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An Experiment: How Important is NeoGAF?

NeoGAF is one of, if not the biggest gaming communities on the internet, but how much power do we have? Can we change the fate of a game? I'm not implying that we try and turn Big Rigs into a million seller here, but rather we take an awesome awesome game that's selling poorly, and see if we can change that.

In case you've not noticed, I bloody love Xbox Indie Games. Further to this, I bloody love Hypership Out of Control. Here's what I said about it in the monthly Indie Games thread this month:

I was slightly worried this month. The first two games to come out were Treasure Treasure and radiangames Inferno and I loved them both, I was already wondering what to pick as the game of the month. Then Hypership Out of Control came along and just blew everything else away.

screen3_Web.jpg


You’re piloting a ship but the space brakes are out. This’d be OK but the accelerator is jammed. This is not a recipe for a successful voyage. It’s up to the player to manoeuvre the ship through asteroids and walls and mines and space bees and just survive as long as possible. In the normal mode, you get three lives and each “wave,” basically a set of obstacles, increases your max speed until you’re going so fast you can barely keep up so you die and then play again and again and again because the game is like crack.

That’d be enough for a dollar, but it doesn’t stop there. Hardcore mode reduces the number of lives to one. Another mode removes the maximum speed limit and so you go much faster, much quicker. Aside from a practice mode which you can use to play any of the game’s ten waves that you’ve reached through normal play, the final mode is coindown. This gives you a number of coins to begin with and they gradually tick down, you have to collect more because you’ll lose when they reach zero.

In the other modes, coins are collected for points and to add to your multiplier, 99 coins is worth X2, X3, up to X5. Your points also rack up quicker as you increase speed. The coin mechanic is a simple one but it means that the longer you survive, the quicker your points shoot up. Points can be tracked on global leaderboards which you can access if you’ve got a gold account.

screen2_Web.jpg


Surely that’s enough as content goes, but no! There’s co-op gameplay, and the game also comes with 20 “awardments” for you to earn based on things like completing waves, earning points and collecting the games many power-ups. Things to slow you down, speed you up, give you a more powerful gun or a shield, or more.

It’s a ridiculously simple concept at heart, but so much effort has gone into the presentation, the brilliant music (which I’m still humming) and the wonderful humour that it’s impossible not to love it and just play it over and over again. This is the cheapest game you’ll buy all year at only 80 Microsoft Points, and is my second favourite game on the whole service. It was a really easy choice for game of the month.

That game has sold around 300 copies. A total revenue of $300 and I've no idea what Microsoft's cut of that is. But $300 for a game that costs the user almost nothing, and is one of the top few games on the entire service.

So it got me to thinking...

How much power does NeoGAF have? Can we turn around the fate of this game and get people buying it? And if we can, how can we do it?

Some easy things we can do:

a) try the game yourself, it's free to do so. If you like it, buy it!
b) give it a five star rating, and if you've got gamertags in other countries, log in and rate it with those too!
c) tell people about it!

Is there anything else that we can do, as a community, to help this awesome game get the recognition it deserves? Games have sold 30,000, 60,000, 100,000 units on Indie Games, the market's there, we need to find it.

(I am in no way affiliated with this game and certainly won't profit from it, I just love it and want to see it get the recognition it deserves. I assume the dev won't mind, but will delete this if they do!)
 

mollipen

Member
You're one of the good people around here, AND I totally blanked on your name on the last episode of WAHP, so for those two reasons I just bought the game without even trying it.
 
We at very best affect a small fraction of the game buying audience.

There are outlier cases, of course, but those tend to involve way more people than just GAF.

Edit: I will give the game a shot, though.
 
I don't want to draw focus away from what the actual thread is about but

toythatkills said:
NeoGAF is one of, if not the biggest gaming communities on the internet

It really isn't even close.

Anyway, I'll tell people about the game but I doubt I'd be of much help since I have few friends with a 360.
 
shidoshi said:
You're one of the good people around here, AND I totally blanked on your name on the last episode of WAHP, so for those two reasons I just bought the game without even trying it.
I'm not sure what that means :/

Don't worry about buying without trying it though, I'm confident you'll love it!

ShockingAlberto said:
We at very best affect a small fraction of the game buying audience.

There are outlier cases, of course, but those tend to involve way more people than just GAF.
I know a lot of Games Press reads GAF though, and even though we're a small fraction, surely the people we get word out to and the people they get word out to... Surely we can do something? I figured it was worth a go, anyway!

STG said:
If this has any effect, Big Rigs is next :p

cosmicblizzard said:
It really isn't even close.
In that case, people need to be getting on the bigger communities and telling them about this game!
 

Firestorm

Member
ShockingAlberto said:
We at very best affect a small fraction of the game buying audience.

