Requesting the AH community's help

[Brooke]

Arlo, I hear you.

Also, unlike what I thought (I had similar feeling to you on it), Pearl and Doolittle ended up being a lot of fun.  Pearl especially is often quite a blast, and of all the events, that's the one that gets by far the most players (usually more than 100).  Doolittle is also a popular one.

Popularity seems to revolve around what people have heard of, not as much a result of people's analysis of the setup.  Pearl is most popular.  Operation Husky and Milne Bay are among the least popular (even though their setups are a lot of fun, in my opinion).

You flew in Coral Sea -- that is one of my favorites in terms of being more realistic.

[Brooke]

Um, I'm not sure, it was in europe, and it was either more than one sector

Could have been Black Thursday.  That one has the most distance to fly, but it's a high-alt battle of B-17's and P-47's headed for Schweinfurt against high-alt 109's and 190's -- a classic, high-alt escorted bomber raid -- and those need some distance to get the right feel.

Or could have been D-Day.  That one is 2 sectors to the action as the closest I can get based on the map.

Others can seem like they have far to go, as there are fields that are farther back, but there are usually fields 1 sector from where the action will likely be as well (such as opposing fields being 2 sectors apart, but the action generally occurring in the middle, 1 sector from each).

Anyway, most of them, the action tends to be about 1 sector away.

[Theta]

I joined up in Operation Husky.  It was a lot of fun, but after I died twice I left.  There is not much point to me sitting in the tower not allowed to play because I died twice.

Please allow everyone to re-up after they die.  I would participate much more if not for this one problem.  I play to fight and have fun, not to be forced to sit idle in the tower.

Thank you.

[BaldEagl]

I'm never able to play when you do these.  The only one I've ever been able to make was Coral Sea and it was fun.  Maybe if you changed it to this week in WWII and ran them at a convenient day and time more would join.  Weekdays suck for me.  If I was a kid or retired I'd make them all.

[Brooke]

I joined up in Operation Husky.  It was a lot of fun, but after I died twice I left. 

I set them up so that there is a limit of 2 deaths every 5 minutes.  I did it this way originally so that there was more incentive to flying more realistically.

I think I'll take that limitation out, though, since (1) it ends up being much more a limitation for less-experienced players than for more-experienced ones, since the more-experienced ones tend not to die often enough for it to matter (except in bombers), (2) for bombers, death of drones counts toward the total (which I don't like for various reasons), and (3) the folks who are more affected by it are more likely to have the reaction you describe.

I'll get rid of it for Battle of Britain (Aug. 13) and see how it goes.

[Brooke]

I'm never able to play when you do these.  The only one I've ever been able to make was Coral Sea and it was fun.  Maybe if you changed it to this week in WWII and ran them at a convenient day and time more would join.  Weekdays suck for me.  If I was a kid or retired I'd make them all.

I understand.  Some of them do end up being on weekends, which is good, but of course that is only about 2/7ths of them.

Part of the purpose of "This Day", though, is to run an event on the anniversary day of the battle.  To commemorate Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7th, etc. 

Otherwise, there are already Snapshots, FSO, and SEC regularly on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, respectively.

[Brooke]

So far, folks have talked about why they, individually, can't or don't play in "This Day" events.

Those are good to hear, but generally whenever I'm running these events, there are at least 300-400 players in the Main Arena at the time who are thus available to play in the event.

How to I better reach those folks?  How can I get more of them to try out "This Day"?

I already put posts about the event up in various areas of the message board starting about 1 month in advance, keeping the topic I start fresh.  I announce in the Main Arena (via the CM announce tool) shortly before and slightly after I start the event, telling about it and asking folks to give it a try.  I talk about "This Day" events occasionally in the Main Arena, working to recruit people into the events.

What I think that I need are more players working to spread the word and helping to recruit players (their pals, their squaddies, or just anyone who seems like he might be interested).

[scott66]

I'm in... I'll try to shut down early those days thanks for the invite

[jeffdn]

Brooke, I will try my darnedest to get flakhapy and the other Alchemists to come on over!

[gyrene81]

So far, folks have talked about why they, individually, can't or don't play in "This Day" events.

Those are good to hear, but generally whenever I'm running these events, there are at least 300-400 players in the Main Arena at the time who are thus available to play in the event.

How to I better reach those folks?  How can I get more of them to try out "This Day"?

when a special event is announced in the lwma, what i've seen is bish porking ords and somewhat successfully rolling undefended bases, knights saying alert base <blah blah> and complaining that no one works together to win the war and looking for a bish or rook horde, and rooks leisurely taking bases, stopping most of the bish base hordes, and stalemating knight base taking efforts.

[Tilt]

whenever I'm running these events, there are at least 300-400 players in the Main Arena at the time who are thus available to play in the event.

How to I better reach those folks?  How can I get more of them to try out "

Turning this on its head................ The challenge is to understand why these folks prefer the MA....... and offer them that but better.

Offering them "something different" is not sufficient in itself IMO.

[Arlo]

At the very least, I suppose the more voices that chime in to lure arena friends, the more likely arena friends may be tempted (especially those who've had a taste of events and enjoyed the change of pace). 

[Brooke]

Turning this on its head................ The challenge is to understand why these folks prefer the MA....... and offer them that but better.

Offering them "something different" is not sufficient in itself IMO.

True.  I could get lots of people if I were to run an FSO copy or do a furball setup where all perk planes and vehicles are free.  What I want to do is commemorate major WWII battles on their anniversary dates with fun themed battles and then work on how to get enough participation in it.  I'm open to modifying those setups to help the process, but most people who play do like them.  I wish that I could figure out how to get more people to try it who haven't ever tried it.

"This Day" events can be played with 20-30 people (and I have always gotten at least that), but that's not the best.  40 or 50 is much more fun, and they can accommodate over 100 no problem.

Some events tend to get 50 or more without much trouble (Pearl, D-Day, Doolittle, Battle of the Bulge, Black Thursday, and Battle of Britain).  Some events are more often a struggle (Milne Bay, Malta, Husky, Torch).  So, it is likely what people have heard of that has a major impact.  I'm reluctant to delete the major battles that are less well known among Americans, though.

[Brooke]

At the very least, I suppose the more voices that chime in to lure arena friends, the more likely arena friends may be tempted (especially those who've had a taste of events and enjoyed the change of pace). 

That's what I'm hoping -- more word of mouth. 

[Brooke]

With regard to word of mouth, one of the things that I find is that the majority of Main Arena players have never played in a special event, don't know anything at all about special events, have no idea what "This Day in WWII" is, and don't care at all about knowing more or giving it a try when I'm the one promoting it.

What I'm hoping is, if there are people they know who say "I flew in a couple This Day events, and they were really fun.  You should try it once," that they will at least give it a try.