Guest Passes.
DY357LX
Playing since day 1. Still can't Comm.England Join Date: 2002-10-27 Member: 1651Members, Constellation
Playing since day 1. Still can't Comm.England Join Date: 2002-10-27 Member: 1651Members, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">Let A Friend Play For Free For 7 Hours.</div>Starcraft 2 came bundled with "Guest Passes" that could you could give to friends.
These friends would get 7 hours (or 7 days, whichever came first) on the full product for free.
I gave out my 2 passes to friends and both of them purchased the game to continue playing after their trial had expired.
Those 2 friends also gave out their passes and have in-turn secured more sales. (And more multi-player fun!)
Seeing as Steam already has the system in-place for sending gifts etc to friends, surely a 7 hour trial wouldn't be too hard to implement?
(Doesn't have to be 7 hours obviously, it could be 4 or whatever.)
So to sum-up, people who own the full game can send a pass to friend via Steam, this helps boost sales, gives us a healthy server population and spreads the word about a great game.
Thoughts?
These friends would get 7 hours (or 7 days, whichever came first) on the full product for free.
I gave out my 2 passes to friends and both of them purchased the game to continue playing after their trial had expired.
Those 2 friends also gave out their passes and have in-turn secured more sales. (And more multi-player fun!)
Seeing as Steam already has the system in-place for sending gifts etc to friends, surely a 7 hour trial wouldn't be too hard to implement?
(Doesn't have to be 7 hours obviously, it could be 4 or whatever.)
So to sum-up, people who own the full game can send a pass to friend via Steam, this helps boost sales, gives us a healthy server population and spreads the word about a great game.
Thoughts?
Comments
I know just by talking about NS2 in my workplace / online i got 5 more people then me to buy SE.
I think this is better than a demo, because people who are using guest passes will also have influence from friends (whoever gave them the pass) to buy the game. It will also probably be easier to code/setup versus making a demo version of the game.
Guest passes could only work for a specific time interval (like just the day or so following the release) so people couldn't hold on to them for future use.
As long as you DONT impliment a referal system for people to abuse, everything should work out in UWEs favor :)
Also I'd very much like to see something put in place to aid LANs. All my favorite NS1 memories are from LAN party games, none of which would likely ever have happened had NS1 been a tightly purchase-controlled product, simply because it's difficult (and possibly rude!) to convince a whole room of people to all buy and install something they've never tried rather than playing what everyone already has.
This has been a problem with all non-free, no-free-trial, no-multiple-installs games for some time now. I'd like to see it alleviated by allowing "spawn" or "buddy" installs that allow a someone to play for free but with a mixture of potential restrictions:
1. Could be tied to specific retail account and numerically limited, eg each retail copy comes with 1-3 buddy keys
2. Could be limited to LAN play only
3. Could be limited to games which contain the originating retail player only
4. Could have a weekly or permanent time limit
...some mixture of which should strike an ideal middle ground between gaining sales from increased exposure and loss from giving too much away.
I'd go with more than 2 passes. Since NS2 is indie, fans will know a lot of potential buyers who have no idea NS2 exists. It's the opposite situation from WoW or Call of Duty type games. 5 or even 10 passes would be great.
The amount of exposure would mitigate the number of moochers (who wouldn't have bought the game anyway) I think. 40$ is competitive compared to 60$ games. A firsthand look telling potential buyers NS2 is just as good as the 60$ games would pull them over quickly.
After Beta is released of course (Or similar amount of polish is given to NS2). A lag swamp playtest doesn't sell well :P
From what i've seen, ya really far down the road. :P
They should be available right at the 1.0 release.
I give it a year and a half at least. Fall 2011?
haha - 8-10 hours of unlimited gameplay.
:) sorry i thought it was funny.
1-3 passes should be good promo & pr later on if it will be so.
It basically allows you to play with a friend for over a weekend for free.
Remember that NS, when it comes to the final versions, will be a complex game that a new player will definitely need time to adjust to. A few hours just won't cut it to introduce a player, and even 3 days worth of play won't give them all they need to know. However, 3 days will be enough when playing with friends over a weekend to get them hooked on the game enough to buy it.
That soon? :P
NS was never such game you play few hours and quit, it was a game which had inifinite gameplay. But the recognition was an issue and guest passes are a great way to address that problem. Those who bothered to play it more than more hours would probably play it a lot more.
I mean guest passes are an awesome idea, if 15 000 players preordered and by the next year there would be atleast like 20 000 players, and everyone had like 3 guest passes, it could easily mean many more thousands of players. Even if one third of guest passes would be used, altho I think number would be higher as many of us who preordered the game really love it and like to endorse it to our friends, it would mean about 6000 players trying out the game and some part of that buying and staying in the game.
Altho I think you shouldn't do it until the game is done because broken alpha is not really good publicity.
24 hours ingame time for a guest pass should be fine and it allows people to try the game.