advertising

[BrentW]

Does this game do any? I was looking for FTO a few hours ago...Not there by the way. But I saw a lot of Forum posts about it. Lumin really went nuts over Forums before it came out. They would have had a huge player base if the game was not a failure. . Anyways on topic...

Cantr is from what I have seen just on the forums and heard from a lot of players from here and FTO the best and most true Role Playing Game. But people have never heard of it. The text based throws people so does the Tech Tree. But what people like is the no rules part. As in do whatever you want..You want to kill that guy over there go for it...you may do it you may not but you will have a chance along with every other player. There are no levels no real money bonuses like is WURM. "A stripped boring game unless you pay."

So maybe a banner would be great for us Forums users or just while the game is down thinking up ideas so when it's up we can get more players like myself...I heard some talk about newspawns are stupid and a pain..But they do learn..or they dont. But more newspawns mean more players and less sleepy towns.

So ideas?

[Snickie]

(Yes, I'm being naughty on my hiatus. But really. How easy is it to do homework on the bus? )

I think that's mainly what the marketing specialists would do, as well as possibly the Public Relations (PR) department, from what I understand. Granted, I'm not very well researched on these departments, but it makes sense to me.

I do agree, though, that if there aren't any banners or anything specifically for promoting Cantr, there should be. I'd volunteer to make a few simple signatures and/or 100x100 avatars in my spare time, except for the fact that I have pretty much no spare time anymore.

[BrentW]

I know they are people suppose to be doing it..but I have not seen a single add or remark anyplace..But simple forums would be a big boost just by talking about it...I wish I knew how to do Sigs but I don't..I would use them I think a lot would . Getting this game out there and at least seen and at best talked about will help greatly.

And we have time on our hands while not playing cantr. And I have time untill I play in Jan cause this whole move is nuts for me.

[Doug R.]

http://wiki.cantr.net/index.php/Promote_Cantr

Sigs are easy - just go into the user control panel and adjust your settings. Anyone here can help you with that.

The primary form of advertisement is listing Cantr on gaming websites and word of mouth. We also pay a small amount of money to Google Adwords for targeted advertisements. Forum advertisement is some of the best advertising, but only if you do it right.

1) The person advertising actually has to be a known member of the game community to which the forum belongs. I can't go into FTO's forum and plug Cantr, because I don't play FTO and it would be seen for what it is - an advertisement.

2) It needs to be seen as a sincere suggestion, not a shameless plug.

3) It needs to generate discussion.

We get a lot of players from FTO, and I think the Cantr thread there was actually started to criticize Cantr. There's no such thing as bad press.

I would have loved to have started a Facebook advertising campaign, but the money simply isn't there. Donations were dropping before the attack, and they'll drop even more now. Server costs come first, and we're already eating into our reserves. Every time I drive down the PA turnpike and see an empty billboard, I wonder how much it would cost to put a giant smiley up there (me and my pipe-dreams).

[SumBum]

Some things were listed/discussed here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16793

There may be other threads floating around from our marketing dept. Now is definitely a good time to come up with ideas and graphics since the game isn't a distraction.

It may go without saying, but I would wait until the game is back online before actually carrying out any promotional attempts. Not really helpful to generate hype then tell people that they have to wait, not to mention the doubt it would cause telling them the server is down right now.

[etece]

I might be able to help a bit with this. One of the services my company provides is SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) as well as Online Marketing, I can try and do a few quick blasts for Cantr if we get any downtime between clients. Or if you guys want a proper job done I can offer a VERY reduced price

[Doug R.]

Anything you could do in your spare time would of course be appreciated.

[etece]

I'll do what I can, could you PM me any particular keywords you want building on?

[Cdls]

I might be able to help a bit with this. One of the services my company provides is SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) as well as Online Marketing, I can try and do a few quick blasts for Cantr if we get any downtime between clients. Or if you guys want a proper job done I can offer a VERY reduced price :)

Out of curiosity, what company do you work for?

[EchoMan]

I would have loved to have started a Facebook advertising campaign, but the money simply isn't there. Donations were dropping before the attack, and they'll drop even more now. Server costs come first, and we're already eating into our reserves. Every time I drive down the PA turnpike and see an empty billboard, I wonder how much it would cost to put a giant smiley up there (me and my pipe-dreams).

There was a plea for donations just before the previous downtime, and we never saw the economy stats after that, so it might not be true that it's worse.

In a general responce, yes we do some advertising, but ofcourse we could do better. People knowing marketing or just being interested are urged to apply for the PR Department.

[etece]

I might be able to help a bit with this. One of the services my company provides is SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) as well as Online Marketing, I can try and do a few quick blasts for Cantr if we get any downtime between clients. Or if you guys want a proper job done I can offer a VERY reduced price

Out of curiosity, what company do you work for?

Online Innovations Network Ltd. - We're a small UK based company. Our website is www.oinoc.com if you want to have a nose around.

[BrentW]

I think I may do that a bit. I wont be able to play until Jan I could play but it would be less then an hour a day..I am on this cause my boss needs me so I can do whatever I want haha. NEVER if you work for a paper work for salary.

[Cdls]

Online Innovations Network Ltd. - We're a small UK based company. Our website is www.oinoc.com if you want to have a nose around.

Not a bad site, I do have to ask though, why are there so many PNG images? Considering the fact that PNG's are such space hogs, JPG and GIF would probably be a better solution, not to mention the fact that it would increase site load speed dramatically (I have a decent connection and I noticed some stutter at page load). Of course though, if there is a reason, I would love to hear it, as I am always looking for new info

[*Wiro]

The main problem I think all the people who tried stumbled upon is how the hell do you explain this game?

[BrentW]

It's one of the few true RPG games. Everything in the game is player made every house every ship every town. Everything. All people in the game are real people. Every place as a Human made history and there are no rules in the game you can attack any one you want or be anything you want. You just have to make it happen.

Thats what my friend told me about this game.