How Would You Encourage Someone to Play?

edited January 2013 in North of Thera
So, while we were drinking in DC, my boyfriend made a bet with me, @Cinya, @Sohl, and @Akia that involves him (finally!) making a character on Achaea. I've been spending time since talking about all the fun our little text world has to offer. I feel like you guys probably have some god points too.

If you had a friend who was totally unfamiliar with this sort of gaming, what sorts of things would you tell them to pique their interest?

Personally, I've been focusing a lot on the diverse ways to play. We don't know yet if he might eventually be drawn to combat or politics or exploring the high seas, so I've just been telling him about how there are many ways to succeed and many different focuses to persue, which seems to be working, because I can see his eyes growing wide at all the imagined future opportunities, haha.

Edit:I don't know why my paragraph breaks weren't being included.

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Comments

  • Well we failed at that pretty hard basically the entire time we were together. Haha.

  • AkiaAkia phoenix, az
    I can neither confirm nor deny.

    image

  • Here's my story. I'd tried Achaea first as a freshman in HS, so I -kinda- knew what it was. I met and started dating @Corinth when I moved back to California in... 06? He said that he liked to play it and I'd wanted to try again. He sat on his laptop next to me while I was on my desktop and helped me through a lot of it. 

    My husband and I knew we lived near each other, so when Corinth and I broke up, we decided to meet up (I met my husband on one of his alts that happened to be in the Wardens) 

    When talking about how he and I met, we just say we met online. Makes things simple. If people want to know more, I explain it and then they give the weird look. 
    meh


  • edited January 2013
    I hung out with the guy behind @Marcalo for years IRL, and he always tried to show me the game and I wasn't the least bit interested. Then I dated the guy behind @Pantalaimon IRL and fiiiinally he convinced me to make a character, but I can't remember for the life of me what changed my mind. Maybe it was just the idea of seeing what it was that kept him on the computer so long, but whatever it was, the hook was set and now I've been playing for six years. I doubt my boyfriend will have that same enthusiasm (but hey, you never know!), but the first step is getting him to log on, which is a step we're still working on. Haha.

  • The most effective thing for me seems to be letting people watch me play over my shoulder, showing them a few cool things specifically while I do so, and then answering questions about what I'm doing in detail.

    How to encourage people to keep playing I'm still working on.
    ________________________
    The soul of Ashmond says, "Always with the sniping."

    (Clan): Ictinus says, "Stop it Jiraishin, you're making me like you."
  • AchillesAchilles Los Angeles
    alcohol, get em drunk, achaea will look better in the dark.
    image
  • So the conversation starts like so:

    You: "You want to know something that will make me happy?"

    [if response is some derivative of "no" break up with him. You deserve better.]

    Him: "Um... of course?"

    You: "All you have to do is go here <insert reflink here>, and make a character..."

    Him "..."

    You: "Now, you don't have to play forever! I just want you to see a part of what makes me happy. Even if you only play for week, it'll mean something."

    [If he still says no then just be glad he isn't watching as you profusely confess which ever Lord/Lady you follow, and wondering "wtf is she doing cheating on me in a textgame"]

    Otherwise, you have now created a potential to profit from their playing!

    19.21 Referring a Friend

    Iron Realms is instituting a referral system to reward players who refer our games to friends and colleagues.

    Let's start with the good stuff - REWARDS!:
    - If you refer a new player who registers and plays for 5 hours or more, you gain 1 credit (up to 10 credits per week).
    - If any player you have referred purchases credits on -ANY- IRE game, you get 10% of the purchased amount as a reward, forever!

    How it works:
    - Type in REFLINK, which will show you your referral URL. Use this wherever you want: email it to friends, put it in a forum signature, on social networking 
    sites, fan sites - anywhere!



    You also get to enjoy your time with them >.>
  • It's a little sad that I've gotten multiple people to play but never seen any of these credits because I never used a referral URL.
    ________________________
    The soul of Ashmond says, "Always with the sniping."

