CEO
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Hey y'all:
Over Memorial Day weekend this coming May, Paizo runs a four-day convention devoted to celebrating the Pathfinder brand. As a licensee of Pathfinder, Goblinworks has the ability to do things at PaizoCon that other companies don't. In the past, there was a room where you could come and play some of the very early versions of PFO. Now that we have released a live game, these are less vital than they were, though I am sure we will have demo stations.
My questions to you, the PFO community is this:
1. Are you interested in going to PaizoCon and interacting with the Goblinworks staff?
2. If the answer to #1 is yes, what kinds of events, seminars, etc. should Goblinworks run at Paizocon?
Other MMOs have conventions where its customers can interact with the staff that makes the games. How should we handle this for PFO?
-Lisa
Goblin Squad Member
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I think one thing that concerns most of my friends and half this forum is the vision. If Goblinworks could explain, less in semantics and patch notes and more in overall goal, what the eventual goal for the gameplay of Pathfinder Online will be like and the interactions that can be expected, I think people will have a clearer picture of what can be expected from it.
Currently, I have several friends who backed the Kickstarter and think the game is terrible. I tried explaining that it's in its early stages, but they don't know what could possibly improve the game from where it is now. They lack the vision to see the full picture, and I think many people selling their accounts or doubting the game are having that issue too. If these hardcore backer fans are, then random strangers may not have a chance at all without substantial exposition.
So yeah, I'd have a session on QA or an explanation of what kind of great things await for us in the future. The way I see PFO, it's a sandbox virtual life where you can take on a living role as an NPC or hero in an adapting campaign setting with goals like creating settlements, going to war, controlling strategic resources, vanquishing dungeon bosses, acquiring legendary spoils, and other things typical of a tabletop campaign. Breathing life into the world.
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Goblin Squad Member
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1. Yes!
2. One of the biggest hurdles right now that I see for new players is jumping in alone, not understanding what to do, poking at a few things but not really having fun and leaving.
At the Con it would be beneficial to have a room with multiple stations of the game running and have everyone teamed up together instead of rolling out separately, preferably with one of the devs leading, and go monster hunting. That way they not only get to actually play with a dev (which is always cool) but they get a taste of what it's like to run with a group in the game.
Off to the side you can have one or two stations with another staff member demonstrating other parts of the game like gathering, crafting and acquiring feats from trainers, etc.
It would also be good to have a basic seminar/panel showing the current timeline and progress and what's coming up, and make sure it's recorded. People who couldn't make it love to see those things on youtube. You don't really need to do any live game feeds during the panel if you have the other room set up, they tend to not work very well most of the time anyway. You don't want to break the flow because of a crummy connection.
This Con is all about games. Everyone who goes loves to play them. So come up with some cool party game style event that will keep the Con attendees coming back throughout the day. The more Goblin themed the better.
Most importantly, make sure that the staff that go are as available as possible for questions and chatting. It's a real let down to swing by and see no one there and no clue when they might return.
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Goblin Squad Member
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1. Yes!
2a. Stations for interested people to try out the game - maybe alongside an experienced player or even better a developer. I like Ravenlute's idea of grouping everyone up for monster hunting.
2b. A dedicated gathering spot so we can meet each other face to face. This is separate from a panel or seminar; Pathfinder Online is a very social game, and I'd just like the chance to socialize with the people (players and developers) I've been talking to on the forums for the past couple of years.
2c. A presentation on the development timeline. (Caveats here, obviously, nothing is set in stone, etc.). Q & A session. Lots of time to chat with staff.
Now, a couple of questions, as I've never been to PaizoCon: It's in Seattle, yes? (hoping so, as I've never been there). What hotel should I make reservations at? And where would locals recommend I go to do touristy things before or after the convention?
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Goblin Squad Member
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1. Yes!
2a. Stations for interested people to try out the game - maybe alongside an experienced player or even better a developer. I like Ravenlute's idea of grouping everyone up for monster hunting.
