Author Topic: Advice, please  (Read 11459 times)

Lyn Chase

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Advice, please
« on: September 20, 2012, 12:46:03 PM »
Hi friends,
   Eric and I are still trying to figure out how to do a mass mailing to the SpiritWars community.  Randy had a database of about 22,000 e-mail addresses and we would like to get the word about the forum out to them, but we are technologically challenged.  I found a program on the internet called Send Blaster.  Does anyone know about that one?  Is there a better one?  Is there a better way?  We don't have time to enter all those addresses into a program by hand.  I'm hoping we can copy and paste them in. 
  The sooner we get the word out, the sooner we can start planning how to get SpiritWars back up and running.
  It was programmed primarily in Visual Basic.  Should we try to have it redone in Java?  Or another language?  Any advice you have for us will be greatly appreciated!
  Thank you all for being here.
                        Love,
                                Lyn

ekoms

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Re: Advice, please
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2012, 11:19:53 AM »
I'm available to help anytime. I know you mentioned having them come from an @spiritwars.com address, but did you ever find out about your host's abilities? Just let me know what else I can do to help?

Minmaxer

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Re: Advice, please
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2012, 12:31:20 PM »
My previous place of employment used a program called Gammadyne to send bulk emails.  I have never used Send Blaster, but I imagine it has a similar features.  This is probably the easiest approach.  Send Blaster may allow you connect directly to the database, otherwise, it might require you to transfer the data to an excel sheet or something similar.  The other thing you are going to need is some kind of short form letter.  The program should allow you to insert other fields from the database directly into the email body to customize the letter to each person.  Some people are going to be wary about this email being a spam/fishing attempt.  To avoid this I suggest adding a couple of lines to the email  to refresh their memory of Spiritwars as well as including their username and the date of their last active membership or something similar.  The program should also allow you to specify a "from" address for the email.  You'll have to decide whether you want to use a "real" address, if you don't you should mention in the email that responses will not be read.

Some other things to keep in mind:

Make a test dataset with only your personal email to do a couple of test runs to make sure you are happy with the emails being sent.  If you are including links in the email make sure they work. 
Their should be an option to send a bunch of individual emails, or to multiple people in the same email.  Make sure each person gets their own email.
Spend some time to develop a well-written email.  People will be more likely to take it seriously and less likely to think it spam.

If you have any other specific questions I may be able to provide some input.

As far as redevelopment of Spiritwars...rewriting the program in another language will be a lot more work.  I guess the main question is whether it is possible to fix in Visual Basic.  I seem to recall it was a new version of windows that caused it to stop working and you can't expect everyone to run a Window's XP emulator. 

Hope some of this helps.



Lyn Chase

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Re: Advice, please
« Reply #3 on: October 06, 2012, 01:10:53 PM »
An update:  Eric and I explored options and ultimately purchased a one month "Express E-mail Marketing" option from our internet provider, GoDaddy.  The system required us to send a notice first, giving recipients the option of subscribing to our "marketing campaign" or declining.  Thus far, very few people have actually received our e-mail as most either declined to subscribe, ignored us or reported us as spammers.
We have, however, reached several players who have registered here and have posted.  We have also had to deal with many spammers here on this forum.  It is frustrating to me to be reported as a spammer and, at the same time, receive SO MUCH spam here!
If you have any contact information from SpiritWars players who have not yet registered here, please let them know about the forum.  I am very grateful to all of you who have come here and encouraged us, given us advice and offered to help.  We will press on!
              Love, Lyn

TwistedMe

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Re: Advice, please
« Reply #4 on: October 06, 2012, 01:33:42 PM »
Lyn, I can't imagine the headache you're facing... but I CAN imagine the results! If programming is so difficult... consider paying someone!  Once you get it working... companies like Zynga and Kixeye are making HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of dollars on Facebook!  MafiaWars... VampireWars... Farmville... Fishville... Battle Pirates... Backyard Monsters.... the list is endless.... read this...
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-completely-addicted-to-a-stupid-facebook-game-2009-12?op=1
or this...
http://venturebeat.com/2011/12/12/zynga-history/
or this...
http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/16/kixeye-quietly-becomes-a-financial-juggernaut-in-facebook-hardcore-social-games/

