Pente.org Recruitment Drive
Posted:
Sep 3, 2009, 11:54 AM
Hi everyone
I am not sure about this because my login timing is out of sink with the majority, but it seems to me that attendance is down. Anyone else notice this / think this?
This is a shame because this is such a great site. I think if more people knew about it, it would grow rather than shrink. It seems though that it is left to the world to discover the site - and the game - in their own time. But competing with the world for attention - as they say in marketing - 'requires action' (Actually I don't know anything about marketing, but if marketing doesn't say that, it should.)
What about a recruitment drive? What if each of us established players (or anyone else for that matter) make a commitment to introduce at least 2 new people to the site by the end of Nov?
Obviously we need to focus on keeping the people here once they join... but we also need to grow the population of Pente players generally and get them playing real-time at Pente.org.
Right, now who amoung you is up for the challenge?
Anyone who wants to make the pledge to introduce 2 new people (actual real people) to Pente.org by the end of Nov 2009, please respond with the words "I Pledge" at the top of your response. Please also add any of your own comments and ideas as well.
would be cool if someone printed a thousand pente.org bumper stickers,.. and then mailed out 10 stickers to each player to stick them somewhere in their home towns.
just a thought. or, what if we all contacted our local radio stations and on the air we dedicated a song to Pente.org. sure the radio people would be like "Pente.org"??? but at least it would be advertised.
hehehe. no but seriously.
perhaps we could make a pente.org spam bot for emails,..once they open their email their computer will crash unless they play 20 games of pente within 30 days. now thats hardball marketing lol.
of course the FBI would be knocking on dweebos door, but i dont think he'd mind since its all in the name of pente, right? lol
if i brain storm any more brilliant thoughts ill let you know.
~z
Scire hostis animum - Intelligere ludum - Nosce te ipsum - Prima moventur conciliat - Nolite errare
Re: Pente.org Recruitment Drive
Posted:
Sep 7, 2009, 2:18 AM
Thanks Zoey for that 'outside the square' contribution. Brilliant. You have really opened my eyes to the world of marketing. But why stop at crashing their computers? Why not empty people's bank accounts and fit them up for a capital crime? I can see now that if people won't come here willingly, thanks to the power of marketing zoey style, we can encourage participation through all sorts of means including larceny, extortion, blackmail, hand-to-hand combat, and even bumper stickers. Thanks zoey, Great stuff!
Perhaps to begin with though we could just start with baby steps and have each of us introduce two personal friends to the site? I know this doesn't quite have the WOW factor of some of your ideas zoey , but it does have the advantage of not attracting the Feds to our little paradise.
if one doesn't have interested friends, the following approach might work- contact the chess club sponsor at a local school (usually a teacher) and ask if you can come in to play board games with the kids. Likely get beat once or twice at chess and then offer a prize of $10 or so to the first person who can beat you at Pente. If no one can on the first day, tell them they can improve their games and have a good chance of claiming the prize if they visit and study at pente.org. If someone does beat you, tell them they can still improve their game if they come here.
Retired from TB Pente, but still playing live games & exploring variants like D, poof and boat
Re: Pente.org Recruitment Drive
Posted:
Sep 8, 2009, 6:24 AM
Great thinking watsu. (Zoey, now why didn't you think of that?? )
I might just try that myself with my local school Watsu. I did get a friend of mine from my chess club to come and play some games, but he has been too busy to keep it up (he devotes most of his discretionary time to chess). I think this could definitely work though with high school kids.
We also need to get people who come here to stick around long enough to get hooked (Re my previous thread), hence the idea that if it was someone you know who came here then part of the attraction for that person would be to play their recruiter.
Anyone else? Anyone ready to take 'The Pledge'? Did I mention 'FREE BEER'?
Re: Pente.org Recruitment Drive
Posted:
Sep 10, 2009, 5:19 AM
OK. Now I realize that some of you may have seen through my offer of free beer. So, in order to get this thing rolling I am going have to raise the stakes.
For the first person to take the 'Pledge' of recruiting two new players to Pente.org by the end of Nov 2009 there will be a prize. A second prize will also be offered for the second person (just not as good as the first prize).
If you want to know what the prize is, you will have to take the Pledge. You won't be sorry.....
Stats as at Sept 10, 2009 Replies 5, Views 85, Pledges 0
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Re: Pente.org Recruitment Drive
Posted:
Sep 11, 2009, 6:55 AM
what about retroactive,..??? i have brought in players in past years,...do i get a retroactive prize?
and how come with companies the new customers get a great package deal while the old time faithful customers of 20 years get the same old crappy package? im refering to companies like tv cable ext...not your deal.. sorry i switched subjects there hehe. that last question was probably rhetorical.
Scire hostis animum - Intelligere ludum - Nosce te ipsum - Prima moventur conciliat - Nolite errare
Once again zoey, your grasp of marketing and customer retention far exceeds mine. I can only marvel at the workings of your mind on that topic...
I could say though that if you old timers had been doing your part to recruit effectively we wouldn't be having this conversation. But I am not going to say that.
At any rate you personally aren't eligable to be given this prize for reasons that will become obvious later. You can have the free beer, ok?
I only play turn based, not real time, but I tell everybody I know about this (and that other) pente site, free prize or not. The more people here, the more I get to play. Of course, many of them are already gamers, but they tend to devote their time to life wasters like WOW instead of something that exercises the mind and massages the psyche like pente.
How about those of you who have reached the "pro" level offering real time tutoring to those of us who can't seem to progress. Pente is sort of like Algebra or geometry - not all of us are 'wired' to see the moves and strategy and we learn by trial and error. Well, mostly error. The database is good, but it's not the same as a real time game. Or...possibly there could be a game room for low scoring people to get together and learn from each other. Just a thought.
Quite a few players of various skill levels offer advice/tutorials (myself included, time permitting). Just ask around to see who's willing, since I don't have a list of such players.
Retired from TB Pente, but still playing live games & exploring variants like D, poof and boat
Re: Pente.org Recruitment Drive
Posted:
Sep 19, 2009, 10:30 AM
ok. We officially have no takers (sorry zoey), so I have another suggestion.
How about we focus on keeping players here once they join. There have been others who have suggested this of course and there are suggestions as to how to do this in other threads.
But following on from the last two posts to this thread, why don't we start a Pente Academy? Why not design a series of tutorials given live by one or more of the top players?
Imagine a situation where newbies are offered to join in on the next series of tutorials starting monthly on a Tuesday for instance. Each tute could go for 30 minutes say, and there could be 20 people in the class (at the table) all who have registered to be there. Perhaps a beginner course could be constructed that goes for just 4 sessions (one a week) and they are sent off after each lesson to work on the stuff covered in the class.
You could also have intermediate and advanced classes. We could set a test using mm_ai. Beginners could qualify by taking a set off ai_1 and intermediates ai_4, advanced ai_8
I see advantages in increasing competition and standards. Better engagement with other players on the site. A better sense of community, and better retention rates for new players.
Is this an idea that someone wants to take up? If so, let me know and I will start a new thread called 'Pente Academy' and we can discuss.
im goina hold u to that!