    (Clan): Ictinus says, "Stop it Jiraishin, you're making me like you."
  • It's a difficult subject - Every time someone's seen a MUD over my shoulder they ask if I'm programming or working on some kind of school project. When visiting my mother she even said "the looks boring" when staring at my laptop after a brief explanation of what I was playing. One effective thing I remember when I was younger was being so immersed that you start ignoring your friends to the point they feel compelled to log in and find out what's comsuming so much of  your social life. That's assuming they care enough to find out what you're doing as opposed to just forgetting about you completely.

  • Cinya said:
    Dear @Adalie's boyfriend, So there's this @Cooper fellow...
    Make sure you send him Cooper's pic
    image
  • AerekAerek East Tennessee, USA
    Mannimar said:
    19.21 Referring a Friend

    Iron Realms is instituting a referral system to reward players who refer our games to friends and colleagues.

    Let's start with the good stuff - REWARDS!:
    - If you refer a new player who registers and plays for 5 hours or more, you gain 1 credit (up to 10 credits per week).
    - If any player you have referred purchases credits on -ANY- IRE game, you get 10% of the purchased amount as a reward, forever!

    How it works:
    - Type in REFLINK, which will show you your referral URL. Use this wherever you want: email it to friends, put it in a forum signature, on social networking 
    sites, fan sites - anywhere!

    Holy carp, this is a thing? When did this show up?
    -- Grounded in but one perspective, what we perceive is an exaggeration of the truth.
  • edited January 2013
    Aerek said:
    Mannimar said:
    19.21 Referring a Friend

    Iron Realms is instituting a referral system to reward players who refer our games to friends and colleagues.

    Let's start with the good stuff - REWARDS!:
    - If you refer a new player who registers and plays for 5 hours or more, you gain 1 credit (up to 10 credits per week).
    - If any player you have referred purchases credits on -ANY- IRE game, you get 10% of the purchased amount as a reward, forever!

    How it works:
    - Type in REFLINK, which will show you your referral URL. Use this wherever you want: email it to friends, put it in a forum signature, on social networking 
    sites, fan sites - anywhere!

    Holy carp, this is a thing? When did this show up?


    Before I started playing seriously. So likely well over a year ago. @Tecton could likely give specifics. I'm just the awesome guy who does HELP <everything>... everything.

    ETA: broken quotes are broken
  • Aerek said:
    Holy carp, this is a thing? When did this show up?
    1/27/2010.
  • SkyeSkye The Duchess Bellatere
    edited January 2013
    Once, I randomly received a notice that someone had used my reflink to make a character and I got a credit or something. But I had no idea who or what had done it
    :-/


  • Jacen said:
    Cinya said:
    Dear @Adalie's boyfriend, So there's this @Cooper fellow...
    Make sure you send him Cooper's pic
    He knows who I am, we were FB friends and talked on there :)

  • DaslinDaslin The place with the oxygen
    stab them in the throat. Tell them to play, or you do not fix.
  • edited January 2013
    "Cerebral? You mean like head-butting someone?" Khelgar asked.
  • Tvistor said:
    "Cerebral? You mean like head-butting someone?" Khelgar asked.
    I was in a face-punchy mood that day too ;)
    "Faded away like the stars in the morning,
     Losing their light in the glorious sun,
     Thus would we pass from this earth and its toiling,
     Only remembered for what we have done."

  • I wish I could convince my partner to return to playing. I miss interacting with his character, they're so different, it was really amusing to see that side of him. Even if it meant sharing him with his textbf. :P 


                   Honourable, knight eternal,

                                            Darkly evil, cruel infernal.

                                                                     Necromanctic to the core,

                                                                                             Dance with death forever more.



  • i convinced a lot of people to play by getting one person to play and talking about achaea with him after school with other people around.  we had plenty of stories of various things that happened in achaea, which makes it a pretty easy game to sell to people who like fantasy books.  also seemingly deeper skill system than hitting 1 2 3 4 5 (until you set up aliases) which is fun to explain.

    i also got some people to play by making newbie characters while people would occasionally look on and ask what i was doing, then talking them through what i was doing and cackling as i was biting people in minia with curare or eurypteria or darkshade.  level 11 lower limit on attacking other players removes this recruitment method now.
    And as he slept he dreamed a dream, and this was his dream.
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