It seems to me that, at this point in time, there are three main objectives to be reached in terms of marketing:

(1) To get people into the game
(2) To get people to stay in the game
(3) To get people to spend some money on the game

It might be argued that only (1) is directly about marketing and thus that any kind of thread specifcially about marketing need not be concerned with (2) and (3). I believe, however, that aspects of (2) must be part of any kind of marketing strategy. If, somehow, TFW succeeds in attracting people to the game but fails to keep them there, something has gone wrong and it is not entirely unreasonable in that case to think part of the fault lies with the marketing.

What are your thoughts about marketing TFW?

- Where should TFW be advertised?

- How should TFW be advertised?

- What audience should TFW be focusing on and why?

- Are existing marketing strategies apt? (I know of only two previous attempts: TFW on Kongregate and the contest that was issued on Boardgamegeek.com. There might, of course, be more.)

- What things should be in place to optimize the fact that players will have a good first impression when they come to TFW (game and website)?


I have very few suggestions of my own on this topic. But as with the previous Suggestion topics (see my signature), please add your ideas and thoughts about this. Who knows, maybe someone might even listen to what you have to say

Cheers!

There seem to be fairly many guests and new accounts in the lobby (or at least there used to be), but I've noticed only a fraction of them stays long enough to play more than 1 game with a human opponent, let alone spends any money on this game. This brings us to the first impressions part.

Let's try putting ourselves in someone's place who has just logged into TFW for the first time. The first thing most people do is play the tutorial. Sure, it's good to have a tutorial, but it could be a lot better, and it's very important to make a good first impression. I started with the tutorial myself, and frankly, I recall not being very impressed. I found it a bit confusing and not making much sense (maybe it's just me?)

The main problem with the tutorial in my opinion might be that it doesn't explain well enough the unusual turn / round mechanics TFW has. Then it may not tell enough about the various symbols on the map or in the cards. Then if we get really nit-picky, the ai could perhaps wait a second before acting. Now it might seem a bit weird that when you attack the hell cat, it almost seems to move at the same time as your scout. And it would make a lot more sense if it attacked the scout instead. What about first placing the bamboo next to your original well to expand, but then after that placing an oak as a construction site?

Ok let's assume a player has gone through the tutorial, and is interested to continue playing. This can't be taken for granted, since each of the 3 people I have introduced to the game have played the tutorial, but stopped right there. Anyway, then he / she will probably either try asking something in the lobby, playing games vs AI, challenging real players or reading some manuals.

If noobs' questions are replied to at all, if the question was a so called "stupid question" (let's face it, people will be totally clueless after only the tutorial), the answer is often made in a smart-ass way, and may not be very helpful.

Playing against the old AI (and I assume most players start with the flash version of the game) doesn't give a very good impression either, since it does weird things like dimming its creatures without doing anything with them, even though it should be moving and attacking with them. It's disheartening to meet a human opponent after this, as the AI doesn't prepare you for it at all.

Then the new players might challenge people. Honestly, who does anything else than just clicks reject when yhou get these? It doesn't create a very friendly atmosphere for noobs. Besides, it may not be obvious who is new and who is not, and even if someone accepts a challenge it may result in the noob getting utterly crushed and told to play faster and so on. A system that pairs new players up is needed, I think. Even better would be a separate lobby for new players, like many other games have, but I'm afraid it would be almost empty most of the time these days.

The manuals may be hard to find, and even when they are found, they may not provide definitive answers to many questions. Remember, the people who like these types of game ENJOY reading comprehensive and technical (and large) rule books, like MtG has.

Double-posting for a worthy cause!

I got an idea: how about appointing 1-3 new moderators whose responsibility is solely helping new players? They could be any ordinary, active, experienced players who like to help newbs and are fluent English speakers and know how to make clickable content in chat, for example Voices. They could be paid with discounts on gold or pack purchasing or league entry fees and so on.

Also, default decks could be made a bit more competitive or there could be some human vs human game mode where no one has much better decks than the defaults (budget matches?).

