The search for new players.

FutureGuy · 30-08-2010 12:41pm #1

Hi all,
With college starting up soon, I can't think of a better time to try get an injection of fresh blood into the community.

The number of players I meet online who are not aware of the community is quite high. The players are definitely out there but it's difficult to get their attention. We have a brilliant website in streetfighter.ie, the forums here on boards.ie and an incredibly devoted community.

There are many artistically talented people here. With that in mind (unless it's already there), could we produce a very nice A4 promotional sheet? Nothing fancy, just some very well known characters, reference to streetfighter.ie, a catch-all contact e-mail address (info@streetfighter.ie for example) and a generic space where individual people can add specifics to their location (ie Inferno first Saturday, new players meet-up second Saturday etc).

All we need are volunteers who could get them into universities, colleges and game stores in each of the major cities.

Anyone up for this? I have little exp with Photoshop but will contact stores and colleges in Limerick.

Tallon · 30-08-2010 12:49pm

If you want a hand with the designing let me know

FutureGuy · 30-08-2010 1:11pm

Thanks Tallon, if you have any ideas on what looks good I reckon we can share them on here and come up with something that fits the needs of the entire community.

Vistaprint.co.uk also give people free business cards - they are basic but would be great for people to leave at game stores where people can pick up a single card have have all the vital information for the community in their wallet.

If we could get this promotional material out there, we could have a "new player open day" in each of the existing player bases. If someone is shy about coming, at least they won't be in the same boat.

Orim · 30-08-2010 2:25pm

Farz did the poster for Inferno 11.

http://www.iamjpg.com/inferno11x.jpg

We could take out the Inferno information and make it a bit more general to be used for this purpose.

I really like the idea of business cards. I don't know how much help they'd be but I would love some.

The open day is a great idea. A free day for new people, along with a pub session if we can get one organised could be a great way to people involved.

Does anyone know if getting two designs printed be counted as two jobs? The debate was always between getting limited numbers of a specific poster printed or get larger quantities of a general poster.

chopperbyrne · 30-08-2010 3:58pm

info@streetfighter.ie is already set up.

I have access to it and I think Orim and PPC do too.

Sabre0001 · 30-08-2010 4:02pm

I'll be out in UL anyways so could see what the story is there...Have contacts with HMV in the Crescent but they're not really into putting leaflets on walls, counters, etc.

Maybe contact GamesNash and see if you could get those business cards into copies of any sort of Fighting Game (with no elitism

That means all fighting genre including Smash and Mortal Kombat!).

Just the usual then - try to get people to put Streetfighter.ie in links, profiles, signatures...Get it featured on other sites (i.e. contact Irish gaming sites with a press release). Congrats on the SRK contact & link

Anyone have experience with press releases? Maybe try and get a small story in the likes of the free papers - the Dublin ones probably more relevant.

Misty Chaos · 30-08-2010 4:28pm

We could try getting such ads into the many free newspapers that come out weekly in towns and cities, I don't think it would cost too much to place such ads in those kind of papers. Also consider the local regional newspapers as well.

As I live not too far from Cork city, I have access to all the main colleges in the city and am going to CSN just outside the city so I can hang up posters out in these places.

Another thing worth considering in getting touch with the respective video game societies in colleges and asking them to plug streetfighter.ie during the societies open day at the start of the year. ( and of course, giving them posters and business cards for that purpose )

Konata · 30-08-2010 10:30pm

I wouldn't mind dispersing some posters around Trinity - I also know people who run the GameSoc in UCD so I could give them some aswell.

Ramza · 31-08-2010 12:02am

I could stick up posters in local game stores at home if it would help?

FutureGuy · 31-08-2010 7:58am

Hi all,
Great to see such great ideas and constructive comments so far!

Regarding the business cards, I see them serving s dual purpose. They can be used by tournament organisers when they meet an interested person, but they can also be left in gamestores so players can take one. As Sabre has correctly stated, some stores may not be willing to put posters up. That's fine, maybe they may take 20 business cards which could be left on the counter.

Also, it's great that we have people who are willing to contact third level institutes. They are going to be a great source of interested people.

Chopper thanks for the heads up on the e-mail address.

