6 million USD by CLD's - where is the advertisement, and the new customers?

[tamlin]

Sorry if this issue already have a thread. If so, please merge.

But the thing is, Calypso (via MA) got 6 million USD (which in most books is a shitload of money) to advertise Planet Calypso (exclusively) from the sale of the CLD's.

But when I look back on CLD payouts, I see a steady decline in CLD payout (we're effectively at yet another all-time-low, and it's still dropping), and not a single shred of evidence any ad-campaign has brought in any more (paying) customers to Calypso.

So what has happened here?

How much of (if any) the 6 million USD have been used to promote Planet Calypso, and get "fresh blood" here? Evaluate your effort (especially relative the amount money you paid).

What do you plan to do with the remaining money?

Have you pocketed any of these money yourselves, or (obviously illegally) "re-purposed" them to e.g. MA?

 

[Neil Stockton]

I'm sure the entire 6 million was never intended for advertising... just a rumor someone started on the forum. Ofc they do need to advertise but there are some more pressing things atm, like loot balance that are causing a lot of current customers to not play.

Also, MA as the previous owner of the planet most likely got most of the 6 million in place of the money they were hoping to receive from the planet sale that never happened.

 

[Magyar_Republic]

The entire 6 million was not to be used for advertising.

A portion of the 6 million was.

A portion was also going to be used to fund development exclusive to Calypso.

Of course, you're no noob here to these forums. You've read this before from other people, I'm sure. Me saying it again now is not accomplishing anything.

 

[SpikeBlack]

I agree with Neil sort of, I think a good portion of it went to pay off the FPC debacle so rather than MA it went to SEE.

The deal fell through in June 2011 and the CLD's were announced in November 2011.

 

[Rayden]

.........................................

 

[Karmic]

I've seen targeted MA ads on several sites, there are even posts on this forum about seeing them on YouTube. Look around.

 

[mastermesh]

Mindark's philosophy is "why spend tons on ads when you can just steal them and re-purpose..."
{removed}

 

[tamlin]

I stand corrected. Having used the time machine:

"Q. How will the proceeds of the Land Lot deeds be used by MindArk?
A. The proceeds from the Land Lot deeds will help to finance a substantial Entropia Universe marketing campaign, along with further development of Entropia Universe and Planet Calypso."
(emphasis added)

Provided this quote is correct, CLD's were to help promote EU as a whole (including all "planets").

That said, has anyone ever seen a "substantial Entropia Universe marketing campaign"?

Has anyone seen any effect of such a campaign?

Has anyone seen any effect of such a campaign?

Has anyone seen any effect of such a campaign?

To simplify, has anyone seen any such campaign at all? I sure as hell haven't, and I'm very sensitive to seeing "Calypso", "MindArk" or "Entropia" anywhere else.

I agree with the comment that this was indeed all a (badly disguised) smokescreen (a fraud) to get the
6 million USD MA expected from SEE (that (sanely?) withdrew) from the few existing customers MA still have.

Still, scam, long con, or the way some do legal business, there is still this tiny matter of "substantial Entropia Universe marketing campaign".

Furthermore, back in January 2012 "Bertha Bot" (MA's bot copying shit here) wrote (*):

"In addition, each of the 60,000 land deeds will provide the holder with voting rights in a new Political system scheduled for development later this year, which will allow avatars to have a direct influence on the future development of Calypso. Probably due to the high rate of return received since they were released (currently over 28% ROI), Calypso Land Deeds are being snapped up incredibly quickly on the Entropia Universe global auction, with less than half of the original offering of 60,000 deeds remaining.".

I included that long part as it hammers in:
1. 28%.

2. "provide the holder with voting rights"

3. "scheduled for development later this year". This was in January 2012. We are now in 2014, and MA have our 6 million USD!


Hell, why not quote it directly from the PDF from MA's site:
"An exciting event of 2011 was the announcement la
te in the year of Calypso Land Deeds, which
allow avatars to become citizens of Planet Calyps
o and receive a share of the Planet Partner Gross
Revenue. In addition, each of the 60,000 Land Deeds
will provide the holder with voting rights in
a new political system scheduled for development in
2012, which will allow avatars to have a direct
influence on the future development of Calypso. ".

So where is that voting? Where is that influence?

Where is the 28%? Where is the marketing.

The way I see it, MindArk has some explaining to do.

(*) from https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/...Address-2012&p=2884056&viewfull=1#post2884056

 

[Svarog]

Year after year there's a multi-million deficit in budget, it has to be covered with something, right? No profit, but there are wages and office rent, and servers etc. It's a miracle that $6M last for so long. But haven't they mentioned some new upcoming estate affairs in the recent state of universe?

