Discussion: COH/COV Myspace!
By
Alwaysseen,
Posted on: 2007-06-04 15:25 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
Regardless of the misperceptions involved, the general player answer was "No, I don't use MySpace and I'd find a CoH-dedicated MySpace page to be a useless waste of time and energy."
To which the Cryptic response was, "We don't and we're gonna do it anyway."
The players then counter-repsonded with "Why the heck did you ask us, if our answer didn't impact your actions in any way, shape or form?"
I still think they're missing some advertising tricks. I understand there's this service called "AOL" that has "rooms" set aside where you can "chat" about your favorite things. ZOMG! Why isn't there an official AOL CoH chat room?!
GET CRACKIN', EX!!
Or hey, there's these so-called "Fax machines" where you can send people messages WITHOUT using the mail? Whoa, there's another cutting-edge viral delivery system Cryptic's missing out on. 
MySpace: old and busted.
Cryptic jumping on the MySpace bandwagon = mainstream media discovering LOLcats.
Statesmonkey Sez: Lighten up! It's a game, for Lincoln's sake!
Also: Six years of casual play begins to look an awful lot like one year of hardcore play.
Agreed
Owch. I wouldn't be so quick to spread the "Mehs" just because its a vocal minority. Just because an opinion is held by a small number of people doesn't mean they don't have valid or useful input, folks.
I'll be straight up with my bias: Rupert Murdochs News Corp bothers the crud out of me. And since Myspaces' 'new' connection to it, they've done some pretty shady and nasty things to pretty much attempt to ensure they're the big boss. (See my above links about Revver and other bans, though thankfully public outcry has slowly reversed most of this.)
Does this really affect CoX? No, I suppose not, in the short-term. Is it still worth mulling over before a company makes a move that affects their image and product? I hope so.
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This is to gather together and build community on an already networked site. Could we do this with other sites, yes, will we, maybe.
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I hope you do spread around. I can understand the benifit of just needing to design site-specific materials, and then getting 'free' hosting with another service to help gather community members. It's just I see 'Myspace' and then my brain goes 'Uh Oh'. I'd strongly encourage a multiplatform community outreach, as it'd not only spread your influence, but promote mutli-site use.
Thats all. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a tinfoil hat to make. 
I must have missed the post that is an annoucement with a linky to the CoH Myspace page...so since my myspace search foo sucks. what the hell is the link to the CoH myspace page so the rest of us myspace illiterates can find it
V-Tronix - Angry Angels
V-Tron Elec/EM - V-Tron X EM/EA
To Build a Better Hero #53098 [Newly edited and looking for Feedback] - Renegade Robots: V-Tron's Task Force # - A Summer Song and A Winters Tail #104106
I have a simple solution to all the people that detest the whole MySpace thing...
Don't visit the site! Wow...how ingenous.
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I agree with most others. The Myspace page is going a little too extreme. Like we need somethign else to keep up on. It's really pointless and it just shows us what the developers are really trying to do. Just trying to get new players who are lifeless that are on Myspace all the time. When they need to be fixing up the website and the bugs in which keep the old players on longer. But just a friendly opinion though. If you think that "Adding people to the Friends List" is more important then the website and fixing the bugs, that's on you.
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I see it a different way.
Having a myspace is good because it will bring new and more players to CoX, and the more players there are, the longer the game will last, because without players, funding is cut, and the game dies, and none of us want that, so I pose a question... A few more idiots in game, or no game?
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So QFT. As much as I berate the spamming and hacking that happens to myspace users (spouse and friends included), I fully support an endeavor Cryptic and NCSoft are using to help increase visibility and (hopefully) the playerbase of a game a have enjoyed much longer than any other MMO I've played.
If you don't like myspace, don't use it But don't blame the community reps for advancing via an established webspace to try to bring in more players.
That's my 2 Inf.
Link to official myspace page.
To add some clarity to the issue.
The question was "Do you myspace?" 33% of the people who were polled answered yes.
That is one third of the polled people, there were roughly 1000 people who voted. Which is safely around 1 % of our over all subscription base.
So if 1/3 is my corollary number then it is safe to say that doing a page like this would benefit roughly 1/3rd of our current subscribers. This is a potentially large number of individuals.
The benefits of advertising etc. aside, this resource was just an additional way for us to gather the community together, many of whom do not regularly use the forums.
This question was not phrased to bring about a majority consensus or opinion. The majority clearly does not use myspace and for their own reasons, which I support. The question was do you use it, as in currently.
This was the justification for going through the process to bring the page online, which I might add did not take away from our current resource pool for game development or our web design.
People want us to use other means of networking and that is fine, but there had to be a first choice and this one because of ease of use and populations already using the source was the choice we made.
We just hit 800 friends!
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We just hit 800 friends!
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Gratz Ex I might have to rejoin myspace (with a private page this time) after all.
(My friends keep trying to twist my arm after I nuked my account )
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There is no need to keep up on myspace if you really aren't into it because everything we have here will always be here.
