Can we get those moved to a contest forum, or perhaps some other place where criticism's etc. could be easily posted and reviewed. Also, where they could be re-crafted into updated adds? While I'm certainly no expert, I would like to offer opinions on some of the ads, but the history board isn't really a good place for that.

For instance: Too long. I play the game and the ad is cool because it's talking about something I love, and yet even I get bored before finishing some of them. Depending on the medium in which the ads would be set to run, they might need to be pared down significantly.

They're mostly targeted at people who are already mudders. Which seems to be the wrong demographic for us to be going after. We need to make them less detail heavy and more OMFG PONIES!!! let's check it out marketing drivel (zero content but high hype)*

I've got some other stuff, but it would be very much more useful if I could respond to specific ads and brainstorm that way.

(*) I have a low opinion of marketing, even while I recognize it's effectiveness... Sorry, I'm just cynical.

They're mostly targeted at people who are already mudders.

Well, yeah. They were written to be posted on "Top MUD Sites."

I'm very open to ideas for places to work besides the ones we've hit already, though, and I'd certainly write differently for a less MUD-experienced audience.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

But I (and likely others) would be willing to help craft a more generally purposed ad based around the old ads. Which again, would be accelerated by the ease with which I can borrow the older ad stuff and the motivation for doing so... hence the contest suggestion.

Editted: Stunna (I think and am too lazy to double check) specifically mentioned card-game players as a prime target. It couldn't hurt to start with say that audience in mind and further refine/broaden other ideas as we go. Nothing motivates like success, and getting an ad put together for a specific audience could motivate people to go out and look for places to place that ad.

In my Christmas wish I suggested to hang posters all over the place in my alma mater if the website was updated, or if another entry point for new people with no/little prior MUDding experience was created. Sure, most of the students would just ignore those. But even if one out of a thousand would give CF a try - you are talking 60 people.

We have a few posters on our Marketing page: http://www.carrionfields.com/Marketing.html

Any help you can provide there would be appreciated.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

I love those posters, but I just don't think it would do much, if anything, now. 90% of the people would probably leave the website before they find the Connect button. If you are not going to update the website any time soon - sure, I can do it now, but if there is a chance you will - I'd rather wait, cos it's not the type of thing you can do often (may be once a year).

I am not talking redesign the website completely. Simply make the Connect button much more visible, plus make it so that the telnet window that opens is full-screen and has local echo, so that people can see what they are typing. If that's not possible, make a simple Java client that would run telnet in the full browser window. That would IMHO already go a long way.

Look at CF's front page. It's absolutely horrible and caters only to people who already play CF. The first thing the new person who comes to this site should be able to read is what CF is. To know and get a grasp that he is in the right place. The first page could tell things like:

-What is CF?

-Why to play?

-What is good about CF?


In short, the front page is something that should get the person finding CF interested. Right now, that potential has been wasted.

It should really be more of the OMFG ZOMBIES SHOOT NOW YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO RELOAD, SHOOT ZOMBIES IN THE FACE!!! Instead of random trivia about whatever is going on. That can be on the home page, but the first thing a person visiting the site should see should be something to grab their attention, and hook them. Like: Do you have what it takes?!?!? (in big ass letters) then CONNECT NOW! followed by more general hype-type info (like Nep's invoker page but about all of CF). Honestly, the current state of the home page is a joke. All of the information is duplicated in other places, and like parent says, if you don't already play, you probably aren't interested.

asdf

I still think what I said is pretty important as well. "Connect" is cryptic, and the button is hidden. And the small telnet window that opens when you click it looks pretty pathetic, especially on the modern big-ass monitors.

The front page should explain what CF is and how you get to play it. Port, IP, adress, all should be provided by that page for fast and easy entry to the game. This includes explaining what connect button is and explaining that MUD client is recommended and have a link to page on how to get one(CF's page that lists MUD clients and gives links to where to get them).