How new players find us.

[Belenos]

Because I felt like doing it, I went through our list of responses for the question "Where did you hear about us?".  The responses for December 2007 are posted below.  I edited out the names and any other sensitive information.

• Wintin.net
• TMC
• Internet Search - After weeks of searching for a halfway decent RPI mud.... I hope this is the one.
• friend
• wikipedia.org/permadeath
• friend
• Internet Search - Google
• I choose to give muds a try since the MMORPGs are becoming such a stupid waste of time. I'd like to be part of a well-thought story, not some ESSAY
• Mudmagic.com
• Internet Search - Searching for good MUD, liked idea of no resurrection.
• Internet Search - web search for Dark Sun MUD
• TMS
• No Reason Given
• I read them on Achaean forums. I wand to play more RP oriented game.
• Internet Search - Google
• Mud connectors rock my socks off....
• Friends
• internet
• Web
• friend
• topmudsites.com
• Googled "low fantasy mud"
• internet
• Friend from Kingdom of Loathing
• From Harshlands--probably five years ago!
• friend
• No Reason Given
• No Reason Given
• My wife plays.
• friend.
• Friend
• other player
• e
• friend
• friend
• Mud rating website
• Mentioned by a friend.
• mudlist
• top mud sites.com
• Wikipedia mmorpg list
• www.mmorpg.com
• Google
• web
• friend
• No Reason Given
• Mudconnection.com
• A friend
• SOI
• forum
• I have played off and on for the past ten years.
• Top-MUDsites.
• by another player
• topmudsites
• Mudconnect.com
• Top Mud Sites
• from charlie
• friend
• No Reason Given
• I've always been a fan. Lurking in the shadows, I watched your progress........NOW I strike.
• game orger
• quit
• topmudsites
• husband
• Read about it on a forum while looking for a game people RPed on.
• No Reason Given
• Recommended by a friend.
• surfing the net
• From the Escapist magazine.
• search
• topmudsites.com
• I googled 'best muds' and found it there.
• no
• topmudsites.com
• mudconnect
• In my programming class, we are to make our own version of an MUD, and we were pointed to this game as reference.
• No Reason Given
• Web search for nilgiri resulting in a hit which showed ya'll at port 23, viewed the web page and found the new servername/port
• Shadows of Isildur.
• zMUD
• Top Mud Sites.com
• No Reason Given
• No Reason Given
• website
• No Reason Given
• I was playing another game when a player there told me that a mush, and then especially Armageddon, probably would suit me more.
• Forum post on TIGSource.com's forums.
• Mudconnector
• friend
• mudreading
• Friend
• i heard of armageddon from this site: www.online-games.net/newrpgs.html
• Boyfriend
• nknnwcu
• yahoo
• No Reason Given
• Sister of friend
• Mud Connector
• @
• yahh search
• Word of mouth
• thvbvvc
• web search
• Friend recommended it.
• Through a friend.
• I heard about this mud from a Wiki
• Through Mud connector
• g
• A good friend of mine
• TopMUDSites.com
• web search - used to play Dutch Mountains
• quit
• Mudconnector
• nowhere
• The Mud Connector
• yahoo
• http://www.topmudsites.com/
• www.rpimud.com
• www.mud.de
• My older brother told me about it

[Cutthroat]

g, @... 

My favorite was: "I've always been a fan. Lurking in the shadows, I watched your progress........NOW I strike."

The others are all interesting too.

[Rhyden]

In my programming class, we are to make our own version of an MUD, and we were pointed to this game as reference.

That's pretty cool. Props to the teacher.

[Maybe42or54]

Maybe we should get a myspace page. Huh?

[Southie]

This is really pretty cool stuff.

I wonder if we could survey all the new accounts a month after creation for their thoughts, too. If they still play, what do they like best/least? Was the game what they expected it to be?

If they don't still play, why not? What didn't meet expectations?

[Qzzrbl]

Which reminds me.... What ever happened to Warrior Poet? 

