Aradune Mithara said:
Our sales and our paying subscribers match and even exceed EQ 1"s in many ways at this point (1.5 months after launch). Yes, I know it"s a different world, and there are a lot more MMOG players now, but still the numbers are encouraging.
I suppose that would be encouraging if VG was in the same ballpark as EQ, from a ROI standpoint. I"ve been under the impression that VG has been many, many times more expensive than EQ, and as such your quote seems somewhat misleading. Is meeting EQ"s sales and subscriptions, and in
SOMEways exceeding them, going to mean anything when so much more was invested in VG as compared to EQ?
Aradune Mithara said:
Like I"ve posted before, I think word of mouth is really going to help us.
I hope your right but I predict you"re wrong on this. I"ve heard nothing good via word of mouth, none of my friends have, no guildies from other games, nada, nothing. At best I"ve heard "It"s a ____ clone, if you like it you"ll like VG" or "It still has problems, maybe it will be ready in X months". At worst, I"ve heard some pretty damning indictments that although biased still cast a pall onto the "word of mouth" that is going around for VG.
It is actually interesting to me that some of the biggest supporters for VG, outside of dedicated VG forums, have been in the VG threads here. Bad thing is (for you), that those opinions are mixed in with a nearly equal number of people that give VG bad reviews.
I have been seeing a good deal of VG adverts in PC Gamer though. The March issue had the foldout front cover spot; I was thinking to myself "Oh, well, looks like Sigil is taking the gloves off" until I saw the centerfold double-foldout in the center for WOW. Heh. Still, I"d personally set some heads to rolling for the adverts myself. The phrase "Set yourself free" needs to be canned, that has to be one of the most atrocious sounding one-liners I"ve heard (its right up there with the "time to slay the dragon" one). Some of the VG ads actually make me cringe somewhat. The ads seem passive, bland, even dead...maybe there is some attempt at a Tolkienesque backdrop, but imo it isn"t working. That and, though I hate to say it, not enough scantily clad ladies. As sad as the indictment is of gamers in general, T&A=$$$.
Aradune Mithara said:
Rather, I just am conditioned and used to looking at the big picture and both the short and long term, and from that overall perspective, the today and the tomorrow, I remain very bullish
Just don"t lose sight of the near term by being optimistic and expecting the long term to pull things out. It might, it might not. IMHO you would be better served being worried about the short term a bit more and banging heads together (Which you may be doing and keeping it out of the public eye, I dunno).