A Land Far Away

Initial Advertising Proposal for ALFA's Persistent Worlds:

We need to have an open session, an invitation on different forums to come to an open ALFA IRC chat session to speak with members and DMs and builders etc. Open to the public.

Basically NWN1 and NWN2 are chat games - people need to chat with people excited about the subject to become excited themselves. This is where IRC conversation would be most helpful.

People who are creative enough to fit our need have to want to play this game to want to build it and make this PW what it can be.

My suggestion mind you is for each DM team to have a perfect picture to advertise the theme of their sever with an introduction of what it is all about.

This introduction should be hard hitting something that will grab the attention of people.

At a suggestion maybe 3 paragraphs tops with either a description or a poem capturing the theme of the servers should be printed on these pictures.

Its a question of balance - too much information and people will lose interest in the information.

Also, while I know the flagship is NWN2; NWN1 still can draw many into ALFA as well. People that once the bug bites them may have an even stronger interest in learning and playing NWN2 online in ALFA.

You see I think we should emphasize the world and RP at least as much if not more than the community.

Say one step down in emphasis.

For it is the world and the RP most people come here for, its that which will pull them in at first...

And, the community I feel will hold them over time.

It's been my experience that being a part of something unwittingly will seep into a person's pores.
I myself did not come to ALFA for the community – its the RP which brought me in and over a few years its the community that has kept me here at least as much as the RP has.

I think advertising the ALFA IRC chat and taking questions in chat by representatives of each server team (NWN1 and 2 both) on different forums will attract some definite interest.

To further this interest say a movie on Bioware's site that grabs the heart will pull people onto Bioware's different links to see more of what ALFA has to offer through each server. And this will show them the IRC chat times.

But it can be overdone too.

I would suggest one movie that has a single picture for each server that describes best what its about. Set up like a slide show after a brief introduction in text of what the Forgotten Realms and ALFA's PWs are about. With links to the server and community information secondarily would draw people in.

A 3-tier draw if you will:

Movie > Server data > Community data

A definate schedule with different time for each time zone would be optimum concerning the chats.

Again to speak in IRC with people passionate about the PW and the community - talking in chat with DMs, players, builders and other staff would go a long way towards igniting interest in the right people.

Advertising on Bioware and any other forum site will spread the word about this event in a way that allows it to become personal and dare I say puts the best foot forward of this community as a place one can immerse themselves in the shared dream of the Forgotten Realms. And further to contribute to that dream within the community with people who are as passionate as they are.

A picture in the mind, the heart as well as on the screen that describes this project and shows the need for staff and builders who also want to be players in ALFA.

An open server day, for example on not an OAS server but on a live NWN1 or NWN2 server would also hook people in. Seeing what you can have if you pass the requirements of the community to be a member would be another carrot that draws folks in.

I would suggest this be part of the advertisement meant to draw new people in. It should only be one server and it should be the best of the new and old servers that are chosen from.

Priorities:

1) Decide appropriate chat times and dates for each time zone with at least one representative of each server team attending each time zone IRC open chat session. Players would be highly encouraged to attend to tout their favorite servers.

2) Create movie, pictures, poems/descriptions all with appropriate links to the aforementioned information to be advertised on Bioware and other forums.

3) On strength of voting afterwards from attendees and members choose a server to have open for NWN1 and NWN2 then post the date time for such sessions at a date/time that would also be voted upon by the aforementioned. In cases of ties the Lead Admin would decide the two flagship servers that would be temporarily open to the public.

Proviso for them attending would be new characters only with those characters being temporary with the option of being usable with whatever xps they earn in that session as a reward for good behavior if that satisfy membership requirements in RP and/or application through respective OAS servers.

Well, lets find the flaws in this plan and see what we can hammer out shall we?

Thanks for listening,

IWS

Heh, how about screen shots instead of a movie? I am knee-deep in building (2+ hours a day) to get live, so any hiatus from my build schedule means a delay in live.

However, I can throw some descriptive paprgraphs together and stuff like that.