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Web Design 101. Leave a link on an off site to your main site. Oops. If I were to try to refer someone to the game, I would NOT be using this site. Why? Because it is utterly and completely devoid of info that would be of usefulness to them. There are pretty pictures and a blurb about the game, but that's it. If a person wants to get actual info they would be many many times over being better served to be pointed to the actual home page of the game. But they aren't on the MySpace page. Only the "refer" link which gives a indirect link is there. A little "Learn more" type link at the bottom would do wonders here.
I could point out other little things which back up why this isn't the best idea, but then the page is made and I'm just part of the so called minority anyway. Meh, indeed Ex.
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Link to official myspace page.
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thanks Ex.
V-Tronix - Angry Angels
V-Tron Elec/EM - V-Tron X EM/EA
To Build a Better Hero #53098 [Newly edited and looking for Feedback] - Renegade Robots: V-Tron's Task Force # - A Summer Song and A Winters Tail #104106
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There is no need to keep up on myspace if you really aren't into it because everything we have here will always be here.
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Web Design 101. Leave a link on an off site to your main site. Oops. If I were to try to refer someone to the game, I would NOT be using this site. Why? Because it is utterly and completely devoid of info that would be of usefulness to them. There are pretty pictures and a blurb about the game, but that's it. If a person wants to get actual info they would be many many times over being better served to be pointed to the actual home page of the game. But they aren't on the MySpace page. Only the "refer" link which gives a indirect link is there. A little "Learn more" type link at the bottom would do wonders here.
I could point out other little things which back up why this isn't the best idea, but then the page is made and I'm just part of the so called minority anyway. Meh, indeed Ex.
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Thank you for the feedback, I guess the link to the header hasn't been updated yet.
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Okay, I sent my friend request but I want Positron and Statesman to simultaneously click the "Accept" button.
I find it funny that people get outraged by myspace. It's just a webpage/forum...nothing wrong with it.
Edit: my real friends will get a good laugh out of me putting CoH/V above them on my friend list...it's been that way the last couple years anyway.
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I agree, nothign to get all "hater" about on myspace. I sent a add request and changed my avatar back to my CoH character. Woot! go CoH!
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I still think they're missing some advertising tricks. I understand there's this service called "AOL" that has "rooms" set aside where you can "chat" about your favorite things. ZOMG! Why isn't there an official AOL CoH chat room?!
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It would probably be less effective than the MySpace. It would either turn into an OOG global chat channel, a powers, etc chat, or some combo of the two.
Or OoG RO chat.
Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net
Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.
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Well......the money that pays them comes from the COX fund so indirectly....Yes. Better to have hired another person to work on the numerous problems that haven't been addressed in years or to use the existing page and advertise on Myspace.
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You, Centurion, are forgetting one huge detail, and a smaller one.
The developers are from Cryptic. The Community Reps (including who did the myspace) are from NC Soft.
The money might all be from the CoX Pie, but effort for the myspace was paid for by the NCSoft slice of pie, not Cryptic's, and it's is Cryptic's slice that pays for developers.
The smaller one - Do you really think the effort (in dollars) put to the myspace would higher a developer even for a week, much less an amount of time that would allow a new hire to learn how to read, use, add to, and finally, Fix the system? Or even the first two/three?
Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net
Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.
Advertising 101.
Forget [censored]Space.
If you really want people to hear about your product. Shell out the dough for a Television Commercial.
So 360 people 'friended' your site, so what? 300 million people watch TV in this country.
Aim small, miss small.
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Advertising 101.
...
If you really want people to hear about your product. Shell out the dough for a Television Commercial.
...
Aim small, miss small.
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Actually, thats a bit contrary to what one would learn in Advertising 101, but I can see what you meant. The reality is, however, that telivision advertising is a VERY harsh, expensive, and rather elitist sector. What channel do you use? What timeslot? How do you know if you're reaching your target demographic?
Here's a few primers on this complex subject, if you're interested: Economics of TV ads, Advertising philosophy, and a breakdown of costs.
Given this, I can see why a smaller company would choose to embrace the Internet socialization network. While it doesn't embody the mainstream, I agree, it still affects enough people who DO influence the mainstream.
Good note on the need to link to a more informed site, btw. Didn't notice that myself.
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Thank you for the feedback, I guess the link to the header hasn't been updated yet.
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I'm not seeing it. As a person who was a mod on a web dev. forum, I really dislike using links via the headers since they are often very easy to miss. A lot of times in web design and other things you have to account for the simpletons even if it's far more often than you want too. 
(wonders what a CoH ad used as a Spiderman 3 trailer would have cost. CoH on IMax. Mmmm.)
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Advertising 101.
...
If you really want people to hear about your product. Shell out the dough for a Television Commercial.
...
Aim small, miss small.
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Actually, thats a bit contrary to what one would learn in Advertising 101, but I can see what you meant. The reality is, however, that telivision advertising is a VERY harsh, expensive, and rather elitist sector. What channel do you use? What timeslot? How do you know if you're reaching your target demographic?
Here's a few primers on this complex subject, if you're interested: Economics of TV ads, Advertising philosophy, and a breakdown of costs.
Given this, I can see why a smaller company would choose to embrace the Internet socialization network. While it doesn't embody the mainstream, I agree, it still affects enough people who DO influence the mainstream.
