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make darkspace popular |
Paranius Starsplitter
Cadet
Joined: December 04, 2001
Posts: 53
From: Schofield Barracks, HI
|  Posted: 2007-03-03 08:33
it would be nice if we could make darkspace hugely popular. it used to be at least a lot more popular than it is now. a lot.
what can we do, umm....donate money or something?
this game is still the best mmo out there. infact if it were brand new, and you just release it tomorrow, people wouldnt kno the difference. i think getting new players is a matter of advertising. but getting them to stick around, well i heard THATS due to a lot of reasons, like lack of development interest.
but theres probably a formula somewhere...
(amount of players)=development interest or something... and thats really all you need, right?
what if we advertised this game like on TV or something. i bet that would do it
starsplitter
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Paranius Starsplitter
Cadet
Joined: December 04, 2001
Posts: 53
From: Schofield Barracks, HI
| Posted: 2007-03-03 08:36
btw., i support making faustus rich (in subscriptions)
but i hears it ok tosettle with being rich in love i guess hmmmhmmmmm.....
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BackSlash
Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 23, 2003
Posts: 11183
From: Bristol, England
| Posted: 2007-03-03 12:27
Quote:
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On 2007-03-03 08:36, Paranius Starsplitter wrote:
btw., i support making faustus rich (in subscriptions)
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As do we all.
In reality however, that's not as easy as it sounds.
He has a family he needs to support, and DarkSpace does not bring in enough revenue to justify him working on it full time.
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Drafell
Grand Admiral
Mythica
Joined: May 30, 2003
Posts: 2449
From: United Kingdom
| Posted: 2007-03-03 14:15
The trick with making any product popular is PR. It takes a really huge effort and amount of time to effectively promote any product.
There are certain forms of promotion that (for DarkSpace) would not be very effective as the generally target the wrong kind of audience. TV and Radio advertisements are two prime examples. For the cost/benefit ratio (given the current state of the DS product) it is not a viable solution. There are certain area's where you might see some reasonable feedback (advertising around sci-fi shows etc), but the total conversion rate compared to the cost of such advertising is not something that can be achieved with any reasonable degree of success.
You are looking about $45,000 just to produce the advertisement in additional to another $10-$50,000 for each broadcast as well as additional fee's and legals costs for assuring that the production meets the ERSB ratings. Radio is a lot cheaper, but still a very similar situation where total cost is going to be around the $25-30,000 mark. There are far better things that such money could be utilized for (if we even had it). There are definitely more cost effective options in terms of any broadcasting, but they will be for the wrong target audiences and essentially a waste of the money involved.
The most effective means given the current game states is essential word of mouth and community promotion. Ideally we would have active developers posting regular updates on the game state and progress, and a dedicated team to provide media materials, such as short movies, "State of the Game" reviews, in depth articles into certain game area's and dealing with general community relations. Essentially we would have a body of staff entirely dedicated to PR.
Currently we have a few Admins and Moderators. Our primary responsibilities are to take care of the community itself, ensuring it's stability and smooth runnings as well as maintaining the current state of the game system.
Some of us also take on additional roles, for example I try to do a lot of Public Relations (communicating updates to various websites, responding to general queries from users of those sites and more), but it is all time consuming, and ultimately draining. You have to be very careful in how certain responses are phrased and over the general tone of any articles and posts. Most importantly you need to know how to promote the best aspects of the game and misleading, without being misleading over any faults or issues, or sounding arrogant. If you misrepresent something then all your work can easily be undone and it essentially shatters any trust in the client<>provider relationship.
There are some examples of work I have done related to the above here.
Yet there is a limit to what one person can do, especially if they are affiliated with the game itself in any official capacity. Take a look at the above linked threads. I have provided responses where I can, but this form of promotion is still heavily reliant on independent corroboration. Without others affirming or counteracting views and providing their own positive (or even negative) opinions and feedback, there is a low degree of believability on the information that is provided.
People of often believe that game staff are blinded to concerns and the real issues. In many respects this can be true and it is a sad case that there is usually a large difference between what the PR guys says and what the experience itself is actually like. this is the part where the community itself can play a major role. Simple acknowledgment of good aspects and faults, without sounding self interested, arrogant, blinkered (the typical fan/hateboy responses) can do more to help anyone interested provide their own fair judgments than any person acting in an official capacity.
Any example would be something like this:
Quote:
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From what I have seen in the last however long this game is as good as dead, all it really needs is to be laid out.