Regarding the poster, I think farz poster for the inferno series is brilliant. The poster I have in mind for attracting new players would need to be a little different IMO. Different, but equally brilliant. It needs to focus on instantly recognisable characters (ken, ryu, guile, blanka, chun etc). On a crowded noticeboard of a college, the poster has a split second to catch the eye. Ryu (White), Ken (red), Chun (blue) and Blanka (green) on a White a4 poster is going to stand out.

I'd love to hear what others think?

animaX · 31-08-2010 10:06am

Yeah, having the instantly recognisable original characters would be an eye-catcher. I'm still living in DCU for a month or two so I could distribute posters around here when clubs & socs day is on. I joined the gaming soc last year but they only play things like Halo and Mario Kart. Although last year i think they had SF4 set up on the open day.

FutureGuy · 31-08-2010 11:33am

To be honest the artwork for the poster doesn't have to be designed from scratch. There are plenty of pics on the interweb that could meet our needs.

After that we need a good tagline. We have some brilliant taglines being used in the fighting game community but most would mean nothing to the non-initiated. Anyone care to suggest one?

Doctor DooM · 31-08-2010 11:39am

FutureGuy wrote: »

To be honest the artwork for the poster doesn't have to be designed from scratch. There are plenty of pics on the interweb that could meet our needs.

After that we need a good tagline. We have some brilliant taglines being used in the fighting game community but most would mean nothing to the non-initiated. Anyone care to suggest one?

Well, there's the one even the most casual FG fan would recognise.

Round one.

FIGHT!

K.O.Kiki · 31-08-2010 12:21pm

I prefer CvS2 myself.

This battle is about to explode -- FIGHT!!

D4RK ONION · 31-08-2010 1:13pm

Fight or Die!

Burning Eclipse · 31-08-2010 1:35pm

FutureGuy wrote: »

It needs to focus on instantly recognisable characters (ken, ryu, guile, blanka, chun etc). On a crowded noticeboard of a college, the poster has a split second to catch the eye. Ryu (White), Ken (red), Chun (blue) and Blanka (green) on a White a4 poster is going to stand out.

Doctor DooM wrote: »

Well, there's the one even the most casual FG fan would recognise.

Round one.

FIGHT!

These are the best two ideas in the thread in terms of design choice imo. Except, for your idea FutureGuy, change Blanka to Cammy as the 'green' representative

I also think Sabre's idea about contacting Gamesnash could be great. SF.ie and this community is non-profit afterall, so it's not like we're promoting a commercial entity.

I'll do what I can here! Just let me know.

FutureGuy · 31-08-2010 1:46pm

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

These are the best two ideas in the thread in terms of design choice imo. Except, for your idea FutureGuy, change Blanka to Cammy as the 'green' representative

Or we could have Red Cammy, White Cammy, Blue Cammy and Green Cammy. All in different poses.

Doctor DooM · 31-08-2010 1:53pm

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

I prefer CvS2 myself.

This battle is about to explode -- FIGHT!!

D4RK ONION wrote: »

Fight or Die!

The point is to appeal to casual players lads. Ask a random gamer what CvS or alpha 3 is and they won't know.

Whereas as Round 1, FIGHT! is pretty much a part of pop culture at this point.

FutureGuy · 31-08-2010 1:53pm

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

I also think Sabre's idea about contacting Gamesnash could be great. SF.ie and this community is non-profit afterall, so it's not like we're promoting a commercial entity.

I'll do what I can here! Just let me know.

Thanks Mike!

Sabre's idea is excellent but I feel that that the choice to partner with any given company should be the decision of the creators of the website.

The sf.ie website is growing in every way, and I'd hate to tie our hands down the line with regards to possible advertising revenue.

Burning Eclipse · 31-08-2010 2:09pm

FutureGuy wrote: »

Or we could have Red Cammy, White Cammy, Blue Cammy and Green Cammy. All in different poses.

Dammit, why didn't I think of that!! Oh... oh... How about Blue Chun, Green Cammy, Red Chun, White Cammy... Yes, I can see it now!

Doctor DooM wrote: »

Round 1, FIGHT! is pretty much a part of pop culture at this point.

And that is exactly why it should be the tag line!

FutureGuy wrote: »

Thanks Mike!

Sabre's idea is excellent but I feel that that the choice to partner with any given company should be the decision of the creators of the website.

