Lets actually do something about it.

I don't know about all of you, but word of mouth is the cheapest advertisement that I know of.

Next to that is flyers.

I'm a college, and there are bulletin boards everywhere. Post some mother ####ing flyers. Make your own. Be creative. Word of mouth is dangerous, as you can accidentally steer people away from the MUD, but flyers are amazing. Cheap to produce, and 15 of them will do the job that you can't.

Stunna's a good marketing guide, but all talk and no work gets us nowhere. I want to suggest a player base draft to at least get the name out there. I've met plenty of people who have wanted a decent game to waste time on, and this is a darn good one. I've met people that have wanted to be creative in an immersive universe, and this game has allowed them to do that even more than DnD has. I've met people who wanted to go exploring, and when their Exaulted campaign wouldn't let them, they'd turn to CF to do find something new. Word of mouth is what keeps us going, and we have to respect that.

If you're near a college, or more likely attend one, then post some flyers and help the playerbase grow at least a little.

We have more areas than any other MUD as far as I know, and some of the most helpful and caring staff-members in any company I've met. It's just a case of getting people to see this and learn for themselves.

Just keep this in mind when you're thinking about CF. Any level 19 twink in WoW would want to play this. Any MxO max level character would want to play this. And anyone who enjoys Maple story could enjoy this (though hopefully not ALL of them would join. That would truly ruin this game). The potential player-base is the largest I've ever seen in any game.

I'm not going to stress the free-ness of this game. That's not what's important to me. People pay for MMORPG's, and thy're a main target audience of ours. Price isn't so much an object. What I'm going to stress, is the availablilty of this game. Anyone who has telnet can connect and enjoy. You can play from librarys at school. Anyone can play this regardless of computer. The good news is that it's also FREE.

I'll make an add up either Friday or Saturday. I'm determined to pay this wonderful universe back for what it's given me.

I'm a college, and there are bulletin boards everywhere. Post some mother ####ing flyers.

Three of ours are available here for use by anyone.

Word of mouth is dangerous, as you can accidentally steer people away from the MUD, but flyers are amazing.

I think that matters for something people are likely to hear about multiple times. Like you hear about D&D from someone, but you already have a preconceived notion that it's lame because your first contact was from some pasty dude who creeped you out.

CF is small, and it's very likely that a person you know would only hear about it from you. If you try telling them about it and they don't bite, you haven't done significant harm. And, of course, they might try it!

I'm not going to stress the free-ness of this game. That's not what's important to me. People pay for MMORPG's, and thy're a main target audience of ours. Price isn't so much an object.

It shouldn't be the main thrust of your argument, but it should be mentioned. You're right that people pay for the big treadmill games, but if you point out the cool things about our game first, the fact that it will save them a couple hundred bucks a year is important, especially in the student demographic. Anyone with a full-time job and more financial comfort? Probably worth mentioning in passing at most. Nice, but not essential.

That said, people aren't going to pick a free game they hate over a pay game they like. So your first goal remains showing them that it's a game they would like.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

Have you ever considered the landing page vote reminders look gimicky and slightly desparate for their return? I might suggest scooting them onto the forum board and away from being a major focus of the homepage.

Bear in mind, most of us seasoned players spend 2 seconds at the homepage, the time it takes to click on "Forums", and little to no time looking at the main page. Whereas, a new player would not vote for CF, so its doing little value there.

I might also suggest the same with the polls, and I'd find some place else to put the bottom banners (maybe "About Us"). And the Amazon thing should also find a new home. How many people who first visit the site are going to buy a book through you guys? If anything its seasoned vets who just want to give you guys the pass through money, so another item that should probably be stripped off the landing page.

One of these days when I get some free time (if that ever happens), I'll have to fire up the Gimp and do a mockup.

This is just my opinion, but I'm not optimistic that flyers would have much of an effect. Even if they were specifically targetted at a CF-friendly demographic. Imho word of mouth is the way to go. But even that has to be targetted. I don't think hitting up people who 1) have never played a role-playing game and, 2) aren't into computer games would be very constructive. But if you have a friend who's really into WoW, then they might be ripe for a switch to CF.

fasd

Marketing lesson #3, copy writing and ad construction is on my mind - but I'm extremely busy at the moment.

Rest assured I'll put it out soon.