How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO

[Fantomen]

I agree that the marketing is missing thr point of multiplayer to an extent, that the demo is discouraging in not allowing a multiplayer experience, and that Llamabeast should get paid for what he's done and to keep doing it.

But I don't think that dominions has a future as a pay to play game, or that it is possible to reconstruct the whole business model at this point.

If they want to make some more money on Dominions, I think it might be a good idea to hire llamabeast along with some web designer to make the llamaserver official, and then start selling the game a bit cheaper. With a new marketing drive pushing the multiplayer feature.

On the other hand I'm satisfied as it is. I like the fact that our community is small, so you get to know the other players. I like the independence and super minimalistic style of llamaserver. And I like the general idea of the multiplayer scene being completely independent and non profit. So personally I don't want any of that to happen.

[thejeff]

The demo does allow multiplayer, doesn't it?

You can't play with someone who's using the full game, but I'm not sure how that would work anyway, given the demo's limitation.

And frankly it's a niche game by design. Many of the things we love about it keep it a niche game.

[Gandalf Parker]

Yes the demo allows MP. I used to run demo-level mp games on my server.

[alhorro]

It's not so easy to make a niche game widely popular.
I think it's not a secret, that it's possible to run cracked Dom3 absolutely for free (and play MP without any troubles), just a conscience matter. However people even in my country (where vast majority use cracked copies, and buying games = exception) are not eager even to try Dominions.

Shrapnel marketing has always been surprising me. I can't understand why it was llama who'd made the server, but not the official devteam. Additionally it's quite easy even for a single lazy web-developer to make a user-friendly web-interface for finding games, diplomacy, tracking results, etc. After launching such services Shrapnel could buy some articles in popular gaming resources, launch ad and SMO campaigns.

However, in my opinion, it's still possible to make Dominions popular and profitable.

Find a venture investor.

Hire a good manager, some decent interface designers, as-coders and several PR/community managers.

Convert the game into a f2p browser flash game. Seriously. Flash is just enough to handle Dominions client-side. It's also about 50 times easier to make changes and improvements.

Make a killer-ui for everything. Easy-messaging and trade in one-click, auto-saving, history, statistics, gamefinding and subfinding tools, blogs/forums for every game, and much more. Translate the game into all major languages.

Keep tracking players' results with exp system. Allow unlocking some nations, pretender/ingame bonuses, general options with levelling, or alternative buying (this system is most efficient in mmo, proved many times). Bonus points limit is customizable for every game. Levelling gives you several random bonus options (like skills in HoMM, or cards in various CCGs) while purchasing allows getting any particular bonus you want instantly. Exp system also motivates for efficient games and subs, no staling.

Host special games regularly — megagames, interesting scenarios, mods, tournaments. Charge some money for participating.

Maintain massive ad and SMO campaigns. One banner with a hot chick and loud words on some popular entertainment site could bring more players, than all our puny attempts to convince friends to start playing.

Dominions have small, but very loyal and selective community. And we could be a base for a much bigger startup.

[Sombre]

I think you'd probably lose a big chunk of the loyal user base if you did that. It does sound like it would make some money though.

I think it's fairly likely the admins/mods are going to delete part of your post and maybe even warn that they'll ban you, because you mentioned piracy. Just so you know.

[alhorro]

I think you'd probably lose a big chunk of the loyal user base if you did that.

Why? That system allows all possibilities the game is offering at the moment, lots of free enhancements, and possible paid/"grinded" enhancements.

I think it's fairly likely the admins/mods are going to delete part of your post and maybe even warn that they'll ban you, because you mentioned piracy. Just so you know.

I'm not agitating to use pirate versions in any way of course. But pretending that piracy doesn't exist and prohibiting to mention it (like a name of some evil overlord in fairytales) is quite lame and childish imo.

[Sombre]

If you give the possibility for 'grinded/paid' enhancements, people start to feel forced to grind or pay, or find themselves second class citizens or lacking a chance to play a fair game. See countless MMO games for examples. I understand that's the point, in much the same way the point of gambling is to be addictive.

I just noticed now that you did say the level of bonus points should be customizable, so I guess you could have games where none of this grinding metagame stuff applied. I'd still play that, but some players in this community would probably leave because they just don't get along with the newer players being attracted by the levelling up, grinding, paying for extra stuff etc.

re: piracy I agree, as I imagine 99% of people on this board do, but I have seen posts deleted and people warned/banned for talking about piracy. Particularly if they mention how easy it is to pirate. I just thought it fair to warn you how the admins of this forum run things. It is their house after all so they can do whatever they like.

[thejeff]

Exactly. There is enough of a learning curve to this game that people get better by practicing and playing more. New players are already at a significant disadvantage just from lack of experience. There is no need to give expert players another advantage in the form of "level" bonuses or some such.

[Gandalf Parker]

The subject of Official Servers was discussed extensively with the CEOs of Shrapnel and Illwinter both joining the thread. The needs, what requirements to fill the need, options, etc. If you search on Brooks official server you can find some of it.

Some points to bring up....
The ability to run games tends to be
tcpip & gui & win: X
tcpip not gui & win: X+X+X
tcpip not gui not win: X+X+X+X+X
pbem not gui not win: X*100
at the time (and maybe still) Shrapnel was on Win servers

Also some of the pros and cons not being mentioned falls under the difference between a fan-run server admining the games vs an official server admining the games. The "official" part is a weight not worth ignoring when debating how simple it would be for a corporation to do a server.

At the time of the discussions it wasnt a mass of small games that the need was felt for but large long-running games. So comparisons with the two main fan-based servers running now is useful info but isnt completely a fair comparison.

Both Illwinter, and Shrapnel, have been willing to declare fan-run creations (servers, wikis, documentation) as official doing everything they can to support them and direct people to them. Kudos there at least.

As for editing piracy comments keep in mind that the people deleting the posts might also agree with you. However, it IS an official corporation server which means that they do not get to just decide whether or not to apparently support the discussion of some subjects. There are fan-run forums and channels for such discussions.

-- DISCLAIMER: I am no longer staff, or moderator, so this is basically an old answer to an old subject.

[Sombre]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

At the time of the discussions it wasnt a mass of small games that the need was felt for but large long-running games. So comparisons with the two main fan-based servers running now is useful info but isnt completely a fair comparison.

Er,.. what? I just don't follow this at all. Why isn't it fair?

Both Illwinter, and Shrapnel, have been willing to declare fan-run creations (servers, wikis, documentation) as official doing everything they can to support them and direct people to them. Kudos there at least.

Illwinter has supported some fan run creations, this is true. 'everything they can' is going way too far as usual. What has shrapnel done? Put up a link to the wiki?

And why should they get kudos for declaring someone else's work 'official'? That just means it's something people wanted that they didn't actually do, but want to associate with the game they're selling. Actually,... I haven't even seen where they declare anything official. Link?