How do you feel about referral/challenge rewards?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Sargon, Aug 14, 2013.

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  1. Sir Frank

    Sir Frank Master of the Mint

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    I don't know many people that can get a lot of folks by then. I think I'll tip Markee off to the contest. He has about 43,000 more friends than I do.
     
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  2. VZ_

    VZ_ Avatar

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    Ah, ok, I understand now. I honestly don't think it will go to anyone with 10-12 referees since at that point one can just pay 45 * 10, or even * 30, and give a bunch of pledges out to his friends/coworkers to get the Duke at a discount. I think it will be a far higher amount that a couple of dozen referees.



    This contest is actually to try to drum up more excitement, revenue and fan base for the game. Portalarium is hoping you will go to everyone you never thought of doing so before, to try to get them interested. Even if you fail to get anyone, you increase exposure to the game.
    Obviously we all already got our friends and family into this that would be interested in it regardless. This new rush isn't for people like that. This new rush is for coworkers, non-RPG fan friends, non-hardcore gamer friends, for forums friends etc. They want us to be a "street team" just like in the music industry, and the person who brings them the most new business will be greatly rewarded. They want people to post links in their profiles on other forums and on facebook etc.
    This kind of push could have only come a few months after the KS. They want you to expose as many people as possible to this game, and the best way to do that is to do it in two waves (the initial KS wave that we all told our friends about) and this second wave to try and get even more people to join. This second wave needs dedicated fans to act as advertisers that it will only get if they are paid in some way or another, a competition for $5000 worth of SotA stuff is a great prize, it will attract the most passionate of us to go out and spread the word as much as possible.


    THAT is what is happening here. A very good marketing strategy, I must say.
     
  3. Mishri

    Mishri Avatar

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    Hehe yeah.. It's time to hit the streets and awaken my dormant salesman... :D It looks like I can change my e-mail address so I might make one just for SoTA so if it gets bombed with spam I'll be alright...
     
  4. VZ_

    VZ_ Avatar

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    Yeah I already got a buddy to join, and will be adding a second account for myself since its 1 character per account (can't live without a PK...). I think I can get at least another dozen people to join just by calling in favors and convincing other friends/buddies/acquaintances hehe.
     
  5. Isaiah

    Isaiah Avatar

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    Has it occurred to you that brining other people to the game that donate has financial value to the project. If the top 5 people bring in over 20 people or more I have no problem with them getting a special bonus for working so hard. 20 x $45 = $900 + twenty community contributors MINIMUM. What if some of those guys donate $60 or $500 dollars. One of those top five people could potentially bring in thousands of dollars. That should earn them a house in my book. Those people not only pledge $45 OR MORE, but they will also contribute to the game. Also some people don't have as much money as some of the high pledges, so why not allow them to produce a financial value for the amount of "work" they do to help the project. I know I don't have the money to pledge to duke level, but I don't mind trying to help in other ways.

    However I believe a person can contribute far more than $5000+ dollars to the game if their ideas in the threads are really good, and produce an addition to the product that far exceeds all of our donations. I also think it's possible that a person who is pro-actively recruiting people to pledge is just as productive or even more so than some guy who just donates $3500.00 one time because the people who join the community also can contribute ideas and help test the game. Thanks for the high donations, but money shouldn't be the only way a person's contributions should count for this game.

    So in my opinion this is a great way to promote SotA!!!
     
  6. Sir Frank

    Sir Frank Master of the Mint

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    They are offering a bounty of $25 for each $45 pledge you bring to the game. So, the $25 credit you get doesn't really cost Portalarium.
    If you bring 20 recruits, Portalarium gets at least $900, and you get $500 credit. I think that's great! It's a reward that is proportional to effort.

    On top of that, that top 5 are getting $550 added to their accounts. That's similar to the reward they gave for the video. That's pretty darn good reward for effort too.

    But the next step is $5300! That's one heck of a jump. I hope it pays off.
     
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  7. Isaiah

    Isaiah Avatar

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    Not only that... it's hard work to recruit a lot of people because most people will not donate $45 dollars or more. So those top 5 players would have to possibly speak to hundreds of people because of all those people only 5% to 10% may actually go to the website and donate.
     
  8. Mystic

    Mystic Avatar

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    That's like assuming that you would certainly have won. Companies do this kind of stuff all the time to help promote their new products. It's a very limited giveaway so comparing it to something going on sale isn't a correct comparison at all.
     
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  9. FireLotus

    FireLotus Royal Bard & Master Dabbler Dev Emeritus

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    Just poking my head in to say that we hear your concerns, and in fact, had even anticipated some of them. Overall though, we felt that growing the community was important enough to warrant a Duke-sized reward. :) Of course, we hope that the winner will have truly earned that place by sharing Shroud with LOTS of new players. And we felt that the only offering a single Duke reward would not be overly problematic.

