NetAtNite said:
Ahhh, a good question for a change! Just for starters Rev, I would have done the following:
As it became clear that there were problems with T:V, Guy (or marketing dept.) could have posted here and in official forums that a patch was forth-coming (which they did).
As VUG realized that sales were not what they needed to be, a good marketer might have entered the forums and started helping the community with the efforts already underway (ie the 83 community maps so far). A good marketer would have started listing the map-makers on their site which leads to props for the map-makers and an incentive for more community maps to be made.
VUG marketers could then have arranged for scrims with members of the community and themselves. Suddenly the community begins to feel some ownership/participation in the game and are more willing to work with VUG. VUG in turn can see for themselves what the community is complaining about.
Good marketers would have been honest about the patch. Instead of promising it several times and then staying silent for 2+ months with no patch, they could have told the community that they were having trouble justifying the cost of the patch. They could have explained their actions. They could have asked the community for help. They could have asked the community to participate in a recruitment drive. Cheap prizes to be given to those who put in the best effort.
There is just so much more. I am not prepared to write a book on the subject of their failure. If you want to join me in teamspeak I will tell you the rest. In 20 minutes I will show you 20 ways they failed. And all the solutions require no money down.
Honestly, if you don't want to hear it from me, just ask anyone who is moderately successful in sales...of any kind because sales principles remain the same.
Those are some very pretty ideas and in an ideal world would have worked, Problem is this is Tribalwar, home of "tear it down to look cool" VUG and Sierra used to post here alot more than they do now they did not stop due to the state of T:V they stopped due to 3/4 of the members making idiotic attacks and basically showing them that their presense was not appreciated. Hell there was such a big outcry over something as idiotic as the targeting laser not being included that at least one thread was locked, which caused even more problems.
You say the marketers should have been honest about the patch, I agree but how do you know they were even allowed to talk about it until it was announced? Do you know the chain of command at VUG? I don't. You may have some experience in sales, but you obviously do not have any experience in a large buisiness enviroment. Marketing can only say what the company deems acceptable to say. And large companies are notorious for keeping secrets. This allows them to change their mind and reverse decisions without having to backtrack. Hell there is no proof when the decision was made to dump the patch until that information is made public (if it ever is) you are running on assumptions.
As for the scrim thing, That happened at E3 but between IG and the Tribalwar/WOFN staff. We videotaped it (I think Colosus still has it but I am not sure). Once the demo was released and the public beta was started negative comments started popping up on Tribalwar, some of the concerns were real most of them were people saying they had no faith in the project or saying they would not buy it and still others were just being dicks which is all a good number of the posters here are capable of.
As for them having trouble justifying the cost of the patch, Have you ever heard of a company admitting that they made a mistake and their product sucks? that is reverse marketing there buddy and it was just not going to happen.
Have the community participate in a recruitment drive?? damn you must be new. They release a game that has several problems to a group of consumers that expect perfection from the get go and are basically hostile to begin with then expect them to help sell more? Key word again, This is Tribalwar that is not going to happen.
I am not replying to attack you, you seem like a pretty intelligent guy but you also seem to be very unfamiliar with this board and the people that post here. I am sure your ideas would work with a game community that didn't already have one sequal released with massive problems. This community is jaded and is proud of it.
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