[JustAnotherGuy]

Has Arm ever thought about have a Community Manager?

In the MMO industry a Community Manager is the person that creates interest within the community, either within it's own or within the general market.  Going to forums, getting in touch with Community websites...  talking to the players.  Getting to know the players and fiinding out what they enjoy, what they don't enjoy on a more personal basis.  Why did that newb leave after a week of play?  Send him an e-mail and ask him...  Follow up and see what can be done to bring that player back.

The MMO industry pays countless thousands of dollars just to keep a player or bring a player back.  Not counting all the money that goes into bring a player into the game.

One person could do these things...  I personally have worked with a few people like this with my experience in the industry.  This wouldn't even have to be an Imm role, a player could do it with Imm assistance.  Either way... I personally believe Arm should dedicate someone to working on the Community as a whole.

I appreciate all the comments from the staff so far, but like all of you have said... You are all extremely busy.  Oh and also... this would be a great tool to start creating hype about Arm 2.  I mean, why not do Developer Interviews just like they do with other MMOs.  Developer Profiles.. get to know the staff better.  I know we have the blog, but there could be SO much more with a dedicated person.

[Bogre]

"from charlie"

thanks charlie

[Akaramu]

Isn't Sanvean already doing community manager things?

From the above list I come to the conclusion that friends are the number one Arm magnet. Roleplayers on other games / MUDs who are tired of the lack of deep roleplay in their game might be the most productive source.

What drew me in was a really cool, really old story that someone posted about their character years and years ago. I was like, 'holy shit, all of this really happened in a game!' And I remembered Arm's name again years later when I was tired of my current MUD.

Imho, not sure if it is already being done, but we should advertise with ingame stories.

[Sanvean]

I've handled community manager type activities, as has Vanth, but we've never been very organized about it.  The Escapist articles are an example of an attempt to generate some publicity (and I'm pleased to see someone mentioning it up on that list) -- there's another one coming out at the end of the month, although it's not about Armageddon, and I've recently been asked to contribute essays to a couple of anthologies on virtual worlds that I hope will do the same. (The Escapist's also got some Arm fiction, a collaboration between Adhira, Halaster, Nyr and myself that I really really hope they end up using in their fiction issue.)

I've raised the question of such a position on the staff board, in order to discuss what a publicity manager and a community manager would do, and I split them up that way since either one seems like a serious chunk of work. However, they'd work pretty closely together, as well as withwhoever's handling the website, and would farm out a lot of the work to volunteers where they could.

Here's some of the things that I thought the roles might involve:

Things a Community Coordinator might do:

• Oversee the discussion boards, crack down on problems, drive discussion as needed
  
• Drive voting on TMS and MUD Connector
  
• Plan and implement campaigns for increasing the number of players.
  
• Gather feedback from players and use it to create suggestions for improving the game experience.
  
• Identify key issues for players and pass information along to the OLs
  
• Monitor other online game communities in order to keep our community efforts up to date.
  
• Maintain the helpers list and work with the helpers to make sure they are getting and providing needed assistance.

Things a Publicity Coordinator might do:

• Write and send out press releases for significant events and maintain the list of places such notices should be sent.
  
• Monitor reviews and make sure the spam ones get removed.
  
• Make sure we appear as needed on search engines.
  
• Make sure we are listed on mud/game sites.
  
• Act as a point of contact for press inquiries about the game.
  
• Publicize game events such as the APM, important RPTs, etc.
  
• Promote the game through things such as the Cafe Press store.
  
• Make sure that the game blogs are getting posted on at least a few times a week.
  
• Maintain our presence on social networking sites such as Facebook, Livejournal, and MySpace.
  
• Coordinate release of staff YouTube videos.
  

Are there other things that would fit into either category?

