Discussion: Introducing Tweet Code Thursdays!
By
Absolut_,
Posted on: 2012-07-11 13:32 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
Looks like I'll be missing out since I'll be away from any computer the majority of tomorrow (curse of living middle of nowhere yet needing to visit a specialist. Ugh.), but I'm not too upset since I've already got enough fun stuff to play with. Hope the delay by a day doesn't mean anyone else has to miss out, though.
Good luck to those who will get to snag some codes in the morning! 
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Thank you so much. |
Originally Posted by Hit Streak
We've modified the way Tweet Code Thursdays are going to work.
For item codes, we'll announce when the codes will be going out, and we'll give people a specific amount of time to re-tweet our post. If you re-tweet our post, we'll respond directly to you with a code to use. No scramble. No luck involved. No twitchy fingers required. Simply re-tweet our post in the timeframe given and we'll direct message you with a code. In short, if you want an item code, do the following:
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I very much appreciate that you heard our concerns and addressed them so quickly.
Also.. thank you for the free stuff.
NCsoft site still not working.... 
all i keep getting is:
VIG0S: 1356 badges in counting
Something for ppl to use
I grudgingly have a Facebook account. I rarely log on, though I did for the /facepalm emote. I draw the line at Twitter. To put it simple, I refuse to acquire a Twitter accout.
Your Twitter Thursday is unfortunate as I -love- collecting costume pieces, but even the lure of costume pieces cannot tempt me into a Twitter account. There aren't words with a deep enough meaning to convey my dislike for Twitter.
Consider this my plug to have the items available via another means.
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You don't need a Twitter account. Just got to their page here and keep refreshing it!|
Originally Posted by Krelhar
I grudgingly have a Facebook account. I rarely log on, though I did for the /facepalm emote. I draw the line at Twitter. To put it simple, I refuse to acquire a Twitter accout.
Your Twitter Thursday is unfortunate as I -love- collecting costume pieces, but even the lure of costume pieces cannot tempt me into a Twitter account. There aren't words with a deep enough meaning to convey my dislike for Twitter. Consider this my plug to have the items available via another means. |
https://twitter.com/cityofheroes
We built this city on Rock and Roll!
For what it's worth, I personally find Twitter to be far less invasive and annoying than Facebook (which I am not fond of at all). You will probably want to ignore sign-up prompts that you follow a bunch of Twits you don't care about (just close the page when it starts asking or go directly to the verification URL from the e-mail), then go into the options and turn off all the e-mail notifications that are on by default. Maybe double-check to make sure people can't hunt you down on there by looking for your e-mail address, if you don't want that.
Afterward, it is really no worse than having an RSS feed going in the sidebar of a website. If you don't go to the site for anything but events like this, it should not pester you or show up anywhere else on the internet you may go (unlike the ubiquitous Facebook).
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Actually they've changed it so you need to re-tweet their tweet to get the code, so you do indeed need a Twitter account.
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Originally Posted by Coin
You don't need a Twitter account. Just got to their page here and keep refreshing it!
https://twitter.com/cityofheroes |
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I respect that, my issue with the initially proposed giveaway was that it would disappoint almost everyone. The average player was going to be subjected to frustration with no reward, and the supposed goal of "building a Twitter community" wasn't likely to be realised seeing as the giveaway did not involve actual interaction with Twitter, just reading it at the right time.|
Originally Posted by Zwillinger
I am going to be very clear about something, and it's going to make some of you angry. I hope that you will all take it in a reasonable and rational manner.
We are not going to ask permission each and every time we want to run a promotion. We are going to do things that some people don't like. You are invited to voice your displeasure, in a rational and constructive manner, should this occur. We will do what we can to make a promotion appealing to as many people as we possibly can. At the end of the day though, we will disappoint someone. Years of running contests and promotions have shown me that this will happen, no matter what you do. |
The current proposal (starting next week?) is infinitely preferable. It's likely that I personally won't join in, seeing as I dislike Twitter and have no account, nor reason to sign up beyond this promotion, but I will still say I greatly appreciate the compromise and applaud the community team for shouldering the extra effort required.
As for future promotions, I can only say as a word of advice - exclusivity in and of itself is not a bad thing, but the character creator is one of the ongoing strengths of CoH. Competitions for exclusive access to anything involving the character creator is not going to go down well with your long term playerbase. You may think of it as being "purely cosmetic", and in a clinical way that is true, but in practice it's not that simple. Being able to bring your ideas to life IS the game, and it will damage your product if you put that in jeopardy.