There are outlier cases, of course, but those tend to involve way more people than just GAF.

Edit: I will give the game a shot, though.
I believe his point is that so many people in very influential positions read GAF, he wants to read how influential that is. Last time I wanted to highight an issue, I posted it here and IGN picked up within a day because that's what a lot of places do. Troll GAF for things to write about. This is highlighting a game that GAFfers will likely recommend to their friends if they like and games writers / podcasters can highlight on their own sites / shows.
 

Salsa

Member
cosmicblizzard said:
It really isn't even close.

How come ?

Everybody taks about it, including big devs. Tons of lurkers wanting to get in, its featured in some games, etc.

I think its pretty big.
 

AKingNamedPaul

I am Homie
cosmicblizzard said:
I don't want to draw focus away from what the actual thread is about but



It really isn't even close.

Anyway, I'll tell people about the game but I doubt I'd be of much help since I have few friends with a 360.
Yea, quality? maybe. quantity? no way.

If I had a 360 I would participate op.
 
These sort of topics always make me uneasy. Yeah, internet communities that are large tend to be influential, but you should never try to exploit that intentionally. It tends to backlash pretty severely in some way or another
 

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
I think an Indie game needs to pull in a certain amount of money for MS to give a check out for it. I could be wrong though.
 
SalsaShark said:
How come ?

Everybody taks about it, including big devs. Tons of lurkers wanting to get in, its featured in some games, etc.

I think its pretty big.

It's big and important, but Gamefaqs has us beat in sheer size. I know Gaf isn't really fond of the place, but numbers are numbers.
 

Drkirby

Corporate Apologist
I would say Neogaf is the biggest dedicated gaming community. Its something that is missing from places like GameFAQs, where to me it doesn't feel like there is any sort of community. Its just nameless posters replying to other nameless posters. The lack of any sort of Avatar and 500 post limits for topics hurt it too.

I think an Indie game needs to pull in a certain amount of money for MS to give a check out for it. I could be wrong though.
It does, but I don't think it needs to be to high, I think it was $100. $300 should be enough to cash something in.
 
By far and wide this site's biggest uptick of users was solely due to the fact that a topic made the Digg front page...

Don't get me wrong GAF is pretty damn big, the most active forum in the world. But it's merely a drop in the water compared to many other communities out there.

EDIT -
cosmicblizzard said:
It's big and important, but Gamefaqs has us beat in sheer size. I know Gaf isn't really fond of the place, but numbers are numbers.

Numbers don't mean shit if people aren't active. GAF is one of the most active forums in the world.

I don't know how trust worthy this is, but I go by it.

Believe it or not, message boards are very very very niche.
 

Firestorm

Member
cosmicblizzard said:
It's big and important, but Gamefaqs has us beat in sheer size. I know Gaf isn't really fond of the place, but numbers are numbers.
We really are getting off track, but GameFAQs is far too fractured to be called one community. I was a part of many GameFAQs communities but there are a few thousand boards there. I went Animal Crossing Trading -> Neopets -> Maple Story -> Next Gen Gaming -> Pokemon Diamond/Pearl Battling before I finally stopped fully. Each of those communities had very different people. GAF may have cliques, but they aren't separate communities like on GameFAQs.

Not to mention the reach GAF has is more than GameFAQs which is what toythatkills was referring to.
 

Drkirby

Corporate Apologist
Oh god the people at NGG are annoying. Nothing but Trolls trolling each other, and I could be remembering badly but I think it has gotten even worse over the years.
 
Flying_Phoenix said:
Numbers don't mean shit if people aren't active. GAF is one of the most active forums in the world.

I don't know how trust worthy this is, but I go by it.

Believe it or not, message boards are very very very niche.

Jeez, I guess we do get by for having so few numbers. That's pretty crazy.
 

mollipen

Member
toythatkills said:
I'm not sure what that means :/

Don't worry about buying without trying it though, I'm confident you'll love it!

I mentioned you on episode 009 of WARNING! A Huge Podcast, and the fact that you do awesome Xbox Indies threads over here, but when doing so I totally blanked on your name.

And indeed, I'm enjoying it!
 
I'd like to think gaf is important enough to be read by influencial journalists because alot of ppl bitch about drm and dd-only futures etc. which hopefully might get some corporate trolls to accept not many ppl like it.

Plus when corps/fanboys try and promote something as the next coming and it gets thrown back in their face.

And NPD's.
 

Feep

Banned
To be fair, upon starting my job at Joystiq, they immediately told me, "Get a NeoGAF account." I was like, what? Okay.

I didn't become a regular member until after I had left, but yeah, tons of sites do it. We're the best news aggregator out there.

Edit: Yeah, Scribblenauts, too.
 

