the webpage (much improvement still needed here.)
- The game now has an official web forum for wizard and player
interaction.
- A full-scale balance recode of all major guilds in the game has
been undertaken, and is more than halfway complete.
- A global quest-tracking system is now in place to let players know
which quests they have done, and which remain unsolved, along with
hints supported for most domains.
- The rules of the game have been streamlined to require less and
less wizard interference in mortal play. (a mine-field, as always)
- The game now has a dynamic mapping system which shows the position
of a player on pre-drawn maps. (currently only supported fully in
the tutorial, but slowly expanding more into the full game.)
- Two new guilds have been added to the game - The Free Mercenary
Guild and the Academics of Gelan. (both walk-up-and-join options)
- A system known as death-recovery has been implemented, allowing
players who die to get experience faster until they have reached
their former size.
And these are just to name a few obvious improvements. It feels good to
know that the game continues to develop and grow, and we should all take
a moment to smile on these accomplishments.
When I first became Keeper, a huge priority of mine was to enact a process
of discernment. I took many weeks to get feedback from wizards and players
as to what the most important things were that needed to be done to take
the game into a bold new future. Many of the above accomplishments are a
reflection of the work done thanks to this process. Many still remain to
be tackled.
As I've lived in this position for a while, my understandings have matured
and grown about the realities of trying to change such a big institution
as Genesis. Time, energy, hard-work ... these have all been implemented,
and the results have been visible. A few more things, though, I've realized
are just as important: patience and persistence. It has not, as I had
originally dreamed, been possible to quickly and easily grow the playerbase
to double its size in a sustainable way. Does this mean it is not going to
happen? Oh, no! It will happen. It just requires patience and persistence.
It also requires that we get specific and move into a new process of vision
and action. The big move that must be made to grow our playerbase is that
of full-blown promotion. This would involve putting hard-work, energy, and
(yes!) money into getting our identity out there for people to recognize,
and have the opportunity to sample. But this must not be done prematurely.
Advertising for a bakery that only offers half-baked cake only means that
word gets around to *avoid* the bakery at all costs, and thus you shoot
yourself in the foot.
So, my new focus is on discerning precisely what things *must* be
accomplished before full-scale promotion begins. These are things that
I feel are on the list:
- We must have a website that:
- Makes it easy to create a character.
- Makes it easy to play the game.
- Has exceptional visual appeal.
- Is distinctive somehow from the ocean of free RPG web content
- The character creation process should happen immediately, rather
than after a pre-tutorial.
- The tutorial itself should be streamlined, eliminate grinding, and
made slightly more user-friendly.
- The areas of the game immediately following the tutorial should
match the tutorial in terms of quality, user-friendliness, and
start-up development for new characters.
- Guilds of the game should be ready to accept new players. Guilds
that require council approval to join must be *forced* to have
active and responsible councils. This may require wizards to
either boot council members who are holding a guild hostage with
their selfish or irresponsible management, or (preferably) devise
workable methods to allow guilds to boot their own irresponsible
councils should the need arise. Bottom line - YOUR guild needs
to make itself available to new players. Period. If you are sitting
on a dead guild, and you only log in to check mail once a week,
be ready to talk to your friendly (but not happy) neighborhood
Gorboth. No, this doesn't mean you have to let idiots or unworthy
roleplayers into your guild. It does mean you need to get out
of the hot-tub and answer the doorbell, though. Those of you
already doing a great job at this, you have my highest esteem.
(*end rant*)
If you have ideas about things you feel are absolutely essential before we
go to full-blown promotion, (i.e. preventing us from serving a half-baked
cake) please do take the time to mail me. The Admin can do all sorts of
think-tanking but it often comes down to the expertise of the players to
help guide our actions most effectively.
Some of you may be thinking, "Wait! I don't see finishing the guild balance
recodes on that list! What what?!?" True, you don't. The guild balance
recodes are essential. They must and will be completed. This, however, is
not something that prevents us from serving tasty cake to someone who walks
into the bakery for the first time. This, rather, is ongoing work on
perfecting our already tasty goods. We can advertise and promote the game
with confidence if we have the above list completed, even if the guild
recodes are not. The above list is something that we can hope to accomplish
in a matter of months. The guild recodes take longer (as we have
discovered.) I feel that waiting for perfection is no longer a good idea.
We need to, instead, do the things that will matter to a new player as
fast as we possibly can so that we can move to full-scale promotion without
further delay.
Again, I urge you to consider the things you are aware of that will matter
most to a new player, and help me know what they are. If you see glaring
holes in the above list, fill them by shoving the missing pieces in my
mailbox, please!
Fairly soon, I will be coming to you with some specifics about the website,
promotion for the game, and what you can do to be a part of that process.
For some of you, it might involve time and energy (maybe even money!) For
others, it will just be something you wish to support with your positive
energy and encouragement. But that is just a teaser - more to come!
G.