I think you are right this game was a good game a few years back but now however it's race has been run and I truly don't believe it will ever make a come back to a point where it will ever have any more and a hand full of players online at the one time.
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How do you respond to such a statement? First you need to accept that the game IS old - we are not trying to alienate or misdirect potential gamers here. He considers the game is dead, but the community, however small, is still active. you can say as much. essentially it acknowledges his views, but in a positive manner. Here you could also say that we have so far outlasted several other more 'popular' titles despite only being small, so that the fact we are still in existence means we must be getting something right. Again it acknowledges his views in a positive light. There is still a solid core to the game which is unique and not found elsewhere and this is something that can definitely be used to promote DarkSpace.
We can also accept that it may not become the next EvE or WoW, it can be pointed out that in reality we aren't trying to compete on that level, but that does not stop us from maintaining and building the community and succeeding in our own particular way.
The most important aspect is to not raise false expectations about what we can and can't offer compared to other titles, only that we DO have something to offer that may not necessarily be superior, but different enough to warrant them spending their time here.
My apologies for all the techno-babble, but in a very real way it's down to the community at large to help DarkSpace become what it wants to be, and unless you can understand just how invaluable such help can be, and the little effort that is required from you as a group. For one person it's an uphill struggle, much akin to rolling a massive cheese wheel to a mountain summit,. and the end that person would be exhausted and completely drained.
However, for a group, it is possible for everyone to do their own small part taking only a little energy. It requires the same overall effort, but at the end of the ride you still have enough energy to be able to enjoy your success.
Maybe this also helps answer some of the questions about why some Staff tend not to play so often or how they even got where they are. Or how sometimes we don't show much enthusiasm or drive for dealing with certain issues.
You may not be official representatives or you may not even know much about the intricacies of DS itself. You may even thing the current system is utter crap, but I think you would be surprised about how much even just a little extra help from the community at large can do.
-Draf.
[ This Message was edited by: Drafell on 2007-03-03 14:27 ]
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DarkSpace Developer - Retired
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Lark of Serenity
Grand Admiral
Raven Warriors
Joined: June 02, 2002
Posts: 2516
| Posted: 2007-03-03 14:44
go out, tell people the game exists.
maaaybe way for the new patch, perhaps even tell a little lie and say the new patch is the release if you dont think itll hurt.
but as draf said, the fact weve been around for what, 6 years? is amazing. ive been playing this game nearly 4 years. the only other series ive given this much attention is Tribes, and that was over 2 games, not 1.
DS has a lot of things to sell it on, but its up to the community to do the selling.
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Admiral Larky, The Wolf
Don't play with fire, play with Larky.
Raven Division Command - 1st Division
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Kanman
Grand Admiral
Pitch Black
Joined: August 26, 2005
Posts: 1017
From: Virginia, United States
| Posted: 2007-03-03 14:51
I tell people of this game. Everyone that knows me (beyond simply my name) knows about DS. I wrote about DS in my 'self-intro' for english class and the 'self-intro' was so well layed out that the teacher read it to the class. So, now my whole English class knows about DS too.
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Sanity Assassin (K'Luth propaganda)
Grand Admiral
Sanity Assassins
Joined: February 19, 2006
Posts: 919
From: Pittsburgh PA, USA
| Posted: 2007-03-03 15:17
donate....ive said this
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Lark of Serenity
Grand Admiral
Raven Warriors
Joined: June 02, 2002
Posts: 2516
| Posted: 2007-03-03 15:32
personally i try to be subbed all the time, even when im not really active.
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Admiral Larky, The Wolf
Don't play with fire, play with Larky.
Raven Division Command - 1st Division
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Tikki
Cadet
Raven Warriors
Joined: March 10, 2005
Posts: 132
From: Canuckistan
| Posted: 2007-03-03 16:00
Quote:
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On 2007-03-03 15:32, Lark of Serenity wrote:
personally i try to be subbed all the time, even when im not really active.
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Heck, I've been subbed the past few months even though I'm not playing. I'm really hopeful of the next release.
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Alien Mastermind
Grand Admiral
Pitch Black
Joined: January 20, 2003
Posts: 242
From: Toronto
| Posted: 2007-03-03 18:42
If you want to "donate", you can always sub other people.... 
(kidding, i wouldn't be able to play even if i wanted to)
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Fattierob
Vice Admiral
Joined: April 25, 2003
Posts: 4059
| Posted: 2007-03-03 22:42
I'll throw in my opinion.