The sf.ie website is growing in every way, and I'd hate to tie our hands down the line with regards to possible advertising revenue.

Good call!

Scavenger XIII · 31-08-2010 2:40pm

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

Dammit, why didn't I think of that!! Oh... oh... How about Blue Chun, Green Cammy, Red Chun, White Cammy... Yes, I can see it now!

While you're at it the Chun and Cammy should also be kissing each other.

...
...

What? Sex Sells! :pac:

D4RK ONION · 31-08-2010 2:45pm

Doctor DooM wrote: »

The point is to appeal to casual players lads. Ask a random gamer what CvS or 3S is and they won't know.

That's poor DooM, mine is Alpha 3! 3S is "Into the heat battle... GO FOR IT!" (and one of two others I think :P)

I am disappoint!

Doctor DooM · 31-08-2010 2:52pm

D4RK ONION wrote: »

That's poor DooM, mine is Alpha 3! 3S is "Into the heat battle... GO FOR IT!" (and one of two others I think :P)

I am disappoint!

why would I know? Neither of them made it into the arcades here, which is where I learned to play.

Noob. :P

raze · 01-09-2010 10:55am

Doctor DooM wrote: »

The point is to appeal to casual players lads. Ask a random gamer what CvS or alpha 3 is and they won't know.

Whereas as Round 1, FIGHT! is pretty much a part of pop culture at this point.

The point of the poster is to invite people to find other fighters. If I saw a poster that said "Round 1, FIGHT!" I think something is already happening, and I'm not part of it, and I move on and ignore it, and I'm not too crazy about posters shouting imperatives at me.

If I see something that says 'wanna battle? bitch'* I think, I am invited, and I'm challenged, and I want to be part of that.

Just my 2 cents.

Been years since I used Photoshop/InDesign in earnest, but I'd like if I can help throw a comp together for you guys.

*well, not that wording, but that sentiment

Scavenger XIII · 01-09-2010 11:13am

ST Guile portrait with "Are you man enough to fight with me?"

Sorted.

FutureGuy · 01-09-2010 11:28am

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I'll let the commnit discuss the tagline a little more as there has been some good suggestions thus far.

Regarding the artwork the poster, I have attached a very nice wallpaper and while it's a little different to what I was talking about, it would still look excellent on a poster. I may have to contact the creator for permission (just out of politemenss) but it's a freely available as a screensaver.

Opinions? Anyone else know of some nice art we could use?

I'd love to get a couple of posters ready by this time next week. Anyone up to the challenge? Once we have the poster(s), we can move onto the next step which is to identify where the posters are going to go, and what universities/game societies we are going to target.

Edit: I have a larger version of the attached file btw

FutureGuy · 01-09-2010 11:33am

Scavenger XIII wrote: »

ST Guile portrait with "Are you man enough to fight with me?"

Sorted.

Nice idea!

Funnily enough, given the size of college campus, I had also thought about a set of 4 posters in different primary colors, each with one of the 4 most recognizable characters.

Didn't shoryuken have these fantastic wallpapers for each of the SSF4 cast? With a little work, we could take the ones for Ryu, Ken, Chun Li and Blanka/Guile and add text to them?

Placebo · 01-09-2010 7:17pm

i nominate myself FARZAD the best graphics artist in Dublin to make the poster/s.

p.s: there are no arcades in spain, only bad digital slot machine games/
also future guy that artwork attached is too dark in my opinion and too crowded, i cant picture information on top of that ! anyway i would love an sf4 font, but it doesnt exist.

Orim · 02-09-2010 12:27pm

I was in touch with Reads and we can use multiple designs to get discounts.

So I would say our best bet in this instance is to wait for Placebo to get back so we can do an Inferno 14 poster and a general poster. That way we can print off loads of the general poster and get discounts.

Also must order business cards. You can get 250. Can we share a design so a couple of us can order batches or would that be taking the piss?

Should we just get general cards or should we get specific cards?

Rob2D · 02-09-2010 4:13pm

FutureGuy wrote: »

Or we could have Red Cammy, White Cammy, Blue Cammy and Green Cammy. All in different poses.

Second.

K.O.Kiki · 02-09-2010 5:01pm

Just make it a giant picture of Cammy's giant arse.