[Cerelum]

I've handled community manager type activities, as has Vanth, but we've never been very organized about it.  The Escapist articles are an example of an attempt to generate some publicity (and I'm pleased to see someone mentioning it up on that list) -- there's another one coming out at the end of the month, although it's not about Armageddon, and I've recently been asked to contribute essays to a couple of anthologies on virtual worlds that I hope will do the same. (The Escapist's also got some Arm fiction, a collaboration between Adhira, Halaster, Nyr and myself that I really really hope they end up using in their fiction issue.)

I've raised the question of such a position on the staff board, in order to discuss what a publicity manager and a community manager would do, and I split them up that way since either one seems like a serious chunk of work. However, they'd work pretty closely together, as well as withwhoever's handling the website, and would farm out a lot of the work to volunteers where they could.

Here's some of the things that I thought the roles might involve:

Things a Community Coordinator might do:

• Oversee the discussion boards, crack down on problems, drive discussion as needed
  
• Drive voting on TMS and MUD Connector
  
• Plan and implement campaigns for increasing the number of players.
  
• Gather feedback from players and use it to create suggestions for improving the game experience.
  
• Identify key issues for players and pass information along to the OLs
  
• Monitor other online game communities in order to keep our community efforts up to date.
  
• Maintain the helpers list and work with the helpers to make sure they are getting and providing needed assistance.

Things a Publicity Coordinator might do:

• Write and send out press releases for significant events and maintain the list of places such notices should be sent.
  
• Monitor reviews and make sure the spam ones get removed.
  
• Make sure we appear as needed on search engines.
  
• Make sure we are listed on mud/game sites.
  
• Act as a point of contact for press inquiries about the game.
  
• Publicize game events such as the APM, important RPTs, etc.
  
• Promote the game through things such as the Cafe Press store.
  
• Make sure that the game blogs are getting posted on at least a few times a week.
  
• Maintain our presence on social networking sites such as Facebook, Livejournal, and MySpace.
  
• Coordinate release of staff YouTube videos.
  

Are there other things that would fit into either category?

Even if I had never stepped foot in Arm however many years ago, I would at least have to give a shot if someone did these things you're mentioning about a mud.

Too much anymore, the only, slightly useful way to find a good mud is to look over reviews on tms or mudconnector.  I think if you made this position a reality and had someone who really kicked ass at it, you would drive droves of people to the game.  If anything simply because they are impressed, like I would be.

J-Rod

[Tomeglow]

• I read them on Achaean forums. I wand to play more RP oriented game.

That one's my favorite.

[LauraMars]

• no

My favorite.

[Malken]

• I choose to give muds a try since the MMORPGs are becoming such a stupid waste of time. I'd like to be part of a well-thought story, not some ESSAY

That guy's totally angry, he/she probably fits well on the mud.

[JustAnotherGuy]

Those are EXACTLY the sort of positions I believe Arm needs.  These positions would both be able to look externally and internally.  Community and Marketing.  Some MMO companies that I have seen do both is a sort of lackluster way by having the Community Manager deal with both.  Whilie I personally fell that can be helpful, it can also drag the Community Manger down and give them TOO much to work with.  For voluteer positions, you wouldn't be able to do this and it would really stress the person that would be tasked with all of that work.

Now something that could be added onto the Community Coordinator would also collecting all sorts of Staff Related information that the players might like to read.  For example, I just recently found out about the Videocasts that Sanvean does.  They are VERY well done and very informative.  As a player, I have no clue they even existed.  Community-wise relating to content, I feel that Arm needs one hell of an overhaul.  I don't know how everyone else feels, but I definately see that Arm is lacking in direction when it comes to finding things that the player can relate to the Developer/Staff/Admin.  From my experence with MMO Communities, this is a field that is EXTREMLY important.  Lets take Warhammer Online for an example.  They do a Montly Newsletter and Video Podcast.  This Newsletter and Podcast has gone over EXTREMLY well.  I love reading the newsletter, I love watching the video podcast... and it keeps me coming back to the new game that is in development.

