Advertising: Ideas to help Graal

[Crono]

Originally Posted by Darlene159

Yes.

Are you serious?

[Darlene159]

Originally Posted by Gerami

Are you serious?

Let's not make this about my car.

[Crono]

Originally Posted by Darlene159

Let's not make this about my car.

I mean do you actually have that on your car???

To begin with Graal needs to be added to Xfire. I suggested this on Xfire forums without a response from anyone. :/

[Tyhm]

Originally Posted by Darlene159

<Edit> I want a bumpersticker

That's a bloody good idea...bumperstickers. I mean hell, all that requires is a printer, a design, and some of that sticky-paper; the admins could sell 'em for practically the cost of postage, get one of us to do it. Or even cheaper, just hand out the instructions, Print Your Own. Granted, the target audience doesn't own a car, but lockers can have stickers. Books can have covers.

Another thing - Your Own Graalian on a shirt. Never did it, even though the technology exists - the Hero Machine at UGO, you customize a hero and you can get it on a TShirt. How? I reckon they just print it on an iron-on transfer, do it themself and mail it out. Less resilient than the Graal shirts currently in the store, but much greater pride there.

*shrugs* Nike gets free advertising on every shirt They sell.

[Darlene159]

Originally Posted by Gerami

I mean do you actually have that on your car???

Absolutely.

[Tyhm]

Originally Posted by Gerami

I mean do you actually have that on your car???

To begin with Graal needs to be added to Xfire. I suggested this on Xfire forums without a response from anyone. :/

Originally Posted by Tyhm

Oh, and irule13 suggested posting Graal on XFire...

Shh.

[Darlene159]

Originally Posted by Tyhm

Another thing - Your Own Graalian on a shirt.

I would love to have my pixel character on a shirt, that would be cool, with my nick even!! And I would proudly put a bumpersticker on my car!

[Tyhm]

*shrugs* I used to accept checks for Graal. It's quite possible to get a trusted Admin to mail stuff out, be the American Branch of Cyberjoueurs. Hell, if we can find a Graphics Design major this can be their project - design the mediae, practice producing and distributing, hell of a blip on a resume.

[Spark910]

Originally Posted by Tyhm

all that requires is...

...13 year old graal players to have cars.

[KuJi]

Originally Posted by Tyhm

Shh.

Easily done aswell.. just let them know you can connect to servers via graal://SERVER_NAME

[Darlene159]

Originally Posted by Spark910

...13 year old graal players to have cars.

...or parents, or friends, or siblings, or other family members.

[Tyhm]

Originally Posted by Spark910

...13 year old graal players to have cars.

Originally Posted by Tyhm

Granted, the target audience doesn't own a car, but lockers can have stickers. Books can have covers.

Shh.

[jake13jake]

Originally Posted by Spark910

...13 year old graal players to have cars.

Someone obviously has no idea about the demographics of MMORPGs. There are people in their 60s that play Graal-like games.

Some people have actually done extensive research on MMORPGs:
The Daedalus Project

One interesting article I once came upon regarding MMORPGs discussed player opinion on how there are workers in China that spend their whole day making money on an online game and selling the virtual money for real world cash.

[Crono]

Originally Posted by Tyhm

Shh.

I never said im presenting a new idea.

Shh.

Edit- If I had money I'd buy a beater car like a 200SX, have it painted all black, have big pluffies on the left right and hood, and have www.graalonline.com on the sides in green below the pluffy.

Im serious.

[Tyhm]

If only we could get through to Unixmad, we could put a contest on the website to design the bumperstickers, etc...

[Spark910]

Originally Posted by Tyhm

If only we could get through to Unixmad, we could put a contest on the website to design the bumperstickers, etc...

Because, like the hub world, it is really going to save graal.

[Tyhm]

unfortunately, our ideas still get drowned out by the usual background noise of the forum (ie, Boo, I'll quit if you make me pay, etc.), and he hasn't appeared on my ICQ. And nobody wants to take the initiative anymore, just in case he objects to the core concept...
I guess I'll forum-PM him...I doubt Ibonic has any secret hotline to contact him on our behalf.

[Spark910]

Originally Posted by Tyhm

unfortunately, our ideas still get drowned out by the usual background noise of the forum (ie, Boo, I'll quit if you make me pay, etc.), and he hasn't appeared on my ICQ. And nobody wants to take the initiative anymore, just in case he objects to the core concept...
I guess I'll forum-PM him...I doubt Ibonic has any secret hotline to contact him on our behalf.

Yes, I'm not too happy he said Graal had issues, then ran off without commenting on some of these ideas

[pacMASTA]

Originally Posted by Darlene159

...or parents, or friends, or siblings, or other family members.

I would throw it in the bin if i recieve a graal picture in any way shape or form.

