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Old 04-16-2017, 02:37 PM   #1031
GM Joe
 
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Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

Quote:
Originally Posted by philreed View Post
* How often do you visit the Steve Jackson Games front page/Daily Illuminator?
* Do you follow any of our social media channels?
* What can we do to put the news in front of you regularly?
I visit the front page only rarely, but I check out the Daily Illuminator every time the bot post in the forum makes it seem like the topic is something I'm interested in (pretty much anything but Munchkin).

I'm a member of the GURPS and Ogre communities on Google+, but I don't believe there is an official SJGames presence on that. I also follow Kromm on Medium, but there hasn't been anything by him there since the DF Kickstarter PR push.

To put the news in front of me more regularly, become active on Google+. Also, step up company engagement on RPG.net, advertise there, etc.
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Old 04-16-2017, 04:41 PM   #1032
DouglasCole
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Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

Quote:
Originally Posted by philreed View Post

So: A few questions.

* How often do you visit the Steve Jackson Games front page/Daily Illuminator?
Rarely for both, largely because the DI tends to be mostly Munchkin. I will occasionally click in and scan the posts to see if there's anything that's not munchkin. I don't MIND munchkin, but I've got a bunch of sets already, I'm not a collector, and my kids aren't quite old enough to play (though they soon may be). So mostly it's not of interest.

Edit: I should note that the DI comes to my email box each morning as well; I scan them and read them, but rarely click through since they're rarely GURPS-centric.

Quote:
* Do you follow any of our social media channels?
Twitter. Facebook. And yet I don't recognize a bunch of the twitter posts, which means that they get posted and buried very quickly. I have some suggestions there . . .

Quote:
* What can we do to put the news in front of you regularly?

The world is a flood of information, and it is our job to make sure _our_ information reaches you. We have clearly failed in this instance, so we are left trying to figure out the best way to alert you to news about new games and expansions.

I'm going to suggest you start or elevate an actual blog, maybe one per game line. I know that I've seen it said that the DI is perhaps considered (internally) the longest-running blog, etc (b/c it started before blogs were a thing, and it literally IS a Web-Log).

But . . . why not have a blog with short content? Press releases, etc. Do it on Blogger or Wordpress; you can certainly do your own site, but I'd go minimum effort. And either use categories (one blog, but categorized) or have one blog per product line.

Then each GURPSDay, said blog would automatically be included along with the 84 others. I can even guarantee it's the #1 post every week (I randomize all the others).

But if there were literally a www.sjgamesgurpsblog.com or www.sjgames.com/blogs/gurps (and of course you could have www.sjgames.com/blogs/carwars, etc) then those that care about a particular product line (except for poor Rob Kelk; I feel I must acknowledge his sorrow) that is supported can link to that RSS feed.

And with respect, remember that Sean and PK already have blogs or the equivalent (Sean's is on LiveJournal, with a reliable summary post each week, for example), and most of us follow them. They're definitely on the GURPSDay script pull. This should be something where the marketing department is in charge of getting the word out.

In fact, what it should look like and even contain, is the kind of stuff from the DF Kickstarter updates page. That's freakin' perfect, has great content, images. But you need to be part of the KS to see it.

I reposted most of my own KS announcements on my blog, and SJG could easily take all the great GURPS stuff already from the KS updates page and have content already available. I suspect most folks that aren't backers will simply ignore the nifty stuff that is going on there - and those are the folks you probably most want to reach.

I also will reiterate that if you make press releases and other info available, we can distribute it and link it to the blogs followed, which will see reshares on twitter and facebook and use the power of compound networks to increase reach.
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Last edited by DouglasCole; 04-17-2017 at 08:05 AM.
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Old 04-16-2017, 04:48 PM   #1033
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Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

As an outsider to almost everything SJG makes or sells (I pretty much only follow their Ogre related stuff here), I still read the Illuminator daily, it doesn't take that long, it's fun, and so I know what's available, even if it doesn't directly appeal to me.

Going way out on a limb here: Having read these "Stakeholder" threads for several years now, I see a very vocal minority nearly always saying "we want GURPS and only GURPS" -- then when it is made, they whinge about the cost and say "nope, didn't order it, too expensive". I know SJ is personally quite proud of his creations, and really, it would appear that 'fatherly love' is only what keeps GURPS on the market at all. If it were my product line, I would have ditched it as a losing proposition ages ago.

As to the cost of the books, hey, books are expensive now, and only getting worse. I'm in the habit of spending $55 to $60 now for my specialty softcover railroad history books, and upwards of $80 for hardcovers -- and that's from U.S. publishers. A U.K. based publisher makes a book I want, and I know I'll have to fork out even more.
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Old 04-16-2017, 04:53 PM   #1034
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Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

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Originally Posted by robkelk View Post
... - judging one game on the merits of the other hardly seems fair to me.
I'm sorry, I'm not looking to argue. Nowhere did I judge one game by the merits of another. In retrospect, it is apparent that I was not specific enough in my question.

Let me restate the question. Is there a reason why SJG is not trying to join the world of VTT with GURPS? From what I see, not only is SJG not working the field, it is also hobbling the efforts of others.

For reasons that have been hashed out by others, PDFs seem to be the medium that is bringing in the coin, even if it is a relatively small amount.

More GURPS players = more potential market for GURPS pdfs, whether those players are using a VTT, some other online method, or playing in real life doesn't matter.
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Old 04-16-2017, 06:28 PM   #1035
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Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

Quote:
Originally Posted by philreed View Post
So: A few questions.

