Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Let's smoke the "Shills", or viral marketers out of MMORPG.com!
Hrothmund
Member Posts: 1,061
Have you noticed it as well? There are suddenly many "new"(couple of months old) accounts with just a few logged posts under them posting numerous threads about how great a certain MMO is, or how this and that MMO sucks and how they've reactivated their subscription to that and that game. In the last few months the volume of these spam posts has increased substantially. The funny thing is, many of these posts are obviously created by people who have never even played the game they are writing about, and the arguments they make are less than compelling to say the least.
Seriously, do game companies really think this marketing method works? Resorting to "infiltrating" online communities is something I can understand, but come on, at least try to be professional about it. My mind is not going to be swayed by an incoherent thread posted by some over-worked viral marketer who has a deadline of a hundred posts an hour. Chaps, at least try to get most of your spelling and grammar correct, create an avatar or do something else to try to retain some credibility. What you are doing now is ruining communities like this one and not advancing your own cause one little bit. Please stay the beep away from this site!
Seriously, do game companies really think this marketing method works? Resorting to "infiltrating" online communities is something I can understand, but come on, at least try to be professional about it. My mind is not going to be swayed by an incoherent thread posted by some over-worked viral marketer who has a deadline of a hundred posts an hour. Chaps, at least try to get most of your spelling and grammar correct, create an avatar or do something else to try to retain some credibility. What you are doing now is ruining communities like this one and not advancing your own cause one little bit. Please stay the beep away from this site!
Comments
TwitchTV Partnered Streamer
MMORPG.com Spotlight Blog Writer
Co-Leader of Inquisition
Youtube Channel
Considering how quickly you can be banned from this site, and the troll infestation that has occured here recently; I'm not suprised if there are a lot of new users.
BTW: Check out Auto Assualt. The greatest post apocolyptic sci-fi game on the market. Using rag doll physics you can destroy everything and anything and watch as the bodies go flying. Create a car, craft bigger and better weapons and ehancements to fit to your vehicle, and hit the road in the most fast paced action packed mmo around.
I really don't believe companies go out of their way to virally market on forums like these, mostly because they know how jaded we are and what the reponses will be. There are better ways to spend their marketing dollars than posting pro or anti game mail here.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Hrothmund,
I do believe it happens, but maybe not to the extent that others believe it to be happening.
The reason I believe it happens is it is exactly what I would do if I were the publisher of an MMO. If done right, using the examples you've given, it can be quite effective considering how important word of mouth is to the success of an MMO.
Now don't get me wrong. I hate it and I think it's despicable, but very effective and inexpensive.
Its unethical for game makers to falsely impersonate a player.
However, if i a game is a festering pile of crap viral marketing will not offset the community's ability to identify the stench.
I'm starting to realize that the MMORPG market is filled with crooks in suits who would do anything and everything to get your money. The day of game makers being interested in making good games is all but over save for a couple bright spots in the market from the niche titles.
Of course I also believe that the ideal situation for a capitalist is for them to have all of my money without having to do a thing for it.... lol so I'm kinda messed up I guess.
Its funny how they release piece of crap games then try to convince us they're not - they really do think we're stupid.
Actually no, I never noticed that.
I am selling tinfoil hats though.
---
Viral marketers suck.
Are you a hardcore PvPer. Think you have what it takes to make a name for yourself. Want to seige castles, become notorius, or simply enjoy the atmosphere of an open PvP enviroment? Then Lineage 2 is for you. This isn't your little brothers MMO. This is hardcore open warfare, were guilds fight for control of the land. Create a toon from anyone of 5 races and battle your way to the top in a world that holds nothing back. Lineage 2, even the carebears are hardcore.
Crap like this has always existed since the con man. Don't glamorize it with their selfcreated buzzwords.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shill
"McDonalds recently launched a project asking rappers to advertise their foods in their songs"
-Currently looking forward to FFXIV
-Currently playing EvE and Global Agenda
...
This is where I draw the line: __________________.
This is just a silly topic.
Eve is a great game. No other game has a deep comunity feel. The skill system lets you focus on the important parts of the game without having to worry about gaining lvls. No other game can you participate in corporate espionage. Or you can just become a simple hualer; transporting good from star system to another. Eve is such an open and complex world, and it's winning PvE game of the year is a great honor. Give the free trial a shot and see for yourself.
Viral marketing itself is a growing phenomena, or more correctly, it is finally getting the public awareness and exposure that it deserves. It has existed in various media forms for decades.
DarkSpace Developer - Play DarkSpace - Play For Free!
Medusa Engine SDK - Free MMO Game Engine
Hampton Roads/East Coast Video Gamers Association
LMAO, you all most got me with that line right there.
Did someone say something about honesty? Maybe if someone create an account soley to promote there game, but openly admitted it and was honest in answering any questions and comments about it...posters just might appreciate that more then the paper-thin disguised posts by these viral marketers....
....hmmm....nahh!
.....................................
...but time flows like a river...
...and history repeats...