 

[Nalia]

I think tamlin is perfectly right. Where has gone all this money ? Even if MA did 2 or 3 internet banners and 1 or 2 youtube advertising, this not worth 6 M$.

And about all other subjects : voting, estate owner, MA did not respect the contract they offered to players.

I will not leave the game because of that, I love this game, but we all know that MA did not respect their part of the contract. They took 6 M$ and now they don't care anymore about what they promished.

P.S. i wonder if MA is not behind some of the fanboys who posted on this forum... lol ...

 

[Serica]

MindArk did not say that the voting/housing system would be released in 2013. They said development would start then.

You might also note that in the recent State of the Universe post, in relation to advertising, MA said:

2013 Highlights ...
Marketing
MindArk vastly increased its marketing efforts in 2013 resulting in a more than 110% increase in the number of new participants compared to 2012. Those marketing efforts also resulted in a very encouraging 57% increase in the number of new depositors. By all significant measures such as average simultaneous users, new accounts, and daily economic turnover, overall activity in the universe was at an all time high during 2013, due in large part to the MindArk’s latest marketing efforts.

2014 Roadmap ...
Marketing
MindArk plans to continue to expand and refine its marketing efforts in 2014 in order to maximize the number of new participants joining Entropia Universe. As outlined above, our marketing efforts in 2013 were very promising and we plan to become even more aggressive in 2014.

Just because you personally haven't seen an ad, doesn't mean it isn't being done. I've seen a bunch, on all sorts of different websites, including financial and independent news sites not just gaming-related ones.

In relation to the voting/housing system, they said:

Development of these systems was unfortunately delayed in 2013 due to the critical infrastructure upgrades taking quite a bit more development time than anticipated, along with several other projects receiving higher priority in the second half of 2013 and early 2014. This project now is now tentatively planned for release in Q4 of 2014.

One of the 'several other projects' would presumably have been preparing for the launch of Toulan.

 

[DavinFelth]

I don't know much about it other than what I experience in game, what they post, and stuff I read here.

What I do know is in the 3ish years I've played - this is the most advertisement I've ever seen for the game. It is pretty nill - but they did do things: facebook page, banner ads, youtube sure that doesn't cost much, but it is something.

As for turning that cash into something good for the game? I haven't seen much of it. They seem to operate in the same manner: "promise" something will be done and delay,delay,delay and then maybe give a sliver of it,
I don't think many people expected to see anything come from the CLDs as far as in game content/abilities other than getting the weekly payout. If you did - then it's probably what MA hoped you would think. Owning land? Voting? man that stuff is so far out it could be 2 years before ever seeing it. you can quote me on that - and stick it to me if it comes out this year.

What I got from their sale was that an "aggressive ad campaign" would bring in new players, and new cash and that the loot system would be more balanced (aka better) That is something I have not seen. New players? Sure I think there is new players. More than in the last 2 years? I think so too. But more cash? I don't know. Is the loot better?? Hell no!


I've learned to never have expectations when it comes to this game.
I also think the game has and will continue to get better. MA as a company is weird... they never seem to make sense and are so inconsistent that it's consistent.

 

[Butch C v.2]

I've seen targeted MA ads on several sites, there are even posts on this forum about seeing them on YouTube. Look around.

Yes targeted at people searching for EU stuff They are pointing there ads at us.. the ones who already know.

 

[Serica]

Yes targeted at people searching for EU stuff They are pointing there ads at us.. the ones who already know.

While 'Entropia Universe' and 'Planet Calypso' are undoubtedly a couple of their keywords, I seriously doubt they're the only ones.

I've come across EU ads when babysitting the grandkids, using my daughter's notebook to keep an eye on news sites or the financial markets.

While she sometimes plays games herself or downloads stuff for the kids to play, she sure doesn't play EU.

 

[Butch C v.2]

While 'Entropia Universe' and 'Planet Calypso' are undoubtedly a couple of their keywords, I seriously doubt they're the only ones.

I've come across EU ads when babysitting the grandkids, using my daughter's notebook to keep an eye on news sites or the financial markets.

While she sometimes plays games herself or downloads stuff for the kids to play, she sure doesn't play EU.

So she never searched out of curiosity at what her mum is addicted to playing

 

[Serica]

So she never searched out of curiosity at what her mum is addicted to playing

Why would she ? She's 32, is a full-time final-year nursing student with 2 children under 6yo.

