[MUD-Dev] EQ RPG

[Michael Tresca]

Daniel.Harman at barclayscapital.com posted on Wednesday, March 13,
2002 4:02 AM:

> Definitely an interesting move, I wonder how much of the rule set
> from the online version they will migrate. I also wonder whether
> people will want to play it when there are richer D&D campaign
> settings, and if you like EQ that much, won't you be playing the
> online version? Still, it will be interesting to see how this
> plays out.

I've always felt that cross-marketing is an integral way to get new
players.  Advertising in game magazines to gamers who already play
MMORPGs is pointless -- you're just trading the same customers back
and forth.  By exploring loosely related genres, there's the
potential to garner new customers.  As has been stated before
(although I have my doubts about this), there isn't a lot of
competition between the various gaming/interest types.

In the world of the gaming geek, there's quite a few creative
channels that could be advertised or otherwise used to complement a
game:

  * Comic Books
  * Role-Playing Games
  * Card Games
  * Movies
  * Novels
  * Miniatures/Wargaming
  * Action Figures
  * Animated Series

Pool of Radiance attempted to cross genres with a paper RPG and dice
bag accompanying the game.

The critics panned it.  It's #845 in Amazon's sales rank.

The other cross-genre attempts I've noticed:

  * EverQuest comic
  * EverQuest action figures
  * Warhammer action figures

  * A host of D&D related stuff (see
    http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/br/br20011201a).

WOTC has used this strategy before -- FINALLY.  Wheel of Time has
been licensed to D20 -- in this case, from novel to RPG.  Now SSS is
buying recognizable licenses.

If there isn't much cross-pollination between gaming channels, it
can only help the MMORPG and the RPG by introducing people to
something they might not normally play.  Imagine -- people may play
the MMORPG not for the shiny graphics but because they like the
characters, classes, and rules they played in a RPG.

Heh.

Mike "Talien" Tresca
RetroMUD Administrator
http://www.retromud.org/talien



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