Good note on the need to link to a more informed site, btw. Didn't notice that myself.
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Information > Pseudointellectualism 
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How do you know if you're reaching your target demographic?
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Gee, if there was only a hit TV show about super heroes that they could pretty much be a goldmine as a target audience for. I see your point, but this is one year that this aspect kind of fails. Before this year, it's dead on.
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Well......the money that pays them comes from the COX fund so indirectly....Yes. Better to have hired another person to work on the numerous problems that haven't been addressed in years or to use the existing page and advertise on Myspace.
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You, Centurion, are forgetting one huge detail, and a smaller one.
The developers are from Cryptic. The Community Reps (including who did the myspace) are from NC Soft.
The money might all be from the CoX Pie, but effort for the myspace was paid for by the NCSoft slice of pie, not Cryptic's, and it's is Cryptic's slice that pays for developers.
The smaller one - Do you really think the effort (in dollars) put to the myspace would higher a developer even for a week, much less an amount of time that would allow a new hire to learn how to read, use, add to, and finally, Fix the system? Or even the first two/three?
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In the end, its all the same pie. NCSoft pays Cryptic to continue developement so Cryptic's slice (as big or small as it may be) comes from NCSoft's pie. I'd rather see the sliver being used to improve the game and fix long standing issues instead of being used to create another webpage that will not (based on experience with the COX page and the items trimmed from it as 'fat') be maintained properly once it 'gets old'.
Remember the Paragon Times? People loved it, asked why it wasn't kept up, asked when it was going to be updated (in the forums and in PMs) and the 'answer' was to make "The Scoop". In my opinion (and anyone is free to disagree as it is an opinion) that should be on the MySpace page as that page is, in theory, a community driven place and would benefit from having Community creativity highlighted. The Paragon Times was segments of the game World being expanded upon and introduced to us by the Writers of the game so the we knew more about this City of Heroes in which we 'live'. It brought the Mythology of the City to us in an easy and accessible manner. I can write my own fiction and have for years quite successfully but in neglecting the COH page and in trimming so-called 'fat' they've really done nothing but diminish the World.
I remember a time when Wentworths would have rated a full spread in the Paragon Times....when the Green Line going to Founder's Falls would have as well. I remember when repairs to a building in Talos were important enough to rate an issue of 'the Times'. These things make the world feel a little more 'real'...more immersive.
As for the point about being able to hire a competent programmer for the cost of a web page design, I'll grant you that but the time and money spent could have been used to improve our existing page and buying advert space in magazines, web banners and so forth. It seems like they are trying to sell a house when the shutters are loose, the roof leaks, the foundation is cracked and it needs a coat of paint. Can you do it? Well, you might get some lookers but in the end you are going to have to fix the house before you can really sell it.
Again, simply my opinion but its why I spend maybe an hour a week in-game vs the 3 hours a day I used to and even that is coming into question.
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How do you know if you're reaching your target demographic?
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Gee, if there was only a hit TV show about super heroes that they could pretty much be a goldmine as a target audience for. I see your point, but this is one year that this aspect kind of fails. Before this year, it's dead on.
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Or a television channel the focuses on video games. There are lots of places to use targetted ads that would have a positive affect.
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How do you know if you're reaching your target demographic?
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Gee, if there was only a hit TV show about super heroes that they could pretty much be a goldmine as a target audience for. I see your point, but this is one year that this aspect kind of fails. Before this year, it's dead on.
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Myspace costs time, only. and is 24/7.
A TV ad would cost time and money to make the commerical.
And approximately $171,000 for a 30 second slot during heroes. Once.
Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net
Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.
Let's see....
Approximately 100,000 subscribers TIMES $15 a month EQUALS 1.5 Million US Dollars a month.
Yeah, no way in heck they could possibly afford to have a TV commercial air during the Heros TV show or put a commercial on the screen as the preview to Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
I mean after all... if you can't afford it and you can't be certain you'll hit your target demographic why bother. Right? That clicking sound you're hearing is my eyes rolling in my head.
MySpace may indeed be free, and you get what you pay for.
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Okay, I sent my friend request but I want Positron and Statesman to simultaneously click the "Accept" button.
I find it funny that people get outraged by myspace. It's just a webpage/forum...nothing wrong with it.
Edit: my real friends will get a good laugh out of me putting CoH/V above them on my friend list...it's been that way the last couple years anyway.
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The outrage, as you put it, is that the time and development could have been used on the *main* page.
Simple enough - I want info on Ford, I go to ford.com. See what's on sale at Sears, sears.com. Information on nVidia, nvidia.com. I want info on City of Heroes, I go to Cityofheroes.com. Not myspace-this, blog-that.
However, it's all moot now.
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*snicker* Yes because Ford, Sears, and every other company out there never use any other alternative means to advertise their products. Or get information to consumers. Or try to reach new, untapped audiences. LOL
It's like product placement - any advertising is good advertising in the eyes of some. I probably will never visit the CoH myspace page. But I certainly won't be upset that the CoH team decided to use 5-10 extra minutes to put one together. Some people don't like myspace (me included) but I don't see what there is to get so upset about. Sorry