[MUD-Dev] Advertising Thread

[Brandon J. Van Every]

Matt Mihaly wrote:
> On Fri, 9 Aug 2002, Brandon J. Van Every wrote:

>> When is the MUD market ever grown then?  You just hope someone
>> stumbles on to The Mudconnector by blind chance?

> Word of mouth is the most powerful method of advertising for MUDs,
> and, indeed, all games. A gazillion people didn't buy the Sims
> because of their lame tv commercials. They bought it because their
> officemate raved about what a great game it was.

I'll contest that one!  The Sims is now the moneymakingest computer
game of all time.  It surpassed Myst at least as of GDC 2002 if not
earlier.  Word of mouth around the water cooler is hardly the only
factor here.  The other factors are (1) mainstream marketing and
distribution - you can buy them in Walmart.

(2) *Nobody* is competing against them!  In an industry where
everyone rips off everything right, left, and center, *nobody* has
chosen to make a Sims clone and take market share away from Maxis.
That's an interesting indictment of game industry psychology, it
says a lot about who we are and who we aren't.

(3) The Sims is graphically pleasing but has low system
requirements.  They are not chasing the latest greatest 3D
accelerator crowd, because that's not most consumers.  I imagine
they'll do a completely 3D Sims sometime when basic 3D capabilities
are very standard on nearly all computers out there.

Regarding MUDs, what's the point?  The point is, word-of-mouth alone
isn't "the most powerful form of advertizing."  You're supposed to
do it in combination with something else; MUD people just don't take
marketing and advertizing very seriously.  They get the results
they're willing to pay for, which is not much!

>> Looking at the numbers above, it's quite clear that MUDs are a
>> teeny, tiny, eensy, weensy part of the "breadth of the field."
>> Like 1% of what a game designer could concern himself with.  I'm
>> sure you'll understand why so many game designers found something
>> else to do, and didn't spend their days studying up on MUDs that
>> have never effectively advertized their capabilities.

> Sure, I agree that's true as long as you assume that game
> designers are all nothing but commercial whores interested in
> nothing but generating the maximum amount of revenue.

Of commercial whores, principled commercial designers, independent
deginers, students pursuing game development degrees, and hobbyist
designers, even the latter can see MUDs as 1% of all the game design
issues they could possibly worry about.  RTS, FPS, and to a lesser
extent CRPG consume the vast majority of game designer thought, and
that's due to what sells.  They are central to the discourse of game
design.  MUDs aren't.  If MMOGs ever start making as much money as
the other genres, then it'll become something other than a fringe
game designer interest.


Cheers,                         www.3DProgrammer.com
Brandon Van Every               Seattle, WA

20% of the world is real.
80% is gobbledygook we make up inside our own heads.


_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
https://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev