Walking the Edge of Reality

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Walking the Edge of Reality

A look behind the curtain to my world...

I mean business here!
Saturday, April 26, 2008 12:46 PM

There's somewhat of a heated debate over agressive recruitment on the part of PMs for two different games.

The "Hurts to Heal" PM states that he wants fifty new signups every day or... well... bad things will happen. That or the game will be "over before it starts". Arguably, since this game is part of a "live psych experiment", that order could be part of the experiment and the game will continue anyway, but still.

As I've stated elsewhere... I applaud the efforts of PMs using interesting methods to get people to play their game, be it using common recruiting methods (like I am), as part of the "trailhead", or whatever else. But making it a REQUIREMENT for the game to continue feels innapropriate and wrong.

I guess this feeling is in part because of how I feel about what I do. I was the same way when I wrote "The Opera": it was a grueling amount of work, and a project that lasted nearly three years to complete, but I was of the mindset that if by my actions I was able to make ONE person happy, my mission was accomplished.

ONE person. That was my goal, and it still is. I might spend day and night creating a game here, but if there's one person out there that truly enjoyed it, and came away from the experience with something positive, it makes it all worthwhile in my book. I don't do it for fame or for money (God forbid that ever be an option!); I do it for the personal satisfaction of creating something that somebody out there enjoyed. Something that didn't suck across the board.

I feel these recruitment methods are simply the PM saying the equivalent of "hey! Look at me! Look at how many people I got playing my game!" The amount of people doesn't mean anything unless you are doing it for a commercial product or entity. If you're just creating a game for the sake of creating a game, and aren't part of any major marketing initiatives (and, if you were, you should make that clear, even subtlely), it shouldn't matter how many millions of people are playing.

When I did LGL there were times when I figure that no more than ten people were active participants and everyone else was simply along for the ride. It didn't bother me one bit. The congratulatory statements I got after the fact were enough for me, and those reactions are what's making me do it again, only bigger.

Anyway, I'm sure the HTH guys are reading this (they know me by name). I wish you the best of luck in this venture.

And... just to shatter your ego a bit... I have more email address and signups of people interested in my next project, a project that doesn't even have a proper name yet, than you have people signed up in your forum (you have 130 members; I have 165).

No, you can't have them.

Posted by David "Nighthawk" Flor on Saturday, April 26, 2008 12:46 PM

3 comments [ View Comments ]

Posted by pancito on Saturday, April 26, 2008 1:12 PM

Dude, you forgot this one:
http://www.freewebs.com/pancito/

Posted by Jacks on Saturday, April 26, 2008 4:23 PM

You, my friend, are the pwnage :)

Posted by CallistaT on Saturday, April 26, 2008 8:35 PM

You've pretty much summed it all up better than anyone else could.

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