IDEAS FOR RYZOM

We've been around this particular block many times, but I want to try to point out some scenery that might not have been duly discussed before.

First, let's acknowledge that psychology matters.
When you tell people that the only things they can do for Ryzom are either to subscribe or to go forth and recruit new players, they are most likely not going to be encouraged. They are more likely to feel powerless and directionless.
If you give people a specific task instead of a very broad and undefined task, they are much more capable not only of tackling that specific task themselves but also of convincing other people to help with it. For example, "vote for Ryzom here!" or "submit your best screenshots to this website over here! (because they don't have many good Ryzom screenshots)" or "please submit this announcement to every gaming website you know about".

The developers have better things to do than guiding word-of-mouth advertising efforts, and they aren't necessarily the people best suited to this anyway. I propose that a volunteer marketing coordinator position be established.
Immediately on reading this, I'm sure players and devs alike would think, "But why? A person doesn't need to be sanctioned by Winch Gate in any way before they can do those things you mentioned." True, anyone can do those things. But they won't. Eight years of history has proven this. Occasionally someone makes an effort, and some people have made semi-consistent effort. But clearly this has not been enough.

There has to be a person who feels directly responsible for making sure that all announcements and patch notes reach as many relevant websites as possible. That person (or maybe a second person, to keep the work load light and thereby minimize the occurrence of burnout) must also feel directly responsible for making sure that their fellow players know exactly what they can do to help Ryzom. If this person (or these people) has no official or semi-official standing, when they get tired of this stuff or they don't have time anymore due to RL circumstances or they leave the game, no one will feel obliged to take their place. Consistency is then lost. At that point months or years could go by in which everyone outside the Ryzom community forgets--again--that the game still exists. If there is a position like "volunteer marketing coordinator" established, someone will feel compelled to fill it whenever it is not filled and whoever the current "volunteer marketing coordinator" is at any given time will feel that they can't just neglect or abandon their tasks without telling anyone and/or stepping aside.

A "volunteer marketing coordinator" would not have a special relationship with Winch Gate beyond the fact that their position's existence and duties would be acknowledged and described in something like a pinned forum thread. They would not act as a special conduit of communication between the developers and the players. They would not have access to any internal aspects of Winch Gate. They would not receive perks like a free subscription or in-game rewards; although I imagine an appropriate in-game title could easily be created and given, there should be no incentive for someone to sign up as a "VMC" for one month and do as little as possible during that time just to get the title (plus, a title might draw unwanted attention to them in-game: frequent questions from people who want to know how to get the title themselves and then what a VMC is and so on). In any case, a VMC would not have very much to do, so they shouldn't feel a need for compensation of any kind beyond the satisfaction of helping Ryzom.


I'd like to remind whoever reads this about the existence of this service:
http://www.projectwonderful.com
That might be something that Winch Gate and/or enthusiastic players with a bit of extra money could afford from time to time.


On the subject of fundraising, a wide variety of projects and, yes, game developers are having success with Kickstarter and IndieGoGo. Something to look into?

Also, it's high time some Ryzom merchandise was set up and sold! A lot of people want plushies and figurines, but that's not likely to be feasible. It would be enough to give players a way to buy t-shirts, mugs, mousepads, tote bags, etc.

I think this is a great idea!
While I think I may have too much on my plate right now, I'm willing to support such a coordinator in their efforts and be involved in brainstorming and organization discussions. I also can draw, write, and web program a bit.

Securing funding through IndieGoGo for specific dev-determined feature implementation/upgrades seems to be a great idea! I'd pitch in. Mainly because I love FOSS and want to see Ryzom do well.

(On a different note, I'm also going to give my thumbs-up to Ryzom by subscribing very soon. :) Good work guys!)

Thanks for your message.

You are not the first to talk about that and you are right.

Some people told us that they were ok to create some design for some Ryzom goodies (tshirt mug...). We said cool, go on, and we never saw anything.

Some people told us that they were ok to do some viral marketing. We said cool, go on, and we never saw anything.