A circle forms, everybody comes round
Just to hear the incredible sound
Of a genius smashing expectations
- Jonathan Coulton
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Originally Posted by Zaloopa
Actually they've changed it so you need to re-tweet their tweet to get the code, so you do indeed need a Twitter account.
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Okay, have never seen a twit or whatever and have no idea about how I go about "refreshing" or "retweeting" anything. Do I have to have a telephone or do I use my computer?
I do know how to create an account.
Please can somebody explain in "old codger" talk how, when I have an account, I do both of the above. Thanks.
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Woot!|
Originally Posted by hit streak
we've modified the way tweet code thursdays are going to work.
For item codes, we'll announce when the codes will be going out, and we'll give people a specific amount of time to re-tweet our post. If you re-tweet our post, we'll respond directly to you with a code to use. No scramble. No luck involved. No twitchy fingers required. Simply re-tweet our post in the timeframe given and we'll direct message you with a code. In short, if you want an item code, do the following:
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Absolutely love this!
meh
Absolutely indifferent to this.
Unit 609-1231 mk VII lvl 50 Stalker claws/EA
BlazingWing lvl 50 Blaster Fire/Fire/Fire
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When you create your account, it will prompt you to find folks to follow... just put City of Heroes in the box.|
Originally Posted by jacktar
Okay, have never seen a twit or whatever and have no idea about how I go about "refreshing" or "retweeting" anything. Do I have to have a telephone or do I use my computer?
I do know how to create an account. Please can somebody explain in "old codger" talk how, when I have an account, I do both of the above. Thanks. |
When you see the Tweet (Twitter post) from @City of Heroes, there is a link under it that says "re-tweet." What that does is have YOU post a copy of their message in your Twitter feed.
What that does in practical terms is allow people to see things who follow you that they may not see otherwise because they are not following the person/company you re-tweeted.
Does that make any kind of sense?
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This eliminates any of the loud complaints I was going to make, incl my replies back to tweets for "Put it in the store and I'll give you my money."|
Originally Posted by Hit Streak
We've modified the way Tweet Code Thursdays are going to work.
For item codes, we'll announce when the codes will be going out, and we'll give people a specific amount of time to re-tweet our post. If you re-tweet our post, we'll respond directly to you with a code to use. No scramble. No luck involved. No twitchy fingers required. Simply re-tweet our post in the timeframe given and we'll direct message you with a code. In short, if you want an item code, do the following:
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Now what am I going to whinge about?!
@bpphantom
The Defenders of Paragon
KGB Special Section 8
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Thanks for taking our feedback to heart. The others still make some strong and (IMO) valid arguments about exclusive items, but this is a huge improvement over the way it was set up before.
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Originally Posted by Hit Streak
We've modified the way Tweet Code Thursdays are going to work.
For item codes, we'll announce when the codes will be going out, and we'll give people a specific amount of time to re-tweet our post. If you re-tweet our post, we'll respond directly to you with a code to use. No scramble. No luck involved. No twitchy fingers required. Simply re-tweet our post in the timeframe given and we'll direct message you with a code. In short, if you want an item code, do the following:
|
Quote:
Many, many thanks for listening to the feedback, Paragon. This is a HUGE improvement over the previous "wait around all day 'til the mad dash and you still get nothing" plan. |
Originally Posted by Hit Streak
We've modified the way Tweet Code Thursdays are going to work.
For item codes, we'll announce when the codes will be going out, and we'll give people a specific amount of time to re-tweet our post. If you re-tweet our post, we'll respond directly to you with a code to use. No scramble. No luck involved. No twitchy fingers required. Simply re-tweet our post in the timeframe given and we'll direct message you with a code. In short, if you want an item code, do the following:
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
You feel as though because we utilize costume-type stuff as promotional material that your playstyle is being singled out.
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d
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This is exactly correct. We'll start at 10AM PDT and go throughout the day. At least 4PM PDT and probably later. We'll be sure to announce when we're wrapping up.
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Originally Posted by Doctor Roswell
Well, it starts at 3am for you, but the post also says they'll be tweeting "all throughout the day," which I assume could mean as late as 5pm Pacific. That's 10am for you if my math is right.