We are looking at 3 servers for NWN2 that will probably make it to live. Unless someone is building on the side for ALFA and not telling us

Something to catch the eye and draw people in to the theme of the server. So screenshots work too but they need to have some amazing scenes I should think to make up for not being animated. Kind of like a movie poster billboard in effect.

I've got some video from the recent jaunt to Selgaunt, and Miriel performing at the fair in SD. Alas, no fireworks though.
I either deleted that file by accident or never got it recorded.

-Bill

Halrin and I began a movie for the Myth Drannor (NWN2) mod awhile ago. Its incomplete but has some nice pieces in it. If someone would like to just take some screenshots and stick it in the video, that could be used as an advertisement piece of ALFA in general, even though MD/Cormanthor is not going forward at the moment.

Legionnaire

That would be good -though if its a pastiche of screen shots there should be a sampling from each server that could be knit together into a slideshow.

Bill... you can take video of you playing the game?

http://www.zdsoft.com/game-recorder/

Yes.
I don't do it often because the files end up so big. Around 100Mb for 10 minutes of game time. I'm also not possessed of great editing skills or software, so editing them down to managable sizes is beyond me. I can provide all sorts of raw footage if anyone wants to tackle it though.

*chuckles*

Edit out the slow, quiet parts of a few sessions and all of the Tells that pop in and it might provide something useful.

The_Phoenyxx wrote:Bill... you can take video of you playing the game?

Well, with some DMs on and a kind of walk through, I think you could do some stuff where you hide all the interface stuff and don't do any chatting to get just video, then you could splice sound over it.

Maybe in a few months when I have my new super powered mac.

Self-plagarized from the PR forum:

The main point of your post seems to be based around 'what do we do to educate potential members about what ALFA is about?' You suggest:

-specific server information (pictures w/ descriptions kept in a webpage)
-scheduled IRC chats (random ALFAns chatting w/ random interested non-members at coordinated times)
-test drives of servers (opening servers to non-members for a limited trial)

SERVER-BASED INFORMATION:

Specific server information is a good idea, but doesn't speak to the larger questions a n00b would have, namely, 'what is a server?' I would strongly recommend a basic 'What is ALFA?' page that would explain the concept of ALFA in limited detail from which you could access very short descriptions of servers. The current server pages would likely serve for this purpose. I would even recommend one or two images only. Something easy to browse and digest.

Think of ALFA like a restaurant. I generally go to a new restaurant and sit down because I know it has good food. I saw an ad or a friend told me. But I don't generally go with a specific order in mind. I look at the menu for awhile then decide. So like a good restaurant, ALFA offers quality content you can trust. After you get in is when you want to sit down and look at the menu. Maybe you'd like Icewind Dale, or maybe the Waterdeep. But what you advertise to the general public is ALFA.

I would urge also starting pages with small bits of information and giving more information on pages deeper in the site. This layered approach would allow potential applicants the ability to choose whether they want more information or whether they're ready to click that great big "APPLY NOW" button. Overloading someone who's not already committed with a bunch of stories and poems is likely to lead to confusion and disinterest.

Speaking of that great big obvious APPLY NOW button, I'd LOVE to see that on the front page as well as any page that contains information for potential applicants. I guarantee* you that would boost the number of applications we receive. So long as we're driving any new and interested traffic to the site, anyway.

As far as the application process goes, I do not think we should reduce the barrier to entry. That's part of what makes ALFA ALFA. But I do think we should provide as many resources as possible. This is where I think coordinated chatting might come in handy. Only after someone has had trouble with the application process (I don't know what the written vs. OAS acceptances are, but it would work for both) would they perhaps be interested in going through the trouble of scheduling a time to meet with people.

IRC CHAT:

As far as chat in your proposal, it seems like a lot of trouble to go through if I'm only mildly interested in the site. On top of that, it relies on the goodwill of the current members to present the community well to a potential member. While everyone here is a nerd, there are all types of nerds, and I'm fairly certain that potential member A at 7am GMT would not have the same message delivered to him/her as would potential member B at 7pm GMT by whoever managed to be bored enough to sit in this chat. Imagine one member talking to burt, another to misty, then a third to jayde. No doubt they'd get solid info at least 2/3 of the time (OMG J/K!!! Wink ) but even then it wouldn't be consistent.

