[arg_discuss] Competitions with prizes and ARGs

[Dan Hon]

In my experience, most of the time we've offered a prize is because  
it's been so cheap. A copy of the Penguin archive is expensive if  
you're buying it, but not so expensive if you're working with Penguin.  
Hard to get, but a minimal outlay, really.

We had a small (less than a thousand) number of referrals from  
competition websites for WTS (the kind of sites that list all the  
competitions you can enter for free for people who like free stuff).  
Compared to our total audience of uniques, this is a molecule of water  
in the atlantic ocean.

Also: not that many people have entered our competition. (So if you're  
in the UK and you want a shot at winning all those books, you should  
enter :))

A vast amount of the response we've seen online - say 99% or so - has  
been about the stories and the interaction method. Hardly anyone at  
all (<5 blog entries, perhaps?) have mentioned the prize. It's a cool  
prize, but I like to think that what we've done is cooler, and that's  
what people are talking about and playing.

--
Dan Hon, CEO, Six to Start
m: +44 7870 600 828
t: +44 33 3340 7490, f: +44 33 3340 7494




On 2 Apr 2008, at 11:52, Christy Dena wrote:


>

> Thanks David and Dan -- and any forthcoming others.

>

> Dan, yeah, that is why I'm wondering why a prize is offered at all.  

> The

> experiences stand on their own but there is obviously something you  

> get out

> of offering a prize. Publicity is one obviously, but are there  

> players that

> you think will only join in if a prize is there? I mean, a reward is  

> good,

> but that is different to prize which is defined at the beginning as a

> motivation. I'm wondering too if there is a cost...not financial...in

> appealing to players that are attracted to a competition-type game?  

> Or are

> you finding that they're pretty much settling into a collaborative  

> dynamic

> and forgetting about the competition side pretty quickly as David  

> mentioned?

>

> BTW, props for We Tell Stories. I'm a big fan of the approach that  

> has a

> somewhat conventional artform as an entry-point to a deeper ARG  

> experience.

>

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org [mailto:arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org 

> ] On

> Behalf Of Dan Hon

> Sent: Wednesday, 2 April 2008 21:47

> To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG

> Subject: Re: [arg_discuss] Competitions with prizes and ARGs

>

> I think it's a relatively 'cheap' way of getting PR - cf Perplex City,

> but I'd like to (and do) believe that the games stand on their own  

> now.

>

> For We Tell Stories, we're finding that the prize really doesn't

> matter. The experience that we've designed (especially with 21 Steps)

> has been far more successful than the (admittedly totally awesome)

> prize that we're offering, even though the prize is only available to

> UK residents.

>

> --

> Dan Hon, CEO, Six to Start

> m: +44 7870 600 828

> t: +44 33 3340 7490, f: +44 33 3340 7494

>

>

>

>

> On 2 Apr 2008, at 10:09, Christy Dena wrote:

>

>> Hey All,

>>

>>

>>

>> There are lots of things I've been wanting to ping the list about,

>> but here

>> is a quick one:

>>

>>

>>

>> There have been some ARGs and ARG-like projects that are

>> competitions with

>> prizes. For example: Perplex City, Vanishing Point, Legend of the

>> Sacred

>> Urns, We Tell Stories. Obviously the ARG can function without the

>> prize, but

>> the fact that it is there, is undeniable and constrains gameplay to

>> some

>> extent (due to legal restrictions). And sometimes the prize is

>> something a

>> client is after rather than the developer. But I'm wondering:

>>

>>

>>

>> *	Is offering a prize purely a way to lure newcomers and/or casual

>> gamers?

>> *	And do they find it successfully achieves that, or something else?

>>

>>

>>

>> Thanks in advance,

>>

>> Christy

>>

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