    I also wanted to briefly address this point Sir Frank made earlier, as I've seen some confusion about it.
    We will in fact be weaving something from each Duke's personal life into the game, but we are not ready to start collaborating with you about it quite yet. :) We will be contacting you individually to brainstorm with you when we are ready to start adding those elements into the game. Likewise, when we are ready to start mailing things out, we will send our requests for addresses. Just because we haven't started collecting this information yet, doesn't mean we've forgotten about it. :D
     
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  10. Sir Frank

    Sir Frank Master of the Mint

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    I disagree that it's like assuming I would have won.
    You're right. Companies do things like this all the time.
    And when they do, I always have this feeling that if I had just waited a little longer, I might have gotten a good deal.
    I feel the same way now, but I'm trying to take a positive outlook and say it's a way for me to step up to Lord of the Manor if I can win.

    I'm trying to answer the question of how I feel about this, and that's how I feel, correct or not.

    Try to get what I'm saying, and not pick apart the analogy. Yes, it's flawed. Try to look past that.
     
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  11. Sir Frank

    Sir Frank Master of the Mint

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    Thank you for that, FireLotus. I feel much better now.
     
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  12. Mystic

    Mystic Avatar

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    Though, had you waited and not won (which would be very likely considering how few prizes there are) you also would have paid a lot more to get to whatever level you're at now, so it's really a trade off. ;)
     
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  13. Isaiah

    Isaiah Avatar

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    Also the castle is for people who pledged during Kickstarter that have reached the duke level pledge, not post Kickstarter dukes. So he made out by donating early!
     
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  14. enderandrew

    enderandrew Legend of the Hearth

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    I'm sadly not confident I'll be able to recruit people. I already recommended SotA heavily to family and friends during the KS. I'm not sure who to reach out to now, but I'll certainly try.

    If we get more players excited about the game, and raise more money, it just makes SotA a bigger success and a better game.
     
  15. Kirthag

    Kirthag Avatar

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    hmmmm....
    Just about everyone I know is already a paid supporter. Trying to get even more people involved, I start to get shunned like a Jehova's Witness!
    As much as I am wanting Knight level, I suppose I will have to pass. :-\

    Which does raise a question...
    If I am _able_ to participate & by some fluke win the challenge for Knighthood, what happens to my already contributed level?
     
  16. VZ_

    VZ_ Avatar

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    @Kirthag

    You dont get a tier pledge, you just get the tier's cost added on top of your current tier, so it will bump you to whatever the total amount becomes.
     
  17. Keyser

    Keyser Avatar

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    I am happy that Portalarium is actively involving the community in this recruitment push. But I think it would be fair to require a minimum number of referrals for the Duke reward, say 100 maybe. If that is not reached , fall back to a Baron 2 reward. I am also assuming that the offer for the Duke reward is the City deed, not the Castle. Not sure why the event ends on Halloween either, why not extend it to the end of the year to get more possible referrals? Besides that would be good timing coinciding with the anticipated pre alpha access.

    Another question is: Will these $25 recruitment bonuses move you ahead in the lot selection queue by having a larger pledge amount albeit from a promotion event? If so, that pretty much negates the additional pledges people made in the last few days of Kickstarter to attempt to secure a place in the front of the line for lot selection. No big deal, I suppose, just pointing it out.

    I see the top spot going to Rustic Dragon, and rightfully so if he chooses. After all, during his Hearth of Britannia: Telethon of the Avatar next weekend, he is giving away a ton of prizes on his own with the help of a few sponsors. Although he is not asking for referrals, he certainly deserves them now that this SotA event has also been announced. Ironically, his top reward is for the most referrals that are obtained by a participant in his event.

    http://www.hearthofbritannia.com/
     
  18. enderandrew

    enderandrew Legend of the Hearth

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    I wouldn't be shocked if they awarded him a higher tier for his community efforts in addition to the prizes they're offering everyone else in this contest.

    He mentioned in his video that he considered just spending his money purchasing a tier, but opted instead to spend his money making his telethon happen. He sacrificed his opportunity at a tier reward to try and do even more than his money would do directly. If that isn't a fine example of virtue, then I don't know what is.

    Hail Sir Rustic Dragon!
     
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  19. Maximus Katse

    Maximus Katse Avatar

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    That Grand Reward is a helluva prize. I know I won't be winning it.
     
  20. hanskrsg

    hanskrsg Avatar

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    Short answer. I am not too happy anout the referral program, it can be quite unfair to the people who has already got alot of people into this game, although more people to help fund the game during developement is a good thing of course.. I do like the competition thing though. It's is very specific and the winner would probably need to be creative and work hard at it.
     
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