* How often do you visit the Steve Jackson Games front page/Daily Illuminator?
Every day since its inception. I often don't do more than skim it, but I do at least scan the headline and skim the content.
Quote:
Originally Posted by philreed View Post
* Do you follow any of our social media channels?
I just recently started using Twitter, and I follow SJG there. Same for Instagram.
Quote:
Originally Posted by philreed View Post
* What can we do to put the news in front of you regularly?
No need to do more for me. The Daily Illuminator works.

Oh, I also subscribe to the Ogre mailing list. Maybe GURPS and Car Wars and Munchkin should have mailing lists, if they don't already. Mailing lists won't get new players, but they keep the existing players informed, if they choose to get their information that way.
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Old 04-16-2017, 07:46 PM   #1036
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Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

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Originally Posted by Polydamas View Post
I might try OGRE one day if I decide I am staying in the New Country.
If there is anything I can do to assist in that most worthwhile endeavor, please let me know!

D.
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Old 04-16-2017, 08:36 PM   #1037
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Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mack_JB View Post
Going way out on a limb here: Having read these "Stakeholder" threads for several years now, I see a very vocal minority nearly always saying "we want GURPS and only GURPS" -- then when it is made, they whinge about the cost and say "nope, didn't order it, too expensive".
Well if you nearly always see them then you must have some pretty concrete examples you can point to.

I very rarely have ever (if ever) seen a GURPS fan complain about actual book cost.

Complain about postage yes, about retail markup overseas (I have at least) perhaps, but 1500 were willing to put their money where their mouth is and cough up $50USD plus to back a project some of them only have a passing interest in. If anything GURPS fans are more likely to say "produce book x and I'll pay double for it!"

It's insulting to suggest that fans not wanting to spend money is an issue. Getting beyond those fans is completely another story
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Old 04-16-2017, 08:50 PM   #1038
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Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

For what it's worth since I'm not a regular here but still buy everything GURPS...

Quote:
Originally Posted by philreed View Post
So: A few questions.

* How often do you visit the Steve Jackson Games front page/Daily Illuminator?
Almost never, I usually go right to the forums and to the Store on Thursday.

Quote:
* Do you follow any of our social media channels?
Yes, but honestly FB rarely shows your posts and I generally rely on the newsfeed, which is getting increasingly worthless to see things i'm interested in.

Quote:
* What can we do to put the news in front of you regularly?
Fans posting about the releases on rpg.net and here would alert me most often.

Perhaps adding an opt-in to our Warehouse 23 profile to allow you to send us announcements of new products (not for all publishers, just SJGames...Drivethru bombards me with emails).

If you are Kickstarting your releases, they allow you to send to past backers, I get these all the time and they're rather useful because I only back things I'm interested in.

Quote:
The world is a flood of information, and it is our job to make sure _our_ information reaches you. We have clearly failed in this instance, so we are left trying to figure out the best way to alert you to news about new games and expansions.
Game store/distributor system can be a problem. I either have to convince the game store owner that you're still publishing books, or their distributor claims not to carry them. I once heard that GAMA allowed you to access to their game store distribution lists, if that's true, perhaps that could help you reach directly to the game stores?
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Old 04-16-2017, 10:14 PM   #1039
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Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

* How often do you visit the Steve Jackson Games front page/Daily Illuminator?
-Rarely, I have 'forums.sjgames.com' memorized and can type it in a browser bar in a fractional second, so that is where I go to. Also the front page doesn't so often seem very interesting
-Daily Illuminator - sometimes, I will go look at the Daily Illuminator forum almost daily, but since there are no teasers that show on mouse over, and I know the threads contain no information themselves, I won't click unless it looks super interesting or I actually see people are posting replies. Also it at times seems SJGames doesn't pay much attention to what people post about it
* Do you follow any of our social media channels?
-No, and posting information to hard to follow sites like Twitter and Medium that make it hard to read do distress me. I much prefer stuff in forum posts, or in classic HTML seeming webpages that are easy to read. I backed the DFRPG kickstarter, but the posting of all the stuff in medium I could never get to load and that definitely didn't help my enthusiasm for it
Twitter? 140 characters? I have no interesting in reading something that is going to usually be very awkwardly formatted and hard to get to even view, that the struggle to view it is never going to be worth the 140 character payout
* What can we do to put the news in front of you regularly?
I would love to see a 'General Announcements' thread that announcements and discussion regularly were posted in and served as a grand record of awesomeness as it spiraled towards thousands of database breaking posts. Much like this awesome thread, except for announcements instead of reports to the stakeholders. If something appears in a forums thread in a forum I pay attention to I'm much more likely to notice it than any other means
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Old 04-16-2017, 11:32 PM   #1040
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Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

I had actually forgotten I was following Kromm's LiveJournal blog :) It's probably my #1 source of official GURPS news, frankly (I'm ashamed I forgot about it). It's very short and to the point, and I imagine I know about every GURPS product being released every week thanks to it. So making sure GURPS players know about GURPS products might be doable by simply promoting Kromm's blog.

The problem is really making sure non GURPS players (non-regular at least) know about stuff they can buy, in order to grow the customer base. This will always involve requiring SJGames going out of their way to promote stuff on other people's platforms, because if someone is already following SJGames feeds or people, they're most probably already a fan. So this means posting on other forums, advertising on gaming news sites or podcasts or video channels, or selling on other gaming stores... basically doing something I haven't seen SJGames do much of, which is get out of their DR+9 shell (I'm not sure I have seen or heard much from SJGames anywhere in the past 10 years except on SJGames property... but then again I established at the beginning of this message that my memory is terrible).
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