People tend to get a little to excited over things IMO. One of these days I'll stop going to forums unless I actually need assistance. But they are like a car wreck, you have to look even if you dont want to. Plus, it's fun to watch people get all offensive and stuff over something silly that's said about a computer game. LOL, I wonder how many people like me will throw something out there just to see how rabid people will become over it. You have to admit though, CNN / ESPN / AP / Leno etc etc etc all talking about EQ2, hmmmm, free pubcility. Sounds like if no one ever orders using it, they got their monies worth out of it.
I got it, this would be the end all sell out and the best durn idea if they did this. Forget /pizza, I won't use it, I like Chinese takeout more than pizza anyway. But here is a command that everyone would love and Hate at the sametime. /starbucks grandelattewith2shotsofespressotogo Yeahh, that would be the pinnacle of sell out and buy in.
Personally, I think its awesome. Since I'm charging the pizza to my credit card it makes no diff if I charge it to my SoE account .I have already used it a couple of times and its very convenient! Now, saying that, I'd like more commands such as: /walkdog Someone comes and walks my dog so I dont have to stop raiding Venekor. /takewife A family member comes and takes the wife away because shes ruinning the access quest to the Menagerie /washdishes Wife is automatically notified that there are dirty dishes that need to be washed. /massage oh, the possibilities! /changeiv self-explanatory. /callinsick self-explanatory See? the possibilites are endless!
I've got it! SoE claims they want to remove in-game money... They should let you spend a couple gold (or some other amount of game money) for a discount on your /pizza
It's really an outrage actually. I don't know about anyone else, but I think they're basically selling us out. There was a time, not all that long ago, when we didn't have advertisements at the movies. I'm not talking about trailers (much <3 for the trailers, little cinemaholic that I am), or the concession stand plug, or the THX advert. I'm talking about advertisements for Coke, for Pepsi, for BMW, for whatever*. Less people were going to the movies, and staying home to watch DVDs/VCR instead, so to prevent movie ticket costs from skyrocketing, cinemas began allowing non-movie related advertising. These commercials range from the inobtrusive between-showings-slide show where local advertisers pony up a few bucks, to the commercials from major companies slotted between trailers, to things like Coca-Cola's moviemaker short film contest. (By the way, this is the same reason that many DVD releases now figure advertisements or "are sponsored by" - so that they can sell us the DVDs at $10-25/each instead of the $60+ it used to cost per videotape - is giving up 30 seconds of your time worth saving $50?). Now, I love the whole theatre experience, always have. In fact the first film I can remember going to see in the theatre - mind you, I grew up in the 70's when cartoon features came out maybe once a year from Disney, not this steady stream of cartoon flicks they have today - was Star Wars. The first one, back in 1977. That was back when going to the movies was a pretty big deal, a special treat. (remember when paying $3 for the mega family bucket of popcorn was considered expensive?) While to some extent going to the movies is no longer the special treat it was 25+ years ago, it is still a good night out, and an experience you pay for. Personally, I'm willing to sit through a commercial or two (three max, in addition to the trailer lineup) to not have to shovel out $15 for a movie ticket, so long as they're interesting. In fact it's not the pre-showing commercials that keep my cable TV and Netflix subscriptions lively; it's that where I live, movie tickets cost $9-10 for prime time. By paradox, I'm willing to use services like moviefone.com and Fandango to ensure that I DO have a ticket and I don't have to wait in line when I actually go out and see a movie "live", even if the service fee adds $1 to the transaction. (I can't remember the last time I actually stood in line for movie tickets!) As somebody with a background in advertising and marketing, I have to say I understand SOE's move. Like somebody said, it probably started from the long-standing joke of "wouldn't it be great if there were commands in game for..." The fact that it even made it live shows that SOE knows the gamer demographic: whether we're casual or die-hard, most of us rely to some extent on delivery on at least some of the days of our playing. What is the most popular delivery food and the most accessible coast to coast? Pizza. Who is a highly recognizeable name with an extensive worldwide network? Pizza Hut. In some ways it's so logical that it's almost scary. (I'm with the folks who'd rather see Papa John be there, though /grin). Plus, I find it far, far less obtrusive to know there's a /pizza command than if I had to look at in-game advertisements. Just say NO to IN-game advertisements - I can live with the PRE-game ones; real-world company names and logos in a game like EQ would simply be too jarring against the fantasy setting of the game. (In a game like Grand Theft Auto, however, it would be a different story). Not to mention that every single time the /pizza command makes it into Jay Leno's monologue, or a news story on cnn.com, or anything else, that's not just thousands of dollars worth of free advertising, that's millions worth of free "advertising". As to whether it changes the perception of gamers... probably not by much. Most people would assume that somebody spending large amounts of time in front of the TV or the computer or whatever will eventually reach for the phone or the computer to order delivery. You see, Pizza Hut wins here, too - they too get tons of free advertising out of this deal. I had no idea that it was possible to order Pizza Hut online. Now I do, and you do, and anybody who's heard the story