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Rift: David Reid Interview
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Recently, MMORPG.com Industry Relations Manager Garrett Fuller had the opportunity to sit down David Reid, Senior Vice President of Publishing and publishing at Trion. The two spent time discussing some of the marketing aspects that Trion is using or plans to use to bring Rift to as wide an audience as possible. Read on and then comment below.
MMORPG.com: Tell us about your role at Trion. What is it you work on day to day?
David: I am the Senior Vice President of Publishing and publishing at Trion is similar to the way it is set up at other game companies. Publishing consists of: marketing, sales, corporate communications and public relations, research, and community. It is really about driving the right consumer insights and adding market research into the development process. Secondly, we make sure to drive the right amount of awareness and buzz on the games and, fundamentally, revenue when the game launches. That is really the publishing discipline in a nut shell. It is not as capitalism focused as it might sound, a lot of what it gets to is that we have a very distinctive game and we want to explain that game to people. People have more and more media choices right now and we want to really articulate what it is we are working on. We also want to explain why what we are working on is important.
Read more Rift: David Reid Interview.
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Comments
Whole article about nothing, usuall marketing bull...t. Better ask the guy about what the community is buzzing since the beta ended: low performance issue, oversimplifed crafting, boring combat (GCD), small gameworld etc...
I am usually very excited about rift articles as I always find out something new from them that I find interesting and make me want to play the game more... this is not one of those articles.
Probably one of the more useless reads I have had in a while.
Nice read. It's interesting to hear another side of the business that is not all that talked about.
@Vallador
The game is still being optimized for performance across different systems and is still in beta.
Crafting in most games starts off simple. In my opininion that is the best way to do things. You can always add a bit more to it around level 30 like breaking into specialty branches or something similar to how World of Warcraft did with leatherworking.
Your comment about combat tells me you should either play Terra (the asian grinder) or Mortal Online (the PvP free for all) since you are not content with the mechanics that made traditional gaming a success.
Small gameworld.....lol. Once again everyone that played so far is capped at level 20 and can't experiance a big chunk of the game. They are keeping alot under wraps so of course the world will seem smaller than other MMOs since they haven't allowed exploration thru-out the full game map.
All your points past the very first sentance are clearly in the wrong location and have no importance to original article. Only reason I feel it appropriate to respond to it is that you are clearly bashing on a game that you do not intend to play in an area that some less informed people might read and get a wrong impression of the game from your small view of things.
Rift is the only game I actually follow, and want to play, otherwise would not care to comment at all or even read this boring interview. I just want to read about something meanigful and significant to the game. I was not in beta, and I am concerned about the things I hear from ppl who were in. And I think Trion also should be.
This does not change the fact that this article is just a plain and boring twaddle.
You know why they keep the level20+ content under the wrap?
Because it's not finished yet.
And we will have to see if they pull a Funcom or a Cryptic or a Flagship on us or actually wait for release till they actually finished the rest of the content and remove the cap long before the end of beta.
As every Beta with a early level cap I have been in so far, turned out they had something to hide.... and guess what? That cat came out of the bag when they launched and turned out it was not there or horrible broken / unfinished.
The person being interviewed is the President of Publishing, it's not exactly riveting stuff. Sounds like you were expecting a podcast?
Trion is taking all of the feedback they get, reading it (which is amazing in itself), and actually noting what players are suggesting. So don't hang on every word you hear from these "people" you know in the beta. It's definitely a game you have to try for yourself. Unless you're to busy to bother with something so inadequate.
I really don't know what else to say other than just wait to try it for yourself.
I have had the same experience, this is the main reason why i won't buy this game at release. Im intersted in this game but not so much that im willing to throw away my money
So is this the guy to blame for making the game for gamers and not for Gamers? Goodluck with your casual-social crowd sir.
I guess the 'innovation' in Rift is that rifts can expand? Other than that, it's the same generic stuff done in a particularly bland manner. Any time I see the devs or marketing from this game shouting about innovation and next-gen I'll call BS. It isn't.
