Question for the other players out there? Are the “Games Running Wednesday, etc” posts useful to people?
It seems like maybe they just create a lot of forum posts for no reason. Or at least, I don’t find them particularly useful for anything. I know what day my games are running, and if MEG doesn’t have my orders in time they just email me a reminder.
Happy to hear other opinions, and thankful to Dean for breathing some life into these boards.
Personally though, I’d be more interested in some discussion on how we build up the player base either by attracting back former players, or enticing new ones.
Same here. But, I guess it might make a difference for holiday times, or if someone is sick or otherwise out of their offices and a game is delayed, etc.
I think they’re useful, they get more people to check into the forum and then perhaps post something.
I agree with you Adam on getting new players into the game. I’m no marketing expert, but there’s work needed to profile, segment and the target the market niche with an marketing campaign (without spending much money I expect), and once prospective players interest is stimulated get them hooked by allowing them to easily sample a game; I’d expect a good level of take up once people had a taste and basic understanding, as I’d think one of the blocking factors is the learning curve… If I remember correctly many years ago, I was introduced by my brother showing me what it was all about, while he in turn was introduced by his best friend, I’m unsure the game lends itself to easy pick-up without some hand-holding?
I also believe experienced players should try their best to ensure new or returning players initial experiences are positive, it’s easy to lose patience with or over control less experienced players positions; there is a difference between coaching / mentoring and directing, similarly addressing mistakes in the spirit of learning rather than scolding. I’d hope this isn’t much of an issue though to be honest?
I’d like to see an email campaign to bring back some of the former players as well - why not offer them 6 free turns to rejoin us? It would still be revenue positive for MEG as most would play much more than 6 turns, and it would increase the player base.
The game is definitely not competitively playable without some serious coaching from seasoned players. Newbies make ‘dumb’ moves all the time because it’s not at all clear what are winning strategies, what are the true odds of certain orders, and their side effects. A few examples I’m sure you’ve seen:
Tax rates - it should say in the rulebook what are the exact loyalty outcomes from different tax rates. All the veterans know this, and most newbies haven’t a clue
Camp limit - newbies have no idea how urgent it is to lay down camps in the first three turns of a FA game before the limit is hit
Threaten and Overrun - not at all clear from the rulebook what the odds on these are
NPC’s - where and how to go to recruit Dragons, Ents, etc, and their combat bonuses
It’s also a bit crazy that one has to go to Bobbins ancient site to download a copy of all the 1650 and 2950 turns. Without this info you’re at an incredible disadvantage in the game - a newbie walking in off the street probably won’t find his way there before he gets blasted. It would be nice to have a ‘newbie pack’ of all the info they really need to play the game. Just pointing them at a heap of links, or making them dig through old Mouth of Saurons isn’t very user friendly
Anyway, I wonder if a buddy system would help for newbies. Pair them up with a seasoned ‘mentor’ to help them get up to speed on how the game is really played. ?? Just thinking out loud.
Along the same lines of what you’re saying, perhaps there could be “practice” games for the new players, with a set turn limit. If not a veteran/newbie pairing, then perhaps just someone who can proofread their orders, give them a bit of time for email coaching, and so on. Or, perhaps just placing a sticky thread here on the forum for the “newbie” questions in particular, but moderated by select players?
Gavin, it doesn’t look like they would keep any posts pushed down for long, and there is never a flood of them to go through. They’re a decent reminder to some players, and maybe helpful to newer ones. Anything to build, and keep, a larger player-base is good, imo.
Actually, a couple weeks ago the top 5 posts were Games Running - busy week for the growing player base… Riddle me this - for all the customer service applause, well, how many of YOU come to the forum, read the Games Running post, slap yourself in the forehead and rush off to get your orders in on time - grateful to the company for taking this new step to keep you as a satisfied customer…? Or - my “ask” might be something like: WHO is this “helping”…?
I do appreciate the effort, and am eager to see how it affects itself in the future. I’m just not sold on this particular action adding real value beyond the appearance. I’ve still had the same allies asking, on occasion, “Doesn’t our game run today?”… I suspect those of us who are actually HERE - don’t need it…
Who cares if the top five posts were of games running? Sometimes there is more activity on the board, sometimes less. Do you have a gripe about everything? YOU never made a comment until trodzo did, so what held you back until now?
Yes, this was a useful suggestion and I like the look of TheONERing.net and have inquired over adverstising rates and may use this as part of a concerted campaign at the right time! Its too dear imho for continuous advertising.
We have a very well designed practice Middle Earth game for new players, its called Battle of the Five Armies (BOFA).
It starts with a sub-set of rules and introduces more as the game progresses and it is limited to 10 turns! Your Nation just surviving is minor victory.
Whole game is £10!
One of the first things I decided when joining MEPBM was that this was key to recruiting new players. So with the programmers, I have been working on converting this to to run on PC, notably my laptop. This has pretty much come together this week, and I will be running play test games soon with a few players.
Once this is working and stable, then along with Kinstrife I intend to advertise to our list of players, to get some to return. I intend to go to conventions and try to recruit. BOFA is essentially ‘The Hobbit’ films, I intend to try and recruit new players off the back of that.
These things are being persued but I am gearing up to try and do them properly.
Any experienced player who wants to play in BOFA, mentoring at least 1 or 2 new players, plays for Free! So if you have potential new players in there that may want to try us out, BOFA is the way!
If you do know any ME players who have not registered here, please do get them to! A PM to me to check they are activated is also a good idea, the forum software is not the best at informing me that a new user needs that even when I am checking for it!
We’re up to turn 16 in G91 and I’m still talking to myself. Haven’t heard from the opposition since the challenge was accepted. Still they’re not distracting us from what’s most important… whatever I say it is!
