21 replies to this topic

[KingCobra]

When i think of myself playing the new MWO i have to admit i will be among the 10-30% of the old guard that will play this game and thats from the TT players to the Mechcommander crowd or the old PC game series.So knowing this fact i have to go back into my days on the MSN gamming zone and the Millions of young pilots that became mechwarriors playing MW3-MW4MERCS .
Even though some only played a few months to some 6-7 years they all would banter back and forth and chat in the main lobby like giddy school girls nomatter what there ages 8-80 chat and the great leagues were what made Mechwarrior a hit.You could talk to friends,teammates,and enemys all with the messenger service and keep your friends & enemys on a friends list for instant games 24/7 7 days a week.I hope MWO adopts this philosophy for the new game chat and competition with them and a solid (Ill make your day friend)attitude the game will prosper and grow.

Without the social & competition side the game it will regress into what the ingame servers were like boring and unused.

[GaussDragon]

KingCobra, on 08 December 2011 - 01:01 PM, said:

I hope MWO adopts this philosophy for the new game chat and competition with them and a solid (Ill make your day friend)attitude the game will prosper and grow.

Without the social & competition side the game it will regress into what the ingame servers were like boring and unused.

Seconded. Ego investment leads to more time spent playing IMHO. Being invested in the game leads to opening of wallet. Competition is always good. E-peening is good for business, I'm not being sarcastic, whether it's roleplayers or stat whores, both help stoke/encourage competition.

EDIT: Just don't do it to newbies, that's senseless.

Edited by GaussDragon, 08 December 2011 - 01:43 PM.

[ManDaisy]

Simple solution, broadcast the horrible atrocities of mechanized war during saturday morning cartoon hours.

[GaussDragon]

ManDaisy, on 08 December 2011 - 02:12 PM, said:

Simple solution, broadcast the horrible atrocities of mechanized war during saturday morning cartoon hours.

It's probably what worked for me

[Agasutin]

@12:17 is that a death star? lol

[Ghost]

There's actually a horrible, horrible comic book too. I believe it's called Battletech: Fallout and to give you an idea of how quality it is, all I need to say is that it is based on the cartoon in the same way the cartoon is based on Battletech.

[KingCobra]

Im wondering if PGI would not restart the BattleTech Cartoons & Comics to promote the game? it would be alot cheaper than making a movie.And really they have not said how there going to promote MWO the original cartoons would be cheap to rerun on TV or even if a cartton studio did a remake to update the series it would be cheap.Just a thought

[Felicitatem Parco]

I'm a late 20-somthings young man who was introduced to Mechwarrior a long while ago while I was browsing the isles of PC games at some electronics store... and I saw this disk case with an absolutely AWESOME enormous mechanized, gun-toting, missile launching death machine (a.k.a. Mad Cat/Timber Wolf). I had to buy it. So I played Mechwarrior 2, then all the expansion packs. It was awesome, but I never got into the back-story because I was really young, I thought the tabletop game linked with all the canon and play rules and stuff was way too serious for me, and I had no attention span whatsoever.

It's now many years later and did I get a bit excited about the Xbox360 MechWarrior reboot that was proposed because my friends live along the West Coast and we play multiplayer Xbox-Live games for socializing. I thought a MechWarrior game that I can play with my friends (with full live-voice-chat capability!!!) would be very fun, but I needed to brush up on my Mechs. I downloaded MW4:M from mektek and got my Helm back, and now I'm trying to convince them to get on their computers and do the same in order to get acquainted with the BattleTech back-story and learn how piloting a Mech is basically like...

... because none of them ever played or heard of Mechwarrior before, and none of them knew about MWO.

I believe you're only tapping a limited community for this persistent online universe: PC gamers and Tabletop players who are already on their computers and have heard of Mechwarrior Online somehow, and Xbox players who heard about the reboot and showed some interest either because the trailer was good or they were already familiar with Mechwarrior. I can tell you that many people who had not played Mechwarrior in the past don't even know this thing exists.

Some kind of marketing campaign that can draw live-team-combat players from their Xbox's to their PCs, and transport MMORPG party players from their realms to this one.... the answer is obvious, simple, and powerful.



E3, June, 2012.



That would secure the Inner Sphere forever.

Edited by Prosperity Park, 08 December 2011 - 09:14 PM.

