*** Myrik Games - Press Release ***

[ashockney]

Ah, I'm using Mozilla 1.4. That's the problem. Netscape. Mozilla. and Opera make up about 12% of my website's traffic. I doubt you intend to alienate 12% of your potential customers.

You also might want to get a .com address. People won't think to try the .net of your address if they are trying to recall it from memory. I just found out there's also a myrik communications company. You should look into myrikgames.com at a minimum as an alias for your normal address.

Wow! I'm so excited that you took the time to check out our site and respond so quickly. I knew I could count on this community to help us out! I appreciate it.

Our "marketing plan" is not alienate any customers! Nope, it's just to write up some cool stuff and share it with you.

We are experiencing some technical difficulties with Netscape, it seems like Netscape is having challenges with our PHP coded tables. We'll be taking a look at it today, and I'll let you know as soon as we've got it updated and tested.

We missed the opportunity for myrik.com, but what a great idea for Myrikgames.com! We'll be checking into it this week!

Again, thanks a ton for the excellent feedback!

 

[ashockney]

Looked at the site and I may be wrong but a few first impressions:

You need to have the d20 license avaialbe on your site or links somewhere and I did not see it anywhere.

I would be carefull about having D&D in the "logo" that may get you in trouble.

Having people have to register is a pain in the &^$% it may turn people off, you may just want to have the downloads ready without registering.

Ok, off to work again, good luck.

Ok, I'm really flattered now. What an awesome community! I've always enjoyed being a part of this community, but I've never gotten to see this side of the equation before. I can't believe how supportive everyone else is of our launch. That is totally rockin!

MEG Hal, thanks for the feedback, we'll get those updates done before the end of the day!

Having people register....we went back and forth on this for a week! All it takes to register is an email addy, so it's pretty easy, but I hear you! I know many of the products out there are simply made available for general consumption as sneak peaks. I certainly welcome the advice of others on this topic. Should we make it a quicker download that's easier to get access to?

Either way, I really appreciate the feedback.

Also, let us know what you think of the sneak peak! Layout, format, spells, etc. Most importantly to me, would you use these in a game?

Thanks again!

 

[Grinning Loony]

My advice - don't make people register. It is a big pain. It seems like *no* page is avaialble unless you register.

The page itself looks very cool, by the way.

 

[MythosaAkira]

My advice - don't make people register. It is a big pain. It seems like *no* page is avaialble unless you register.

I would agree. I can see having to register if you want to post on a message forum, to hopefully keep out spammers or people who just want to cause trouble, but making people register to see the rest of the site is a turn-off. Your website is essentially an advertisement for your company and products - you want that information to be as accessible as possible to the people who you want as customers.

 

[ashockney]

The page itself looks very cool, by the way.

Yeah, baby, yeah!

Thanks for the kudos!

 

[ashockney]

I would agree. I can see having to register if you want to post on a message forum, to hopefully keep out spammers or people who just want to cause trouble, but making people register to see the rest of the site is a turn-off. Your website is essentially an advertisement for your company and products - you want that information to be as accessible as possible to the people who you want as customers.

I DEFINITELY understand your position. We will have to eventually put some stuff out there where everyone can see it. But, since our registration is so simple, I'm hoping people won't mind.

There are some legitimate business reasons for why we chose to have people register in order to get the download, primarily in order to enhance our overall marketing strategy.

Can anyone speak from their company's experience on this tactic? Has it improved or decreased the level of interest in your product? Was it actually realized at the point of book sales?

 

[MEG Hal]

I DEFINITELY understand your position. We will have to eventually put some stuff out there where everyone can see it. But, since our registration is so simple, I'm hoping people won't mind.

There are some legitimate business reasons for why we chose to have people register in order to get the download, primarily in order to enhance our overall marketing strategy.

Can anyone speak from their company's experience on this tactic? Has it improved or decreased the level of interest in your product? Was it actually realized at the point of book sales?

I do not have an issue with signing up for a newsletter etc...but to see your links and stuff, that is a turn off and I do not think it will do any good for you for ALL of your pages to have to be logged in to view.

For the forums and downloads I can see, but for the other pages I think it is not a good marketing strategy.


As the people who are commenting on this thread have stated as well.

 

[jmucchiello]

Can anyone speak from their company's experience on this tactic? Has it improved or decreased the level of interest in your product? Was it actually realized at the point of book sales?

I don't think any RPG producers have a sign-in website. You are breaking new ground. However, I do know that when I go to websites in my other hobbies and there is a sign in, I usually surf on by without signing in.

There are some legitimate business reasons for why we chose to have people register in order to get the download, primarily in order to enhance our overall marketing strategy.

This just screams spam.

IMO, and to many Internet verterans, the only reason you ask me for my email address is so you can spam me or sell my name to spammers. Now, I doubt this is your plan. But that it the impression one gets from any website that asks for an email address. Where is your privacy policy? I should be able to read it without signing up.

Register Now! It's Free!
We don't sell/give to others your personal info.

That's not exactly sufficient. Just because you don't sell info doesn't mean that in future you won't.

Access to Downloads
Access to Feedback
Access to Your Myrik Page
Access to Private Messages
Access to Recommend Us
Access to Search
Access to Surveys
Access to Top 10
Access to Web Links
Access to WebMail
Access to Forums

So I can't send you feedback without a login? I can't recommend you without a login? I can't view your forums without a login? How do I know I want any of these things if I can't see them? Why is your potential customer taking the time to do you this favor of signing up?

Webmail? Why do I want mail going to your website?

 

[PatrickLawinger]

I DEFINITELY understand your position. We will have to eventually put some stuff out there where everyone can see it. But, since our registration is so simple, I'm hoping people won't mind.

There are some legitimate business reasons for why we chose to have people register in order to get the download, primarily in order to enhance our overall marketing strategy.

Can anyone speak from their company's experience on this tactic? Has it improved or decreased the level of interest in your product? Was it actually realized at the point of book sales?

First, I mean no insult whatsoever when I say this. I can tell you right now I won't even bother to look. I don't like registrations at all. I already have one "dump" mailbox that I use to have spam sent to. It receives over 100 messages a day, of which 95% are filtered automatically.

I receive anywhere from 5-30 legitimate emails a day (ie, messages I want) or more to my personal email addresses (which aren't used for any registrations or possible spam gathering). Anyone in my position is going to give you a "spam" address if they decide to give one at all. This means that your "marketing" messages or whatever you intend to call them are going to be 'botted into a dump box. Anytime someone says anything about needing and email address for "marketing" it sends off SPAM alerts in most people reading it.

Sorry, but you are definitely cutting into your potential audience by choosing such a tactic. In my opinion, it is a very bad idea for a starting company to do this especially when there are so many d20 companies available right now. You are essentially setting yourself apart from other d20 companies in a way that is likely to inconvenience and antagonize potential customers.

My suggestion, don't bother.

Patrick

 

[ashockney]

I do not have an issue with signing up for a newsletter etc...but to see your links and stuff, that is a turn off and I do not think it will do any good for you for ALL of your pages to have to be logged in to view.

For the forums and downloads I can see, but for the other pages I think it is not a good marketing strategy.


As the people who are commenting on this thread have stated as well.

Excellent point MEG Hal. I really appreciate taking your time to respond. We will consider it heavily.