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Pathfinder Online: CEO Encouraging Recruitment
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Thanks to MMORPG.com's eagle-eyed member, Slapshot1188, we have learned that Goblinworks CEO Ryan Dancey has once again posted a controversial forum note encouraging current backers of Pathfinder Online to get out and recruit more players to the game. Dancey gives readers several suggestions of places for players to recruit others to the cause.
The post has received a lot of attention from Pathfinder's community, much of it indicating that the call for more recruitment efforts is premature:
Ryan, I think that most of us are just barely reaching the stage where we are willing to try to bring anyone into this game who isn't already interested. I love that you are so directly engaged with us, and open to what we have to say, and Pathfinder Online is improving at a phenomenal rate, but there have been a lot of things that were embarrassing, and for many it still isn't mvp (MMORPG.com Editor's Note: MVP = Minimally Viable Product).
Check out Dancey's thread on the Pathfinder Online forum and participate in the discussion here on the Pathfinder MMORPG.com forum.
What do you think of Dancey's post? Leave us your thoughts in the comments.
Comments
Oh and I would also be interested in the dates that the Beta occurred because as far as I can tell it went from Alpha to B2P plus sub...
If I'm wrong feel free to correct me but I think that is the root cause of many issues. You can call it Early Whatever... but to me Beta follows Alpha. Trying to rename it doesnt change what it is...
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
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I still contend that his effort is totally misdirected, i.e., at his player base rather than his own marketing department. He is essentially asking his players to initiate a marketing campaign through social media as opposed to asking his marketing department to do the same. From an outside perspective, it appears that he simply isn't willing to pay to market his game. I'd guess that that is entirely due to an incomplete or unrealistic business plan.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
MMORPG.com should do an official review on the game.
If it is released like Mr. Dancey claims, and is a complete sandbox MMO that is fully functioning, then there isn't any reason not to review it. I would gladly provide an account for MMORPG.com to use for review purposes if needed, that would be no trouble at all.
Bush league nonsense.
If he wants to know why there are issues bringing in folks who aren't already invested in it (beyond that he's taken a co-op PvE pnp game and turned it into some sort of FFA sandbox from what I've seen), maybe he should look at the mandatory subscription to test the alpha.
Product evangelists should be organic, not created (at least not created that overtly). This is very poor form on their part.
hmm.... Pay to test... pay for a guild.... pay for a house.... pay for shop.... pay a sub while testing...
Yeah, as one of the games I was desperately interested in...... Mr CEO can kindly Fuck right off.
The fact that PFO requires an initial purchase and a sub, and other optional purchases, is probably why there are few people willing to engage in an unreleased product.
Whoever is managing that game needs to take a long hard look at the quality of the product, and compare it to others in the genre, and they will see it's not even comparable. I understand they're passionate about their game, but there isn't any shame to recognize that the product isn't worth what they're asking for.
What is funny is the responses the CEO got on the official forum from the backers when he posted asking for them to recruit. Many of them flat out told the CEO that the game is not ready and bringing in people now would be a mistake.
Is it greed or hubberous that makes the CEO want to push this game in its current state? An overwhelming amount of backers who are loyal to the game agree that it is not currently worth a sub fee and bringing in new players now will only alienate them from playing later on when the game is possibly in a playable condition. Why dont suits listen? Greed or Hubberous?
Why do these developers try and play the name game? The CEO continues to say PO is NOT in alpha or beta and it is working. I say review the sucker right now and show the world that "Early Enrollment" is just another useless name like when Sergey Titov tries to call War-Z a "Foundation Release". These guys need to stop hiding poor quality behind marketing speak. Here are the CEO's own words:
"It seems weird to me that you want to insist on using the term "alpha". We had an alpha. It ran from June to December.
We are not calling the game an alpha because we are not alpha testing. We aren't calling it a beta (despite an early-on misuse of that term) becuase we aren't beta testing. We are being really transparent with everyone by not representing the game as "finished" (whatever that means for an MMO....) but we need a term that descibes what we are doing and so we coined one. Steam has "Early Access". We have "Early Enrollment". I think it is entirely appropriate. We are trying something new, and we used a new term. Some folks might not want to play at our current feature level, and that's ok. But that level is a playable fantasy sandbox MMO. It isn't "missing" anything that would make it "really work". There is tremendous opportunity for improvement and development, but the basic game is working, and working well."
I say review it now. The CEO says they are NOT in alpha or Beta and they are collecting a box fee plus a monthly fee. Do it!!!
As others have said in this thread, The CEO is claiming it's a fully functional feature complete, and released product and is not in alpha or beta so...
MMORPG.COM PLEASE REVIEW THIS AS A FINISHED PRODUCT LIKE THE CEO SAYS
He hasn't said it is feature complete, he does specify that there is alot to be added still. However, he does claim that it is a fully functioning sandbox MMO, by his definition.
He also claims it isn't in alpha, alpha already happened, etc...
The people deserve a review on this product so that they can inform themselves about whether or not the game is worth investing into. Mr. Dancey made his own bed, now it is time to lay in it.
If you're going to make outlandish claims to try and entice customers into making a purchase, then you best be ready to back that up. A review of the product will help consumers make an informed decision about the state of things, and whether Mr. Dancey's claims are accurate or false.
Everyone has opinions, but a review containing tangible facts would go a long way.
MMORPG, I thought with other games "if it's taking money it's fair game for a review no matter what stage the developers say it's in"? Where is the review then?
Surely your standards should account for any MMO whether Kickstarter or not?
I tried the game via a buddy key....was a big let down, great ideas...great enthusiasim....but the delivery is terrible, I really cant say anything good about this game at all, combat, crafting etc all garbage.
I had massive interest in this game but...yet another sandbox that just couldnt get it right.
well give it a review and stop this nonsense
If you are interested in making a MMO maybe visit my page to get a free open source engine.
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
My Review Manifesto
Follow me on Twitter if you dare.
Just confirmed via their site: no more wipes from Early Enrollment onward.
You guys asked, and we shall deliver.
Honestly, with how rough it is, I just kind of assumed it was still way way way before beta... and definitely not a viable product.
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
My Review Manifesto
Follow me on Twitter if you dare.
Should be an interesting review...
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Don't know anything at all about this game.
Though from what little i have read the programmers are wanting money comming in, the players to advertise for them (thus they don't touch that side of things) and hope that the players bring the players in. Sounds like a bit of a jacked up piece of crap to me that's already on the road to failure.
I ain't even going to waste my time hunting out any info, if its done by players there either going to be biased and tell porky's about how good the game is, or how bad, and you wont get much of anything. Thanks but would seem a real waste of my time on that, i'll just go by whats put here and that's not promising at all, CEO sounds like a real prick to me straight off and that's all i get from the first couple of lines written
So funny watching this episode unfold and I think the community here are absolutely right in bringing this CEO to task given his defending their pricing of a game we all know is far from consumer ready.
Add my name to the ever growing list of gamers tired of being asked to pay for unfinished garbage under the pretense of 'having a genuine say and impact on its development'. Frankly if you want our input to assist in shaping development of the game, you should be paying us to play it, not the other way around.
Get it reviewed MMORPG.
This is a pretty awesome post Bill. I know I (among many others) have given you guys shit in the past for not calling BS on developers and marketing teams using intentionally vague and/or misleading terms to make money off of gamers. To see you agreeing to take to task (by way of giving an appropriately timed review of a game the developers are making money off of) a developer who is doing exactly that makes me incredibly optimistic.
My hope is that your review here will make waves.
After reading your review manifesto, all I can do is wishing you good luck with your month of testing PO.