2b. A dedicated gathering spot so we can meet each other face to face. This is separate from a panel or seminar; Pathfinder Online is a very social game, and I'd just like the chance to socialize with the people (players and developers) I've been talking to on the forums for the past couple of years.
2c. A presentation on the development timeline. (Caveats here, obviously, nothing is set in stone, etc.). Q & A session. Lots of time to chat with staff.
Now, a couple of questions, as I've never been to PaizoCon: It's in Seattle, yes? (hoping so, as I've never been there). What hotel should I make reservations at? And where would locals recommend I go to do touristy things before or after the convention?
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Goblin Squad Member
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Over the weekend I would do a few things:
1) Goblinworks Merch, this is a great way to make some extra cash, selling T-Shirts, Mugs, Bobble-Heads, so on and so forth. You could even sale promo codes to add rings of protections, bags of holding, or other cool things to the next purchase made at the goblinworks store.
Gear makes people happy and excited.
2) Demo Stations where people can long in, and learn the game using 1,000 exp characters.
3) Developer Manned Demo Stations to do tutorials.
4) Q&A Sessions.
5) A timeline of roughly what you want to add to the game in the latter half of 2015.
6) A Meet and Greet for all those that are currently playing the game with name tags of their in-game characters. Maybe even throw in tables of the PF Card game that they can play together to break the ice and get to know each other.
You could also have a couple of other integrated events, where PFO Fans get to sample Paizo Products, and vice versa.
7) Story Boarding, show casing the lore and background that will make its way into the game, and your plans for the over arching storyline in PFO.
8) Have a contest within the community to fly someone out and meet the staff, and stay over the weekend, to create a lot of buzz in the PFO community.
9) A Promo Piece of the Emerald Spire, how it looks in game, as the centerpiece of the GW area. A big eye catcher, and you could even prepare to unveil the several levels of it at Paizo Con.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Spend money on some tech to record the presentations and a few cool videos. The YouTube videos currently online are of such poor quality they are easily ignored, no matter how good the info. They are pretty bad. Noted, they are usually recorded by a third party, but if you want some slick marketing, that's your chance. Get a guy that does weddings or some such to record the meetings, use Camtasia or a screen capture/twitch tech to make decent videos, show off the terrain, have an "awesome scenery highlights" reel running on a big screen.
I think the merchandise would be cool, if sold at reasonable prices. Is there a way to get t-shirts or sweatshirts done up with the GW/Paizo logo on one side, and our character name and avatar on the other? That'd be sweet.
Other stuff probably should go in the GW cash shop...more on that later.
Goblinworks Executive Founder
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1. Yes
2. Meet-greet for the GW staff. A demo station with screens visible from the hallway might help convert other Pathfinder players into PFO.
This also is the best chance for in-person crowdforging and observing the new player experience; give new players a copy of the new player guide, and watch/talk to them about whether or not it tells them what they need to know.
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Goblin Squad Member
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1) nope, doing Dragoncon again.
2) +1 for Dunking Booth
- IMHO the big loss of vision was when we lost Alignment, and 3 distinct, alignment based starting towns. That was a big disconnect in terms of dis-similarity to TT, and it spread both new players and helpful, 'veteran' resources too thinly. Maybe that will change by Paizocon.
- Do a Panel on Dungeons. Exactly how long it will be until 'an Interesting Cave' or 'a Forbidding Door', et al, will be findable. Describe some particulars about how they get found, and what each role will be doing to successfully clear them. Maybe populate a cave system for the demo.
- Lisa, give a talk with an updated version of your email. "Early Enrollment isn't for everyone, just like the softcover PFRPG Beta wasn't for everyone." That one. To prevent the table top players from completely tuning out everything PFO, let them know Paizo will not stop until it is what they envisioned.
There is a vast group of pro-Golarion wallets out there, more than enough to make this game fly. Appeal to them.
- IMHO the big loss of vision was when we lost Alignment, and 3 distinct, alignment based starting towns. That was a big disconnect in terms of dis-similarity to TT, and it spread both new players and helpful, 'veteran' resources too thinly. Maybe that will change by Paizocon.
