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| Game Growth. | Started by: Sprozzington on Mar 24, '08 11:05 |
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My view may be completely distorted here, but here's how I'm seeing the current field of play: All game growth is being supported by the playing userbase rather than the admins. The links to vote for the games on any sites are present only in profiles and posts in forums made by the playing staff. I'm not including the advertising here since it is not a regular occurrence and is paid for by the players, by and large. To be frank, all the attempts at increasing the userbase have fallen short of the mark. Before anyone gets offended, I'm not blaming anyone for this, it's a fact and I'm stating it. - The forty-eight hour rule, which has been in place for a year, has not resulted in a substantial increase in users. I would guess that the majority of all new players get into a family as soon as they can anyway. - Voting on sites has not been the success we have hoped. Despite seeing one or two members who'd been referred here from the TWG site and so on, voting figures there have slumped after the initial push. - As a general rule of thumb, advertising currently seems not worth bothering about in terms of game growth, since nearly all(don't have exact figures here, sorry) new players don't bother staying around for any length of time. Personally, I can see why here, the site is based around interaction, and pettying can be fairly boring if you've got nothing to do in the mean time. Therefore, I've got a couple of suggestions which might help to resolve some of these issues; surely there's no harm in attracting new users before the arrival of v2? Regarding 48 Hours As I've already touched upon, this hasn't led to a substantial increase in users so there's no reason for it to be there; though even if the crewleaders revoked it, there would still be there admin protection. Therefore, I suggest that civilians turn thugs after 24 hours, and turn gangster 48 hours, where shooting, mugging, joining a family and X number of mails/forum posts would void the timing. Pros - Affords new players protection without providing immunity to old time players who are only abusing the rule. Cons - Takes freedom out of the hands of players, perhaps contributes to the 'coddled' society that has been created. Voting on Sites Include admin incentives for voting on a number of sites. It doesn't have to be a stat or monetary boost; in general, people enjoy recognition, so make a page detailing the week's biggest voters. Furthermore, to take a leaf out of almost every online game - why not include referals with a small incentive for every referral, perhaps $5000 or thereabouts, again with a "Top Referrers" page/table. Pros - Being recognised for voting will get more people voting. The idea of referrals results in a more direct increase in users. Cons - Unsure of the difficulty involved in coding the game to recognise who has voted and so on. Inclusion of financial bonus for referrals could result in people duping to gain an advantage. Advertising As I've said, to someone who knows no one and doesn't know what to do, the site can seem very intimidating and boring. Including a condensed version of the bible in a page by page tutorial upon signing up could make a difference. Pros - Eases new players into the game more gradually Cons - Again, perhaps more harm than good in the long run as newer players expect things on a silver platter. Obviously, I realise that none of these suggestions are perfect, nor are they guaranteed to draw members, but it still doesn't hurt to try, eh? |
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| Reply by: TonyLuciano at Mar 24, '08 11:52 | |
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You make some valid points Sprozzington as always and its great to see someone trying to change the world for the growth of this site. The points that really stuck out for me were; 48 hr rule - yes your are right when i played this game for the first time (i found it through a link on FHM.com) 24 hour was plenty of time. but that is a whole issue in it self so i will leave my rant there. Advertising i believe it is well spent as i have noticed a big influx of players on the 17th March (just take a look at the obits regarding IAs- before you point out i know not a great point but one never the less), but as you stated they do not hang around long enough but i believe that is another point altogether - trying to retain them, maybe thats where we should step up to the plate? With regards to voting i have not seen a dramatic increase of new players from these sites (granted i was not around when it was first launched so there might have been a bigger increase then) so maybe that needs to be addressed or maybe like you mentioned needs a bigger incentive at the end of the day thats what we all work off is incentives. You touched on something with regards to the bible, when i talk to new players and ask if they are going ok, most of them haven't even heard or seen the mafia bible! so i point them in the right direction and give them 15min to read and i touch base again but they will ask the same questions that they could of found on the bible. So maybe you have a point with regards to it being to indepth (even though i still like to read it to brush up on things!). I believe perhaps as users maybe we should interact a bit more when we see new names coming onto the sight or people with very little posts/mob mails etc. As you said on the outset this game can seem quite boring and myself too become so, specially if nothing is happening on irc or in the streets god knows what new people must think? So perhaps lower rankers of families (does not have to be limited to these) could (as a side job to earning money etc) go around and not welcome new members but try and pass on experience. This will force them to lern the game if they dont know an answer this will in turn force them to talk to higher rankers and then pass on their information to the new comers. A cricle if you will. Its off the top of my head so may have flaws but will appreciate feedback. |
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| Reply by: JD at Mar 24, '08 14:18 | |
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From what I have been told there will be no advertising done until the new version is up as it is seen as a waste of money and time. The reasoning I am told is why get people used to this version when the next one is "coming soon" and totally different from this one. All we have to depend on right now to get new members joining our community is word of mouth. If you have a website, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, etc account you can put a link to Mafia Returns on it in the form of a text link or banner. You can right click on the banner on the log in page and save it for use. |
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| Reply by: Serafina_Pekkala at Mar 24, '08 20:26 | |
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