After all this time, it's quite simple to see who this game attracts and why. It's even easy to tell what activities will get people moving over others.
Considering their actions, SOE has considers brand equity to be 0. Why? They're not trying to increase awareness though the means that would increase brand awareness. They are trying to increase sales through actual trial which would then increase sales. It's obvious they don't care about the brand. Why focus on sales?
Well, other than that's what you do when you have a commodity (Or are going to treat your product as such)...
We've answered this question a zillion times (minus one pertinent statement which I'll add later). Let's talk about the benefits of the game.
First, it can't be the game itself because this game has the same thing that every other game has: missions, crafting, PvP archives, PvP, dungeons (I'm not counting the LEs because they seem to organized in such a way that the average player could not be involved)
1. The storyline: ok there are players who want to RP and become part of the story. Complaints that flow from this: no content, no interactivity
2. The community: these people are always in the contest and trying to better their skills. Complaints that flow from this: my faction left, no one around
Positive considerations
So, why would I use pull advertising (the cool advertising that you see one TV) when neither of the previously mentioned points can be expressed (well, it can, but its effective would be highly suspect considering the type of people this game attracts) through that type of promotion.
Instead, a one-to-one sale would make more sense. One-to-one sales is exactly what they're doing. Look, they put the game in the station pass pack and give a free trial on the internet. This is marketing people and it makes a lot of sense. What do I mean by one-to-one think of the tactics that you use to recruit someone to your faction. That's selling.
Again (as I said with other posts), I'll say if you want to do guerrilla-styled marketing tactics. Come up with a message that you think will sell the game then, hit all the websites that will attract the type of player that is already here. In other words, another game that requires the level of computer equipment that this game requires. You may also want to hit art websites and put up some of the great art they the artists here have done. I mean, LEs may not be canon, but its art in its own right.
Anyone who wants to RP can level a char to 50, come to recursion, they're RP'n their butts off.
Negative considerations
As far as slow development goes, give me a break vets. I complained about these problems ad nauseum. However, if you put this game side-by-side with other games. It's not that far off. I mean, in FFXI if you run a mission. You get near to nothing in return. However it does allow your player to do..."More". The flip side of that is this game almost always allows you to do..."More". After you hit about 25, it makes me think that what we're really saying is the game is too easy.
As far as the community is concerned: In other games, FFXI, if there's no one their you have to make do, i.e. find other ways to fulfill your goals or wait. This game you can solo just about everything. Again, it seems we're saying the game is too easy.
However, there are a few things I still don't understand. Why unlike every other game,MxO refuse to reward our efforts in a logical and meaningful way. Apart from bandwidth issues, how much most missions, crits, boxes, stay in their own little corner of the game? Aren't missions, quests, crits, boxes, supposed scale increase in time, difficulty, and meaning as time goes by (be it static or dynamic)?
Considering their actions, SOE has considers brand equity to be 0. Why? They're not trying to increase awareness though the means that would increase brand awareness. They are trying to increase sales through actual trial which would then increase sales. It's obvious they don't care about the brand. Why focus on sales?
Well, other than that's what you do when you have a commodity (Or are going to treat your product as such)...
We've answered this question a zillion times (minus one pertinent statement which I'll add later). Let's talk about the benefits of the game.
First, it can't be the game itself because this game has the same thing that every other game has: missions, crafting, PvP archives, PvP, dungeons (I'm not counting the LEs because they seem to organized in such a way that the average player could not be involved)
1. The storyline: ok there are players who want to RP and become part of the story. Complaints that flow from this: no content, no interactivity
2. The community: these people are always in the contest and trying to better their skills. Complaints that flow from this: my faction left, no one around
Positive considerations
So, why would I use pull advertising (the cool advertising that you see one TV) when neither of the previously mentioned points can be expressed (well, it can, but its effective would be highly suspect considering the type of people this game attracts) through that type of promotion.
Instead, a one-to-one sale would make more sense. One-to-one sales is exactly what they're doing. Look, they put the game in the station pass pack and give a free trial on the internet. This is marketing people and it makes a lot of sense. What do I mean by one-to-one think of the tactics that you use to recruit someone to your faction. That's selling.
Again (as I said with other posts), I'll say if you want to do guerrilla-styled marketing tactics. Come up with a message that you think will sell the game then, hit all the websites that will attract the type of player that is already here. In other words, another game that requires the level of computer equipment that this game requires. You may also want to hit art websites and put up some of the great art they the artists here have done. I mean, LEs may not be canon, but its art in its own right.
Anyone who wants to RP can level a char to 50, come to recursion, they're RP'n their butts off.
Negative considerations
As far as slow development goes, give me a break vets. I complained about these problems ad nauseum. However, if you put this game side-by-side with other games. It's not that far off. I mean, in FFXI if you run a mission. You get near to nothing in return. However it does allow your player to do..."More". The flip side of that is this game almost always allows you to do..."More". After you hit about 25, it makes me think that what we're really saying is the game is too easy.
As far as the community is concerned: In other games, FFXI, if there's no one their you have to make do, i.e. find other ways to fulfill your goals or wait. This game you can solo just about everything. Again, it seems we're saying the game is too easy.
However, there are a few things I still don't understand. Why unlike every other game,MxO refuse to reward our efforts in a logical and meaningful way. Apart from bandwidth issues, how much most missions, crits, boxes, stay in their own little corner of the game? Aren't missions, quests, crits, boxes, supposed scale increase in time, difficulty, and meaning as time goes by (be it static or dynamic)?