Scavenger XIII · 02-09-2010 5:40pm

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Just make it a giant picture of Cammy's giant arse.

I'd show up for that tournament.

Slugs · 02-09-2010 5:52pm

You could make an advertisment using this scene :P

BTW it's NSFW http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK5DnJnsSk0

It'd get you all the members yuo wanted :P

Azza · 02-09-2010 8:08pm

When you get this sorted, send some of this promotional stuff my way. I'll put it up in the AIT here in Athlone.

Sabre0001 · 03-09-2010 12:56pm

It's not only completely new players that are needed but a way to attract those who have seen what it's about. Even from the Munster league perspective, there was a couple of players only seen the once (often a friend of a friend who was dragged along)...I'm sure Inferno has seen the same.

Need to find out why they may be less interested or what may entice them to come back and try their luck. A skill gap is of course going to put some people off but there may be other factors.

Orim · 03-09-2010 1:08pm

Sabre0001 wrote: »

It's not only completely new players that are needed but a way to attract those who have seen what it's about. Even from the Munster league perspective, there was a couple of players only seen the once (often a friend of a friend who was dragged along)...I'm sure Inferno has seen the same.

Need to find out why they may be less interested or what may entice them to come back and try their luck. A skill gap is of course going to put some people off but there may be other factors.

I have always wanted to know this stuff. Unfortunately it's very hard to find out why people don't come again.

On the day people seem to have a good time but then we don't see them again and they don't get involved in the discussions. It could be that the discussions are too big already by the time it comes up. Maybe a new thread for new people to vent and talk would be an idea.

Sabre0001 · 03-09-2010 1:25pm

Play the "Guess the connection" game

Someone usually knows someone else.

MunsterSuperLeague:
Generic_name knew Delv3r
Robbknoll brought Darren to last session
Luke & Vaughn came with Matt (who unfortunately missed the last couple of sessions and slipped to 3rd) I believe
Light Scallion (Rickimon) is D4RK ONION's bro so is likely to come to other things.

But will have to ask some of the lads if there is any feedback...

Orim · 03-09-2010 1:37pm

Doesn't always work that way. We've had a fair few that have come to Inferno once and never shown up again. These guys have no connection and have shown up at the events because of the forum/website/facebook.

We have also had people that post here once, looking for a stick is an example, but then don't get involved in the forum and don't come to meets.

We can't do something for all these people but I'm sure there's one or two out of them that we could do something to get them more involved.

Doctor DooM · 03-09-2010 1:53pm

Sometimes people might just try it once and just not enjoy it.

I'd say some people are sore from the beatings they get in groups. If' I had a fiver for each person who told me they're quietly confident because they beat ALL their friends and pwn online, I'd have about €27.50. If that happened to me, and cost me 15 quid, I'm not sure I'd be in too much of a hurry to come back.

It's not like you can ask Azza et al to go easy on these people. Not when it costs to enter and there's money on the line. All we can do is suggest they come to the casuals and get to know whats what. You don't get the money/ games ratio at tournaments you do at casuals, especially if you get knocked out early.

Scavenger XIII · 03-09-2010 2:13pm

Ha, I was always one of those guys but I'd followed enough tournaments and the like to know I was the big fish in the small pond (except Melee, was a fierce man at Melee lol).

I only know a couple guys who would casually play FGs the odd time, funilly enough the one who usually comes along with me to tournaments (also a Melee man) has fared much better than me in the last few I entered.

Will have to prod him into practicing with me.

animaX · 04-09-2010 9:55am

Sabre0001 wrote: »

Light Scallion (Rickimon) is D4RK ONION's bro so is likely to come to other things.

Haha, i love that handle! Clever. It's up there with Ken-A, B-trak and liquid shields.

Generic_name01 · 05-09-2010 6:27pm

Dunno about others But in Delver's case its because he doesnt actually have an xbox and only plays it at mine. I might be getting the 250GB soon enough though in which case I'd be giving him my one. Darren is well up for playing. hoping to get casuals going this weekend and he's off that day so should be going. me and rob have been forcing the game down staff's throats at work and 3 including darren have picked up the game and sticks lately so hoping they get them into the game if I can make them go to casuals. Just hard because we all work together so we'll all never be able to attend casuals at once unless it was in the evening.