We need more young players?
Printed From: Illyriad
Category: Miscellaneous
Forum Name: Suggestions & Game Enhancements
Forum Description: Got a great idea? A feature you'd like to see? Share it here!
URL: http://forum.illyriad.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=5127
Printed Date: 17 Apr 2022 at 14:01
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: We need more young players?
Posted By: twilights
Subject: We need more young players?
Date Posted: 31 May 2013 at 12:06
| now that college and high schools are letting out for summer there should be a push to attract these players to Illyriad. i suggest an active promotional campaign on face book and tweeter. Many of the game blogs seem to mention Illyriad but with few postings in the last six months. most of the younger players have the spare time to be very active in the game during the summer months and this could be a plus to the game. What are others thoughts on how to attract this important age group of player to the game? please be polite, stay on topic and no personal attacks. |
Replies:
Posted By: Yeesha D'ni
Date Posted: 31 May 2013 at 14:51
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I strongly disagree. Illyriad adresses, and that's what I like about it, mainly 30+ and partly much older players, and that's exactly what I like about it. I don't wont to generalize "the younger gamer" in principle, but in my experience of lot of other online games, those with a younger audience often had an atmosphere I strongly disliked. The quick pace, the tendency to powergaming, monthly ridiculous and trashy "Twinkle - winkle" events (which were demanded impatiently), at all this demanding habitus, which often led to harshly critizising the devs ("Since 2 months no Tourney,..... I quit....I want my money back...!), chat with tendency to impersonality or flame or dungeon rushs, the wish for supercombos and fast pace or colourful and eye - hurting designs. What I love about Illyriad: the reasonable (at least mostly) player community, many long term players (and no game hoppers, who change their game monthly, as it gets boring), the peaceful helpful chat, players being satisfied with game depth and long queues of numbers instead of shiny and colourful Uis, the no need to play erveryday (nice for players with family or demanding jobs), the slow pace. These players should be adressed more, through advertisment targeting especially those (what I think the Gms do as much as their time allows). Illyriad is quite special, its unique selling proposition is the target audience of elder players and indie game lovers. I like it like this, that's why I play Illyriad and not one of the monthly appearing, monthly vanishing citybuilders or MMos.  |
Posted By: Aurordan
Date Posted: 31 May 2013 at 15:17
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"And have you seen what kid's these days are wearing!? " "In my day, an advanced user interface was a smooth rock." I'm sorry, I tried to leave this, but I can't. You've associated things you don't like with an age group you don't like, and I find that completely wrong. There is no evidence, that I've seen or that I even believe exists, to suggest that any of these things are associated with any age group. If you have some, I'd be interested to see it. Illyriad is a good game, which is why people like it. We should tell everyone that, not try to turn it in to some sort of internet country club.
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Posted By: Yeesha D'ni
Date Posted: 31 May 2013 at 15:52
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Sorry, but I neither want Illyriad to be a Country club for senior guys
only (only if they play Townes van Zandt), nor dislike younger players (not at all !). What I discribed is a
tendency in games with a younger audience, not a fact. But if you view
around, how games for younger target groups are made, I like the actual
game design of Illyriad (in opposite to many of them) quite much and
wouldn't like this to be changed. The high average age of Illyriad is something I like (out of many reasons),and maybe as well the special Illyriad players, don't blame me for this. And concerning your quotation and this old story of "these days", I am neither reactionist nor do I like back old "Amiga with datasette" times. If you knew me better or once met me you would know (and for sure laugh about your daring assumption. |
Posted By: Hadus
Date Posted: 31 May 2013 at 16:15
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I think a better goal that attracting younger or older games is just to attract mature gamers. I'm probably younger than most here, and I appreciate the sense of maturity shown by many of Illy's members, young and old. I get what twilights is saying, and I agree that it would be a good business decision to target school and college age players who have some spare time over the summer. But as Yeesha D'ni pointed out, this should not be done by catering to the impatient and the immature. On the contrary, I think bringing in some younger gamers looking to entertain themselves over the summer, and exposing them to the high level of maturity often displayed by this player-base, could be a good thing for both parties! ------------- http://elgea.illyriad.co.uk/a/p/157483" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: Rill
Date Posted: 31 May 2013 at 16:26
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I think promoting Illy over the summer when many people (young and old) have more free time is a great idea. Let's capture the elementary school teachers and college professors as well as the middle schoolers. Illy has a diverse community, and I hope that we will continue to do so. I think there has been some facebook advertising (or product placement or something) that has led to some new folks joining. Keep it coming, devs, we need new players to keep us fresh -- it's fun to see Illyriad for the first time again through their eyes.
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Posted By: DeathDealer89
Date Posted: 31 May 2013 at 18:35
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If you want to grow the Illy community advertise it yourself. Illy is largely word of mouth advertised. I'm here because someone told me about it by someone who told him ect. Whatever age group/demographic you want to hear go tell your friends of that demographic about the game. If we end up having an influx of high school kids because summer is out awesome. If we have a big influx of nursing home elders because they like the game and told each other about it, thats awesome to. I think what matters more is more active players the better the game. How boring would illy be if it was two players at opposite ends of the map.
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Posted By: Tordenkaffen
Date Posted: 31 May 2013 at 20:06
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I think youre just bored coz theres no war. There are plenty of players in Illyriad, many who have yet to found their 5th city, so assuming they choose to stay there will still be a large demand for space (not to mention good spots). So before you spam the map with young players (of whom probably no more than 10% will remain after the first year), remember that the crowding reduces EVERYONES enjoyment of the game - especially the other newcommers to the game. BL is set to come out soon, how about you see how that works first. ------------- "FYI - if you had any balls you'd be posting under your in-game name." - KP |
Posted By: DeathDealer89
Date Posted: 31 May 2013 at 22:11
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How does more players reduce every ones enjoyment? I would much rather have more players with slightly less chance at good spots. And lets face we still aren't even close to filling the map. The game is competitive there is no point in playing the game if no one else is.