Arm is an MMO through and through...  it should be treated as such and it should take advantage of all the stratagies that Graphical MMOs use.

[Belenos]

For the month of January 2008

• I heard about this mud through Mudmagic.
• No Reason Given
• internet surfing
• found it through wikipedia looking for mmorpg
• Traylen - A friend told me.
• From a MUD listing website.
• topmudsites.com
• mudconnect.com
• quit
• i was looking at stuff on google. never heard about this "game"
• Topmudsites.com
• rpimud.com
• Mud Magic
• topmudsites.com
• internnet
• web
• topmudsites.com
• google
• from a site about MUDs
• From a friend, his account is ...
• A friend.
• No Reason Given
  
• topmud.com is where i found ya
• friend
• [3~[3~[3~[3~[3~[3~[3~[3~[3~[3~[3~[3~[3~[www.topmudsites.com
• No Reason Given
• Google search for "realistic roleplay mud"
• From a friend.
• Random web searches trying to find interesting muds.
• Read about it on Top Mud Sites
• From a friend.
• In an online forum
• ubuntuforums under gaming subforum
• RIPMUD
• mud ring
• SomethingAwful forums
• No Reason Given
• No Reason Given
• topmudsites.com
• forum
• Top Mud Sites
• mudconnector
• from a freind
• topmudsites.com
• I discovered Armageddon over a forum, also when I type i cannot see my letters, is that supposed to happen? I may be mispelling certain words.
• Mudconnect review.
• Friend
• mudconnector
• friend
• Found it online
• friend
• mudconnector
• online forum
• google
• rpimud.com
• topmudsites
• A Mudlist site.
• ok
• I heard about Armageddon in an IRC room.
• flpciqg
• I was led to Armageddon by the inglorious path of the 'random mud button' at TMC
• topmudsites.com
• top mud sites
• No Reason Given
• A friend
• Mudconnect.com
• My boss
• topmudsites
• Top Mud Sites
• Through two friends that are current players.
• topmudsites.com
• close
• Top Mud Sites
• mudconnect.com
• No Reason Given
• mud site
• No Reason Given
• TMC
• My friends told me about it.
• mud connector
• Friend.
• player
• Accursed Lands
• No Reason Given
• Top mud list
• No Reason Given
• top mud list
• topmudsites.com
• TopMudSites
• college classs
• Playd before
• SoI mud advertisement.
• A friend, his handle in IRC is ...
• friend
• I searched it
• ... has been telling me about it for over 10 years.....I gave in.
• On a list of online RPG games
• SoI mud website advertisement.
• No Reason Given
• a freind
• I heard about Armageddon from a friend who plays.
• someone recomended it
• No Reason Given
• A friend
• Top Mud Sites
• google
• Zmud world list
• From another player
• TMS
• other mud a few years ago, played before tuluk fell
• ZMUD
• listing at topmudsites.com
• Friend
• I played on ARM back when it first switched to RPG and am coming back.
• internet search
• Read about it at topmudsites.com
• internet
• topmudsites.com
• MudConnector.com
• I heard about it through topmudsites.com
• No Reason Given
• ?
• No Reason Given
• Friends that play here
• From a friend
• My boyfriend plays the game and was showing me. I am interested but I don't know a lot about how to play it and it appears a bit intimidating. Hopefully I can get some help and guidance. I have read a lot of the web sight but it also seems intimidating.
• A forum
• Friend from another MUD
• [censored]@yahoo.com

[Gimfalisette]

Crunched the data for fun:

December 2007: 119 responses, 97 non-null
Friend - 32%
Internet Search - 18%
TopMudSites.com - 12%
MudConnect.com - 9%
Other MUD/MUSH/game - 4%
Wikipedia - 3%

January 2008: 129 responses, 110 non-null
Friend - 29%
TopMudSites.com - 24% *
MudConnect.com - 11%
Internet Search - 7%
Other MUD/MUSH/game - 3%
Wikipedia - 1%

I would maybe be interested in the publicity coordinator job. I also think looking at retention of new players is really necessary. I'm pretty concerned about the fact that we're getting over 100 new accounts per month, and yet we're not really seeing an increase in the regular playerbase. This tells me retention and turnover is a serious issue.

