In this week's edition of the MMO Underbelly, Sanya Weathers talks about how games do and should use social media in conjunction with their MMOs.

In addition to my column here at MMORPG, the website, I’m also a writer/consultant for MMORPGs, the industry. Listen, when you can’t relocate for any reason, and you live a million miles away from all of the established MMO centers, you scratch together a living by being very, very flexible. As I like to tell newcomers, you want to be really flexible, but not so flexible that you can get your head up your posterior. A community person with that much flexibility is not helpful to the customers. Anyway, my main gig at the moment is for one of the new wave of MMOs – a web-based non-fantasy casual game. One of my daily tasks is updating the Facebook and Twitter feeds for this product.

Read it all here.

Interesting. I knew a lot of information was being passed around out there in the "ether" but didn't truly appreciate how it could be used to actually generate an income. Too bad I'm so lazy or I would actually try this and give up my life of crime.

Aion has also been making sincere use of Twitter.  The community manager for NA is @aion_ayase and is the hub for a whole community of us who keep a column search for "#aion" up in our Twitter clients.  This is also a context for passing news, recruiting to legions (guilds), debating rumors, and so on -- and Twitter is more popular with the over 35 gamers, if gamer demographics are anything like general Facebook/Twitter demographics.

Check it out!  http://search.twitter.com/search?q=aion

Yrs,

Shava

I hate viral marketing and influence mapping with a fiery passion - I'm not saying it doesn't work, just that I feel like it devalues and degrades the entire act of communicating.

 lol athene (wow)is a player and a key influencer ,and i bet blizzard try very hard to as far from him as they can.lol 

influencer ,hell ya succes story of youtube etc.the fact is what make him popular is hes unpredictable

can be good for a company but if you had lawyer it can get fugly fast lol.

company only want what they can control 100% if they cant they ll probably try to skip that part very fast with small character

Originally posted by Grym

Interesting. I knew a lot of information was being passed around out there in the "ether" but didn't truly appreciate how it could be used to actually generate an income.

Not only for advertising, but increasingly by management as a way of evaluating the importance of employees - it's quietly but profoundly changing the way society works.

well that wasn't boobs. That was inteligent insight into the goings on of the coperate internet advertisements. Yawn.

Originally posted by Airphel

well that wasn't boobs. That was inteligent insight into the goings on of the coperate internet advertisements. Yawn.

 To be completely superficial talking about endowments below the neckline instead of brains above the neckline is much more interesting.

One thing left out; don't hire guerilla marketing shills or at least not ones so bad the avererage sheeople would spot them.

Marketing and advertising are the bane of MMO’s. When I buy a pencil or a TV I don’t have to worry that someone is trying to sell me a lifestyle. When I sign up for a MMO I have to wade through a sea of tosh that is trying to tell me why I want this MMO to be my online life.

What we want from a press release is a video to check the graphics, a summery of combat, description of tools available to players (these days usually none), the background lore, PvP, comms options, guild set up.

What we get from a press release is a gilded lily that makes the MMO sound like it invented the wheel. That it has the best group content to date while allowing you to solo to end game with one hand while crafting to end game with the other!

"Viral Marketing" is a term I hear so often that it's honestly lost all meaning to me. I used to think it meant "word of mouth". Maybe it does mean that. I honestly don't know. Either way, I don't care much for marketing, because I don't like being treated like a comodity.

I realize that I AM a comodity, I just don't like being treated like one.

Can you give us any idea as to how much more putting an official page up there brings in? Is it a large % of your revenue?

eventually they are going to want a peice of that. Then more. Basically what Im asking is could it be a problem down the line when, and they will in my opinion, start taking some of that $.

not sure how they work. they Seem like a trap to me so I stay clear.

Originally posted by Dana

In this week's edition of the MMO Underbelly, Sanya Weathers talks about how games do and should use social media in conjunction with their MMOs.

In addition to my column here at MMORPG, the website, I’m also a writer/consultant for MMORPGs, the industry. Listen, when you can’t relocate for any reason, and you live a million miles away from all of the established MMO centers, you scratch together a living by being very, very flexible. As I like to tell newcomers, you want to be really flexible, but not so flexible that you can get your head up your posterior. A community person with that much flexibility is not helpful to the customers. Anyway, my main gig at the moment is for one of the new wave of MMOs – a web-based non-fantasy casual game. One of my daily tasks is updating the Facebook and Twitter feeds for this product.

Read it all here.

That's great, now where's your column from this past week? :D

Well crap, you left me in a tough spot Sanya. Not much to comment on this week.

It's amazing how when you stop trying to be the "cool" writer by talking tough and throwing jabs, the writing turns out ok.

However I do believe there is one error, I believe places like facebook charge companies to put their "official" pages up so it isn't completly free. It obviously doesn't cost the normal user anything to start a fan page but when a company decides to put in an official page they have to work out stuff with facebook. However I'm also sure it's cheaper then standard advertising.

I pretty much LOATHE advertising/marketing in all it's forms. What makes me want to buy a Product is the product itself... not what some chucklehead is trying to tell me about the product....or how "hip" I'll be if I pick it up.