She knows what I play, but she's just not interested in gaming, or MMO's. Never has been.
Nor is her husband a gamer - I doubt he's ever considered playing a computer game of any sort

She's played the occasional FB game or free browser-type game, but only during uni breaks - and quite a lot of her last uni break was spent doing volunteer nursing over in Laos.

Even if she did one search for EU at some time, it's hardly going to make her a target for paid Google ads, compared to all the other stuff she does searches for.

 

[Farmer Smurf]

While 'Entropia Universe' and 'Planet Calypso' are undoubtedly a couple of their keywords, I seriously doubt they're the only ones.

I've come across EU ads when babysitting the grandkids, using my daughter's notebook to keep an eye on news sites or the financial markets.

While she sometimes plays games herself or downloads stuff for the kids to play, she sure doesn't play EU.

I think, If you logged into google to check mail or anything like that. you logged into your own "advertisement selections" google picks for you based off previous surfing history.

Either way they advertised it at ~28% ROI, which has turned out to be a joke. which is why I sold most of my clds.

 

[Serica]

I think, If you logged into google to check mail or anything like that. you logged into your own "advertisement selections" google picks for you based off previous surfing history.

,,.

Again, nope, I don't change any of her settings or log into my email while babysitting. But once the kids are asleep I might read some of a handful of news sites etc if I haven't taken a book with me to read.

 

[atomicstorm]

Yes targeted at people searching for EU stuff They are pointing there ads at us.. the ones who already know.

Unfortunately that is a serious flaw in google adsense algorithm and some ad networks. If you have gone to EU page, you'll get EU ads. Rather than target MMOs, they target folks who have already been to EU.

Great example is if you buy something on amazon. For a few weeks, the first ads you see will be about buying the item you already bought.

 

[Butch C v.2]

Why would she ? She's 32, is a full-time final-year nursing student with 2 children under 6yo.

She knows what I play, but she's just not interested in gaming, or MMO's. Never has been.
Nor is her husband a gamer - I doubt he's ever considered playing a computer game of any sort

She's played the occasional FB game or free browser-type game, but only during uni breaks - and quite a lot of her last uni break was spent doing volunteer nursing over in Laos.

Even if she did one search for EU at some time, it's hardly going to make her a target for paid Google ads, compared to all the other stuff she does searches for.

My dads 73 was never interested in gaming, i got him a pc he looked up the game i was talking about which was battlefield 3 at the time and asked if he would be able to play it, he has now finished fear, fear II and fear III, wolfenstien, return to wolfenstien and many others his latest is Dishonored, so no idea what her being 32 with a kid and a job and a volunteer nurse in Laos has to do with anything.

At the end of the day it is pretty crap, cheapskate way to advertise anything as the majority of people seeing it knew about it.

As far as doing one search, i searched for a guitar effects pedal last night and what do you know today it's showing up on on websites i visit, after one search.

 

[Neil Stockton]

Unfortunately that is a serious flaw in google adsense algorithm and some ad networks. If you have gone to EU page, you'll get EU ads. Rather than target MMOs, they target folks who have already been to EU.

Great example is if you buy something on amazon. For a few weeks, the first ads you see will be about buying the item you already bought.

Repetition is not a bad thing in advertising. Say someone searches for articles about entropia universe, then they receive ads over the next few days. It's the repetition that's important to jog their memory... oh yeah I was going to check that game out... Same thing with the amazon items. They remind you about the item you were looking at and that repetition makes you more likely to buy it (if you hadn't yet made up your mind NOT to get it).

 

[Serica]

My dads 73 was never interested in gaming, i got him a pc he looked up the game i was talking about which was battlefield 3 at the time and asked if he would be able to play it, he has now finished fear, fear II and fear III, wolfenstien, return to wolfenstien and many others his latest is Dishonored, so no idea what her being 32 with a kid and a job and a volunteer nurse in Laos has to do with anything.

At the end of the day it is pretty crap, cheapskate way to advertise anything as the majority of people seeing it knew about it.

As far as doing one search, i searched for a guitar effects pedal last night and what do you know today it's showing up on on websites i visit, after one search.

It's nice to hear your Dad has time in his life for gaming. Ask any young mum you know if they have the same sort of time in their lives at present.

