10:47 PM PST

Battlefield 1942
Active Players--1571

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Runescape
Active Players--Over 30,000
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Yahooligans Pool
Active Players--43

10:47 PM PST

Vendetta Online
Active Players--21

Doesn't seems so massively multiplayer to me...

Secondlife, another MMORPG, which, like VO, costs $10 a month, has over 30,000 subscribers. IMO, the game sucks. Whats wrong with VO???

I know that this point has been stressed multiple times. And I know that the devs (and the players) are hard at work trying to recruit for a bigger player body. But why so few people on? Whats wrong?

Nothing is wrong. Vendetta Online has had little to no public marketing thus far. I'm guessing this is partially due to the fact that... 1) the game is still under heavy development and the devs want to add much more content before unleashing it to the public at a full scale level, 2) the devs are too busy right now and they'd rather spend their time improving the game, and/or 3) money is an issue and they're either paying off past debts or they'll need a sizable sum before they can even consider funding a serious marketing campaign. There could be a number of other reasons. But knowing that Guild Software has come this far, I'm sure they've got very good reasons for what they're doing.

Nothing's wrong. The devs are *not* hard at work trying to recruit for a larger player base. That's why there's little more than a whisper campaign driven mostly by fans.

The devs have been quite clear that there won't be a big push to bring people in until the game is in a more polished state.

Guild has many advertising resources, both professional and otherwise, that have been offered to them. They are simply waiting for the best time to flex some advertising muscle. What would be the value of inviting the masses in, only to have them post "It's not done!" and leave?

"It's not done!"

/me stays

Why? I have friends here.

Nothing's wrong. This is a grassroots game. If you read through past news posts you'll see this is not your average gameplan nor a run of the mill business plan.

How did you find this game? I bet it is through word of mouth or a link on another website. There aren't any ads for this game out there yet.

Potential customers are tricky. They say that want something different, yet if they can't do much of the same old things they do in other games they don't stick around. We know because we've all heard our share of death songs on channel 1/100. Some seem pecuilarly upset that other players can shoot at you and <gasp> even kill you in this game :) They demand a PvP flag. (Not gonna happen I hope)

In reality, the devs know they have to have a few more components integrated into the game in order to sell it to the average player. The current player base is better than the average so it is a smaller group.

And I know that the devs (and the players) are hard at work trying to recruit for a bigger player body.

Actually, they aren't. I think they are trying to keep the game "underground" for the time being. Nothing is wrong with VO... in fact it's a pretty awesome game imo. Just not quite ready for the unwashed masses ;) But I've heard that once a few more features (like more missions) are in place, they are planning on launching an ad campaign.

Echoing Sarah: yeah, I'd be curious to know how you found out about the game?

I found out about the game through a download at macgamefiles.com

but yeah... I tell all the gamers I know about it... and that 8 hour trial thing is really nice.

Players recruiting players is cool for now, considering that we don't have that many story driven elements yet.

Plus, it's like a small town, almost everyone knows everyone else.

I found this game at www.apple.com/games/, there was an article there (this one: http://www.apple.com/games/articles/2004/10/vendettaonline/ ) that described the game. In some ways it is more the future potential, then what is actually there currently.

From what I understand, a significant number of players came from there. Others may have come by buying the game in the store, or having a friend tell them about it. Maybe a few came from the recent podcast. However, that is the extent of advertising the game has had.

Hey Pixelcat - that's EXACTLY where I found out about Vendetta.
I tell everyone I know to play this game, some actually listen to me.

Well after EnB died I did a MASSIVE google search and found this game pre beta.... I got in Beta and was hooked. Even if at some times I'm bored, I still like read posts and "feel" like I'm part of something unique since no one else can say that they are part of a FULLY "twitch" space MMO.

/givemoney Devs 2c

Well, the other guides said it well so I will say where I found out about the game!

I found out from Penny-Arcade (http://www.penny-arcade.com) during Vendetta Test, which is before beta as well, and before there were such things as characters too. Sadly, the link from Penny-Arcade was accidentally deleted from the archive because of some mistake Gabe made over there or something.

I found out about the game when.. oh, nevermind, I made it.

But seriously, the beauty of our userbase is that a group of people really *believe* in what we're doing, often as much as we do. So no, the game isn't totally prime-time yet, and we aren't marketing it at all. But, we're improving it, and we're supported by a hard-core userbase that knows we're building something really cool and wants to be a part of that process.

/me believes

I found out about VO from a post on the VegaStrike forum some years ago. Its interesting to see how the two have developed in the meanwhile.

I, for one, dont want it getting swarmed under like other large games. (w0w, neopets ect.) like neopets, its filled with trash with tons of "rate my pics" and such. quite annoying.

one fine day when I had nothing to do I googled for "Mac MMORPG" and up came VO somewhere in that list... I ended up in Beta. :)

I consider this still "beta" in a way. Except I am willing to pay $8 something a month to support the wonderful effort.
GO VO! GO DEVS!

M. Duncan

Heard it from a friend, who join in early alpha, and i came in the middle of alpha

anywayz, the game is still being developed, most gamers expect a mostly complete game when they play

""I found out about the game when.. oh, nevermind, I made it.""

rotflol

that needs to be added to the memorable dev quotes. didn't we have a thread of those about a year ago?

I found the test in portage, but the test was over and it was in alpha and beta. Ended up having to wait until release.

wow... that was great incarnate...

I heard from mi amigo. Well, 3 of mis amigos.

I've been playing since the days of Vendetta Test, and I have played almost daily
since then. It's the best thing going. I bitch and moan once in a while, but I'm
still here, and I love every minute of play.