Slashdot Mirror
PlanetSide Community Takes Action to Market Game
Enilk Libb VII writes "Frustrated by Sony Online's lack of dedication to their game, the Planetside community has taken the initiative and started a 'Guerilla Marketing' campaign designed to attract new players to the game. Players know that Planetside is good - perhaps even a genre defining title - but that it often goes unnoticed in the gaming market, saturated as it is with FPS games. Forums dedicated to the discussion of computer games, it was decided, are the perfect places to advertise. A template was designed with links to a spectacular video of Planetside (made by a regular Planetside player), a 7-day free trial of the game itself, and a downloadable installer. A thread was started on the Planetside Forums and the players got to work. The effect of the campaign has been noticeable. Populations are growing noticeably. Due to the influx of new players, many veterans of the game have volunteered to be part of a team whose job will be to contact new players and 'buckle them in'." Now if they'd only lower the pricetag...
... maybe no one wants to play it because it isn't that good.
I played the game for awhile, and it doesn't take long to figure out having the achievements you made Monady Night wiped out while your at work make redoing the same thing on Tuesday Night not much fun.
Less Talk, More Beer.
In a market with no competition (save the Conquest mode in MechAssault 2 on the Xbox), why would they lower the price tag? They are the only MMOFPS afaik (Neocron and other shit notwithstanding). A 7 day trial is more than enough to decide whether you like it or not. Don't be a cheapskate.
Uninformed editorial comments hurt everyone, particularly the game in question.
schild
editor, f13.net
Supposing that this were some struggling large game by some large manufacturer, would we be yelling "astroturfing" instead of "innovative marketing"?
Just a thought...since "astroturfing" was the first thing that came to mind when I was reading the summary.
Planetside is, in it's heart, a good idea.
... and then there were the times I would spawn as a wall). SOE's customer service is probably the worst on the planet. (post all your log files, do all our work for you, wait days for any kind of response - I never got help from any at SOE except for getting a refund).
SOE sucked so badly at delivering it that it's just not a good game. It was horrifically buggy when it launched (my game would crash about 5 times in an hour before I would just stop at times
Then, when they start to stabilize it - they start to change the gameplay.
Basically, they had a decent idea, made a beta of it and boxed it. Now that players have fled the scenes in droves, SOE isn't willing to stick up a fight.
My suggestion - don't give SOE any more money on this drek. They don't deserve it. Yes, an MMOFPS could work. Go play some Battlefield until someone figures out how to make one.
I mean, just the concept of it seemed awesome: a futurisic, skill-based MMO with real-time wars!
In reality, the game falls flat. This is mainly because while the game is designed as a war sim, many (if not most) of the players play it like a MMO Quake deathmatch. People are absolutely obsessed with kill stats; rewards are based on kills, your status is based on kills. So while your side needs some (very limited, admittedly) logistics to win (such as driving AMSes, dropship pilots, medics, engineers, anti-aicraft), 9 out of 10 people are running around as infantry with the Heavy Assault weapons, reinforced exoskeletons, and personal shields, because it's the best setup for fragging (indoors; outdoors, most of them fly Reavers and spend all their time rocket-spamming infantry that can't really fight back).
Everything about the game just feels like it failed. There's no cooperation, no coordination, the devs don't even try to balance weapons (i.e. there's this weapon called the Maelstrom - a heavy assault weapon that fires a chain-lash grenade that can lash through doors - the end result is one weapon that renders all the special assault weapons obsolete, and allows one person to clear entire rooms and hallways of other people by firing through walls), there's no war being faught... it's just a giant frag-fast with a terrible engine and some of the worst, most frustrating net code I've ever seen.
So, thumbs up for Planetside's concept, but the devs took what could've been a truly unique and rewarding game, and stripped out all the unique and rewarding features so that they could compete with the likes of Quake. The game has the most arrogant, immature, and elitist community I've ever had the misfortune of experiencing, too.
Sure, there are outfits that are the exception: Glastonbury Brigade, Sturmgrenadier, and Warrior Nation (all outfits I've been a part of), but it's still hard for one outfit to make much headway in the face of a giant, swarming zerg of killwhores.
