UO Second Age

Well ok then....so there is still some fight left in you guys and not just a desire to be less lonely in-game. I'm not a hero or a magician and I can't work miracles though...it's a team effort and I wanted to hear what has been done already to change direction over the last 1.5 yrs I've been gone.

If someone wants to genuinely be involved in a marketing campaign or speak more about it, perhaps we should use a sub-board for people who want to participate. We certainly could use the help in this department.

From my own readings (on various Ultima Online communities), it seems there are 2 consistent factors that have pushed people away from UOSA.

1) The community is the problem.
2) There's nothing "fresh"

I did then and would now like to be involved, very much so because I believe it can be done. I believe UO:SA has a lot to offer new & old gamers alike. And moving the discussion out of 'general' is probably a good idea too [thought I'd posted this in 'suggestions' originally]

I'm self-employed and work from home so I can make the time for this, and I enjoy the challenge so I'm willing to commit to this little endeavor and see it through.

Boondox, I always figured there would be an access problem with the current online material but I never really saw the website as detrimental to in-flow...why?

Although it is a secondary business to my main profession, what we do is start-up 'brand-ing" and [mainly] setup for online presence. Mainly for small-businesses but we have done/do it for a lot of low-level rock bands too. Effectively what you are doing with the website might be a part of what we'd do for a client.

We create the 'brand' and style the imagery around that theme, then we set up all the subsidiary social media accounts/sites using that graphic material for visual consistency across those sites. We also create media content for promotional use and target-market promotion. Video ads/trailers/demos, promo fliers for online & print event promotions, etc.

Basically we strive to generate a sense of excitement about what is being promoted within this content and place it in front of the people who will most likely be receptive to it.

Now, a lot of what we would do has already been done. Website, logo, a good amount of the graphic content, facebook account/page, email is already in place. Either we would set these things up with temp passwords or the client has to provide access to existing sites in order for us to make changes.

This is the access problem you refer to.
The website can not be updated without server access
The Facebook page can not be updated without at least admin rights
Youtube...same thing, as with any other associated media sites.

The alternative, as you have begun, is to set up new sites/accounts for these things. OR the owners of the existing sites have to be willing to work with us to upload new content provided and make the changes themselves wtih it. Both are complicated.

As I said before...what we do is really just a lot of guerrilla-type marketing. We often have to work with what we have to...figure out ways around things, out-of-the-box stuff.

I was of the opinion that a marketing campaign could very easily be created using what is available, without access, that would bring people in. [retention is another matter]

All the pieces are there I always thought they just needed to be put together and used was the major hold-up. At the time there were several people talking about doing it...I remember a Reddit discussion & page that flamed and died...something about a Youtube video...contest?

Anyways...I am in no way disparaging the website you created [I mean seriously, credit where it's due] but...is the current one truly a part of the reason why new players aren't signing up? Perhaps I'm missing something.

As others have said, a large part of the problem of why people aren't signing up IMO is simply a lack of promotion, not a lack of promotional material.

Again, maybe I'm ignorant here....

Ok....so just throwing something together here real quick as ONE example of the simple things that can be done to promote UOSA [a 1st draft, not something I would normally release]


^^EDIT^^ Ok Picasso is done playing...

There are so many great aspects to the server it really is hard to decide exactly 'what' to promote...those defining aspects that make UOSA what it really is. IMO it is so much more than an exact replica of an era.

UOSA is unique among UO free-shards IMO, hell...it stands against all the current MMORPG's if you ask me, but then I am partial

One simple approach is a facebook bomb...take something like the above flyer and share the hell out of it in FB gaming groups and such...seek out any relevent groups and post it, asking them to share it.

There are many sites simple graphics like this are easily distributed on, though respect & consideration is key, it represents UO:SA and should always be presented with respect to that end.

Given the right content I also think a great video spot could be made an put to use along these same lines.

Looks great! Maybe follow us on fbook with link or something to uosa page. I liked the page and the updates are great. Boom has done a terrific job with keeping players up to date with both staff and player events!

WarmApplepie wrote:Looks great! Maybe follow us on fbook with link or something to uosa page. I liked the page and the updates are great. Boom has done a terrific job with keeping players up to date with both staff and player events!

