NWN2/BGTSCC Marketing?

[Maecius]

As I sit here comparing the player populations of Neverwinter Nights with Neverwinter Nights 2, I idly wonder how much marketing our game gets these days?

Our game's producers and Gamespy alike have abandoned us for more profitable ventures of course, and I don't blame them for that; but there's still word-of-mouth and online community marketing. With the game on sale on GOG so often (pretty much every time they have a sale), one would think generating player interest on roleplaying forums, gaming forums, and social media platforms wouldn't be too difficult.

With the release of both Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition games, and the new Siege of Dragonspear Castle, you'd also think our server specifically might have some currency again, as well, with a (somewhat) new generation of fans.

It's difficult, after all, to think of any other more modern games that allow the level of collaborative storytelling that we enjoy here (besides, of course, the first NWN). And many roleplayers, active on traditional MMOs, eventually grow frustrated with the fact that they have no true impact on the overall story of their chosen games, and also have to share those games with the more casual, non-roleplaying gamers.

So I'm wondering:

How often do we, as a community, get the word out there? Whether it's plugging the server in a Deviant Art post, recommending it on social media, or talking about it to a friend or guild on another gaming platform?

And would anyone be interested in taking a more active marketing and public relations role on behalf of the community (and specifically BGTSCC, though I've always advocated that a healthy community is a good thing for us all)? Maybe by generating a little interest and noise across the Internet whenever the game does go on sale?

On a related note, those of you who are new players here, how did you hear about the game, and the multiplayer worlds in particular? As I fear with the Gamespy servers down, even people who buy the single player game on sale for fun are going to have a hard time finding the persistent worlds without an insider or a tutorial?

[Akroma666]

I signed up 5 people this last month..

And only one quit so far.. Lol

[Steve]

Well, there is no Facebook page.

[tfunke]

I was thinking about this as well just last night.
If only we had a database of email addresses, that we could shoot out mass emails, telling old/new/currrent players what's new etc. I mean we could easily set one up now, where players could volunteer their email addresses to keep informed over time, but it might be too late by now?

Well, there is no Facebook page.

This would probably do the same thing to be honest.

[Maecius]

@Akroma666

Great work!

This game's not for everyone, but those who do fall in love with it tend to stick around for years!

@Steve

Do you really think a social media presence like that would be useful to the server? I mean, it's one thing to plug it around the Internet when it's on sale, but how many people are going to follow a gaming page on Facebook?

An honest question, as I have no idea how Facebook works. I've never used it myself.

@tfunke

We do have everybody's email addresses, but I wonder if it wouldn't be rude to just out of the blue email people who've not been around for six, seven, eight years? Kind of like chambordini says, it might come off as annoying to some of the people who've long ago moved on.

Although I suppose that's part of marketing? Not being afraid to poke someone in the eye to get their attention?

[Steve]

"As of the first quarter of 2016, Facebook had 1.65 billion monthly active users. "

On Facebook, depending on User Settings, Friends can see other Friends groups. If a person shares a post on the BGTSCC page, all their Friends will see it.

So really, a BGTSCC Page or Group would need some good and regular management. One could imagine that BGTSCC might acquire more Players than it can handle!

[Akroma666]

@Akroma666

Great work!

This game's not for everyone, but those who do fall in love with it tend to stick around for years!

The Lore curve is too high.. even I am drowning.. I think a good generalize write up would help people. Basic knowledge other than pages upon pages of stuff in rules/content.

Also, I would suggest against Facebook as it shares your personal information.. I would rather have a Reddit sub-thread.

[Lockonnow]

maybe the time line is slow on the server and maybe we know that the Neverwinter mmo give more action like ride on a Animals or swimming and it is more fun with those actions and then we have those lag attack and we met those again

[Karond]

As I sit here comparing the player populations of Neverwinter Nights with Neverwinter Nights 2, I idly wonder how much marketing our game gets these days?

Don't look on http://www.nwnlist.com/ in that case. It's been known for years that servers like sinfar don't have those numbers. They've just tricked the website.

[Aspect of Sorrow]

I'm in a NWN1 / NWN2 general community and have namedropped this community on occasion.

NWN2 just doesn't appeal to NWN1 only players.

[Zanniej]

We could always start looking at optimizing the forum a bit more, so that people can find us easier. A bit of SEO here and there, and some good writing might help a load.

And I don't think a facebook presence would hurt us in any case.

[Aspect of Sorrow]

I would imagine the majority would refuse to associate their personal lives with their make believe past time.

[Face]

3 out of 4 people i wanted to get into BG over the years never even down loaded the game after checking the rule and class page. (They found classes missing or classes missing some of there core skills and did not want to play in a world where you have to walk on egg shells)

And the 1 chick who did down load it could not deal with the slow leveling on BG.

PS. this is not a rant its just how they view it.

[Moltrazahn]

How about making both a reddit and Facebook profile/thread? The people who don't mind (or might even want) to associate with the server IRL-wise could do so via Facebook and the others can do profiles on the reddit one. Plus that gains the favor of two popular sites for advertisement. Context of posts etc. Could be put up by a substaff of people so updates of new content are equalized in frequency and wording.

[Aspect of Sorrow]

How about making both a reddit and Facebook profile/thread? The people who don't mind (or might even want) to associate with the server IRL-wise could do so via Facebook and the others can do profiles on the reddit one. Plus that gains the favor of two popular sites for advertisement. Context of posts etc. Could be put up by a substaff of people so updates of new content are equalized in frequency and wording.

Reddit is perfect.