Love the Game, Hate the Marketing

[mhensley]

So far I've enjoyed the preview books and the online cartoons. Otherwise their marketing efforts to the internet community have been pretty lame. Dragon and Dungeon online are a joke so far. DDI is no where to be seen in any form. Gleemax has been in alpha for months with no improvements in sight. The developer blogs started off well and since then have all but stopped. If I were happy with 3e, I certainly wouldn't be swayed by their marketing efforts to date.

 

[amethal]

Killing them [Dungeon and Dragon] off surely made sense from a financial standpoint, but yes, it's clear that WotC does not have a suitable digital replacement for them now, and probably will not anytime soon. This, I feel, is the one big blunder they've made. I have no confidence in DDI whatsoever based on what we've seen so far.

Paizo considered the magazines to be profitable, and wanted to carry on publishing them.

It was only due to Paizo's request to finish Savage Tide that they weren't cancelled earlier, when the DDI would have been even less developed.

The whole thing still seems like a mistake to me.

Paizo publishing Dungeon and Dragon, complete with previews of 4th edition, would have been a good marketing tool in my opinion.

Paizo publishing Pathfinder instead, on the other hand, has created a competitor out of an ally. The money I used to spend on Dungeon and Dragon (and more!) is now going on Pathfinder and I see no reason to switch to DDI when it moves onto the subscription model.

Cancelling the magazines also created a lot of ill will amongst their readership. I accept that in terms of numbers there weren't that many of us, but I wonder how many of those are in my situation. No one in my group would have heard of 4th edition if I hadn't told them about it, and all six of them are happy to let me decide whether we move to 4th or not since they don't care one way or the other.

I rather think this is an overblown concern. After reading Andy Collins' explanation for the whole debacle, it's my opinion that only those that want to see a conspiracy will continue to see one. A bad PR move, surely, but I don't think it's a "credibility hit" or anything quite so serious.

On this one, WotC have my sympathy. The whole thing just blew up out of nowhere and got completely misrepresented. Can't blame marketing for that one. Andy stepped in as quickly as he could and explained the actual situation, and hopefully it will all blow over.

 

[Wormwood]

Like the game, don't mind the marketing.

edit: *loved* the Flash cartoons. More please!

 

[Lackhand]

I gotta (sorta) agree: Their attempts at PR haven't been having the right (read: intended) effects at all. I've actually quite enjoyed all the official outreaches we've seen (cartoons are awesome, designer interview videos don't register on my radar at all, blogs are interesting), and drive-by developer posts are neat too, but the effect on the community overall has been... lackluster.

Nerd rage, she is a vicious mistress.

PS: 'Cool' is just a word. People talk funny. I'm pretty convinced the WotC people actually speak that way -- I know that it's close enough to the way I actually speak! -- so I certainly don't mind it.

 

[TerraDave]

It's a generational thing. Geeks in their early 40s getting pissed at geeks in their late 20s cause they use slightly different language.

No, its not that. They are not that young, and we are not that old. If "cool" is anything to go by, they may actually have the edge in age.

It has been pretty unsmooth. Remember: we are the hardcore. Not some hypothetical "young person" who probably has limited inclination to start playing in the first place. In the past, ENWorld has been strongly receptive to, well, just about everything game related, especially D20. Probably no where else on the internet is as open to new D20 stuff.

And some of the complaints are right: Gleemax is so buggy and has such limited functionality its silly (I have become a big scooper here because I actually have the patience to use it), DDI has been a series of broken promises littered around some decent articles, the talking points (not just "cool") repetative and not backed up by enough evidence, we are getting a series of minivideos right now that say almost nothing...and then there is Andy Collins and his email. Is Mr. Collins in marketing? Why is he involved in this?

But its not all bad. We have learned a fair amount, seen some decent art and small glimpses of interesting mechanics. They have a few months. And if there is one positive takeaway: Hasbro or no Hasbro, WotC still comes across like a company run by hobby enthusiast.

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

Someone mentioned the preview books.

Now, I have to admit I haven't seen them. But from what I have heard, they are well done and people who bought them seem happy. So, I guess this is an area where WoTC marketing got things right.

Re: the use of the word 'cool'. It's probably an age thing. I am an old grognard who started playing D&D in 1977 and was playing wargames (badly) before that. When I see a word like 'cool' used over and over again, I wish the writer would buy a thesaurus. I preferred Gygax's writing style, so perhaps those in the younger generation should take my comments with a grain of salt!

Ken

 

[Scott_Rouse]

The over-use of the word 'cool'.


Ken

A Google search revealed these number of entries for each word

"Cool" 81,400,000
"Sweet" 37,600,000
"Awesome" 20,100,000
"Bitchin" 1,990,000
"Dope" 1,190,000
"Phat" 1,179,000

Words that beat out "cool" :

"A" 1,150,000,000
"The" 920,000,000
"I" 705,000,000
"E" 639,000,000

Other popular words"

"Cat" 64,900,000
"God" 50,500,000
"Dog" 43,400,000
"Jesus" 23,300,000


Clearly we are under using vowels, pets, and the lords name but seem to be on par with use of positive adjectives

 

[Drkfathr1]

Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

 

[Vayden]

I agree that the DDI blows right now. I don't really care that much about it though. Seems like a bad idea that somebody high up the corporate ladder thought would be good (seen things like that at my own company). It won't affect my ability to enjoy what sounds like an excellent game.

Marketing-wise, I think Races & Classes and Worlds & Monsters were both very nice pieces of marketing - they've increased my excitement about the game, and most people who've read them seem to come away with the same feeling.

 

[The Ubbergeek]

Re: the use of the word 'cool'. It's probably an age thing. I am an old grognard who started playing D&D in 1977 and was playing wargames (badly) before that. When I see a word like 'cool' used over and over again, I wish the writer would buy a thesaurus. I preferred Gygax's writing style, so perhaps those in the younger generation should take my comments with a grain of salt!

Ken

I'm amused.. you came from the 70s, man! Cool was high then, man!