-Leader of "The Fighting Irish" in DAoC on Hib/Kay-
An so it begins
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.[/CENTER]
That doesn't effect class imbalance, that doesn't effect the fact that the game is boring and repetitive for some of us, it's all down to the coding itself, the sames goes for the NGE, it's nothing about personal preference or opinion it's about the game mechanics that developers have lazily written and designed in an effort to scam more money out of us because their current games either aren't good enough or they've lost their replay ability singleplayer wise. I'm personally sick of these huge franchises and I can't wait until the independent developers who use good game engines like multiverse wipe the floor with them because of the creativity they're going to produce, I've seen some of the posts on the boards of what they plan to make and it looks damn impressive compared to the grind games we see now.
Quoting people doesn't make you clever, in fact, it makes you all the more stupid for not bothering to read the quotes you post in the first place.
LMAO, you all most got me with that line right there.
Did someone say something about honesty? Maybe if someone create an account soley to promote there game, but openly admitted it and was honest in answering any questions and comments about it...posters just might appreciate that more then the paper-thin disguised posts by these viral marketers....
....hmmm....nahh!
I don't think the OP has got it yet.
Thanks for appreciating.
I haven't got the will to come up with another creative viral marketing post for this thread so..
PLAY VG IT TASTE LIKE CHICKEN SO YOU'LL LIKE IT. AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE CHICKEN THEN IT TASTES LIKE BEEF OR WHATEVER MEAT PRODUCT YOU LIKE OR VEGETABLE IF YOUR A VEGETARIAN AND NO ANIMAL PRODUCT AT ALL IF YOU'RE A VEGAN. SO NO HONEY, EGGS, MILK,OR GELETIN. YES GELETIN. LOOK UP ITS INGREDIENCE IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. HORSE HOOF FTW.
LMAO, you all most got me with that line right there.
Did someone say something about honesty? Maybe if someone create an account soley to promote there game, but openly admitted it and was honest in answering any questions and comments about it...posters just might appreciate that more then the paper-thin disguised posts by these viral marketers....
....hmmm....nahh!
I don't think the OP has got it yet.
Thanks for appreciating.
I haven't got the will to come up with another creative viral marketing post for this thread so..
PLAY VG IT TASTE LIKE CHICKEN SO YOU'LL LIKE IT. AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE CHICKEN THEN IT TASTES LIKE BEEF OR WHATEVER MEAT PRODUCT YOU LIKE OR VEGETABLE IF YOUR A VEGETARIAN AND NO ANIMAL PRODUCT AT ALL IF YOU'RE A VEGAN. SO NO HONEY, EGGS, MILK,OR GELETIN. YES GELETIN. LOOK UP ITS INGREDIENCE IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. HORSE HOOF FTW.
I got you the first time, I just didn't think it was such a riot.Considering the availability of trails for MMOGs and the vast amount of information available to research, there's simply no excuse to be fooled by a viral marketing push.
If someone can be swayed by a half dozen posts saying "this is the coolest thing ever", then they deserve to be sold a false bill of goods.
Yeah, they do it. Why should they be different from any other business? These sorts of practices are incredibly common, and exist in almost every market.
Your local sporting good store very likely gives out free product to some of the more popular highschoolers in your area, so that they will wear/use the item, show off how cool it is, and tell everyone where they got it. Clothing stores do the same thing for folks, especially for women, who tend to network about clothing. Well-known athletes and actors are given free products of all sorts, all the time, just so they can use them and show off that "so and so uses it" (this is in addition to paid advertising gigs). Dell donates laptops, computers, and other odds and ends to TV shows as a routine thing, for the advertising they get (go check out Stargate).
And now, on the internet, we have people who are given free months, free copies of the game, free whatevers, in return for their efforts to promote the game on websites around the net. You get the same thing on the internet for all sorts of products - again, MMOGs are not bucking or starting a trend here, they are merely doing what everyone else does.
It's not really any more unethical than running 'ads' for Coke on a TV show by having all the characters on the show drinking Coke.
These aren't the developers posting these things though - not usually, anyway. #1, they don't have time. Trust me, they DON'T have the time! #2, if these were really paid individuals, working for a pro ad studio or the game company itself, they'd be a lot more coherent than many of these folks tend to be... #3, they don't NEED to - plenty of people are happy to go out promoting their fave game for not much more than a pat on the head.
Effectiveness is hard to judge. My guess, however, is VERY effective. Remember, a person needs to see an ad on average 12 times before they buy the product (Marketing 101 info there). Same goes for playing games. People need to SEE the game name. Also, our brains tend to stack opinions on any subject in a plus/minus system: if we have no basis for opinion from personal experience, we rate our feelings about things largely on what others have said. This is even true of self esteem, which often can be *directly* impacted in even a short period by people saying "you're good" or "you suck" repeatedly. That's why selfhelp books are so big about NEVER saying anything negative about yourself... Because every negative thing you say about yourself helps make it true.
Owyn
Commander, Defenders of Order
http://www.defendersoforder.com
"Mindless spam" is practically a synonym for "the internet". If you haven't learned how to filter out the propaganda and blathering idiocy then you're not going to have much hope surviving out there. The human condition is a very noisy thing.
If you are unable to realize that "Joggde21" with a 2 month old account and 11 posts is probably a dubious source of information, well you have a lot to learn about life in general. Trust should never be given blindly to anyone.