Advertising!

[Alavatar]

So, as Matt has said in several posts, we need new players. How can we best get new players?

Well, we can get lucky and have someone approach us after an event while we have our gear on or someone approaches us during a gameday... but that is just luck.

What would be some good ways to advertise our organization?

Perhaps put up fliers at colleges? Try to set up booths at local Cons? (Are there any local Cons other then SakuraCon?) Perhaps go to RP hobby shops and ask to put up fliers on their bulletin boards? Go do some mock-combat just before or after an RPGA event at a hobby shop?

I'm willing to help out with advertising (provided I can make the time) if others are. Does anyone else have ideas?

 

[Masticon]

I think the best possible place we can recruit people is at Renfaires. The Washington Fantasy Rennisance Faire runs for 3 weeks during August (a month that usually doesn't have events). I believe that a booth here could draw in a decent number of new players and would be most fun for those involved in running the booth.

 

[jpariury]

I think the best possible place we can recruit people is at Renfaires. The Washington Fantasy Rennisance Faire runs for 3 weeks during August (a month that usually doesn't have events). I believe that a booth here could draw in a decent number of new players and would be most fun for those involved in running the booth.

The Pirate Fest that ran in Portland this past weekend would have been a great time to advertise. There was even a vendor selling old-school NERO-legal PVC-core weapons.

 

[Seattle_Dave]

To be absolutely honest with all of you, the best and most effective advertisement for this game is word of mouth. Get your friends to come, get their friends to come, etc. Know someone who used to play and kind of stopped? Ask them to come to the game, tell them about the cool plot you're involved in, or get them to come and play a new character with you.

Booths at Cons get people stopping at the booth, but in all of the cons done I think Seattle had 1 person actually show up... out of the 3-4 cons we had booths at.

 

[jpariury]

Booths at Cons get people stopping at the booth, but in all of the cons done I think Seattle had 1 person actually show up... out of the 3-4 cons we had booths at.

I suspect that has more to do with presentation method than the effectiveness of cons themselves. Compare the idea of "see our booth, look at the tube-swords, check out the video, come play, please?" to four or five demos that looked like this:

Have a costumed page wander the floor shouting "All persons who have business or interest in the matter of Sir Quillion versus Dame Janus please attend the combat arena at <timeslot>" every so often.
At the specified time, script up a scene where two nobles and their seconds enter a dueling ring. An announcer declares this to be an honor duel to settle some political or romantic matter, and outlines some basic rules ("There shall be no use of magics, neither spellcraft nor formally-created, a single weapon of choice and no shields"). The two combatants call each names and make other sundry remarks as to each other's lineage.
A duel occurs. Have the announcer call a hold after few swings to give a brief description of the calls being made and describe the Hold rule.
Duel continues. One of the seconds then casts a curative or protective spell on their lord/lady and a hold is called so that the announcer can describe spellcasting in NERO.
Lay-on, and have the other second cry foul at the dishonor of the other. A "mass" combat ensues, people die, and the announcer declares the righteousness of the victor, or foul misdeeds of the violator, and people are then invited to meet with the players, talk to people at the booth, etc.

 

[Avaran]

Oh oh! Can I play the village idiot?

 

[Kasuni]

Well, there's Kumoricon down in Portland. It's usually during labor day weekend though.

 

[jpariury]

Oh oh! Can I play the village idiot?

I thought roleplay involved getting away from your daily life?

:mrgreen: Love ya!

 

[Dorune]

Oh oh! Can I play the village idiot?

I thought roleplay involved getting away from your daily life?

:mrgreen: Love ya!

Zing.

 

[Avaran]

Oh oh! Can I play the village idiot?

I thought roleplay involved getting away from your daily life?

:mrgreen: Love ya!

HAHAHAHA

I left that one wide open, didn't I? :lol:

 

[Dorune]

Oh oh! Can I play the village idiot?

I thought roleplay involved getting away from your daily life?

:mrgreen: Love ya!

HAHAHAHA

I left that one wide open, didn't I? :lol:

Just a little.

 

[jpariury]

Seriously, though, recruitment should be more than just "Hey, buddy, I dress up funny and hit people on weekends, you should join us!"

One of the other problems with word-of-mouth is that it presumes the players as a group have large social circles outside of Alliance that would be interested. I'm not going to drag people out that generally get their rocks off climbing Mt. St. Helens and kayaking, or painting up their faces and hurling themselves bodily at safety glass. I'll mention Alliance in passing, but I won't actively try and force people I deal with on a daily basis to participate. Sounds too cultish, to be honest.

You'll do better hitting cons where people are involved in cosplay and/or RPing. The last large draw we had was the boffing club from you-dub, and Paul Vorvick's group of friends. It pulled in people who were already doing part of what we do and adding another layer to it. If you want to attract larger turnouts, that's where attention should be focused.

 

[Seattle_Dave]

Thus my desire for a university liason to look into boffing clubs and the like.

Cons in the Area include, but are not limitted to -
Norwescon
Rusticon
Sakuracon
Orycon

If we were to have the people to put together a demo team for the cons, and someone to coordinate with the cons themselves, I am sure there would be rewards for such volunteerism.

 

[obcidian_bandit]

painting up their faces and hurling themselves bodily at safety glass

I gotta go to more hockey games with you.

Seriously though, there was just an "info fair" at the university, and I signed up for the "gaming club's" newsletter with the sole intent of pulling in more people. I'm sure that others can try to tap that same resource now that school is starting up again.