Oh, PFO decided not to run with those?
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Goblin Squad Member
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- IMHO the big loss of vision was when we lost Alignment, and 3 distinct, alignment based starting towns. That was a big disconnect in terms of dis-similarity to TT, and it spread both new players and helpful, 'veteran' resources too thinly. Maybe that will change by Paizocon.Oh, PFO decided not to run with those?
It's simply something that hasn't been implemented yet.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Interested, yes.
My thoughts: I would approach it like an opportunity for real business analysis.
Begin with a design overview including the scope of the 'problem' at that point in the project lifecycle, then conduct a multi-session brainstorming effort. Lots of whiteboard and a way to record the proceedings which can be screened for gold.
Refine the whole of the 'problem', and break it down into digestible chunks. Then have us break out into subgroups led or at least monitored by a reality-checking dev for further brainstorming.
Then the groups come back together to present the results, whether they think a solution was found, or how has our understanding of sub-problems evolved. The elements unresolved might be subsequently worked by groups of a different composition if there is any time left.
Then, with all practical participant presentations given, reassemble the whole for us and see if it is recognizably coherent with the original design documents.
It's simply something that hasn't been implemented yet.- IMHO the big loss of vision was when we lost Alignment, and 3 distinct, alignment based starting towns. That was a big disconnect in terms of dis-similarity to TT, and it spread both new players and helpful, 'veteran' resources too thinly. Maybe that will change by Paizocon.Oh, PFO decided not to run with those?
That's what I figured.
Shwag and free stuff. Oh, and bags...geeks love bags. And did I hear something about a lime green bag? Did I miss a lime green bag?!? Arglebargle!!!
In my past life with [REDACTED], we were required (distribution contracts) to have a presence at nearly every tech/computer/security event in the nation...good times. I agree with a number of the above suggestions for panel discussion ideas, and in general GW has more than enough teaser topics that should be crowd pleasers. But I cannot overstate the importance of shwag and branding at events like this (edit: more redaction, heh). Even being the part-time presentation person, I gladly yield the floor to shwag.
The power of shwag. *a la "The more you know" star*
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Goblin Squad Member
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That's what I figured.It's simply something that hasn't been implemented yet.- IMHO the big loss of vision was when we lost Alignment, and 3 distinct, alignment based starting towns. That was a big disconnect in terms of dis-similarity to TT, and it spread both new players and helpful, 'veteran' resources too thinly. Maybe that will change by Paizocon.Oh, PFO decided not to run with those?
They decided to start the game without them, yes.
They also started the game without much in the way of reasons for PvP, one of the most intrinsic elements of the sandbox PFO was billed as. Neither of these facts indicate "loss of vision". All "vision" is is a bunch of ideas about the future. It's literally got next to nothing to do with the here and now.
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Goblin Squad Member
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They also started the game without much in the way of reasons for PvP, one of the most intrinsic elements of the sandbox PFO was billed as. Neither of these facts indicate "loss of vision". All "vision" is is a bunch of ideas about the future. It's literally got next to nothing to do with the here and now.
Vision is what brought investment.
The here and now is a game that some people who made that investment have walked away from.Literally inextricable from each other.
I'm going to hold off on this to avoid derailing the thread. Don't have a ton to say on it anyways—we clearly have different views on the responsibilities of a developing game.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I plan to attend.
Paizocon would be a great opportunity to unveil a new escalation, preferably with new monster models and/or new mechanics. At some point during the con, people in the demo room could join people playing from home in taking on the new escalation.
As fun as physical schwag is, virtual schwag would be welcome, too. To prevent game balance issues, the virtual goodies could be functionally identical to player-crafted items, but have a visual difference, like a custom color scheme.
I'd just add that you should reinforce the crowdforging aspect (though I imagine you've already planned that).
Crowdforging is fascinating, and most days, some of us spend more time on that than being in the game.