If I'm casually interested in ALFA, I want concise information at my bidding! What's ALFA? Is ALFA right for me? What kinds of people are in ALFA? Do I have to be a DnD expert to play in ALFA? How much does it cost? Then give me two paths to follow: APPLY NOW or get more info.

TEST DRIVING SERVERS:

Personally I like the test drive approach. How it is implemented and whether ALFAns are willing to let a bunch of n00bs run around their servers is another story. ALFAns are rightly protective of their immersion. As well, lots of times servers are dead empty because of scheduled sessions, etc..., which would reflect poorly. I imagine this would prove to be very contentious among the community.

I bet the test drive approach would get more traction if it were scheduled like a regular DMed campaign but on a live server. Keep it at a consistent time on a consistent server every week. It'd be best to have an active DM team dedicated to making this work, so someone could take over for a week or two if necessary. They'd need to have patience and all that too, as the n00bs would be running and all sorts of stuff I imagine the OAS DMs are used to seeing. The scheduled time thing would also give ALFAns a warning so they would know if they wanted to be around or not for the n00b shenanigans. Also, having a DM attached to the n00bs would protect the poor NPCs from getting roughed up too badly.

This would take very special DMs, but would be the only way of assuring that unfamiliar players don't tick off current members. It would also give the best taste of how awesome ALFA could be.

To summarize my points:

-ALFA-centered instead of server-centered general info
-website info presented in a layered approach: Basic to Detailed.
-a great big APPLY NOW button
-chatting reserved only for trouble with the application process.
(Note that prior chatting is not unencouraged, I simply think it requires too much investment of time for the casual potential applicant.)
-server test-drive once a week at a consistent, scheduled time (or maybe times depending on time-zone availability) that acts as a DMed quest.


Well there's my 15 cents. Good work IWS! Hopefully my feedback was helpful!

Thanks,
T

*100% money-back guarantee.

Senor T wrote:-server test-drive once a week at a consistent, scheduled time (or maybe times depending on time-zone availability) that acts as a DMed quest.

Perhaps a way to do this would be to have occasional "open server days" whereby after that day everyones characters are reverted to the state they were in before that day (as if the day never occured).

These days could be a way for people who only really contribute by playing the game to give something back -- so for that day playing is about advertising for ALFA rather then the usual play.

To ensure that the new comers/prospective members don't get ghost servers, there could be just one open to the public and for that day, anyone on ALFA can log their character onto that server so that they can join in on the fun.

As these days happen, it could be rotated around to other servers -- would also allow people who manage to keep their characters alive and confined to a single server a chance to see the world.

This would also solve the problem of bad eggs coming in and doing things that would negatively impact on the game world -- which is definatly a possibility (and would need to be strictly policed!

What prompted me to check back in here in the first place was a post about Haze2 on the Something Awful forums. I know, questionable place, right? The game forums are very informative though and reach a lot of people. As I've just returned, I really don't know what's going on, but I do have an account there so I am able to post a write up if anyone cares to.

The Haze thread as an example:
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showth ... genumber=1

As always, it's rare that I find a night to focus on reading the forums. But since one unexpectedly popped up ...

Zekal wrote: Perhaps a way to do this would be to have occasional "open server days" whereby after that day everyones characters are reverted to the state they were in before that day (as if the day never occured).

You know, it'd be kind of fun to just have a free-for-all day on one server or another where I got to take my live PC and have fun with live PCs from other servers. The DM could make a generic dungeon and throw bunches of monsters at us and it'd give both players and DMs a chance to practice anyhow. Heck, at the very least it could be lots of fun.

Lord Kilburn wrote: a post about Haze2 on the Something Awful forums.

Very interesting stuff LK. Since you seem to have some level of insight and perspective into this, I'd be very interested to hear what you have to say. Haze seems like a very interesting community and seems to be dealing with some similar issues as us. Thanks for the excellent info!

Might there be potential gain in deliberately targeting declining NWN1 PWs?

Actually, I believe that's mentioned in my proposal.