This is old ground for me, but time is not healing the wound, and in fact is making me angrier.
We in the UK get WoW shoved down our throats as being the best - if some are to be believed ONLY - MMO around. No change there then. Tonight I picked up a new gaming mag called Total PC Gaming, as it has a 20 page MMO mag within it and I was interested to see what, if any, coverage L2 received. I think you all know where this is going...
So guess what, 2 pages on WoW plus a one page advert (and a 6 page History of WoW feature in the main body of the mag!), 5 pages of MMO news (no mention of L2 quelle surprise, and references to what it calls the 'big five' MMOs: WoW, Dark Age of Camelot (no, me neither), Guild Wars, EverQuest and EVE online, with half a page devoted to what's coming up in those games), and full page articles on EQII, Pirates of the Caribbean online, Guild Wars, Bounty Bay online and 4 pages on Tabula Rasa. The last 2 pages contained a roundup of broadband providers/best deals, and a directory of MMO games, which contained this: Lineage II - A medieval MMO where battles and magical creatures clash head-on.
And that was that. Despite decent coverage for GW and TR, plus a decent reference to City of Heroes within news, our favourite NCsoft title fails to get a look in. Now OK, this was the mag's first edition, and maybe they will splash big on L2 in issue 2 out mid-December with everything you ever wanted to know about CT1 but were too afraid to ask, but on past experience I'm not holding my breath. I've never played WoW, but from what I'm told it's much much easier than L2 and not as good to look at either (tellingly a player in the history of feature says he got to lvl 70 in 3 weeks, lmao; a similar timeframe in L2 based on 8 hours a day would have got him to maybe mid 50s, and probably less if he was starting from scratch). I don't understand my compatriots fascination with it that's for sure, but one thing is for certain; it's got some hefty marketing clout behind it. Compare and contrast right there. NC should be shouting about this greatest ever expansion from the rooftops, but from where I am, I hear nothing.
It's clear that NC has marketing guys active in the UK for the games listed above to get decent coverage, so why not L2? Alyra, could you give me an answer to that?
I'm not really talking about ads, but editorial (although as a former magazine editor, I do know the two aren't exactly mutually exclusive ;)
When I say there was 4 pages on Tabula Rasa for example, that's a 4 page preview, not an ad; the only ad within the MMO mag part of the magazine was for WoW ^^
The only suprising thing here is that people are still suprised by this. I'm well used to going into a computer game store to have a look around, and being asked by sales staff what game I'm currently playing. When I say Lineage II I just get uncomprehending looks, and told they've never heard of it.
The only suprising thing here is that people are still suprised by this. I'm well used to going into a computer game store to have a look around, and being asked by sales staff what game I'm currently playing. When I say Lineage II I just get uncomprehending looks, and told they've never heard of it.
they tell me ... "ever tried WoW?" and i scream at them and never come back.
That's a whole other debate and one that's been done to death, not least by me.
To get back on topic, why do NC market other games but not L2? I understand the situation is not much better in the US. They must be doing something in other parts of the world, Greece for example? Russia? We have lots of players in those two countries, but comparatively few from the UK. This is the country that brought you countless gaming classics don't forget, including the mighty Grand Theft Auto [I say this because I've had ingame chats with Greeks who seem surprised that UK people play games at all :) Rest assured, gaming is HUGE here]
That's a whole other debate and one that's been done to death, not least by me.
To get back on topic, why do NC market other games but not L2? I understand the situation is not much better in the US. They must be doing something in other parts of the world, Greece for example? Russia? We have lots of players in those two countries, but comparatively few from the UK.
From what I hear from our clannies from those countries (Greece, Turkey), many of them start out on illegal private servers (which are very very popular there) and then decide to try out the "real thing". So it's not NCSoft advertising there, it's word-of-mouth advertising. Pretty sad that many players do not learn about the game via official sources but via illegal servers. Some initially actually think the illegal servers ARE the official servers.
.......what it calls the 'big five' MMOs: WoW, Dark Age of Camelot (no, me neither), Guild Wars, EverQuest and EVE online, with half a page devoted to what's coming up in those games), and full page articles on EQII, Pirates of the Caribbean online, Guild.....
Advertising I guess could help make some players feel better. But the fact of the matter is, lin2 is a 4 yr old product with nothing on the shelves to sell. Of course you can download it on-line. But most potential customers, who might be drawn in by some ad (if it existed) would go to their GameStop, Best Buy, or other retailer and not find it anyway.
So really truly, what would the point of advertising be for lin2?
I know it'd be fun for player morale and %&*^ like that. But it costs a boatload of money and there's no justifiable business reason to pay for it. I mean really, be reasonable -- it's pointless to spend marketing $$ on a title with no product in stores.