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Posted By: Albatross
Date Posted: 01 Jun 2013 at 02:57
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Marketing and social media: yes, of course. The best possible promotion is from the players themselves: spread Illy links from FB, Twitter, Pinterest, Delicious, etc. Tides of new players come from high-profile game reviews, which can't necessarily be planned, but the release of new features provides a handy excuse to make a fuss :o) I don't believe there's a 1:1 correlation between young players and annoying gameplay methods. There are good and bad in every half of humanity, whichever way you slice it. In fact, I've been pleasantly surprised by very young players with a mature attitude. -------------  |
Posted By: Auraya
Date Posted: 01 Jun 2013 at 18:20
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Some of the most immature behaviour I've witnessed here was from a pensioner. I'm inclined to agree with Hadus and champion the marketing of a mature player-base opposed to a specific age set. As for the children with annoying habits, some of them have tried very hard to adjust their mindset in line with the community and I'm all for providing an environment where they are exposed to a more mature in-game attitude. With regards to promoting the game, I think BL will bring in plenty of new players. As long as the game stays true to it's core values, it will continue to grow. Too many new players at once would harm the community ethic, too few and the game will grow stale. It's nice that we're growing steadily imo. The tortoise vs the hare :)
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Posted By: Lawless
Date Posted: 01 Jun 2013 at 23:48
| an old saying that is wise to live by...if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it :p |
Posted By: KillerPoodle
Date Posted: 02 Jun 2013 at 04:24
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GET OFF MY LAWN!!
------------- "This is a bad idea and we shouldn't do it." - endorsement by HM "a little name-calling is a positive thing." - Rill |
Posted By: Gon
Date Posted: 02 Jun 2013 at 05:58
If 10% remained this thread wouldn't have been started and Elgea would be a very crowded place indeed. I have no idea what the actual % of players who start a character are still around in a year. Recently I sent resources and a welcome letter to 11 new players (covered by rainbows) within 15 squares of one of my towns in Norweld. A week later, nine had been erased off of the map and the other two had not yet opened the mail I sent. Drop out rate here is incredibly high.
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Tordenkaffen wrote:Posted By: Diomedes
Date Posted: 02 Jun 2013 at 09:53
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This 'game' requires a certain mindset - in general, it is more of a community than a game per se. As Gon and others have pointed out, there is a very high drop out rate, and one of the main causes of that is the need for persistence as a new player. One can advertise Illy till the cows come home (metaphorically speaking), and it will still have a high drop out rate. The issue is almost certainly nothing to do with generalisations about young versus older etc, but about a willingness to take the time to learn and discover and engage with others around you... and many gamers entering into Illy for the first time, aren't prepared to make that kind of investment. Speaking for myself, I hope it remains that way,for that is what makes Illy such a unique experience. ------------- "Walk in the way of the good, for the righteous will dwell in the land" |
Posted By: Myr
Date Posted: 02 Jun 2013 at 14:36
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I don't believe targeting any audience with lots of free time just over the summer is a good idea. Three months in the game and you've barely gotten your feet wet, then once the winter comes if they don't have time for it anymore it gets dropped. I have had several students through the alliance and many of them have the ability to interact in a mature enough manner along with the patience to stay with the game, however many only pop in on school holidays and the summer and they count on sitters to get them through the rest of the time (please don't let this comment spawn a spin-off conversation on sitting rights). There is a steady stream of new players already. If this outstanding game and the vibrant community can't keep their interest then I am glad they moved on in search of somewhere they can enjoy their gaming time.
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Posted By: st aug
Date Posted: 02 Jun 2013 at 22:53
| No we don't need more young players. Just the opposite we need older players. Then again this game is open to all. All are welcome. |
Posted By: Gragnog
Date Posted: 03 Jun 2013 at 11:15
It is my lawn and the more players there are for me to kick off the better. Just kidding, more players of any age group are always welcome in my opinion as there are good and bad out there and it is not age dependent. With the crowd at the moment it does get heated at times but it is also a good way for people to try and deal with issues. We can all learn new ways of dealing with issues.  ------------- Kaggen is my human half |
Posted By: Halcyon
Date Posted: 03 Jun 2013 at 12:06
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Illy is the real old men's war. (Young men and women with patience also welcome) |
Posted By: GM Stormcrow
Date Posted: 04 Jun 2013 at 00:04
We couldn't agree more. We'd love to have a huge ad budget to bring in new players... but we don't. So we (the illy team) tend to concentrate on generating press and PR - as this is the best bang for our buck (both time- and cash- wise). But our *very best* promotion and marketing at an individual level is from player-get-player referrals and recommendations. Not only do referred players tend to have more commitment to the game (and the alliance that they join), they also tend to have more commitment to upholding the ideals of the (usually personal) friend who referred them to illy - and these are the great things that put the MM meaningfully into the MMO. Lots of stuff inbound on the release cycle, and please grab hold of them if they help you "make a fuss"! SC
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Posted By: twilights
Date Posted: 05 Jun 2013 at 11:55
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is there a possibility that illy will increase the the amount of prestige given to a player that recuits players...50 prestige seems a little low...but the 100 population seems low too....maybe reward 1000 prestige if the buddy recuit reaches 10000 population? i think u will see a whole different level of team alliance play if this is done too and alot more players staying with the game...wink wink |