Well all I can say for sure, is I am coming back, as I am tired as heck of waiting for the PS3 to come out, and just bought a computer to satisfy my craving for FFXIV. I am seriously hedging bets on 2.0 improving this game to an extent that hasn't been done before, and hoping that people can handle the switch while also drawing in new players in general, much less RP. With that said, I agree with most of what you both have said, and I suppose I have a couple rather random suggestions.
Above all, I will reiterate, be active! Being active with the LS is so important to keeping the community alive, I have just logged in after quite some time away, and was a little scared that the community was dwindling down too much. Perhaps it is the waiting for the new version to come out, but then again, maybe not. The LS I originally was a part of, died out after only a couple months, so I knew that it may be the same for such a large number of groups when I came back, but we still have some! They need to stay active, if nothing else, if you feel you are dwindling down to no members, join together if possible so that we have strong groups to support our foundation of incoming people if we manage to get more (which we will of course). I know that it may not be possible with the varying practices in each shell, but what must be done, must be done? A group of 3 very active strong shells, versus a group of randomly active 8 shells: seems kinda obvious which i would rather have.
Timing is everything, but perhaps we need to get adverts going no earlier than the beginning to mid part of May, when the changes will begin enacting. A closer second round of adverts wouldn't hurt about 2 weeks from 2.0 going live as well, as a pick up in gaming advertisement in general, mixed with our own adverts could bring some more people in. Lets not forget a long term plan for PS3 players as well...though that is quite a bit of time away past the beta. As far as on other sites for the game, I think we need to create threads in their forums as well as any other kind of advert we choose. When doing so, we can also create a list of thread links (on our own board) to other places so that we can have the community members that are active on those forums, post on our thread to keep it up and active. Many sites allow advert threads if you are willing to do the same for them as I am sure most people know. Wouldn't hurt to have some people go and ask where they can find good RP, and create a dialogue that way as well by having other people from here post back to them with our link, as well as some info from other posters on what it is we do here. I do have a few questions though:
Have we tried getting onto fansites at the Loadstone? If so, how did it turn out, and what do we need to do to make ourselves a part of that?
Have we tried contacting SE about linking up with them in any other way, hence an RP server and such? If so, how did that turn out, and what ways can we try to do that more in the future, whether sending individual feedback, and what not as well as from the community as a whole through prominent members?
Have we contacted the leaders of our currently active shells on the site recently? Who is the most active, who updates the most, who can we get to help spearhead some of this other than a few random members posting here? Maybe if you are an LS leader, you should have a responsibility to the community as far as tie ins with our future plans, if that is too much for those already fairly active, perhaps a liaison from each group who is fairly active, but doesn't have too much on their plate?
For now, their is quite a lot of work here, so I suppose I will leave it at that, and check back soon. Sorry for the longness of this, I am just excited to be back after having waited to play this game I love for too long. Can't wait for next month when I can join everyone here, and hope we can get this thing (the game included) off the ground in the coming months!
Above all, I will reiterate, be active! Being active with the LS is so important to keeping the community alive, I have just logged in after quite some time away, and was a little scared that the community was dwindling down too much. Perhaps it is the waiting for the new version to come out, but then again, maybe not. The LS I originally was a part of, died out after only a couple months, so I knew that it may be the same for such a large number of groups when I came back, but we still have some! They need to stay active, if nothing else, if you feel you are dwindling down to no members, join together if possible so that we have strong groups to support our foundation of incoming people if we manage to get more (which we will of course). I know that it may not be possible with the varying practices in each shell, but what must be done, must be done? A group of 3 very active strong shells, versus a group of randomly active 8 shells: seems kinda obvious which i would rather have.
Timing is everything, but perhaps we need to get adverts going no earlier than the beginning to mid part of May, when the changes will begin enacting. A closer second round of adverts wouldn't hurt about 2 weeks from 2.0 going live as well, as a pick up in gaming advertisement in general, mixed with our own adverts could bring some more people in. Lets not forget a long term plan for PS3 players as well...though that is quite a bit of time away past the beta. As far as on other sites for the game, I think we need to create threads in their forums as well as any other kind of advert we choose. When doing so, we can also create a list of thread links (on our own board) to other places so that we can have the community members that are active on those forums, post on our thread to keep it up and active. Many sites allow advert threads if you are willing to do the same for them as I am sure most people know. Wouldn't hurt to have some people go and ask where they can find good RP, and create a dialogue that way as well by having other people from here post back to them with our link, as well as some info from other posters on what it is we do here. I do have a few questions though:
Have we tried getting onto fansites at the Loadstone? If so, how did it turn out, and what do we need to do to make ourselves a part of that?
Have we tried contacting SE about linking up with them in any other way, hence an RP server and such? If so, how did that turn out, and what ways can we try to do that more in the future, whether sending individual feedback, and what not as well as from the community as a whole through prominent members?
Have we contacted the leaders of our currently active shells on the site recently? Who is the most active, who updates the most, who can we get to help spearhead some of this other than a few random members posting here? Maybe if you are an LS leader, you should have a responsibility to the community as far as tie ins with our future plans, if that is too much for those already fairly active, perhaps a liaison from each group who is fairly active, but doesn't have too much on their plate?
For now, their is quite a lot of work here, so I suppose I will leave it at that, and check back soon. Sorry for the longness of this, I am just excited to be back after having waited to play this game I love for too long. Can't wait for next month when I can join everyone here, and hope we can get this thing (the game included) off the ground in the coming months!