You are missing my point. I'm not talking about advertising, but PR, and that costs very little. And I will bet there will be another 'hard copy' of the game released for sale in stores to coincide with the release of CT1, as there has been for other Chrons, so your argument that it is a 4 year old game with nothing to sell holds no weight whatsoever. The bottom line is that atm, the player base is dwindling and needs to be replenished; NC doesn't update the game for nothing, they do it because there is a business plan which would presumably factor in some growth to make updates viable (and yes I appreciate the game development takes place in Korea where L2 is a whole different ballgame to the rest of the world, but even so).
Most games get coverage when they release a new expansion... but not this one. Like you I look inside PC Gamer Magazine (US) for anything about L2 and I'm usually disappointed. All they have to do is stick a new cover on the box with one of the new CT1 toons and title and it would look like a brand new game. I bet the wing itself would interest some enough to pick it up and take a look but I know Im dreaming.
I'm surprised they talked about EQ2 ...
Believe in or not, on the continent (yes, just that part east of your country), there was no advertising for the new EQ2 extension. So I'd say it's not only NCSoft.
Maybe those game are too difficult* for the average player and are reserved for an elite?
*EQ2: too many quests/rich content
*L2: patience is a virtue they say + pvp
As some already wrote here I am not suprised at all.
Tell you what:
I bought a full copy of this game once at the one store that could sell it of their shelves. I was told no other shop could sell it as this store made the exclusive deal with the NCsoft distributer.
Turns out that now when I return to this very shop I bought my first copy from the people behind the counter look at me as if I just told them that bigs can fly when I mention the name of Lineage 2.
So to the OP. Get over it, NCsoft believes that online selling is enough when it comes to Lineage 2. The CEO/suites in Korea are completely ignorant to how this approach fails in countries other then Korea.
I think Tabula Rasa is "visible" as the Garriott's brothers are most likely pushing the adverts. Not surprising is you take into account that this little project of theirs accumulated a significant amount of the developer cost of the games being released by NCsoft.
I'm currently doing a Games Technology course at university, and none of my fellow students have heard of Lineage 2. Well, one guy said "errrm I think I've heard of that..." But otherwise nobody had a clue. I would have thought doing a degree in games, someone there might have heard of this game, but no such luck... I was hoping to meet someone who might play it :(
You are missing my point. I'm not talking about advertising, but PR, and that costs very little.
Yes, there is a difference there. But I think it's not as big as we might hope. NCSoft could put our press releases about lineage2 (assuming they're not afraid it'd compete with TR, DungeonRunners, etc.). But who's gonna pick them up?
Put another way: Mrs Wyzeguy and Wyzeguysister are writers. They get assigned/invited topics for stories, and also come up with their own for freelance work. They have to write a story that will sell. Specifically, what newspapers and magazines sell is advertising, so they have to deliver readers. That puts constraints on what they can write about.
You can't sell a story about the depletion of the ozone layer anymore. That doesn't mean the ozone layer problem went away -- it means even hippie freaks don't wanna hear about it anymore. Lineage2 = ozone layer. WoW = localism + "green" movement.
I'm currently doing a Games Technology course at university, and none of my fellow students have heard of Lineage 2. Well, one guy said "errrm I think I've heard of that..." But otherwise nobody had a clue. I would have thought doing a degree in games, someone there might have heard of this game, but no such luck... I was hoping to meet someone who might play it :(
This always happens to me, but I usually show them the game, or a raid video. Instantly they are like "Woaaa How can I play? I want to try"... this month I already brought a few players from WoW to L2 (I'm mean xD)... My point is, a little advertisement wouldn't hurt...
I'm currently doing a Games Technology course at university, and none of my fellow students have heard of Lineage 2. Well, one guy said "errrm I think I've heard of that..." But otherwise nobody had a clue. I would have thought doing a degree in games, someone there might have heard of this game, but no such luck... I was hoping to meet someone who might play it :(
This always happens to me, but I usually show them the game, or a raid video. Instantly they are like "Woaaa How can I play? I want to try"... this month I already brought a few players from WoW to L2 (I'm mean xD)... My point is, a little advertisement wouldn't hurt...
I have no doubt that if one were to show some well made pvp videos or Castle Sieges that L2 would get a huge influx of people.
The problem is that many of the new players would eventually balk at the grind, poor quests, challenging economy and for some, the open pvp.
A game like WoW has an extremely large and diverse playerbase. I bet many of the more hardcore pvp'ers there might welcome L2. They might still balk at the grind/economy but they might find a home.
But a large amount of players are just looking for something that is fun, that doesn't require a lot of time and that they can meet people, do some tasks, look "cool" and then log off and have a life.
L2 doesn't really allow that.
Seriously, no one I know has more than an hour or two per day (or more like every other day, every few days) to play a game.
They would get very frustrated. Also, the Clans they try to join might get frustrated as well since they want active membrers.
L2 is a niche game. The problem is that, unless NC leaves it be and makes an alternate rules server of some sort, they run the risk of adding too many things that will drive the more hardcore playerbase away.