* A few people have been campaigning really hard recently to get us all to vote and move higher on the TMS list. It looks like maybe that's resulting in more new accounts. Good work, you guys!

[Belenos]

February ---

• my friend told me about it
• I heard about iArmageddon via an unrelated search.
• rpimud.com
• x
• google
• my cousin told me about it
• mpogd
• A community link from middle-earth.us
• mudconnect.com
• Mudconnector
• friend
• found my self
• Friends recommendation
• i was surching mud games
• No Reason Given
• tmc top 100
• google
• A friend from another MUD
• a friend told me about it
• I've been a player since long, long ago. I had a lot of trouble with account [CENSORED], and am making a new account so I can hit my Arm-pipe.
• mud connector
• yahoo search
• Mud connector
• I have a friend of mine who told me of this game and I thought it might be interesting to try it out.
• TopMudSites.com
• From a friend who plays a very successful 1500 hours character.
• I heard about it from my boyfriend and one of his friends.
• I found it on bestmudsites.com, and decided to try it.
• Top Mud website
• No Reason Given
• From my friends.
• www.topmudsites.com
• No Reason Given
• dont know
• No Reason Given
• through a friend.
• rpimud.com
• No Reason Given
• The Mud Connector
• search engine
• i ve heard in a wikipedia article about permadeath
• topmudsites.com
• I looked up "Real roleplaying games" while looking for true Roleplaying online MMOs, and i am disapointed with the "So called" MMORPG's of the day...
• friend
• Mudd connector
• Mud Connector
• I was just surfing the internet when I encounterd this game.
• Found it on wikipedia
• No Reason Given
• no
• No Reason Given
• topmudsites.com
• friend
• it is cool
• the mud connector search
• I heard it from a friend
• mud connector
• In the Gaia RoleplayForums
• Mudconnector.
• internet
• top sites
• Top Muds
• zmud
• shit
• top mud list
• Mudconnector.com
• zmud
• The rpg.net forums
• topmudsites.com, and some reviews on the net
• Friend referred.
• It came to me in a dream.
• Found it through Google.com
• Mudconnect.com
• Top Mud Sites
• internet
• Read about it on www.topmudsites.com
• mudconnect.com
• YouTube
• I heard about Armageddon from a friend on another MUD.
• Shadows of Isildur
• my friend told me
• Used to play Armageddon way back .. in 1992
• my friend
• on computer
• friend
• the "top mud sites"
• top mud site
• found on the web
• Diku mud list
• This guy on the computer next to me made me try it.
• zuggsoft forum
• No Reason Given
• google
• website
• mudmagic.com
• No Reason Given
• A friend told me about it.
• Google search for MUDs
• No Reason Given
• online
• online
• No Reason Given
• yeah
• search
• An acquaintance on a MUX
• topmudsites.com
• Mentioned by a friend/TMC
• mud connector
• c
• message board for another game
• A friend told me and gave me a link to the website.
• Search engine, MUD inquiry
• I heard about Armageddon from too friends who devour the world around them within their minds.
• MudConnector, and various mud client lists over the years. Decided why not take a look?
• mudconnector
• Longtime mudder (usually at Wotmud) tried to get addicted before, and I'm trying again...
• word of mouth
• Found a review of it while browsing a weblisting of MUDs.
• from a friend who is a fan of this game
• it came to me in a dream
• My friend told me about armageddon and after reading the marvelous thiefs bible i decided to try one.
• My boyfriend/husband.
• topmudsites.org
• RPImud.com
• Rynsia reccomdended it me, and it was also mentioned on somethingawful.com's game forum
• On google...
• On Google...
• Randomly picked from the list on ZMud
• I forgot
• player
• player
• Friend
• Forums
• TMS and MudConnector
• Off of a forum
• Topmudsites
• topmudsites
• No Reason Given
• internetttttt
• I saw an Ad on elfwood.com
• I heard of it off of a MUD site.
• topmudsites
• i saw an ad on elfwood and it looked interesting.
• Found it in on mudrankings website.
• MY FRIEND TOLD ME
• mudconnect
• I was bored and wondering what there was to do, and i remembered one of my friends in highschool played on a mud so I did a gogle search for top Muds and your site was on the list provided by the first link.
• google
• random google/forum
• No Reason Given
• web
• topmudsites.com
• Friend
• mudconnect
• topmudsites.com
• My step-father played this game along time ago.
• friend of mine who plays here
• http://www.topmudsites.com
• edge dante
• A little Swede whispered in my ear.
• i didnt
• Balls!
• from muddconnect.com