How do I KNOW about the product.... well in Real Life, I can goto the store and lay my hands on an actual working model of the Product. If it's a car...I can take it out for a test-drive and see how it feels/performs.... If it's a fire-arm (I'm a hunter in RL, so that's one of my other big-budget items)... I can pick it up.... feel the balance, the proportion.... see the quality of the manufacturing in the stock and other components, work the action...see if it's smoothe, etc.

If it's a piece of commercial software (I work in IT...and do a fair amount of technology purchasing).......most commercial software products have trial versions that are downloadable for free these days.... I pretty much won't even consider buying something unless I can try it out first.

Same holds true for games and entertainment software....If I can't try it out first....I'll rarely if ever plunk down any money on it. All the advertising/marketing in the world is entirely irrelevent to my purchase decision....beyond simply making me aware that a Product exists...... purchase decision is ENTIRELY based on hands on trial of the product itself.

Of course, advertising/marketing..... if it's totaly obnoxious or troubling in some other regard can have a NEGATIVE effect on my purchasing decisions. There ARE products out there that I have decided I won't even TRY OUT....that otherwise I might have taken on a test drive....based upon something about thier advertising/marketing that I found obnoxious....or that sent up warning flags based upon the message they appeared to try to relay.

Fun, hardcore, awesome, incredible, unbelievable, unmatched, revolution or next generation all means the samething to me. Your game is crap, and you try to tell, no wait, you try to force me to believe that its great and awesome and I absolutly need to buy it or my life will be ruined. I hate corporates F$%*.

On topic, great read sanya, but, its missing pictures. Do you know the website ''the escapist''. Anyway, everytime they make an article they make a picture with it. I think MMORPG.com is missing this feature. Who doesnt like pictures? Thats what your last article made me realize. >:P

Originally posted by Dana

In this week's edition of the MMO Underbelly, Sanya Weathers talks about how games do and should use social media in conjunction with their MMOs.

In addition to my column here at MMORPG, the website, I’m also a writer/consultant for MMORPGs, the industry. Listen, when you can’t relocate for any reason, and you live a million miles away from all of the established MMO centers, you scratch together a living by being very, very flexible. As I like to tell newcomers, you want to be really flexible, but not so flexible that you can get your head up your posterior. A community person with that much flexibility is not helpful to the customers. Anyway, my main gig at the moment is for one of the new wave of MMOs – a web-based non-fantasy casual game. One of my daily tasks is updating the Facebook and Twitter feeds for this product.

Read it all here.

awww darn, no more bewbie stories :( *sadpanda*

On a more serious note, me being a dinosaur i don't really use facebook or twitter (heard the name, have no idea wth it is).

I prefer calling my friends or use IM if they be online.

As a person above said, try before you buy is one of the best options imo.

Oh, and nice read, gj :P.

I think more games need to do things that MXO did. I remember getting strange emails and people getting crazy calls that had to do with the game.  I don't know how well it would work with other games but it worked well with MXO because of the Matrix lore.

All very sensible and intelligent...

pfft.

No forums pew vee pew :(

How do i rate myself? Day one internet user? Almost!. EQ1 pay per hour? Not quite. Social media is mostly hype which is easily extinguished by a craptastic game like for example Warhammer Online whose  primary expectant player base were ex- DAOC players who were crushed by its WOW magnetics looking for DAOC 2.0.

Facebook, Twitter are modern day fad social networks. I don't need to tweet to tell a friend my behind is itching. I just say it to them up front. Though Facebook isn' totally a waste by any means its also a novelty. Been there, done that mentality if you will. Bottom line is you can sell a MMORPG to oblivion, rake in insane profits based on hypes for a short time but if you don't provide a social element that actually draws players into it then you have a door stop of a game if you ask me. Thanks to games like World of Warcraft  which in fact had at some point a social element, that quickly faded once nobody needed anybody to advance.

I'm a veteran gamer and hype media really does nothing from me. I'm a pessimist towards newly released titles because almost every game ever released since DAOC was pure dog doo doo.  Socially MMORPG's have been on the down swing. Once they produced a product that people didn't require assistance from others the social element of MMO's fell out. Being that nobody groups anymore the chance of establishing social elements with strangers is about zero in chance.

So where am i going with this? People couldn't really give a rats A$$ about gaming companies trying to promote there game on fluff. Fluff is so yesterday. Hype is so yesterday. Creativity in MMO's is beyond yesterday. So what do companies try to sell us? It's not the game but the self made hype about how great a product they have to offer. I've played them all and well i'm still playing the greatest game of all time and even that was watered down by WOW influence. *DAOC*

I think Sanya is a hot momma ;) /flirt  and a fabulous, intelligent  writer. I personally think the gaming industry is going in the wrong direction. It needs to look back to what works instead of forward to what is failing miserably. Though my subject matter is not necessarily direct in relation to her post it addresses what is wrong with games and companies who fail to concieve that the ultimate success of a game is a game that will draw in a player base who cares more about the friends they make intended or not then any game medium will ever offer us.