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[flib]

was reading another post when this popped into my head, how much does it cost per month to advertise on mudconnector/mudmagic or any of those? I think the symbol on cmud was a good start.. but I think some real advertisement might really help this mud get some new blood.. I'm sure people would donate for it.. wasn't sure where to post this.. thought this would be the right thread.. but ya.. let's get the word out.. I know for one.. i've clicked on the banners for mud's and checked em out.. I think alot of people do do that.. let's... advertise...

[amena wolfsnarl]

Actually the symbol on CMUD was the reason i found this place. I liked the idea of a forgotten realms mud but was originally looking up a mud i used to play years ago (Arcticmud). If it wasnt for that symbol i probably ever would have found this mud.

[Kifle]

I... say we... use... more... ellipses... in this... thread...

[flib]

good job keeping on topic kifle...................................:P

[Kifle]

Good... job... at... using... English... Flib...

[Yasden]

#sub...Kifle...William...Shatner....

[flib]

can we actually get on topic? as i'm actually wondering if it's possible for this mud to advertise to get in new people to keep us going, thanks.

[Gormal]

Read the thread in announcements where the mud had an opportunity to make a ton of money off of Amazon and Shev never spent the 5 minutes to set it up. One person has said he waited as long as he could for Shev to come through before spending 4000 dollars... which a portion would've gone to the MUD.

[Corth]

Specifically, it would have been 6% of $4,000. $240 on just that one purchase that didn't go towards the mud's advertising fund. I have no way of guessing how much is spent on amazon.com annually by torilmud players. Maybe 50k? 100k? 200k? Pick a number and do the math. Thats how much we aren't getting towards advertising because the powers that be don't have 5 minutes to set it up.

Corth

[Kifle]

It's not much, but I'd definately shop at Amazon instead of driving 40 mins to boarders for my books. I just unloaded around $100 last week there and still need to get my GRE book(s) and prep tests there in the coming months -- not to mention the kids' summer study stuff.

[Ragorn]

The amazon link thing still baffles me to this day. I use my WoW guild's affiliate link, which took them 10 minutes to set up and has paid for website/forum hosting for years. It's staggering to think of how much money Toril has lost because Shevarash won't click through the process.

[Corth]

Ragorn,

I was telling Gormal that this point in particular is what made me really cynical about the immorts. Previously I thought they were just a little bit misguided and perhaps incompetent. But when they ignored this particular idea that would have taken all of 5 minutes to set up and would have resulted in substantial advertising revenue for the mud.. thats when i realized that promoting the mud is not actually that high a priority for them. I'm not sure why, but thats the only conclusion I could come up with.

[Raiwen]

I believe they have fallen into the same mistake as my previous employer - don't advertise until it's completely finished and all the bugs worked out.

Which in reality, never happens, as you always find another bug or enhancement to implement until it's finally ready. It's the project that never ends.

Fear: Having too many people view the mud with bugs and the old code.

Reality: that's a GREAT problem to have.

[Corth]

Well, its one thing not to advertise.. but to forsake thousands of dollars in advertising revenue that can be used later on when 2.0 is released.. that REALLY doesn't make any sense.

[Ragorn]

Ragorn,

I was telling Gormal that this point in particular is what made me really cynical about the immorts. Previously I thought they were just a little bit misguided and perhaps incompetent. But when they ignored this particular idea that would have taken all of 5 minutes to set up and would have resulted in substantial advertising revenue for the mud.. thats when i realized that promoting the mud is not actually that high a priority for them. I'm not sure why, but thats the only conclusion I could come up with.

I don't really care to speculate on why Shev never put the link up. His motivations are his own. I also don't believe that advertising is going to solve the MUD's problems right now, so the point is kind of moot in my mind as well.

[Corth]

I can understand that position. I also do not believe advertising would accomplish a whole lot at this point. On the other hand I believe it is worth a shot... especially if advertising revenue could be obtained without costing the players any additional money out of pocket.

[Ragorn]

I can understand that position. I also do not believe advertising would accomplish a whole lot at this point. On the other hand I believe it is worth a shot... especially if advertising revenue could be obtained without costing the players any additional money out of pocket.

Well yes, there's absolutely no reason not to do it.

[Raiwen]

Again, no matter how you slice it, having a larger potential player base is NOT a bad problem to have.

An extra 2 players a week would REALLY spice things up around here I believe.

Hell, if only 10% stuck around, that's still an extra 10 new bodies in a year's time. We haven't had that number of new players in what.. 4 years?

That'd be TWO zoning groups at night. Gasp!

Yeah, the same issues will still plague the mud, but having a pbase wouldn't be one of those problems.

