[Mouse Guard] Luke gave us the first copy as a wedding gift!

[darjr]

Since the guy is here replying questions I do not think it is bothering he posted the same intro to various forums.
Regarding marketing we do it all the time over here: it is the way you do it that matters though. The ways you employ regarding the medium can indeed be bad form and counter productive for the whole community. But as said above the guy just made the same introduction.

Sure, a little marketing in betwixt the rpg talk can be good. But the guy is clearly here just to SELL SELL SELL. I do dislike disruptive commercials. This, to me, is bad form. The way this marketing was done, in my opinion, isn't good.

 

[xechnao]

Individually, meh, but all together, it's clearly marketing.

Yeah but everything around here can be considered marketing. Even edition wars is a form of collective marketing. I accept this and I can't show the red card to someone because of doing what we are all doing. The red card should be shown in cases of bad form. Is this bad form? It may be but not strictly condemnable though - IMO.

 

[xechnao]

Sure, a little marketing in betwixt the rpg talk can be good. But the guy is clearly here just to SELL SELL SELL. I do dislike disruptive commercials. This, to me, is bad form. The way this marketing was done, in my opinion, isn't good.

He did reply back to Piratecat above. He did dedicate some of his time to check up reactions and engaged in discussion with at least one guy over here. It is not mindless spamming like the emails you receive in your account.

 

[catsclaw227]

I love Mouseguard. The RPG sounds neat too.

But, yes, this is marketing in bad form. I would prefer he instead do a press release in the publisher's forum.

And regular posters arguing the merits of editions isn't marketing. It's interweb debate.

 

[jenskot]

Hi eyebeams, a good friend of mine gave me his only copy of a game that he's dedicated a year of his life to as a wedding gift on the happiest day of my life. A game that I'm so excited about that I'm getting ready to form a new gaming group just to play. I don't make a cent off of the sales of Mouse Guard or any other Burning Wheel game. I don't sell RPGs. The only thing I do is help promote get togethers (picnics, movie nights, game nights) in NYC as part of nerdnyc, a not for profit organization to help gamers meet other gamers. I actually lose money doing this because I love the community so much. It's actually where and how I met my now wife! I love nerdnyc!

I do feel a great deal of satisfaction for sharing the pure joy this game brings me with others. And I'm friends with many of the people in the communities I posted to and wanted to spread the love and start threads where I can post about my up coming game and give people a chance to ask me questions since I have an advanced copy.

Spam sucks. And marketing can be really crappy. So I completely understand your post. And thanks for linking to my Marketing Gencon Small Press RPG Seminar! I work as the VP of Digital Strategy at an entertainment company and I'm in charge of digital distribution, partnerships, and new media. I hate abuses in marketing and I'm very happy to share my experiences with people in our hobby if it can help make us all successful without having to resort to dirty tactics and bs.

Rock,
John

 

[darjr]

He did reply back to Piratecat above. He did dedicate some of his time to check up reactions and engaged in discussion with at least one guy over here. It is not mindless spamming like the emails you receive in your account.

I never claimed it was mindless.

 

[eyebeams]

He did reply back to Piratecat above. He did dedicate some of his time to check up reactions and engaged in discussion with at least one guy over here. It is not mindless spamming like the emails you receive in your account.

That's what you do with social marketing.

It's dishonest because it isn't being upfront with the motives for participating. Compare this with Scott Rouse. When he talks to you there are no illusions about why he's there. He's the D&D guy, representing the brand.

(But if Scott posted a new thread about how cool a new D&D book was every time one came out, would you think that was okay? You might -- but I have a feeling this would be frowned upon.)

The post above and conversation is, by contrast, equivalent to WotC giving a fan free stuff in exchange for talking about how cool it is on forums -- and not telling you about it. That fan would be acting as a plant, a shill.

If John wants to market stuff, then he should throw "Burning Wheel/Mouse Guard Fan Representative" in his signature and be upfront about what he's doing.

 

[eyebeams]

Hi eyebeams, a good friend of mine gave me his only copy of a game that he's dedicated a year of his life to as a wedding gift on the happiest day of my life. A game that I'm so excited about that I'm getting ready to form a new gaming group just to play. I don't make a cent off of the sales of Mouse Guard or any other Burning Wheel game. I don't sell RPGs. The only thing I do is help promote get togethers (picnics, movie nights, game nights) in NYC as part of nerdnyc, a not for profit organization to help gamers meet other gamers. I actually lose money doing this because I love the community so much. It's actually where and how I met my now wife! I love nerdnyc!

I do feel a great deal of satisfaction for sharing the pure joy this game brings me with others. And I'm friends with many of the people in the communities I posted to and wanted to spread the love and start threads where I can post about my up coming game and give people a chance to ask me questions since I have an advanced copy.

Spam sucks. And marketing can be really crappy. So I completely understand your post. And thanks for linking to my Marketing Gencon Small Press RPG Seminar! I work as the VP of Digital Strategy at an entertainment company and I'm in charge of digital distribution, partnerships, and new media. I hate abuses in marketing and I'm very happy to share my experiences with people in our hobby if it can help make us all successful without having to resort to dirty tactics and bs.

Rock,
John

John, you almost never post about anything unrelated to Luke Crane games (exception: you posted about an OGL release about sharks with a similar MO, and you posted about skill challenges), you repost the same text and images across popular RPG forums and you advise other people to do this stuff.

You should stop doing this. You've repeatedly posted in multiple forums in a marketing role. You should be upfront about what you are doing. The fact that this is probably a volunteer gig for you doesn't really change that.

Yeah, you're not altering content across pages to avoid Googlebot double jeopardy or hitting keywords with consistent anchor text or anything, but not busting out with a 100% SEO and viral campaign is not the equivalent of not doing it (and besides, you probably know SEO is of limited value in a highly verticalized field like RPGs).

 

[xechnao]

(But if Scott posted a new thread about how cool a new D&D book was every time one came out, would you think that was okay? You might -- but I have a feeling this would be frowned upon.)

Yeah, but lets be practical. It is like comparing apples and oranges IMO. Does Scott need to do what you are saying? His position is one of a totally different caliber. I mean over 3/4 of every page of the board is about D&D.

Then someone wants to promote something new and different with the social marketing he can afford and we immediately rise the war flag?

EDIT: saw you replied to his last post above.

 

[Woas]

Huh. That sort of ruins it then. I just went from "Cool, I am interested in this because it is new and not the same ol' same ol' D&D banter! And congrats on marriage!" to "The game probably isn't that good afterall. Silently wishing you ill will..."


Oh well.