does. So while it may not necessarily drive more folks to play the game over WoW ("hey, I can order pizza from in-game!"), at least people know it's there. I don't view it as selling out the consumer; I view it as two companies saw an opportunity and ran with it. I'm sure they did focus groups etc. to ensure the investment was worthwhile. We do live in a culture that IS over-saturated with advertisements, but that is because people have, to an extent, become desensitized to advertising; it is mainly the outstanding and memorable ads that make an impact. (I don't/won't drink Bud Light, but I certainly remember the bird commercial from the Oscars). With the way this command works in game, if it is that bothersome to you, then the solution is easy: Don't use it. On a side note, the only change I would make from their existing advertising tags of Lucan d'Lere is to put Antonia Bayle on there instead. Sure, the existing art for the evil guy "matches" already (his red vs her purple). But, as has been proven, sex sells. And who are you more likely to buy something from - a lovely lady, or a guy who looks like he's ready to punch yer lights out before he hands you your pizza? Not to mention that the gamers demographic is predominantly male. Besides, in that picture where she has her hands up and look of bliss on her face... it's like... "pizza! oohhh yeah, that'll do my munchies good...mmmmm" /ebilgrin (and yes, I'm saying this even though I'm a woman. If I didn't know what EQII was, and I saw the ad blurb at the top of the pizzahut.com page, I can state that I would not have enough interest based on Lucan's picture to click through.) *(side note - there's an interesting article on CNN.com dated 2/9/05 re: movie theatre advertising stating that 27% of the movie theatre-going consumer base find the practice offensive enough that they are cutting back on their visits to theatres - http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/01/pf/movietheaterads/) Message Edited by Meryddian on 03-03-2005 01:40 PM
Can see it now: If you are a Freeport citizen, a large Ogre turns up at your house, smashes your front door in with his club and demands 'shinies' for the disc of rodent meat covered barely cooked thing he claims is your pizza. He grabs your wallet and takes it and anything else he fancies as his tip. If you are a Qeynos citizen, a wood elf turns up with your pizza, which will have organic cheese and a high fibre bran crust and less than 3% fat overall. The 'meat' will actually be soya substitute. She will refuse any tip you give her as 'delivering food to others is reward enough' and will give you a free pine scented air freshener so you can be reminded of the forests and hills while you play.
LoofLirpa Journeyman Posts: 47 Registered: 11-13-2004 What are you talking about? Our server continues to grow at a rapid pace. Everyone I've talked to rave about this game. Sure some people leave for many reasons. Some game related some personal related...Thats not new or surprising. Do you have documented information on this or are you just trying to stir up poop? There are some people who go through life whining and complaining about everything simply to suck the energy out of people. If you don't have proof to support such a statement; " imo a grasp at a straw to help subsidize an otherwise bad turn of events for Sony in regards to the game." then keep your mouth shut! btw..if people want to use /pizza to order pizza while playing....and pizzahut is willing to pay SOE for it..then in the end we all win. Id like to see some of your proof that people are staying. On my server in the chat channels people have been talking about mass guild abondonment, and in my guild quite a few people are fed up with SoE, or just bored with the game and now are trying out WoW. Im on Blackburrow, what server are you on that has such a rapid influx of players?
This is from part of the editors (Steve Bauman) statement in computer games magazine for april. He never wanted to get into MMO's doesn't like the time involved, but since WoW doesn't take the time other MMO's do he tried it. He claims he loves the game but.. I've had to stop monitoring messageboards, Though, because they've moved from exciting tales of adventure and discovery - "This is something cool i've discovered!",or "If you're a rogue, you might want to try this!"- to endless [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot]ing over server problems. Or [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot]ing about being disconnected. Or [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot]ing about lag. Or [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot]ing about how one character is too powerful/not powerful enough. Or [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot]ing that itlacks feature X from game Y. Or [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot]ing about Blizzard's customer service. Or [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot]ing over system performance. Doesn't anyone enjoy the game anymore? This is a small section of his story and experience but it is the part I felt hits here also. I think people are too focused on themselves to become a community. Or too focused on how they thing the game should be to play the game they have. Also I had to type all of that in and my typing is very poor so any errors are mine, not his.
Sorry, that illicited some odd responces from the people around me, because I suddenly started laughing so hard. "delivering food to others is reward enough" just rubs me the right way!
/pizza has been in the game since fairly early in Beta. It is something they were planning for a while. it was not done to bolster up something that some of you wrongly perceive as failing.
I'm on Unrest and business is booming. Our guild has 109 members and is growing everday. If there is a problem on BB that sucks. Switch servers if you can.
Man ..that was funny!!!... Hey!!..wiat a minute...Im a wood elf.. Message Edited by roundhill on 03-05-2005 03:41 PM
