PC Gamer to feature Genesis

[gorboth]

Did ya'll see any number bumps on these articles?

https://www.pcgamer.com/the-80s-and-90s ... ted-today/
https://www.pcgamer.com/oh-yeah-thats-w ... s-anymore/

EDIT: Looks like G said Genesis experienced large bumps due to those articles. How large were those bumps? Specifically how many people came to the site over the time of July 6 - July 16 and how many people actually clicked "Play" and connected?

We did, indeed. Note the spike precisely in the middle of the dates you mentioned, which came on July 10-11.

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I suspect we will have similar spikes when the new things hit. Right now, we are benefitting from the fact that the internet functions like an echo chamber. Once one outlet creates content based on a story, others rush to copy. So, one top 10 list gets copied by another person who wants to make something like that, and for whatever reason, Genesis is echoing around right now in these types of stories. I am uncertain why games like BatMud do not receive similar press. My suspicion is that they chose to visually brand themselves with website and client graphics that do not reflect old-school tastes. This is precisely why I wanted to go with Denis Loubet. Our visual brand is that of old D&D manuals, and our client puts out ascii graphics and nothing too glossy or modern. I think when people see us, they get an at-a-glance confirmation that we are the true old-school, and have not tried to fool anyone about who and what we are.

G.

[Gub]

I think the player spikes are interesting, but I'm more curious about the site traffic and conversion rates. If you list out the the likely bad scenarios that could happen during the launch from "least ideal" to "most ideal" I think they would look as follows:

1. The site receives too much traffic and it crashes. I think this is the least ideal because you'll lose out on any press or "echo chamber" effect you get. The site won't be there to, at a minimum, give people information about the game.
2. The gamedriver receives too much traffic and it crashes. People can still reach the site and learn more about the game, but they can't connect, and you lose out any conversions that take place.
3. People connect but are unable to play and placed into a queue. People can connect but they can't experience any of the game and leave (similar to #2).
4. People leave during character creation.
5. People leave during the newbie tutorial.
6. People leave not long after exiting the newbie tutorial.

3-6 Are being discussed at length and it sounds like you all have a solid understanding and plan in place for these issues.

I think getting people through 1-4 would be a huge success. As you have pointed out in other threads theres a huge drop off between people who create characters and people who actually stick around to join guilds and play the game. To see huge player conversion numbers I would assume that'd mean huge numbers for your website. Things not working at all are the biggest fears I'd have. You lose out on any opportunity to convert the traffic.

General thoughts on this:

* The site is fairly simple (not a lot of dynamic pieces outside the forum) so I would assume its been designed in a way that can handle traffic.
* The conversion rate (ig new players clicking "play" on the website) may be so low even if you get millions of visits you may only get thousands of connections.
* If the site can handle traffic and the conversion rate is not insignificant, I'd reach out to PC Gamer, or other games that have gone through what you are about to go through, and ask what kind of traffic you can expect. You only need ball park numbers.

This is all to say that I would hate to see ya'll go through all this work and prep, as you say "years in the making", and then have the site or gamedriver crash.

[gorboth]

Gub, you have the heart of an Archwizard.

Your list is exactly the sort of thing we've put many of Genesis' greatest minds on over the years, but you've taken great care to reitorate them in a very useful fashion. Cotillion and I have been spending the last week talking about and working on solutions to this stuff.

Thanks!
G.

[gold bezie]

With the upcoming article some of us were curious if there would be any volunteers for this Thursday to Sunday to act as Newbie Helpers to deal with the potential influx of players. We could end up getting none but better to be safe than sorry.

What we are looking for is people to be active and answer questions, create a newbie character and mingle in Tutorial Island as well as out of it. If you're interested, let me know so I can add you to the list and let me know about what time you think you'll be on so a schedule can be made. This way we know who is actively helping newbies and can point/message/mail them to the proper person.

Turd Ferguson has made a scedule on discord that we can use. If you are not on discord, let me know and i will put your name on the list there.

[Wyork]

Preview of the contents page:

https://issuu.com/futurepublishing/docs/pcg323.issuu

*tingle*

[gorboth]

Preview of the contents page:

https://issuu.com/futurepublishing/docs/pcg323.issuu

*tingle*

OH ...

MY ...

GOD ...........

[Syrk]

The genesis image on the contents page looks great. Very distinctive. Ordering graphics from that artist was a good idea.

[gorboth]

https://pocketmags.com/us/pc-gamer-uk-edition-magazine

If you want to order a digital or print version of the magazine with our article.

I am not sure what "Donut County" means on the bottom of the cover. Is that about us, I wonder? I'll be ordering this as soon as I get home from work.

G.

[Kvator]

https://pocketmags.com/us/pc-gamer-uk-edition-magazine

If you want to order a digital or print version of the magazine with our article.

I am not sure what "Donut County" means on the bottom of the cover. Is that about us, I wonder? I'll be ordering this as soon as I get home from work.

G.

Donut County is another game

Funny thing I just remembered that I got into muds via article in games magazine

[Arman]

I am keen to get a hardcopy... but doesn't look like it is easy to get posted internationally to the other side of the world to the UK.

If anyone finds out a way to do it let me know