Assuming you have a typical, active-during-daytime-hours schedule, you may still be able to get in there. |
Jessie Lawrence
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Paragon Studios
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I have to say, Zwil and Streak, major kudos for actually being willing to discuss with us. That means a lot. Once upon a time it was a case of
'And lo, the Devs spake, and there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, but the answer was only silence'
It's nice to not be so medieval about it all 
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.
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Fair enough, but I'll respond in kind. I greatly appreciate seeing the changes and that you're taking what we're saying to heart, but if we're being frank with each other...|
Originally Posted by Zwillinger
I am going to be very clear about something, and it's going to make some of you angry. I hope that you will all take it in a reasonable and rational manner.
We are not going to ask permission each and every time we want to run a promotion. We are going to do things that some people don't like. You are invited to voice your displeasure, in a rational and constructive manner, should this occur. We will do what we can to make a promotion appealing to as many people as we possibly can. At the end of the day though, we will disappoint someone. Years of running contests and promotions have shown me that this will happen, no matter what you do. |
There is nothing in this thread that you should not have expected from the beginning. You've seen it before with costume change powers that most of us really don't have any use for and you had to know that by tagging a costume option as exclusive you were going to be hitting a much bigger nerve.
We get your side of things. You need to promote social media. That's part of your job. Right or wrong, the number of followers is one measure of your performance. These contests work at increasing them, so you're going to use them. But they also generate ill-will because no one likes to lose. It's the same for giveaways at cons. Not everyone can afford to fly to California and they certainly won't do so for a costume code. They're disqualified by means of finances and geography. They know it and they don't like it. Not to say that you shouldn't use them, but there is a PR cost.
That said, up until now your efforts managing the ill-will that these contests generate have been pretty flimsy. You shrug it off as inevitable, take your gains and move on. If there's enough vocal anger, we get half-hearted promises that exclusive items will emerge from the Promotions Department's vault "someday". Sometimes they're kept. Sometimes not. Unfortunately for you, as a group, players are really good at remembering the "not"s.
You're partially right. This ill-will can't be completely eliminated, but it can be controlled and minimized. The change to the Twitter contest is a big step in the right direction. Limited "exclusive" time periods that we as players learn to trust will be another huge move forward.
This is the sort of thing that needs to be dealt with prospectively, rather than as a reactive response to our complaints. If an item comes under your control as a giveaway prize, there should be a clear plan on how long it's going to stay that way going in. You don't necessarily have to tell the players (though it might not hurt early on to defuse threads like this) but you need to know and plan accordingly. If we start seeing that this summer's new giveaway shiny regularly becomes this fall or winter's Paragon Market feature, we'll stop stressing and either enjoy or ignore the meta-game you've put in front of us, instead of worrying about who's going to be a have vs have-not when the item vanishes.
For contests where you can't have thousands of winners, you do have alternatives that make winners happy without leaving losers out in the cold and furious. (Yes I know, some people will rage over anything). Imagine this:
"Win it before you can buy it! Beat the crowds! Get early access to the _______ Power Set!" Winners get it free and X days early. They get to brag about being the first level 50 ______ on their server, but there's nothing there that others can never have or have to wait too long to get their hands on.
Thanks for listening, Z. Your willingness to get down in the trenches and engage with us even when we're good and mad is remarkable and a great benefit to the community you support.
I think it's sad (though probably inevitable, given the way so many people behave on these forums) that Zwill has given up hope of not ticking people off. As a result, some feedback is just being ignored. (Read, perhaps understood, but not acted on). It reminds me of old Psych 101 classes about learned helplessness. After a while, the poor rat just stands there getting shocked and doesn't bother to move out of the way. What's the point? Nothing he does will ever stop the pain.
Personally, I don't care how many different methods you use to communicate with people. I'm only going to use the communication channels that I like. Even after reading all these posts, I don't really understand why I have to miss out on some things because I only read all of your announcements on some websites and not others.
In general, I have always objected to the word "exclusive" when there is no time-limit attached. Go ahead and let people have something special for a few months or a year, but then give it to everyone or put it in the store. I don't understand why that opinion seems like a surprise to Paragon Studios over and over and over and over.
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
I am going to be very clear about something, and it's going to make some of you angry. I hope that you will all take it in a reasonable and rational manner.
We are not going to ask permission each and every time we want to run a promotion. We are going to do things that some people don't like. You are invited to voice your displeasure, in a rational and constructive manner, should this occur. We will do what we can to make a promotion appealing to as many people as we possibly can. At the end of the day though, we will disappoint someone. Years of running contests and promotions have shown me that this will happen, no matter what you do. |
In my response, I will just play the game, and not worry about the little contest you guys do, I'm not here for free stuff, I'm here to play the game.
