Need Advices

What about another media blitz? Flyers, networking sites, etc.? We seemed to get a good run out of that the first time...the only other thing I can suggest is some new goodie. Humans like goodies. People in IRC had mentioned badges: what about some kind of "Beta Badge"? New wallpaper exclusive to the beta? People might come for the bribery, stay for the game.

 

I think the best way to keep this going is to just churn out new and exciting content. Make it elaborate yet accessible. Show that we need many different people to come together and use skills that the next guy doesn't have. Such as knowledge of history or literature, computer coding, research abilities, cryptography, maybe investigation skills etc. That is what excites me the most, to be able to work with others and bring our skills together.

Now I just need to keep up. everyone is going so fast :/

 

That's a good point, more variety in puzzles would make it more accessible to a wider range of people.

 

Albeit not one of the safer avenues, there's always the possibility of inviting a Youtuber to try the beta.
There are a few who have an affinity for horror, but the puzzle element might be an issue - as it, in general, wouldn't lend itself very well to a video. Perhaps having one from A&S offering to help them get going? Not sure, mainly a brain-fart.

Exclusive items are always a double-edged sword, or at best, has the potential to become one down the road. It's certainly good for enticing people from the get go, but it can generate some issues further down - for a prime example, look up "Excalibur Prime" in Warframe. The topics and discussions of people wanting him back, declaring it unfair that he was limited to "Founders" only, and the arguments against it, are nigh endless.
But, all in all, I agree it's a good idea. It's a double-edged sword that "we" can save for later, and all things being equal, one that should attract more players than it should frighten away later on.

As for churning out missions with a variety of content, I could imagine Anashel and Jarobi are so busy these days they wouldn't have time to generate enough "bonus missions" to cover everything, if even most.
Perhaps that would be something to leave to the Community? Having more Community Members help with making missions while you focus on the game itself - I for one already have a few missions that might arguably cover folks with an interest in/coming from Japan, or those with a interest in (pseudo)Neuroscience, and one in the works that centers around Scandinavia.

Brain-fart; speaking of badges, perhaps offer badges as an incentive to keep the community pumping out missions for newcommers?
Or make it a badge that unlocks after completing X amount of Community Mission, the reasoning being that I presume that Community Missions will be less prevalent later on, so it'd be a badge that'd be rather easy to get now, but not impossible to get later.

 

I think this could be a good idea. We could try to make a team of Community Puppet Masters with a wider as possible variety of expertise and develop a new batch of Community missions but this time aimed to pique the curiosity of newcomers.
But, if the objective is to gather more followers *he he* we could try Spear Advertising (inspired by Spear Phising). We all are involved in some kind of communities: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Steam, etc. We could try one more time to lure them here by preparing a custom mission for them. For example, if I had a group of friends who love Portal I'd prepare something that at first seems related to Portal but ends being something related to TBW.
Another example: if I had a bunch of followers in a certain social network I'd throw something puzzle-like at them and say: "Hey! Look what I found online, I think it hides something! Can you help me?" and Boom! they end up in here.
However, I feel this ^ looks like a nice idea that could work but also could go terribly wrong, like that time traveling microwave oven, and trigger a clusterfuck of epic proportions...

 

Just wanted to share this:

 

Woot! Woot!

 

Real life recruiting for the win! TBW stickers must help

 

While I agree with just about everything ^^ as a truly genuine noobie, I can't help but think that you are missing some untapped demographics. I've not yet come up with some amazing marketing scheme or anything, but it occurred to me that retiring baby-boomers would love a relaxed, community-based, enigmatic game such as this. I'm not sure any ARG has looked into that. As a forty something, I've played through and kept wanting to call my Dad for help. Yes, he'd have challenges in not being as tuned in to the scope of traditional web tools, but with the right tutorial/web resources-tools suggestions he'd rock this. I realize I'm tip-toeing out of the realm of traditional online gamer demographic, but in terms of relevance to lifestyle and entertainment source, its got to be untapped for us. Would love to see a demographic breakdown and recruitment source stats. Isn't there a 73 year old member on here?

 

Have to whole heartedly agree with Branwen here. And as a representative of the 'Cool Older Kids' as a 53 year old agent I would love to see more shall I say well seasoned agents recruited. I found my way here via The Secret World. Always been a gamer. So an ARG was a heck YES for me. Now admittedly I was initially intimidated because my code savvy is lacking and I would likely need a year to hack myself out of a wet paper bag let alone a website, but what I lack in tech I make up for in decades of useless information just wasting away in my head. I have overcome my intimidation since I have learned that the community is helpful and if I get stuck (and I am anticipating a lot of stuckness going forward) that experts with the skills I lack will jump in and not make fun. Then again there's a reason I am a Scientist and not a Cyber Tech.

Now not sure how you find other seasoned agents. But important to note that we likely have more disposable income. And that's good for the game. Only thing I can think of is that I have played tabletop D&D since the 70's. Play monthly to this date. Online with a group and old school with a physical table with another group. Maybe there is a way to target that niche market. I think there is an untapped pool of recruitable agents. Come on I can't be the only seasoned gamer out there that longs to be just a little bit more nerdy? Maybe a smarter marketer than I can take the ball and run with this!

Oh and Branwen, finding myself on a wild goose chase....again! Expect contact from me to get back on track on my current mission. After I devour, of course, the feast and tighten up the supernatural wardings on my safe haven! Who knows what or who is watching!!!

 

Ooh I'm not the oldest!

 

What I find/found really convincing are the videos complementing especially the kickstarter missions. In the end they brought me here in the first place. I mean: http://support.division-66.com video is quite cool to get a glimpse on what TBW can be. Add a bit of what happened during PAX (QR code at bus stop, annoying receptionists in various hotels ) and place it more prominent. Like on each landing page (HP, Facebook etc pp).

 

Yes, we havent had a new cool video in a while. Lots of people would click on those and they are easily sharable. I know you dont have a whole bunch to throw out there, but as an attention getter, it cant be beat. It might be worth funneling some resources into a video.

 

Getting anywhere? I started a conversation with you if you want to go there or get on the IRC