There's lot of people with very good intention, they really want to help Ryzom and it's wonderful. But when it's time to stop talking and to acting, they often find tons of reason to do nothing. We don't blame them at all but in result nothing changed.

a VMC? nice idea, would you take the job? What is your plan? Feel free to share it with everyone here what you want/think to do.

Thank you for the reply!

I hadn't been aware of those incidents of WG acknowledgment followed by inaction.

Unfortunately I have definite issues with procrastination and demotivation, so I know I couldn't be a VMC. Not for long, at least. Maybe there will come a time when I could handle it for 1-3 months.

I can expand on what I imagine the responsibilities would be, though:

- Many gaming sites offer some method of sending in a "tip" or submitting news. The VMC would make a list of gaming sites and every time WG makes an announcement the VMC would submit the news to every site on that list, typically within 24 hours but within 48 if their RL interferes. If the VMC becomes aware of a different/new gaming site sometime after that, as long as the latest announcement is not time-sensitive they can make a judgment call about whether to send the latest announcement to that site or simply add the site to their list and wait for the next announcement.
Announcements are few and far between, so this responsibility is quite light.
"Announcements" include patch notes and all other formal, public communications from Winch Gate (so, not dev comments on player-created forum threads, not private communications, and not player-originating news).
The list of gaming sites should include French, German, and English sites (and, optionally, sites in any additional language the VMC is personally familiar with for which they're willing to write translations).

- Submitting news about official events would be a more frequent duty, and one where the VMC can and should recruit the help of other players at a certain point. The simpler side of this duty is to pass the announcements posted by the event team in the Events forum(s) on to the gaming sites. The side where other players come in is after the event, when a recap would be useful: the VMC can either rely on a single recap from a particularly reliable person or solicit two brief recaps (each from a different perspective). Whether one recap, two recaps, or no recaps will be submitted depends on whether the VMC can convince anyone to write them at the time, the nature of the event (some events are simple and some are complex, and some might not warrant a recap for some reason), and the VMC's judgment.

- Sometimes it will be appropriate to send player-originating news to the gaming sites. One of Ryzom's strengths is its community and it would be valuable to give potential new players an idea of what the community actually does. Examples: a large pre-planned trek, the Leanon community's Black Market and the Arispotle community's Fairhaven Faire, etc.

- For numerous reasons, it will be almost requisite for the VMC to have contacts in language communities that are not their own. Some VMCs would already have friends or acquaintances who would fit this bill, and some would have to create and develop their contacts from scratch. Examples of reasons for this recommendation: the VMC would be able to check with a knowledgeable member of a community they themselves aren't familiar with in order to ensure that their coverage of that community's activities is not lacking, and this would provide a pathway for getting translations of forum posts or game chat logs if necessary.

- On the subject of covering the activities of language communities the VMC isn't familiar with, it is always the VMC's responsibility to check the other-language forums frequently and use a service like Google Translate to get the gist of what's going on over there. When in doubt, consult contact. Google Translate should never be used to translate text that would be submitted to a gaming site, though.

Alternatively, each language community could have their own VMC. Depends on whether one wants to spread the risk of burnout and neglect across three people or consolidate it in one person. Simplicity benefits this whole idea, so there actually might be some advantage to having just one VMC.

Finally:

- The VMC should keep an eye on various gaming sites, watching for things like Reader's Choice awards and other game popularity contests, reviewers and Let's Play-ers asking readers to decide which game they'll play next, sites that have a screenshot gallery for Ryzom that doesn't have many good screenshots, etc. The VMC can lighten their workload here by asking friends to tell them if they see or hear about any of these things and/or asking fellow players to do so. Once an opportunity has been found, the VMC should make a forum post about it (and either do their best to post translations in the other languages' forums or ask a contact to do so) encouraging the community to vote for Ryzom, post comments suggesting it, submit their screenshots, whatever is needed. However, the VMC should always tell people not to do anything disallowed by the rules or the spirit of the contest (or whatever it is); we don't want Ryzom getting a bad name for having an overzealous community. Mobilizing a community of enthusiasts to express their enthusiasm within given rules is not overzealous, it's normal and often expected.