Cantr II Discussion Forum

The best way for word of Cantr to spread is via the players. For those of you with a desire to help Cantr out, I've listed some suggestions below.

-Tell your friends.

-Put a link to Cantr in your signature on different forums.

-Plug Cantr in appropriate locations on different forums.
Many forums have places where you can advertise and plug other games. While the marketing department has been doing some of this, a plug for a game has much more weight if it's posted by a person known to the forum. If you want ideas or suggestions on what to post, you can send an email to marketing-at-cantr.net, and we'd be happy to oblige. It's very useful for us to know where Cantr is being plugged, so even if you don't want our suggestions, please let us know anyway so we can make a record of it.

-Utilize Cantr banners on your personal websites, forum sigs, etc.
Banners for Cantr can be found on the Wiki. Some of them are better than others, and if you think you can design a better one, go for it!

-Vote!
Voting increases Cantr's rank on gaming websites, and at least one of them offers credits in return for votes. If you get yourself in the habit of doing it, it'll become second-nature, and it doesn't take much time on a fast connection (I tend to click all the links in a row, opening them all in new tabs, then cycle through them). Most are one vote per day, but at least one can be done every hour (the one that gives credits!).

-If you find a gaming site that doesn't feature Cantr and you feel it should, contact us at marketing-at-cantr.net.
We've tried hard to find as many as possible, but we can't catch them all!

-Post flyers in appropriate locations on your campus.
There are two currently out there:

Doug - obviously, this one will be heavy on green ink. You can always turn it B&W and print on green paper. It's not perfect and could use more work. See this thread for a discussion of it.

Jos -this is a pdf. The email address given at the bottom doesn't work! You could instead include a link to the forum, or just black it out.

Feel free to make another if neither of these suit your taste.

-Do a write up
You could write a review for Cantr on a gaming site or someplace else that is appropriate. However, don't try to gloss over Cantr's problems. Disgruntled ex-players will descend on you like killer bees and eviscerate your review. It's best to explain why you play Cantr despite it's problems.

-If you're a social or political scientist, use Cantr as the basis of a paper that you make available online.
This may sound far-fetched or silly, but Cantr is a petri dish society where characters have shed most of their real-world inhibitions. Studying how characters interact in this environment is very interesting. There is a whole science devoted to MMO games. Check out the Terra Nova blog.

This list is by no means exhaustive. If you have some other ideas, please post them below.

If you choose to help promote Cantr, no matter what you choose to do, please let the marketing department know (marketing-at-cantr.net) We record promotions and keep an eye on them, updating and supporting them as necessary.

Thanks!
-Cantr Marketing Team

Nice one ... Just a comment on posting on forums: note that what really brings in players is actual discussions on forums about the game, rather than one post. We had huge influxes of players this way through Polish forums and through a Swedish forum about soccer, of all places.

Ehhh, I think that what less suits cantr is the gaming forums out there. People who didn't live the days of DD or MUDs can be quite hard to convince, specially with tons of other games they could play.

Actually, lots of Cantr players still join through the forum. Not all people who see it join, but some do. There's other games similar to Cantr, including successful roleplaying websites. These type of people may be interested. And when people see a new game being advertised on a forum, they'll probably look it up. Some actually stay.

I post Cantr links in communities I think might somewhat get a kick out of the game after I've an established "stand point" within that community.

Mostly, however, its just random word of type.. in which case people are randomly speaking about one thing or another and they ask what I am/was doing.. and I inform them of Cantr. 3 people have joined this way... 1 has stayed and none of them "enjoy the forum".

Jos Elkink wrote:...and through a Swedish forum about soccer, of all places.

I put a link to cantr in my sig on that forum now. Some 3-4 years ago we had a thread in the Swedish part of the forum there, which increased the user base quite a bit I recall. This time the signature is for all to see (900k user base). Lets see if we get a boost in signups from there again.

Can't you revive that thread?

Nope, threads get archived after some time of inactivity. I can try to start a new one in the global forums though, maybe that will help... Keep your eyes on the access logs.

Spreading Cantr:

[[[ Cantr is not a game, if we mean by "play a game" something that have levels and missions, competition between players and a final, victorious or not. Cantr is an intelligent entertainment in a psychosocial laboratory. ]]]

HFrance wrote:Spreading Cantr:

[[[ Cantr is not a game, if we mean by "play a game" something that have levels and missions, competition between players and a final, victorious or not. Cantr is an intelligent entertainment in a psychosocial laboratory. ]]]

"Hey, do you want to play a game where you can be whatever you want, like a pirate, explorer, town leader, or business owner?"

vs.

"Hey, do you want to have some intelligent entertainment in a psychosocial laboratory?"

Cantr really is a game, but either way, I don't think taking away "play a game" from Cantr is really a good advertising technique, except that I think it's good to mention the benefits playing Cantr has to the player. (language, leadership skills, writing, psychosocial laboratory)

LOL, but...

HFrance wrote:(...)if we mean by(...)

I realize that, and I don't mean offense by my statement, especially since I'm contradicting myself. But what's the point of saying something only as "if we mean by"?

I just give it to individuals when not spamming the link on sites that I trust.

Got it on my blog a few times, which has 15 people watching/following (Some of which already played Cantr).

The best way to tell others about Cantr is just to say "Gotta try it yourself but I'll answer questions, if I can."

Just make sure to tell people it's "slightly RP based" and requires direct RP involvement. HECK I've almost gotten a few "novel types" to join were it not for the first person and the *emotes* behavior. (They found it rather "n00by", whatever)

I'd love to get "novel types." If they can get past the format difference, Cantr is a fantastic environment to develop characters for future novels. I did it. So can they.

Doug R. wrote:I'd love to get "novel types." If they can get past the format difference, Cantr is a fantastic environment to develop characters for future novels. I did it. So can they.

The main problem is those type of people aren't looking to play a game and sense I see it as a game I describe it as a game and I accidentally turn them off.