Honestly who wants to deface their property with an ugly blown up pixelated picture of your graal character when blown up the quality would look horific. Honestly the shirts look stupid enough. Their is no real graal fanbase you dont see anyone running around saying I LOVE GRAAL like some people like CS, Battlefield series, star wars, warcraft, etc. So this is a terrible idea selling merchandice is just a waste of time.

[Admins]

It's not like we don't read these forums. We have several things planned, and will announce them when it's time. There are around 6-7 points of the poll which are connected to those plans. It is not that easy to take part in these discussions because people take everything for granted and official when it's just opinion, and on the other hand think it's just an opinion and can make fun of it when its official.

[Darlene159]

Originally Posted by pacMASTA

Honestly the shirts look stupid enough.

I have 2 of the shirts, and I wear them all the time.
I would love to have a special made one of my character and nick though.

I have even thought of having a license plate made with my nick and character on it. It would be cool.

[pacMASTA]

Originally Posted by Darlene159

I have 2 of the shirts, and I wear them all the time.
I would love to have a special made one of my character and nick though.

I have even thought of having a license plate made with my nick and character on it. It would be cool.

The shirts are terrible though they have bad pictures... Im sure players could find better pictures to represent the graalonline game instead of some unlinked images that dont look that great.

[Darlene159]

Originally Posted by pacMASTA

The shirts are terrible though they have bad pictures... Im sure players could find better pictures to represent the graalonline game instead of some unlinked images that dont look that great.

I don't think they are terrible pictures, but I do agree that they don't accurately show Graal as it is. It might be close to the gold server characters? I think it would be cool to have different ones from popular classic, and gold characters, as well as people being able to have special ones made (for a higher price, of course).

[zim5354]

i would never wear a graal shirt...anywhere lol.

[Darlene159]

Originally Posted by zim5354

i would never wear a graal shirt...anywhere lol.

*shrugs*
I like to advertise hobbies that I enjoy.

[Tyhm]

Fine, you kids gonna put your money where your mouth is and show us all how a REAL business gets the word out, or just whine all day?

[Crono]

Originally Posted by Tyhm

Fine, you kids gonna put your money where your mouth is and show us all how a REAL business gets the word out, or just whine all day?

We don't need to show a real business how a real business gets going. Or rather, we shouldn't. Even then I can't see tons of people paying for Graal, as it doesn't really have much to offer to them. I say wait for servers like New Val, a new Gold server, and servers like Zenkou to finally finish then try to draw players to Graal.

[_Z3phyr_]

Wanna know how to get the game out there?

Asiatic language support.

BAM

[Tyhm]

fine, real suggestions to prevent Graal from having to go Monthly Classic. Opening up the asian markets Would help; in what regards is it presently closed? Is it not possible to write Say2s with an extended keyboard or something? Or are you suggesting that the script editor should translate commands that make more sense in Korean into the standard germanic/english, ie they type ?????(??=0) and it's translated into While(aa=0)? Is it presently possible to chat in Extended? I don't imagine a real-time translator would be any more practical for asian languages than it was for european, but I see nothing wrong with a change in font; if someone walks up and says IYaiji! they may as well say ????? (pretend that's hiragana). On that topic, does anyone know of a good free font for the various asian languages? Or can it be generally assumed that the various operating systems have one available on request?

As for when would be best to advertise; Wait for a new Gold server's valid, I personally think we can get started as soon as there's an up to date website to direct them to but that's me...how awesome New Val will be remains to be seen, maybe it really will revolutionize the w0rld; I think we all think that about our servers.

[Tyhm]

And if we DO wind up with a banner ad, I still say BobAndGeorge. Just my luck, they're accepting ads now...by the time we've got one ready it'll probably be too late again.

[excaliber7388]

Wow, okay, here's what you do:
News letters to all available emails we have, things showing new improvements in graal, the same community, and people having fun. This will help get back the people who quite, and maybe get some other people to upgrade, or try out other servers.
That's free.
Now, you can put google ads on the forums, and advertise Graal on google ads. They generate some revenue, an some traffic.
But um.. before that last step: improve the home page.
-Up to date, and more player involved (maybe a message board, customer reviews, etc).
Then make a few banners, and get them out there. Contact an ad agency, give them your banners, they put them on the sites.
Have ones targeted at different people: Players, develoers, or people who want a good community.
Put ones for developers on sites like tripod, computer programming sites, etc
Gaming ones obviously on games
Community ones on forums, etc
Obviously, you mix it up a bit slightly, to get the people who don't fit in the catagories.
Also better customer service is a must
You have to keep your customers happy if you want to keep them.
Also: take their advice, they know what's best for the game they play. THey know what people their age think. Losten to them, and you can keep everyone happy. Happy customers pay you more.