I agree. But people will find out for themselves.
The smart ones will find out in Beta. The not so smart ones will shell out 50 or even 75 bucks and will start the QQ ceremony shortly after launch.
People complain WoW was so dumbed down. Or WAR was too much handholding in PVE.
Oh man.... this game goes way way beyond that. They found a completely new definition of the word casual and a new meaning to hand holding.
If this is going to be the future of MMO's. /shivers I really hope not. /sigh
Sadly this thread has been derailed again by a few people who don't know how to stay on topic. This is about the business side of things, and it was a good read for me. To you others, stay on topic or post your opinions in the right thread, nuff said.
What game are you comparing this to that has all these amazing new features you speak of? Seriously, you think so negative about everything in every post I see you make. You're pathetic.
Grow up. If you can't take criticism over a game, then just don't read. Rift is many things, but next-gen it is not. If I'm negative it's because I'm tired of companies making box sale money grabs on promises they don't keep.
I'm also wary of the marketing/publishing side to companies. Rift has some amazing developers with great credentials, yet none of that is being translated into the game. Someone said they mocked the idea of a quest helper a few months back, now it's firmly in the game.
Damn..I must be playing a different game because my first experience in beta #3 yesterday left me in awe. As far as first impressions...this game probably has the most polished overall presentation, graphics, art, animation, sound I have experienced in a MMO. I would say its definitely on a completely different level than current MMOs. If GW2 can match or exceed this, then 2011 is going to be awesome! Trust me...I have been just as negative as alot of you the last several years with MMOs, but I am truly blown away thus far. Of course this could change when it comes to game mechanics (since we all know there is nothing new there), but all I thought about today at work was how awesome my experience was in game the day prior. /shrug
((some background data - Been playing MMOs sine 1999. I have only played one day of RIFT with all graphics settings on high (GTX 480 averaging 35 to 55 FPS). Using a new HTPC connected to 55" LED LCD and 7.1 HDMI sound.))
It's very difficult to even imagine easier and more handholding game than what WoW Cataclysm is. This makes at least one reason to check this game out.
I've been crashing all over the place, every step I take my ATi 3850 Graphix card just shuts down, and I have crysis and several other graphics intensive games on here that don't crash even if I can't play them on extremely high settings, its just funny stuff.
This is not a game.
Only 1 Ugg Boot for 50$? Sold. Who needs a pair when you can make one foot "stylish" while the other one wears an ugly shoe to make the more "stylish" foot look even better!
I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
Try turning off shadows.
Believe me. Rift goes much further than WoW Cataclysm.
It's a real shame tho. The game world looks nice and well done. Game is quite polished (for a change) and plays well.
I just don't understand why they had to take the casual and handholding that far as they did.
What's the point of playing MMO's, when they take away every sense of exploration and freedom? /sigh
When the latest single player RPG's still offer more sense of exploration and freedom than a MMO like RIFT. Then something is wrong. Real wrong.
But that is just my opinion.
Well they have said the game is finished and complete but why show everything at once im sure there will be another beta where high end content is showcased but from what i have played this game is the most fun i have had since warcraft first came out. the soul system is definitely alot of fun. I have not seen any performance issues but those issued might come about because of not so up to date computers also, i dotn have one of those computers so i cant speak for that but on my system the game runs flawlessly. definitely a must have game for me and ill let the game contend to keep me as a subscriber but ive played enough to want to buy it now and in only level 10. if you havent tried it i dont see where you have the credibility to put the game down, if you have and dont like it then that is fine but the game is pretty good and might even be great imo.
LOL. you realize how outdated that card is? You have no idea what you're talking about.. there's no way you can run crysis on even low settings with that piece of shit card.
Don't make up b.s., and besides, they improved performance by about 2.3x for me... all in on patch. They're making progress.
I'm a former Director of Marketing and an avid Capital G Gamer. I fould this artice very usefull as to the thinking behind the scenes at Trion.
MacDeath