Pre-Promotion (part 1)

[gorboth]

(Promotion Gear Up - Post 1 of 6)

Post Too Long! Executive Summary automatically invoked:
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: (by post number)
#1. Developments in the last decade to improve newbie friendliness.
#2. Things yet to do in-game prior to promotion.
#3. Things yet to do externally prior to promotion.
#4. Discussion of web artist and appeal for web-construction help.
#5. Discussion of custom Genesis client and promotional materials.
#6. Discussion of opportunities for players to contribute.
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Genesis Community,

For quite a long time, work has been developing behind the scenes in the
way of preparing the game for promotion. Unfortunately, I have not found the
time to write a lot about the process on the Common Board or the Forums,
but have instead dedicated myself to just keeping my head down and trying
to get things done. While this has resulted in some very good progress, it
has also left people wondering why the wizard community isn't talking about
promoting the game. Understandable! Allow me to finally return to discussion
of this all-important topic. There is a lot to discuss, so I will be
splitting this up into six separate posts.

First off, I would like to put foward a brief history of the progress that
has been made toward making the game more friendly and appealing for new
players. These achievements have come from the hard work of many wizards,
and their importance cannot be overstated.

1997 - Creation of the Cadet's guild in Gelan
2004 - Redesign of character creation
2005 - Creation of the newbie pin and line.
2005 - Creation of Faerie near Sparkle
2005 - Creation of the Tutorial for new players
2008 - Redesign of ships for faster travel.
2008 - Routing all ships through Sparkle - Hub concept
2008 - Creation of the Genesis Library
2008 - Creation of Quest Orbs (listings only)
2008 - Creation of the Magic Map
2009 - Content update of Sparkle City
2009 - Implementation of orb quest hints for most domains
2009 - Opened free-to-join recode of the Mercenary Occ Guild.
2009 - Change of who list to display all names.
2010 - Creation of the Academics guild in Gelan
2010 - Creation of the Official Genesis Forum
2011 - Creation of the Newbie Dungeon and Imbuements
2011 - Creation of Sparkle Tours

This is what has been achieved thus far, and all of these things are
excellent and essential ingredients. So, why has promotion not yet taken
place? Quite simply, because there are still a few critical flaws in the
design that prevent Genesis from being a viable offering for new players.
Specifically, there remain a number of "choke point" issues that stand in
the way of allowing a many-players-created-all-at-once scenareo to succeed.

The next post will deal with these flaws, and our in-game preparation needs.
G.

[gorboth]

This post cannot be effectively deleted from this part of the forum, but I am locking the topic here and have merged it with the Pre-Promotion section of Keeper's Korner. Please reference that area for consolidated discussion on these topics.

G.