All this beinng said, of course marketing and advertising is important too, but IMHO everything possible should be done to make a good impression on the new people who arrive thanks to marketing, or a large portion of them will just leave without never coming back - yes first impressions are that strong!

More about the marketing itself: I think board gamers and CCG players are the best target audience for tfw. All forums and sites that concentrate on this are a good place. What's the most effective way? I think TFW players spreading the word more actively and getting TFW reviewed (favorably) in as many places as possible should be effective.

EDIT: Added the last paragraph.

1 thing, but very important!

Default decks are GREAT idea - BUT they need to be consistent. Why there should be every card one, to give the player idea..?? He can read them all on market. But what should he do with single Decompostion or Wider Woods in deck? With nothing (almost) else to play with it..

Default decks definitely to be made more consistent and thus more playable and enjoyable.
Also I think these bought packs could go with some changes, but.. let concentrate on default decks first. We might start a thread where we'd suggest what should new defaults look like - maybe also including already the new cards - and making even Chaos and Imperial default.
If the marketing will be that new set is out that'd be definitely good, to have defaults in these also.

My 2 centavos:

As I have said before, TFW is much better than the vast majority of games I have played over the years! Spending money for virtual cards is a new concept that might make some nervous. The biggest negative for me as a new player was the absolute beatdown I received at the hands of highly rated players. Losing is one thing, but feeling like you are being passed around between different inmates is less than appealing.

Streamlining the process for noobs should be priority #1. Followed by a true marketing blitzkrieg!!! Eventually someone will have to go all in Texas hold 'em style to get this bird off the ground.

What is the best way to help train and retain newbs? One idea is to have 2-3 default decks for every faction. Then have a battle format that ONLY allows players to choose from these default decks. You can eliminate all of the weird ways to win, focusing noobs on normal strats. And this also keeps bizarre scenarios/combos from frustrating newer players. With more than 1 default deck per faction, you also add some needed uncertainty to these battles. Just an ideaR.

Considering,

DarkJello, Arbiter of Despair

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Jello,
Aptly disturbing and appropriate analogy re: passing around between inmates.
I also like the idea of having multiple default decks. Maybe an easy way to do it is to take successful decks for each faction from Domains, since those are generally mono-color by nature.

No matter how hard you try...

Entered a game with newb recently - and chose the worst deck I have - which is, of course, sylvan default..
Starting hand was so scary, that I mullied..
Got Treent (3f/ spawn forest, dunno the name now..) - and Mis-Scribed Circle under him on the next turn..
And that was how I've won. (Few turns later I casted Thistle thus I had vision to play another Grove as C. Site..)
He resigned on 7th turn (after I've casted that site.)
Tried to help him, give him advices about all the stuff he's doing..
Just nothing

Zurken:

I do not believe my suggestion will suddenly make newer players beat veterans. There is no way that a default Sylvan will win matches as easily or as often as many of the uber decks run in the Expert Clashes! The point is that the decks would be much more balanced, so that a newer player would have a slight chance. Even when they lose, they will not feel like it was 100% impossible to win. One could also argue that the best player in this type of format would have an advantage, instead of the person with the better deck. I like all of the various formats, just throwing this out for general consumption by the wolves of TFW.

DarkJello

P.S. Have a good day.

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This is asking too much, but I think a tutor mode would be excellent where you could have someone sit in on someone else's game and see their hand/view and offer suggestions.

Other than that I would say having veterans play newbies and at least point out the mistakes they made against them could be really nice.

Boozie:

I will speak only for myself in the following statement: The idea of someone slaughtering me while kindly pointing out all of my mistakes is less than appealing. That is like getting hit in the pumpkins and then having the person say, "I just punched you in the raspberries." Obviously you mean well, but an EC worthy deck in the hands of a veteran vs. a new player is gonna be nothing but fuGly! A format that decreases the massive power gap might just help retain people until they are better players. Maybe not, just an ideaR.

DarkJello

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