I'd love to hear how you explain the Heineken ad I keep seeing btw

But back ontopic, advertising on the internet casts a far bigger net/$ than say placing an ad in some magazine, or on TV or radio. It's a global game, and internet ads address a global market.
It's not like EU is a standalone PC game that's sold in shops, where you might have in-store promo's. The target market is already online, probably already playing some other game, and possibly looking for a new one
For some unknown reason, it seems to be mostly aimed at young males (which I suppose might work for most games), but given the RCE here I think they'd find it productive to also target mature women (like grandmas! ) - a group that I find tends to be financially secure, time-rich now they've retired, and quite often more computer savvy than their husbands

 

[Farmer Smurf]

For some unknown reason, it seems to be mostly aimed at young males (which I suppose might work for most games), but given the RCE here I think they'd find it productive to also target mature women (like grandmas! ) - a group that I find tends to be financially secure, time-rich now they've retired, and quite often more computer savvy than their husbands

Perhaps First target the young men, then you have bait for the financially secure grandmas.

lol

 

[S4400Salvation]

Said this before in a different post those adds that are currently out there are MS Paint quality, pure crap.

If i wasn't a player and seeing those adds for a first time i would definetly not be convinced to go download the game and play.

 

[Butch C v.2]

I'd love to hear how you explain the Heineken ad I keep seeing btw

I'm sure you see plenty of other ads you aren't interested in as do most of us, some are due to your searches and activity online and some are just blanket ads big corporations pay big money to plant their product in front of your eyes whether you drink or not, perhaps you went to a website of a sport that Heineken sponsors, tennis, soccer, rugby many places that the cookies could of nabbed you.

 

[Few Scars]

I am yet to see a Planet Calypso advert anywhere on any MMO website etc. Every other game advertises except this one. Why? Who knows?

 

[whiteknut]

Sorry if this issue already have a thread. If so, please merge.

But the thing is, Calypso (via MA) got 6 million USD (which in most books is a shitload of money) to advertise Planet Calypso (exclusively) from the sale of the CLD's.

But when I look back on CLD payouts, I see a steady decline in CLD payout (we're effectively at yet another all-time-low, and it's still dropping), and not a single shred of evidence any ad-campaign has brought in any more (paying) customers to Calypso.

So what has happened here?

How much of (if any) the 6 million USD have been used to promote Planet Calypso, and get "fresh blood" here? Evaluate your effort (especially relative the amount money you paid).

What do you plan to do with the remaining money?

Have you pocketed any of these money yourselves, or (obviously illegally) "re-purposed" them to e.g. MA?

You are forgetting that average TT returns were improved during that time (atleast thats what was said), which ofcourse affected CLD payout, so even with more ppl playing the CLD payouts can drop. CLD payouts are coming from all the players, so if players get more, CLD owners get less.

 

[robj]

Right here...

I saw EU/Calypso advertising during August 2013 when looking around for a new game.
I did a lot of reading to get a grip on what EU was all about and then dove in to Arkadia as my home world.
It was seeing the orange chat and gold star of an ingame developer answering what questions he could and the friendly banter at quarry that clinched it for me.

The biggest roadblock I think for the community of EU, especially for newbies is the disparate PP forums. Spreading out the players and requiring a login for each has led me to generally ignore all the forums except for this one.

 

[Magyar_Republic]

OK so basically this thread is a bunch of people trying to discredit the mod as if their point of view is invalid for the sole reason that it isnt bashing MA.

Pathetic.

This thread is nothing but a whine thread, and should have been closed immediately. How many times has the same. fucking. question. been asked? And answered. And had the answer blithefully ignored by parties who were interested only in bitching.

Mindark's philosophy is "why spend tons on ads when you can just steal them and re-purpose..."

Mastermesh, btw, your images were created as a response to people aggressively promoting a top ten effort here on these forums. MA got into the spirit and decided to post the image here. What's the big deal? We all know Entropia Planets history on speculation. They're the National Enquirer of MA sites. Oh wait, no. That's your blog. They're more like the Weekly World News.

Nice quantification skills there.

Rayden, you cant quantify information that is not provided. What, would you prefer numerical lies rather than statements that reflect the words printed by the publishers themselves, just so that you can have a set of digits to point to when you rant?

 

[Kitch]

OK so basically this thread is a bunch of people trying to discredit the mod as if their point of view is invalid for the sole reason that it isnt bashing MA.

Pathetic.

This thread is nothing but a whine thread, and should have been closed immediately. How many times has the same. fucking. question. been asked? And answered. And had the answer blithefully ignored by parties who were interested only in bitching.

Mastermesh, btw, your images were created as a response to people aggressively promoting a top ten effort here on these forums. MA got into the spirit and decided to post the image here. What's the big deal? We all know Entropia Planets history on speculation. They're the National Enquirer of MA sites. Oh wait, no. That's your blog. They're more like the Weekly World News.

can you just send me a link, or give me one actual example of an proper calypso/entropia advertising, not a little google adsense one at the bottom of the screen when watching porn but a full fledged one that anyone would see?