Oh.. I also formated this message for Flib, so he could read it better.

Code: Select all

Again... no matter how you slice  it... having a larger potential player
base is  NOT a  bad problem  to have. An  extra 2  players a  week would
REALLY spice things up around here  I believe. Hell... if only 10% stuck
around... thats still an extra 10 new  bodies in a years time. We havent
had that number  of new players in  what.. 4 years? Thatd  be TWO zoning
groups at  night. Gasp! Yeah...  the same  issues will still  plague the
mud... but having a pbase wouldnt be one of those problems.

[flib]

I actually kind of wish shev would post on this thread. as it's his mud :P is there still that ban on shev/shar bbs'ing until 2.0? :P btw kifle, borders doesn't have an a in it.. maybe you should learn some english too scallywag

[Kifle]

I actually kind of wish shev would post on this thread. as it's his mud :P is there still that ban on shev/shar bbs'ing until 2.0? :P btw kifle, borders doesn't have an a in it.. maybe you should learn some english too scallywagg

Nice.. try.. flib...... but... you.. can't..compare using a.. homophone.. with.. a basic... misunderstanding.. of. the English... language. and ... its... rules... Yarr!

[teflor the ranger]

driving 40 mins to boarders for my books

It's a Kiflian-Type Fruedian Slip!

[Shevarash]

TorilMUD has an Amazon affiliate account. I will make it accessible to the players when there is a plan for any funds collected from it that makes sense. I will share such a plan with you when it exists, and I am open to discussing it beforehand. I do not personally think advertising on the Mud Connector or Top Mud Lists is a good investment, as the former features "Sponsor" sites so heavily that everything else is sort of lost, and the second simply doesn't get enough traffic to be all that useful. We did advertise on TML and didn't see much from it. There are other options, such as Google AdWords, and I'm open to other suggestions.

By the way, could everyone please stop with the "5 minutes" statement, as it is insulting, incorrect, and not constructive. Our affiliate account is not accessible because I made the decision not to collect funds until there was a need for them - or at least a plan - not because I "couldn't be bothered." Collecting money on behalf of this non-profit and free-to-play MUD is a serious issue that I do not take lightly.

Thanks!

[Gormal]

Does it really matter if its a good investment to advertise in certain spots when we're talking about free money? It doesn't cost your players anything, it doesn't cost you anything, where's the fire?

Also, if there's no plan then what are these about?
Donations Thread

[Shevarash]

Yes, it matters to me.

The donations and the plan for using them are explictly described in the post you linked to. You are free to disagree with my decisions in this regard, but we'd all be better served by a discussion of whate exactly any potential funds would be used for and when is the right time to advertise in the first place.

[Corth]

Hell, if you can't find a use for the funds then you aren't trying hard enough. Worst comes to worst, take Shar out to dinner or something. Consider it mud related as a sort of de-stressing exercise. You guys deal with Gormal and I on a regular basis and still seem to remain fairly calm. You owe it to yourselves. Seriously though, it doesn't cost anyone anything extra.. why not collect funds now so when you get to the point that you want to advertise your ready to go? If we never get to that point, blow the funds on a huge gathering with cristal champaign and caviar and crap.. :)

[shalath]

Isn't there a rule about making money off the forgotten realms name? I thought that TSR would come down hard on anyone doing that.

Perhaps that's why it makes sense not to collect until there is a well defined plan and it can be shown that the money isn't going in as "profit" for those running the mud...

[Ragorn]

TorilMUD has an Amazon affiliate account. I will make it accessible to the players when there is a plan for any funds collected from it that makes sense. I will share such a plan with you when it exists, and I am open to discussing it beforehand. I do not personally think advertising on the Mud Connector or Top Mud Lists is a good investment, as the former features "Sponsor" sites so heavily that everything else is sort of lost, and the second simply doesn't get enough traffic to be all that useful. We did advertise on TML and didn't see much from it. There are other options, such as Google AdWords, and I'm open to other suggestions.

By the way, could everyone please stop with the "5 minutes" statement, as it is insulting, incorrect, and not constructive. Our affiliate account is not accessible because I made the decision not to collect funds until there was a need for them - or at least a plan - not because I "couldn't be bothered." Collecting money on behalf of this non-profit and free-to-play MUD is a serious issue that I do not take lightly.

Thanks!

Had you made this post two years ago, I don't think we'd still be talking about it. As it is, you said it would take "five minutes" and you'd do it when you got a chance, and then it never happened.

[Corth]

I haven't looked at the other thread in a while, but to be fair, I think it was me who said it takes '5 minutes'. The amount of time it takes really isn't the issue obviously. Shev has already done it. He chooses not to make it go live for the reasons he stated.