[Akaramu]

em waits patiently for the Gimf analysis. 

[Morrolan]

I am wondering if we could see (or maybe just the Imms could analyze it themselves) a "one month on" list of how much the various accounts have been used.  That way we could see how much each of these sources brngs players who stay, and see if there are any trends.

Morrolan

[X-D]

I'd never admit to hearing anything from...

Balls!

Even if it is funny.

The number of replies is impressive though. That many new accounts last month? Lets hope even ten of them stay around. Also looks like mudconnecter gets a good amount of hits. VOTE MORE.

[Gimfalisette]

emote appears, as summoned, with a *poof* of smoke and a spreadsheet analysis.

February 2008: 163 responses, 137 non-null
Friend - 28%
TopMudSites.com - 17%
MudConnect.com - 15%
Internet Search - 12%
Other MUD/MUSH/game - 4%
Returning player - 4%
zMUD - 3%
Wikipedia - 1%
Elfwood - 1%

There was a 26% increase in the number of new accounts from January to February. Wow.

However, when I look at unique player counts and character applications over the time period, I'm not seeing any concomitant increases in those numbers. (Though the numbers for the last week of February are not complete.) This again tells me we have an issue with new player retention, such that we are retaining new players only at something near replacement rate.

My educated -guess- about which sources are highest quality for player retention would be the "friends" source, because friends are likely to help a new player figure out how to play ARM, and have a vested interest in doing so. Beyond that it's really hard to say, without numbers.

[brytta.leofa]

We need a better way to help new players get oriented.  We need a spirit tregil for each new player.  Invisible to everyone else (indeed, any actions targeted at it will be visible only to its player), communication with it will be considered out-of-character, and instead be rerouted to a randomly-selected helper via AIM.  Feel that you're sufficiently oriented to the game?  Just type "hit tregil" (but be sure you're not in a brawl-enabled room, as that will engage you in an invisible barfight).

More seriously, was there ever a final consensus on the Newbie Channel idea?  I'd hate to see an open chat channel (everyone talking to everyone), but it could be very helpful if a newbie could type questions only to helpers and interested staff.

[Gunnerblaster]

• My boss

His boss must rock. Hard.

[Vessol]

We need a better way to help new players get oriented.  We need a spirit tregil for each new player.  Invisible to everyone else (indeed, any actions targeted at it will be visible only to its player), communication with it will be considered out-of-character, and instead be rerouted to a randomly-selected helper via AIM.  Feel that you're sufficiently oriented to the game?  Just type "hit tregil" (but be sure you're not in a brawl-enabled room, as that will engage you in an invisible barfight).

More seriously, was there ever a final consensus on the Newbie Channel idea?  I'd hate to see an open chat channel (everyone talking to everyone), but it could be very helpful if a newbie could type questions only to helpers and interested staff.

This person knows what they are talking about. It would work great for Helpers. Arm is pretty hard to swallow, I have introduced it to a few friends, but none have stayed due to the text-based graphics and entering commands, it can be hard to pick up.