[Skyld]

Originally Posted by excaliber7388

Now, you can put google ads on the forums, and advertise Graal on google ads. They generate some revenue, an some traffic.

No no NO NO NO NO NO

The put Google Ads on the UGCC and look at them. They're hideous. They're ugly. They're unsightly.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by Skyld

No no NO NO NO NO NO

The put Google Ads on the UGCC and look at them. They're hideous. They're ugly. They're unsightly.

...and they advertise products of potential competition.

[Darlene159]

Originally Posted by excaliber7388

Also better customer service is a must
You have to keep your customers happy if you want to keep them.
Also: take their advice, they know what's best for the game they play. THey know what people their age think. Losten to them, and you can keep everyone happy. Happy customers pay you more.

It is impossible to make everyone happy. Really, it depends on how far you think the owners should go to keep customers happy. They should never go so far as to degrade themselves, and the game/product. Sometimes it is really hard to find a happy medium, especially when you are dealing with children.

[Tyhm]

Originally Posted by Darlene159

It is impossible to make everyone happy. Really, it depends on how far you think the owners should go to keep customers happy. They should never go so far as to degrade themselves, and the game/product. Sometimes it is really hard to find a happy medium, especially when you are dealing with children.

True; for one, it'd make a lot of players happy if Graal went 100% Free again, but that would be an unhealthy business decision. (though 1 free server's all it takes to get back into the Shareware market, which I consider a Good Idea)
Two, speaking as a former manager, what the players want and what they need are disparate concepts. The players WANT 20 hearts and the goldsword and boots that alternately let them cross the map in record time and make them invincible, but they don't want anyone Else to have these things; what they Need is either a balanced server, more quests, or a variety of chracter options, depending on how you view their request. Bit of a tangent, but the point is, all these people who want Graal to sell the server - I imagine the vast majority want Their Own Server under Their Own Rules and Nobody Else's. If they got it, they'd spend maybe a week making, I dunno, Naruto Overdrive School of Otter-Fu, then be dismayed at how many other people are stealing their market. What do we need for such things? More relaxed copyright regulations? I suppose we could look into Parody Laws, but I doubt our hypothetical Narutard would be content with a Narudo in red with a pidgeon symbol on his wooden headband. It's a too many scientists, not enough hunchbacks situation; better cooperation between potential servers will bring more servers to the market, developed by more people than if they each were developing in secret...but everyone Wants to be the manager, so.
Three, finally - what do we really mean when We The Players say we want more say in how the game's run? Granted, I can't possibly speak for Everyone, but I imagine we really just want to be heard, our input acknowledged. Not to take total responsibility for running the server, certainly not for managing its finances (and worry about anyone who claims to have Unixmad's best financial interests at heart - even I'm ultimately here to see the game I love blossom regardless of financial victories). And by Heard and Acknowledged, that means when we have an idea to make the game better we can either act on it or at least find out why we can't - There will be Global Commmunication in the next version and here's the proposed syntax, -or- Sure, write up a news post for the website in PHP and I'll review it, -or- I'm sorry but we can't get away with actually making a Minnish Cap Server, you guys are gonna have to change the following aspects, (insert list here).
But that'd detract from the Top 2 Admins doing their jobs, so...should maybe Ibonic be given the authority and responsibility to speak For them? It might help.

[jake13jake]

Originally Posted by jake13jake

Some people have actually done extensive research on MMORPGs:
The Daedalus Project

Won't anybody at least GLANCE at this reference? Seriously.
Tyhm, I also have a pretty good idea for a server. It would be much more simplistic and quite out-there graphically than most servers which would make its design much easier. Makes me wish Cappa were still around. You should forum PM me about it.

[Tyhm]

*long response to Massokre...*
But that's not particularly relevant to advertising, so I move it to here.

[jake13jake]

Originally Posted by jake13jake

Won't anybody at least GLANCE at this reference? Seriously.

Originally Posted by jake13jake

Some people have actually done extensive research on MMORPGs:
The Daedalus Project

Everyone seems to be ignoring anything relevant I say.

[Tyhm]

I looked at it. My eyes bled. Too much text to read online. "Are people getting addicted to online video games? An in-depth study, by K. Melman" or whoever.

[jake13jake]

Originally Posted by Tyhm

I looked at it. My eyes bled. Too much text to read online. "Are people getting addicted to online video games? An in-depth study, by K. Melman" or whoever.

The information is still quite valuable.

Yee, N (in press). Motivations of Play in Online Games. CyberPsychology and Behavior. PDF

Yee, N. (2006). The Demographics, Motivations and Derived Experiences of Users of Massively-Multiuser Online Graphical Environments. PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 15, 309-329. PDF