[Felicitatem Parco]

EDIT

Prosperity Park, on 08 December 2011 - 09:11 PM, said:

... the answer is obvious, simple, and powerful, and expensive.

Edited by Prosperity Park, 08 December 2011 - 09:14 PM.

[Mattiator]

I'd imagine that the rights for the BattleTech cartoon are spread far and wide across the known universe. Nevertheless, I'd love to see a few things happen with that piece of *ahem* Battletech history.

1. A DVD release
2. Some sort of continuation
3. A remake

[Dlardrageth]

That comic book gave me an inspiration. If PGI considers ever selling a boxed edition, perhaps with some bonus item, why not include something like a 10-page comic/Manga/whatever in it. Sounds like a winning idea for getting the attention of younger customers. And the "old farts" would probably get it just out of a collectors needs.

Doesn't have to be something particularily fancy, but if there were any kind of "boxed starter set" or however you call it, the mere presence of it on game store shelves would make MWO more widely known. And if you get some gimmick with it as well...

[Tierloc]

It's only worth having the banter if you can then challenge on the field. Chat is funny but engaging in RP fueds is a great hook.

[GaussDragon]

I think we'd all agree that this IP would have more adherents if FASA wasn't notoriously bad at few things: Accounting, marketing and IP management. Various rights to this broad IP are scattered like sheets to the wind compared to other IPs and the fiction started to get piece-mealed after awhile and started go the Hasbro route, where it was made to sell a product (clicky TT figurines aka Dark Age). It's almost comical that MechWarrior/BattleTech is a story about giant robots fighting each other because of human fractiousness, just like the fanbase is, just like the various IP-holders are. If it's at all possible,(wishful thinking) I'd like to see a massive re-consolidation of rights under one roof, and a smart ret-conning of some of the later fiction. MechWarrior 2 had the advantage of being a major title of its time back in the natal days of the PC gaming market so a lot of people at least recognize the brand, it's just a shame that it was so poorly managed for the next decade or so.

[Helmer]

Building a compelling, fun, easy to learn/ hard to master game is the first step.
Involving podcasts, video game websites, and as many games journalists as possible will help out tremendously. I know PCGamers Evan Lahti is a HUGE fan of the Mechwarrior series. And I believe Shawn Anders of the Gamers with Jobs podcast is a big fan as well. Connecting with big fan sites like theirs and getting interest generated helps tremendously.
Releasing bad *** trailers like 2009s will generate alot of buzz. Going to places like PAX and E3 are awesome, but also very cost prohibitive (Although PAX is probably much cheaper of the 2). And if you have fairly aggressive online marketing campaign, you don't need to spend the amounts that franchise like CoD can throw at TV. Youtube can be your best friend at times : )

[Aescwulf]

Actually i got one of my younger step brothers into MechWarrior but he hasn't played the games yet just watched me, might just have to corrupt him

to be honest it's quite hard to draw in younger and new players for one they need the hardware to run the thing which today isn't really hard. And the other thing is to try and lead them away from the fast pace pew pew of CoD which they are all attached to.

But in this matter I'm clueless

But showing them a big shiny mech might draw them in

Edited by Nitsua Asuka, 09 December 2011 - 09:22 AM.

[KingCobra]

These are cool kids like this stuff

[Adridos]

KingCobra, on 09 December 2011 - 11:45 AM, said:

These are cool kids like this stuff

These are too old.

Kids now like something like this:

Between teens and babies -


All three -


Teens - Facebook (why do I get the feeling everyone around me is idi.t?)

[KingCobra]

Dudes im sorry but ManDaisy's comments on will there be chick mechwarrior pilots made me do this hahaha



P.S this was my wife after she lost a MWA league match when we played together on the MSN GAMMING ZONE.

Edited by KingCobra, 09 December 2011 - 03:39 PM.

[Red Beard]

They need a good viral campaign. Most of the young men out there have cell phones and even smartphones. If they get something like, "Rise of the Inner Sphere" or something LIKE that going and kick it into viral mode, they will get the kids interested. Cool in game photos will help. That's what hooked me into MW2. There is alot to be said for good box art.

Or offer the iOS MW game for peanuts, or even for free, and make it tie in to the F2P PC game.

[KingCobra]

I agree red were all speculating on PGI'S promotion plan.Here is another kick butt Mecha video.