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I think the only think I don't like about twitter is that I can't tell if my messeges(tweets w/e) have been posted, I know I've hit reply and post but it doesn't show up under the original poster. It only seems to show up when I go home and then hit expand to see it. Even then I can't see other peoples messages
VIG0S: 1356 badges in counting
Something for ppl to use
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Kirby Dots Aura "only" for promotional use? T_T|
Originally Posted by <span style="color: red; font-weight: bold;">Hit Streak</span>
For right now, the Dark Matter aura is going to be for promotional use only. There aren't any plans to put them up on the market.
This isn't to say that they won't be available as contest rewards, or for other activities online (Zwillinger gave some away last night on Virtue, I believe). It just happens that the focus right now is to build an audience on twitter. |
I would like to state that i am not a regular video gamer, much less a regular MMORPG participant. The thing that attracted me and continues to hold my attention with City of is the costume creation.
Offering a costume piece that I cannot have, because I am in work, working to pay for my subscription (and extra Paragon Points sometimes >.>) And discriminating against me because I am not a social networking fiend?
I must say that I am Very Dissapointed.
I must humbly requ... oh fuggettit.... I BEG PLEASE O plzzzzz reconsider this "promotional use only" gimmick! DO WANT KIRBY DOTS (and let me proactively request the ultimate regular release of future promo costume parts and emotes in either in-game earnable ways, or have them made purchasable via Paragon Market.)
Waiting, I don't mind but can't haz makes me insane.
We mentioned this yesterday on Twitter but I wanted to post it here. Due to yesterday's PlayNC outage, we will be hosting Tweet Code Thursday on Twitter today starting at 10AM PDT (less than one hour from now).
Jessie Lawrence
Assistant Community Manager
Paragon Studios
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But they ARE brain science! |
Originally Posted by Texas Justice
They've already said why they use those sites.
When you have numbers showing how many different people you are reaching through a site and they are higher than the numbers of different people on the forums, it only makes sense to use that site to help promote the game and interact with the public. I've seen several players that have had questions answered (by CoH Staff or by players) on the Facebook page that have later started playing and buying things in the Paragon Market or actually subscribing. Why would they not want to take advantage of reaching potential new customers in this manner? Decisions like that aren't rocket surgery. |
Why would they NOT want to take advantage of reaching potential customers? Well, of course they wouldn't...BUT. This isn't about the reaching of potential customers. It's about the DIRECTING of potential customers as well as the directing of existing customers.
Having both a degree and experience in advertising and marketing, I can tell you that an audience is like an ocean tide. You can either have the tide coming in (having traffic directed toward you, to build traffic on your own site) or going out (having traffic directed away from you toward social media sites, to build traffic there and take traffic away from your own sites). What they're doing may be reaching lots of people, but it's making the tide go out rather than come in. It's sending people away from the "home" site for this game rather than drawing new people in.
What you want to do is build habitual behavior among the target audience, both current and potential customers. That habitual behavior is regular visiting of the game's own cityofheroes.com websites. You can't do that by providing content on other sites. It just doesn't work. You're going to lose some people even as you gain a few. How many players who don't have Facebook or Twitter accounts now are being encouraged to create them by the devs? Out of those people, there will be a number of them who decide they really LIKE those sites and who will start spending time their rather than on cityofheroes.com or ingame. Each one is a loss of a valuable commodity (an existing customer) for the company.
Suggestion:
Have notices published on Facebook, Twitter, and G+ that say "Costume Codes (or other free stuff) Available NOW On cityofheroes.com! Come get 'em! Hurry!" Use the other sites as a funnel to direct people to cityofheroes.com. Have costume codes, free game time codes, and other prizes show up in places like the forums, news articles, and game reviews on the cityofheroes.com site. That will not only bring new people in and direct them to the different sections of the cityofheroes.com website, it will get them to *gasp* read the content even as they're looking for the prizes. When folks get drawn into the game through the website, it will start drawing new people into the game and start drawing former customers back.
Does Paragon/NCSoft want to increase new traffic here on their own site or send existing customers away to other sites where they might stay rather than coming back? That's the only question that can be asked. As they're doing it, they have the tide going in the wrong direction.
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