There is major coinage to be made and you have a product that can do it!  I've got a ton of ideas and want to help any way I can!  Unfortunately, you have to get thru the programming part without me!  Please don't ask me to learn programming.... but I will if that's what it takes!  (no, I won't) 
You want my opinion?  Forget "spamming".  Worthless.  You want people?  You want Facebook.  This game needs to be on Facebook.  I would bet my membership fees for a year that you could have a million registered users in 6 months.  Come on.... seriously?  Someone tell me I'm wrong.  Someone explain to me how I could be so far off the mark?  Well, reality "slap-in-the-face".... I'm not wrong.  Let's get this thing rolling downhill!  Where do we go?  What do we do? 

Neo Pain

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Re: Advice, please
« Reply #5 on: October 08, 2012, 08:35:33 AM »
Spankyhead and I had this conversation not too long ago.

I agree with the Facebook angle. It is the best way to get a huge player base as a web browser game. From there it can get bigger.

Free to play. This is by far becoming one of the most popular concepts in gaming now. League of Legends is the BIGGEST online game... bigger than WoW because it is free to play. They make their money on non game impacting sales. They (and I) agree that if you can use money to buy things it shouldn't be to give yourself an advantage over those who cannot afford to buy shinies. Even as I say that i could see selling small packs of cards with maybe up to uncommon rarity (like MtG). Cards that would help build a deck but not be game changers in themselves.  League of Legends sale the new champions and different skins that are available for all the champions. But if you are like me and are monetarily challenged then you can earn in game "money" to buy champions. And even if you don't buy them all you still get opportunities to play them thanks to there being a "free" rotation of the champions you can use. Sooner or later you can play everyone. 

Something that I would also like to see if the negative mig rules slightly changed. IMO maybe make it where you can have 1-2 of your spirits protected in the deck(s) that you use. And perhaps another 2-3 protected spirits in your population. But that can be discussed later on...


TwistedMe

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Re: Advice, please
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2012, 02:21:34 PM »
100% agree.
"Non-game impacting sales" is a term I've heard and I'm a fan!  If the CORE is free and you get a large enough player base, selling "extras", "add-ons", "rarities"... can result in HUGE amounts of cash... NO DOUBT.  But... I feel like we're ahead of the "game" here... Without a doubt, SpiritWars is a fantastic game.  I have NO doubt that it will be a HUGE success on Facebook.  However, it seems like the game is not ready for release.... What do we need to make happen?  That's where I'm at a loss.... Getting a game on Facebook appears to be a relatively simple process... is getting the game programmed properly really THAT difficult?  In my mind, all the "basics" are there... the creative side... the mechanics... the gameplay... all of this is polished... it just needs to be "updated"... correct?  How painfully difficult can that be? I have ZERO experience with programming... BUT... if I had an idea for an awesome game... and in fact, had YEARS of game play behind it... I would think finding someone to re-program it would be a piece of cake?  Well... ok... not a PIECE of cake.. but cake, none-the-less.... Is there cost involved?  Sure!  Will there be profit from the investment?  Yes... yes there will be... If you build it... they will play... if they play it... they will pay... This game is TOO good to NOT unleash it! 

Lyn Chase

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Re: Advice, please
« Reply #7 on: October 09, 2012, 07:05:19 PM »
Another update: Just wanted to let you all know that I have begun the process of talking to programmers.  I've spoken to two so far.  Although neither of them could do what's needed, both said they knew programmers who might be interested in the project.  I will continue the process, but I work during the day, so it's hard to find time to make the contacts during business hours.  I anticipate having a little extra time on Monday.  If you are a SpiritWars player and know programmers who program in both Visual Basic and Java, please send them my way.
                            Lyn

TwistedMe

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Re: Advice, please
« Reply #8 on: October 10, 2012, 01:41:45 AM »
Awesome!  Let me know if you need any help looking!  (see message)

Vampira

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Re: Advice, please
« Reply #9 on: June 06, 2017, 11:36:27 PM »
Help is always needed.