Hello from Paragon Marketing

Hello everybody,

I am the silent Black Pebble, otherwise known as the new North Americanbrand manager for City of Heroes.

I’ve been playing City of Heroes since 2004. I remember when my Fire/Rad controller had 12 fire imps. I remember how cool it was to get the chance to meet Positron on the test server, so I could finally whine about how much I hated Electric Manipulation on my Energy Blaster. One of my favorite memories was the first time I got to see the CoT temple map, which was the most breath-taking instance I had ever seen.

Sometimes, I would log in just to fly all the way to the top of the invisible skyline, then drop, and try to turn on fly before I splatted. I’ve played a lot of other MMO’s, but none of them have ever given me the same thrill that flying in CoH has. And nothing is better at making you feel overpowered than clicking Nova and seeing 20 mobs lying at your feet. No other game has managed to capture that feeling of freedom, power or uniqueness.

It’s been almost six years, and the game still inspires the same sense of excitement in me.

There is still one adventure left for me and it would be to face my most fearsome nemesis – all of you.

Some of you may already have painted an image of me in your minds. I can reassure you that I do not have a cat (I am allergic to them), I do not wear suits to work, and although I could lose a few pounds, I am in pretty good shape.


My hope is that by getting a red name on the board, I can show you that I am a fan and I will listen to you. Perhaps we can even have some interesting, new discussions.

I cannot promise you my undivided attention sadly, as I have many diabolical marketing schemes to inflict on the teeming masses. However, I will do my best to listen to all of you, and answer what questions I can. And although you may not see my direct hand in things, you will soon see the fruits of my devious plans very, very soon.

As a heads up, if you ask me questions about powers, art, distribution, retail, stories, billing, Latin, sales, bugs, dairy products, accounting, singing, costumes, anything that happened from 2004-2009, conventions, PvP, design, or algebra, not only will I not be able to answer them, but I’ll feel pretty bad about myself. I can only answer questions that directly involve my job.

So what do I do? Long story short, I try my best to make sure that everyone knows what a great game City of Heroes/Villains is and that we never forget that our most important part of our game is you – the players. I don’t program, I don’t draw and I don’t write great stories. You already know all of those people. I kind of do everything else. The one thing I can promise you is that I will do my best to earn your respect.

That is all I have for now.

See you again soon,

- Guy without a cool signature, avatar or costume.

Wow, a marketing dude, welcome to the boards.....just be careful of the European Loungers, I can hear the pitchforks being handed out from here

Welcome aboard! Have you been hiding in my shoe all this time?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black Pebble And nothing is better at making you feel overpowered than clicking Nova and seeing 20 mobs lying at your feet.

Dropping Anguishing Cry and Dreadful Wail is a close second.

Hey welcome, I hope you're wearing a flame retardant suit though

Hi. Do you have any thoughts you can share about getting more players to join an a 6 year old MMO? Quite a challenge there.

I was thinking we could rig up a laser to engrave the CoX web addy on the moon.

I dunno if this is your department or not, but what's up will the in game advertising, has that been officially discontinued?

We need City stuff to buy to put on our desks at work, walls at home and bodies for out and about.

Sell us stuff and we can do some of your work for you.

Hello Black Pebble from one of the biggest mouths in the community. More than anyone else here, I think, I am glad to see you here because you are the person I want to know and learn from. I have long since despaired of Paragon Studios or NCsoft having Marketing folks who actually PLAY the game, who wear spandex and not suits, and who remember that without geeks, goofballs, and gods-in-training like us, this game would go nowhere.

Your post indicates that you have plans for doing what we as a community have BEGGED for over the last six years - not powers, not art, not even an increased level cap (although those have had their fair share of demands). No - we have wanted MARKETING. Word of mouth. Ads. Banners. Anything to tell the world what a great game we have and why they should be playing it.

I think you'll find that the players will be more than willing to help you in your task - they are brimming with ideas and suggestions. Don't be afraid to ask us, and even more importantly, please don't be afraid to LISTEN. We may not always know the exact limitations of your 'office', but our hearts are in the right place.

At any rate, welcome to the madhouse - check your sanity at the door, you won't be needing it here.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

PS - does this mean that now that you're here, I have to stop making videos to promote the game?

Hey there!!

This is amazing! I've already taken steps to market CoX!

I have shaven the City of Heroes Logo into the puppies at the pet stores.

This is only the first step, I'll be back with more to help you out Pebble!

I'll bite.

Are there any particular advertising venues you guys (erm, or is it just you?) plan on targeting in the near future?

There were ads in comic books during the initial release of the game, and I think around the release of City of Villains, but we haven't seen much of anything since. Will there be any more ads put in comics for Going Rogue? And on that note, why not, y'know, continuously advertise in comics?

And what about an actual TV commercial? Those "I'm a hero! I'm a villain!" skits seemed like a good start even if they needed to be trimmed down to fit the available time.

good luck D.B.B.

MARKETING!! THEY'RE EVIL!! GET 'EM!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black Pebble As a heads up, if you ask me questions about powers, art, distribution, retail, stories, billing, Latin, sales, bugs, dairy products, accounting, singing, costumes, anything that happened from 2004-2009, conventions, PvP, design, or algebra, not only will I not be able to answer them, but I’ll feel pretty bad about myself. I can only answer questions that directly involve my job.

Bacon wasn't on the list. Do you like bacon? Note: There is only one correct answer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black Pebble You want to see in-game advertising?

Yes. In-game advertising means more monies for the game, means more shineys in da future!!

Oh, and welcome to the forums!!

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Biggest Troll on the forums? I'll give you a hint:

Hi-ya Peb!
I won't welcome you in because clearly you've been here awhile. Out of rampant curiosity, are you CST or PST?
Anyway, I'd like to point you back to what D_R said. While most of us are pretty good at telling our immediate circle about this game, we'd really, really like to see it out and about in more places.
TV ads, Web ads, print ads might even work. Heck, go crazy and get a billboard or something. This is the biggest and best superhero game on the market and it would be nice to not get blank looks from game store clerks when we talk about it.
Also, how about a better selection of stuff in the official store? I am a girl, I game, and I'd like to buy a scrapper shirt that fits me. I'm sure you can think of lots of other branded items people will buy.
Thanks!