First off, we need a game. A. Good. Game. Right now, it's really hard to advertise darkspace - it won't appeal to anybody, except those that know it. What we need is the next patch and hopefully.....we can have something to exclaim about.
But sitting around never does anything. We can't just sti here and wait for Faustus (No offense, I hope)
First off, we need to show to the world two things about darkspace:
1) It's still here
2) It's still kicking ass with the best community that is extremely well moderated.
I think that the the community aspect will appear to older gamers - those that don't want 14 year olds running around going "PWNED!!!!111111".
I think the first aspect will appear to everyone - not alot know about Darkspace.
Cheap suggestion: Youtube, mmorpg.com Upload. Make videos. Make Combat Videos. Add your own flair to it. Make stupid crappy blog posts. Anything. Spread the name "Darkspace".
If you truely want to see this game suceed past it's current incarnation, I think we all need to start working on some project - some clip of darkspace that shows what it is. What it will be. What it has over the other guy. I know we all zealously love this game. Ask not what Darkspace can do for you, ask what you can do for Darkspace.
Also, read draffs post.
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Enterprise
Chief Marshal
Raven Warriors
Joined: May 19, 2002
Posts: 2576
From: Hawthorne, Nevada
| Posted: 2007-03-04 04:28
I'm no good for the public relations part, I'm too blunt and foreward.  And it might be better to wait for a newer patch, we don't want to bring in a large amount of people and all they see is a game which is fun but is on very shakey ground as far as gameplay.
That word spreads, and DS doesnt need a bad light on it, not now.
But then again, anyone notice lately the flood of newer people and the return of older players?
Thats rather encouraging itself.
But in any case, the best thing the community can do is support the game, which most of us do. And I dont mean in just monetary forms, but attitude wise. No nubbin is gonna stay around long if the first things they see is something like "OMFG THIS GAME SUXORZ".
There are still those few bad apples who are determined to yell how crappy the game is, but what can you do about them? We know this version isnt perfect aye? Thats why the next will be important.
We all know that DS is and can be and has been, popular to its particular niche. Everytime a new patch comes with the free time, a horde of people come to see if its improved.
So DS has not quite lost its flair.
Its up to the community to not lose all hope and up to Faustus to make sure hoping was not in vain.
-Ent
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BackSlash
Marshal
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 23, 2003
Posts: 11183
From: Bristol, England
| Posted: 2007-03-04 05:42
Quote:
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On 2007-03-03 18:42, Alien Bum wrote:
If you want to "donate", you can always sub other people....
(kidding, i wouldn't be able to play even if i wanted to)
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That's actually a very good idea.
About two years ago, I had £500 I wanted to give it to DarkSpace. Faustus wouldn't reply to my emails (he's a busy man), so Shigernafy suggested that I simply subscribe people. That way two things happen.
1) Faustus gets more money.
2) More people can play.
Today, this is even more important, because DarkSpace is teetering on the edge of not making enough money to break even.
If you want to make DS more popular, and get more people playing - subscribe people.
[ This Message was edited by: BackSlash *Jack* on 2007-03-04 08:02 ]
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g0ds s0ldier
Grand Admiral
Pitch Black
Joined: October 24, 2002
Posts: 954
| Posted: 2007-03-04 07:44
ur so nice
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Pitch Black
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MrSparkle
Marshal
Joined: August 13, 2001
Posts: 1912
From: mrsparkle
| Posted: 2007-03-04 11:14
First thing that needs to be done is to get rid of the screenshot that says Omg lag! That's one of the screenshots listed right here under the link, and it's one of the few screenshots featured at mmorpg.com
(EDIT: It's the green-overlayed map screenshot)
You want to scare a potential player away from a game? You show them a screenshot with a player exclaiming "omg lag!" You want to do it even better and scare away many at a time? Feature it on your website.
Even if it's the truth (and apparently it still is) it is not a good idea to feature a screenshot like that. Who's in charge of this website and how can I convince him to remove it?
http://www.darkspace.net/?lang=en&sid=&module=shots.php (it's under 3/2/2004 - New Screen Shots
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/setView/screens/gameID/144/setStart/1
At mmorpg.com it's the 1st screenshot shown lol!
Someone has got to get rid of it! Who knows how many potential players saw that screenshot and decided right then and there that DS wasn't for them? And who could blame them?
[small][ This Message was edited by: MrSparkle on 2007-03-04 11:15 ][/small]
[ This Message was edited by: MrSparkle on 2007-03-04 11:16 ]
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