Yes Boss!

Member
Thanks for bringing the game to my attention! Bought and rated. Been over a year since I browsed the indie channel. Lots of fun in this little package...well worth the 80 points.
 

Foxix Von

Member
Salmon said:
Post Two One Seven!

That's actually not a bad point, that and the ostrich hammer!

But yeah, OP, if I hadn't developed such a strong conviction against digital downloads I would completely join you. If there's a way to buy just 80 points I'd heavily consider it.
 

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
Is there a recommend button for XBLI games? I don't spend much time on the dash so maybe I haven't noticed it, but that would be one of the quickest ways to spread the word on a buried gem. The other is through other forums.

But the biggest part of the problem is just a lack of awareness about the XBLIG store in general. MS could do a better job of promoting the channel and its content on the dashboard.
 
i don't think this is the best way to track the influence of GAF.

i'm not sure what it would be exactly but there's too many things to consider in the entire process of measuring this.

for some reason i feel like the minecraft thread on here has really helped that game in some way.
 

Sobriquet

Member
Flying_Phoenix said:
I don't know how trust worthy this is, but I go by it.

That site's kinda weird because it seems to only track forums that install their software. There are a lot of major forums that aren't listed. A forum that I moderate, judging by those numbers, should be in the top 10.

Always-honest said:
i think Neogaf contributed to the sales of Demon's Souls.

Agreed.


I'll check out that game, though. :)
 
Foxix said:
I know it's the reason I bought my copy :lol
inculding myself, i allready know 5 people who did. 4 of those aren't even on neogaf, but just friends of mine who were hyped crazy by my enthousiasm. I'm sure The Devs are aware of this and will make all kinds of NeoGAF eastereggs in Demon's Souls 2. We'll probably be mentioned by name (each member) in the end credits. Iw ouldn't be surprised if the game is called: Demon's Souls 2: G.A.F.
 

Sobriquet

Member
Dammit, I just bypassed that Gamepro at Sav-On the other day. I wish I would have looked at the cover a little closer.

edit: Nevermind, it's apparently old. I thought I'd read that article.
 
ShockingAlberto said:
We at very best affect a small fraction of the game buying audience.

There are outlier cases, of course, but those tend to involve way more people than just GAF.

Edit: I will give the game a shot, though.


Correct Gaf is a small but vocal community... the vast majority of people buying games have no idea gaf exists... and probably haven't posted on a gaming forum in their lives.
 

GraveRobberX

Platinum Trophy: Learned to Shit While Upright Again.
You know for the 4+ years I have been on GAF (2 years lurking and getting approved, then the 2 years allowed to throw my opinion in the mix by posting) it has been a fun amazing ride.

I get a lot of my gaming info from others, news gets released here before even the developer or publisher has the opportunity
(<3 the GAF ==> website ==> GAF)

Some of the posters really are at their best when they try to get you to buy a game they enjoyed with their countless points of review, and then they help out by answering your questions

I was on the edge for Demon's Soul, I thought it was OK game, but the forum guys here drummed the marching beat of GOTY, took another look, read reviews by posters that had the Asian version, the pictures, etc.
I got so caught up, that I went from see it down the line to buy to Day -1 Collector's Edition

Other games I would never touch, I gave a chance do to GAFfer reviews

Off Topic always brings the lol's through the weird stories, the puns, the randomness of it all

Seriously GAF feels like home to me, it is catered to what I enjoy, an accompaniment of other Gamers who are passionate about their hobby, who get along even with different views, where developers of games we play post or take our input...and <3 when the mass ban-hammer drops and you go WTF! happened here, like a car crash, you can't look away.
 
What I take from this thread is that EviLore looks like a pissed off George Washington. Damned if I know what that says about how important NeoGAF is.
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
NeoGAF's greatest impact on the industry likely isn't on sales.

There's two things that I think NeoGAF is particularly influential in.

1.) Industry News. Everything gets posted here. Everything. Lots of the top gaming blogs and websites add NeoGAF to their lists of sources. A small group of bloggers or news staff simply can't beat the hundreds/thousands of users on NeoGAF when it comes to breaking stories. One site breaks a story, it gets posted on NeoGAF, and it spreads from there.

2.) Developer interaction. When developers are trying to gauge reaction to their games from the players themselves, they go to two places. The first is their own message board. The second is NeoGAF. Sometimes, the fan community of a developer is actually stronger on NeoGAF than on their own message boards (PlatinumGames is a great example). Developers clearly favor GAF over any other gaming message board on the net. Period.

But it still should be mentioned that NeoGAF is still a very small portion of the gaming populace and is not representative of the entire population. Lots of games are hyped to hell and back on GAF but this doesn't necessarily mean that they end up selling well.
 
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