Well it's just as easy, and maybe even more effective when the graphic is about some specific event or happening...and can be custom made to suit each event...generate that excitement!!

...found the FB community page and the posted events/links. So there is someone admin'ing the page [Boondox?]...excellent! I can out-source the links from there to other groups/etc.

Very cool!!! Maybe make one about Roses Boom box roulette. There are some pics of the count down too 1 and the player dieing. "Are you feeling lucky today?" Or something catchy.

Ok, looking at the posted events on the FB page, it's kind of pointless to address those events at this point as they are just a couple days away at best.

Event promotion is obviously about getting people to come to your show. It's a diminishing returns sort of thing based on how long you allow for pre-event promotion. The longer you promote the more people you'll reach.

I'd like to start making promo material for event sponsors before their events. So anyone who is interested in promo graphics for thier upcoming events & promo for it get in touch with me.

This will be one arm of this whole marketing campaign....generating activity and excitement and life! The other will focus on promoting the site as a whole. Everything subject to change of course...

I have full access to the Facebook page (I've been an admin there long before I was a Staffer on UOSA)
I have full access to Twitter.
I can probably get access to YouTube. Mammoth, another GM had created the channel.

Anarcho has server access and once the new site is in place it will be easier to manage things. I do design for small businesses, we reinforce branding efforts as well, very successfully I might add. However, the current UOSA site really shouldn't be given a strong marketing effort. It lacks proper call to actions, the content is a mess, it's confusing, it's got formatting errors in a number of places, it links to the AskUOSA community site which need to be killed off.

I could (and have in the past) list 50+ issues with the current site. The new site is setup to capture user flow in a more standardized marketing funnel and I will be able to track more data on user engagement and conversion rates once it's up and running.

Once the new site is live, I have plans (already started) on getting the UOSA Wiki into a responsive layout and a (slightly) updated design to match the upcoming site. Ideally the forums would get a small facelift to increase accessibility/readability on mobile and to share a similar design as the main site+Wiki. Uniformity comes off professional and can make or break first time impressions.

We get a TON of organic searches from Google that land users on the forums for general UO topics (everything from UOAM related questions/downloads, skill searches, razor macros, etc). Much of that traffic cannot/will not convert because they are looking for UO specific questions for whatever UO shard they are playing on.

I think pulling some active players into the social media profiles to promote player content (pictures, user videos, player events) would be a great way to pull some weight off of my weekly UOSA task list.


I could talk about this for a long time and would be happy to start a conversation in a new thread or sub-forum to talk about promoting UOSA and what little things we can do as a community to continue the push forward.

Very exciting to read BLJ, i also think linking or getting ahold of UOSA youtube and linking Santorums/Gorks/and hand full of other's videos of late would be huge!

Last nights video was the most in a field battle ive seen since ive been playing on UOSA. If i can help with anything let me know.

Excellent Boomland!! It sounds like you've been behind the scenes setting up new infrastructure and know a helluva lot more about it than I so I'm convinced. New is always better!!

I'll stop posting here after this for the new thread.

I should probably re-install too hehe...

I'm going to get something started later this month. If you are interested in actively helping, just send me a PM (a few already have) - when the time comes, I'll create a sub-forum where we can have better discussions regarding promotional ideas for UOSA.

Capitalist wrote:

Apocalypse wrote:

Vega wrote:Government and overall social organization is a genuine hindrance to my speculation, market manipulation, and general white collar criminal activities. This shall fail because I'll buy and lobby whoever supports it.

But you're quitting, so......

I have 2.5 months to take over the world.

I have always and will always approve of Vega's scandalous efforts! I just might not participate in them.
If the server starts getting busy again, I can expect to see more murderers out and about (including Vega I hope).

The oOo wrote:There are so many great aspects to the server it really is hard to decide exactly 'what' to promote...those defining aspects that make UOSA what it really is. IMO it is so much more than an exact replica of an era.

Ah yes, so many great aspects! This fellow already did some propaganda back in 2013, promoting the greatest aspect:

I'd also like to see some of those guys from OP's post in SotA.
Imanewbie does Sota, lol.
There are a lot of cool guys on free servers too, liek Franz Pfniffel from Secondage. You can google him and see some of his comics.

It would nice to have a small video clip on the main page.