Recruiting Drive

So, how to recruit new folks to the game? We all have our gripes about the marketing department at NCSoft, so it's time for a little volunteer time.

Holding a small demo session at the local net cafe?

Any other suggestions?

i try to get all my friends to play it (one would but doesnt have the funding to play atm)

i usually always tell poeple the game is awesome and stuff when talking to poeple about games

The biggest problem with getting people to pay attention to a game like this is the fact it's a superhero MMO. People hear that and immediately dismiss it as a corny kids game. Once they've made up their mind of that fact, it's difficult to convince them otherwise.

a lot of my friends are comic book geeks lol, actually a lot of poeple i know are comic book geeks lol

the only reason most of them dont play the game is cause they cant afford to right now (one of my friends would but he doesnt want to pay for it lol)

Many people think any non-WoW MMO is terrible, and a lot are even like "People still play that?" Any MMORPG not WoW or EVE is pretty obscure.

I give year long subscriptions to friends on the verge of burnout in other games (EQ1, WoW, Darkfall, L2). I know from personal experience that sometimes your secondary MMO becomes the primary when you become sick and tired of elements of the current primary. Plus, there are many people who aren't in a position to support multiple MMO accounts and $145 isn't that big a deal to me. I'd rather have my friends playing in one or two places, rather than scattered amongst eight different titles.

I also call anyone out who tries to make a Rob Liefield joke and doesn't actively play either CoX or CO ("I'm pullin' your comic geek card. Show and prove, poser!").

Not something in our control, but Just like WoW gets Mr T and Ozzy to promote (which Im sure they dont play), why not find some stars that get CoXd up for real and do some TV/magazine runs? Always thought seeing Jessica Alba and Biel doing CoX commercials in superhero/vill outfits would be a winner.

I just make videos. They don't exactly hook in DROVES of people, but they pique interest enough for free trials or get folks who left to come back again.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Hang around Atlas, find uber-newbs via a Vet-badge check, and be super-nice and helpful.

Ideally you can identify peeps on Trial Accounts and give them a "super" reason to upgrade to the full account.

Gift them some inf, organize a sewer team for them, help them get to their first missions if they don't wanna sewer, answer any questions they may have, explain about Enhancements, Inspirations, etc.

The hardest part of fishing is getting that fish to nibble on the bait.

Once that happens, you just gotta "set the hook".

The Trial Account is doing the hard work of attracting new players, we just have to follow up, in-game, by highlighting what sets this MMO apart from the others - its super-amazing player base.

Be "heroic" to newbs and they're that much more likely to become Vets, paying it forward to newbs down the road - a positive feedback loop, CoH-style.

Would you believe I was actually thinking of writing a guide on this topic? So off the top of my head the basic theory is to play to the game's strengths.

Something that has worked for me on more than one occasion is sitting them down in front of the costume creator. I've even focused my badge toon on unlocking as many costume pieces/weapons as possible. The costume creator is still one of the most powerful ways to draw someone's interest after nearly 6 years.

Speaking of the game's age, this can also be a strong point. Discounting ultra mode, the system requirements for CoH are lower than many competing MMOs. AND it's cheaper too!

How cheap? Well as Ross pointed out to me at Herocon '08, there's a nice easy button on the front page of coh.com for a 14 day FREE trial. It doesn't get much cheaper than free folks. And remembering the site name is EASY. Three letters before the .com.

Speaking of stuff Ross and the rest of NCsoft staff have done, you can play up the events that regularly happen ingame. Perhaps the best of these from the view of reclaiming old players is account reactivation weekends (oh and there's some extra xp too). Tell not only your friends, but also folks at electronics and game stores. These nice folks can multiply your quick time investment several times over.

And don't forget our fine community! After my girlfriend (now fiance, WOOT!) had made over one of my badge toon's costumes, I showed her a few select threads. Chief among these, as she had a six year old daughter, was "What my six year old learned from CoX" by wyll. If you haven't read at least the initial post in that thread I highly recommend it!

I'm certain there are many other fine suggestions to be made by many others, but I hope these helped.

The sad part is, they couldn't be more wrong.

Yes, you can parade around as a spandex-clad superhero fighting crime for the greater good if you want, but there are massive amounts of costume options that don't involve spandex. Those who like to be unique in an MMO would absolutely fall in love with the character creator if they gave it a chance. I've played off and on for years, and I have yet to run in to someone who has anything near to the same costume my characters have (the only time I have is when we purposefully copied each other). You can't do that in a game like World of Warcraft.

And there's a depth to the game that rivals even the great World of Warcraft. And they continue to add more depth to it with new patches. The upcoming Going Rogue expansion will add a huge amount of depth to the game. For years, I've been making "Reformed" villains that now fight crime in Paragon City, but they were never actually reformed villains. In a couple of months, I'll actually be able to make that character reality. And of course there's the fallen hero concept as well.

Plus, even though this game doesn't have typical equipment that you can find to make your character stronger, we don't miss it because of Enhancements. This became even truer when they introduced the IO Set Enhancements. They added a whole new level to building a strong character that we didn't have before.