Goblin Squad Member
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I haven't been to a MMO news site for a while, I gave up faith on the MMO development industry after SW:TOR tanked, but I was bored and I decided to see what MMORPG and Massively had to say about PFO, and I was very disappointed.
Both website's articles about the 2nd kickstarter added some needless negativity to the normal negativity in the discussion. Neither website mentioned that the project was fully funded, and that this kickstarter was boosting development speed. They both made it seem like this kickstarter was to fund the game. Massively doesn't even have PFO on their game list.
I think it may be worth it to open up channels with the MMO news sites, and start feeding them some first hand information, and give them the important key words they seem to leave out that really hurt the game.
Right now, I think the biggest thing that is hurting PFO is the lack of correct information, and I was seeing some people that listed reasons for not backing the project that were completely based on false information, and other people judging the game based on that false information. This project probably could have broke 400k by now if people knew the whole truth about what is going on.
I'd never heard of Pathfinder before I got the email about the second Kickstarter campaign from the Reaper team. I had no problem deducing from the Kickstarter page that this was additional "speeding up" funding for an already-funded game.
but I second the suggestion that the GoblinWorks team needs to issue some press releases, and/or offer to sit for some interviews.
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Goblin Squad Member
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1) One problem I think is that mmorpgs take a long time to develop and so various mmorpg sites will have priority on mmorpgs that come with lots of screens, footage and other fun/flashy stuff that gets mmorpg players frothing at the mouth. Even if the mmorpg is a clone, as long as the sites can deliver content for their site, they'll bang on about it in glowing terms. And that is something PfO is necessarily short on at the moment to win/woo/wow players.
2) Also sites have become more cautious of kickstarter projects in case they are felt to be supporting something that in a year or two comes crashing down and disappoints a whole load of people who might remember where they got that mis-recommendation from: The innocent days of ks have moved on a fraction. That and advertising revenue seems to play a key role in some sites, and how they cover and score. Additionally comments seem to often devolve into various forms of banality than informative discussions, so people end up missing something that is actually more interesting than what meets the eye initially.
3) Thirdly, many players don't seem to be aware of the diversity of the genre, beyond a few recognisable titles such as Elder Scrolls Online, Planetside 2. Atm "Archage" seems to be holding a lot of potential sandbox crowd's attention because of it's engine and demos in Korea already in several late phases of beta (Though late Western release is a dampener as is the anime style - for some).
4) Finally many mmorpgs have released with wonderful feature lists and turned out to not meet expectations after a few months and so there's also a general cynicism it seems. Unlike other KS's where the genre had been a dry well for so long eg Black Isle Rpgs, space-flight sim style games. Whereas mmorpgs are all everywhere and everywhere the same.
All of those make it a tougher proposition for Pathfinder Online or any mmorpg. So to conclude for many people interested in a mmorpg most won't see where or when it is coming (from) until there are players who report word-of-mouth about a small apparently little-known mmorpg that does things differently and has a good community - ironically away from the maddening crowd. :/
I guess we just need to evangelise then!
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Goblin Squad Member
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is pfo already on reddit?
GJ people. rofl. :)
Ask Massively: Yes, we have heard of your game
About 20 people asked: Hey have you guys heard about Pathfinder Online and also why aren't you writing more about Pathfinder Online. P.S. Your coverage of Pathfinder Online is inadequate to my needs. And have you heard about Pathfinder Online??
Yes, we have heard of your game.
Here's how I think this happens: Someone on a forum somewhere decides that his pet game needs more attention. I know, he says; let's deluge the media with email! In comes a flood of emails to our tip box, usually back to back, asking and demanding in turns for coverage of the game (or studio or cause or Kickstarter or concept or petition).
This is apparently what's been happening somewhere in the Pathfinder Online community in the last few weeks. The first email was cool. The third one looked suspicious. The 20th one had us tearing our hair out (or beards, in Shawn's case).
Cont:I'm pretty sure that the developers themselves aren't behind these grassroots email campaigns because while most of the letters are bland, a few are surprisingly rude. I've got a contrary streak a mile long, so the last reader I want to please is the one who first insults us and then makes entitled, imperious demands that we spend our limited editorial budget entertaining specifically him.The funniest ones are those from people who are plainly not familiar with Massively as a publication; we're just one media outlet among the many they are mass-mailing. They haven't performed a cursory site search to see that we've been covering Pathfinder Online (to stick with that example) for over a year. Massively is loaded with sandbox and D&D fans, after all, so we've been over-covering the game.
I say "over-covering" because we've already given it a disproportionate chunk of attention for an indie game still in the early development stage. It successfully Kickstarted a tech demo earlier this year, and it's got a live Kickstarter to boost the rest of the game's development, so it's looking like a solid game that is extremely likely to launch, and we'll continue to run news articles when the game actually produces news and conduct interviews when the developers reveal something new and important to a general MMO audience. But in the meantime, you can't be expecting "in-depth articles" on a game that isn't playable and won't be for a long time. There's just not that much to write about. You probably wouldn't like the speculative pieces we'd do, anyway; most would be filled with concerns about the game's extreme ambition and ability to pull off some of the immersive sandbox features we're all hoping to see in the next generation of games.
