As we all know, iRO doesn't advertise. They're the only major official server distribution to forego advertising of any kind. This is idiotic to the nth degree.
So the question is, how did we get the playerbase we have, and how are we retaining it? If no one knows we exist, how are people appearing on Chaos and Loki? (sorry if a lot of this appears vindictive, but thinking about all the wasted potential -_-s me right off)
- Livestreams. There are a crapton of people trawling the interwebz looking for a new MMO to spend their life savings and the remainder of their existence playing. RO is an excellent platform for doing just that. It's addictive and Renewal is pretty much a cash shop with a game attached to it. Our more dedicated players spend a lot of time and effort in creating streams, showing off and pretending they're much more competent than they actually are with clever editing. This allows our server to indirectly advertise, and the players creating and uploading these videos will cut away the fat to show RO as some legendary, ageless MOBA/MMO hybrid (which is exactly what gamers of the current generation are looking for) filled to the brim with mad skillz to bolster their image, but also to recruit fodder and keep the game alive. No players = no opponents = no competition = no game = why we stream. To keep it alive.
- Steam. This is a biggie. Opening RO up to the Steam platform gave WarpPortal a huge opportunity and a massive potential market to play with. They've largely squandered this opportunity since they didn't push it hard enough, but it remains open to Steamers and as such, open to player recruitment. As a surprising majority of gamers use Steam to keep their library maintained, this also ties into the other points... except, maybe, the next one xD
- Private Servers. You can't make any argument that these shouldn't be on the list. Apparently ~80% of gamers that identify as "playing RO" do so on a private server. This isn't necessarily because they don't like iRO, but because they don't know iRO still exists (many players retired some years ago, and just assume the officials have died on account of pserver prominence). Privates advertise where officials don't, and when questioned about the legitimate servers from which their hackjobs are based, they only have bad things to say, since positivity towards officials will have players joining officials, thereby limiting gains. I'd link you to a recent thread concerning "Officials vs Privates" on RMS, but it's NSFW (they REALLY hate officials, evidently) and not allowed here anyway. Needless to say this constant barrage of negativity gets people wondering, and they try out officials regardless of common opinion, but it's rare and due to these players being raised on high rates with so much custom gear, they don't often stay.
- Word of Mouth. The players we already have on iRO are DEDICATED. They're here because it's their favourite game/social simulator/time sink/money sink, have been here a while and since established themselves, and they want irl friends and acquaintances to join them. MMOs are all about their communities after all (hell, it's why we have an active forum). So, they tell people about it! They post RO-related status updates on networking sites, talk about it at school or work, write about it on their personal blogs, and upload creative works to various places for critiquing. They try to sell it as if it were their own game, since for all intents and purposes in the context of marketing, it is, and they often succeed in getting people to give it a try. This is why, for every few players announcing their retirement, a few more sprout up and server pop is somewhat maintained. I've personally attracted a few avid gamers to RO, and I'm sure many of you guys have done this as well.
So the question for our lovely CMs is, why doesn't WarpPortal advertise? Knowing that marketing is 99% of one's product and awareness is everything, why don't they take steps to actually promote themselves and raise such awareness? Is it because they think we'll do it for them? THIS ISN'T OUR GAME. Our jobs and salaries aren't based on RO's performance. It's shouldn't fall on us, as we already do more than enough to keep things lively. See the countless wikis and databases that have come and gone for examples, along with the stream of excellent ideas and proposals that our community raises every day.
And my question to everyone else: "what have you done to promote RO?" Can you think of any ways to do so that I haven't listed? Can we get a petition to have WarpPortal spend even a modicum of their (admittedly slim) net profit to keep this game in the hearts and minds of gamers?
Btw I'm aware they do Let's Plays and occasional streams. This is good but it's only one, very limited aspect of marketing that requires backup from more traditional net advertising mediums.
Derpy derpy derp I can't think of a way to finish this so here's a "Woody" emote from another game that WarpPortal doesn't advertise
lol Woody.
Edited by AlmrOfAtlas, 10 July 2014 - 01:42 AM.