The best way I can convery the concept to anyone who hasn't played it is this:
Imagine you're playing a game of Tribes CTF. You've got 16 people on your team. 3 guys are genuinely trying to cooperate and get the other team's flag. 8 guys are completely ignoring the flag and are just trying to frag the other team, 1 idiot's running around TKing your guys and killing your own turrets, 2 more guys are arguing over a strategy to get the other flag, even though they're both, obviously barely-literate, mongoloid cock jockeys, the only guy with a vehicle is flying a bomber with no bombadier/gunner, and the last guy's AFK.
That's what Planetside feels like: a public CTF server. Except in Planetside, you have to pay a monthly fee.
Maybe some day they'll turn it around, but for the foreseeable future, I wouldn't recommend that game to anyone.
It's always nice to see someone stick up for the little guy!
Young aspiring companies like SOE need all the help they can get!
This game sucks not because of the lack of players, it sucks because the developers/community wanted an eq-fps. It does not appeal to the hard core fpser. If sony would have not taken such a noobie friendly stance and tweeked the major problems of the game early on they would be in a much better situation than they are in now. For example, have actual objectives instead of "capture the base, run away, recapture the base, run to next base, capture another base, recapture first base...". Instead they focused on the leveling aspect of the game instead of the actual gameplay.
Many fps vets, including myself, were turned off before the end of beta. The lack of a good aiming system and the lack of area damage was inexcusable. This plus the lack of any true obtanaible objective was the death warrant for this game. Planetside had its chance, and it believed that by just being a mmofps would be enough to intice all the gamers to play and stay. Sadly, that is not enough to take the vets away from their free multiplayer UT/Quake/HL and pay for musical base death match.
Is that video linked in the article supposed to make me want to play?
Sure, these points just reflect my tastes but:
1) Total lack of artistry in the game's artwork (the artwork looks like something a CAD student made, technical precision with no heart)
2) 100% PvP (sorry, no interest, I want the option of not doing PvP)
3) Oooh "shiny" disease seen everywhere
4) Everything looks so sterilised, yet another reason I despise futuristic games
Yes, flame me all you want. But, I think the above are glaring reasons why World of Warcraft has succeeded where others have failed.
Some of you have valid criticisms for not liking the game itself.
- You would like to see your progress mean something
- You don't like the weapons or the art
But a lot of you really have only *heard* about the game, or played it early on and in limited amounts.
The primary reason *we* the players feel this game deserves attention now is that it is in a very good state of balance and is overall a great experience if you are looking for what PS has to offer. We all like big battles and many of them so we are all for getting new players to come join us.
The game itself is well done and provides battles that no other game can offer. The players who play it love it to death and I have personally trained 5 new players that will be subscribing this week.
The comments I read about the public CTF server are right on the money but they DO NOT describe a PS server. These people are serious about playing and working together to win territory and bases, even if it gets captured when they log out. The fun is in the process.
I'm happy this got slashdotted or whatever, I just hope people can see past the uninformed negativity of most of the comments.
If you had a negative experience early in PS, consider it once again for free and come kill me on Markov, I play TR as WuChild.
I really don't care if SOE backs our efforts or not, it's my $13 a month and I want more people to shoot.
I don't get those who are blindly loyal to SOE's crap. SWG, EQ/EQ2, and Planetside all suck. Yet there are these people that think they can fix it by sticking around and giving them time. I say cancel your acct. and you'll probably see it get fixed a lot faster. They're just milking you and going about their day to day.
Reality check: The more money you give them, the less they'll want to put into fixing it. If you're sticking around, why bother?
No sig for you!!
A template was designed with links ... a 7-day free trial offered ... A thread was started on the Planetside Forums ...
And a slashdot story was submitted.
Don't all MMOGs die slowly a year or so after their release except for very rare games that are insanely popular? Only the speed at which it dies can be affected, perhaps, while increases in players just statistical noise, temporary deferrals of the inevitable. The only question is if the publisher knows that and adjusts expenditures accordingly to make a profit while not abandoning the game while there's still money to be made and repeat customers to piss off.