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General Discussion > Time to save omerta
| Time to save omerta |
By 3.51Berserker
3/12/2012
18:56 pm
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Dear omerta (Brando in general)
There are currently some problems with the whole game and gameplay. As you have noticed aswell
The game is pretty much dying. You and me both know that around 2014 the player-base has shrunk
so bad that the game cant be played anymore (100/200 players max per version)
Ill post a good guideline and i hope that you will actually follow this trough to be able to
save the game. We have noticed that you also seen that the game is nearly dead and thats why
for example you created tycoon so in case this dies that is still running.
- Promotional third party services
- playerbase/free to play
- Player comfort
- Customer service
- Promotional third party services
The problem with Omerta is that it has no actual promotion, i mean there is no third party
service which you promote Omerta by. You have the \"vote for Omerta\" links but because you\'re
player-base is so small the game is not anymore in the top10. And we both know not in the top10
means that hardly anyone will notice.
So what you need to do is the following, introduce Facebook application on omerta, meaning
Promote the game via Facebook (at the moment the biggest free promotional service). Make the
players sign in or register via Facebook to be able to play the game. Maybe adding Facebook profile
link on your own profile (you can hide or show) is a good option to boost the game mentality and
attract more people/friends of the players.
Crappy games like Maffia Wars have beat Omerta\'s player-base due the fact of using Facebook as the
connectivity tool. Implementing the use of Facebook is free advertisement and people will more likely
be interested in the game by actaully seeing that such a game exist. (13,000 likes on your Facebook group only?
I know a homeless man in the London that has more likes on the Facebook group that is made for him)
- Playerbase/free to play
I know it has been said many times Lackeys this lackeys that. No one can blame you, you as a running
LTD game has also to think about making your profit from this well running game. But by introducing
Lackeys you have changes the fundamental purpose and the actual punchline of the game which is
\"Free to play\" and changed it into \"pay to play\"
No i\'m not asking you to remove Lackeys not at all but compromising by still having the punchline
\"free to play\" and having lackeys. I mean let\'s face it the majority of your player-base (in the past)
Were not people that payed for the game but played for free and after a while made their donation
because they liked the game. Now the \"free players\" have no chance competing with the \"pay to play\"
players. Maybe because they can\'t afford it maybe because they dont want to waste their money.
The best option is to actually bring back something of that player-base by making for example,
Manual ranking faster than lackeys. For example; Manual per crime 0.87% vs lackey per crime 0.39%
This will actually give manual players a reason to actaully play the game again and the lackey users
will also still play (the ones that dont have time to rank all the time).
It will also boost the lackey users to be more online if they want to rank faster and so
the community will be more alive again (which is also promotional) and for example if I am ranking
and someone ask\'s me on Facebook for example what are you doing i will say playing this game. Rather
than having my lackeys on (if the ranking speed is the same) and saying oh im watching a movie. Which
denies the free promotion of mouth to mouth.
- Player comfort.
Okay player comfort is mainly based on how well the person feels to play this game and how pissed
off he will get based specifically on the game itself and not on what he does in the game. To
explain it further i am basically aiming at the 11 click limit. I know this is one of the oldest
implementation and when you had a player-base of 10.000 people online it was more believable than now.
let\'s face it we are living in a different time now with a dying game that needs to be saved.
Many other mafia/crime MMORPG games dont have a 11 click limit which makes the \"new\" player not
comfortable with playing Omerta and having a first choice on other mafia/crime games because of
this 11 click limit.
But instead if you want the DC and DC++ status ongoing give them another option, for example
For a DC you get for example 50 defense points or 3 houses there and some defense points. A DC++
gives you more benefits etc, so eventually the DC status does not die and you can still make
your profit.
- Customer service
As we all know customer service is the most important thing especially in games like these where
not everything is easily explained etc. Omerta misses alot of that, admins sometimes play the role
of badcop too extreme something this game cannot afford. Many things are left unanswered, no replies
on suggestions sometimes not even normal help which is frustrating the player.
IRC in channels such as #help for example where players come and wait while they will get answered
after 2 hours and are told that they cannot be helped makes the players hate admins. Secondly
Omerta has failed in holding a big American player-base but that you cannot be blamed for mainly
because the time differences.
Although there are American players that get the least customer service of all (after 1 am #help
is empty for 9 hours) and many European players are sleeping so the community is pretty much dead
after 1 am. But this can be changed by actual promotions such as mentioned above (Facebook etc)
And most importantly the customer service for these players.
- Conclusion
So this is a actual pretty good marketing strategy that you should adapt. I know in the end it is
Brando that pulls the strings so he actually has to read this and implement it. This is merely free
marketing advice which you normally will pay me for but i enjoy playing this game too much to actually
take the Job offer that is promoted on the Omerta Game LTD website.
I hope action will be undertaken soon and these factors will be implemented to actually save this
game with a quite unique concept. But listen carefully if you do not follow or do not WANT to follow
these steps please Brando sell this game. If you have lost hope in this game put it for sale let
people bid on it so someone else will be able to save it and you would have made your money either
way.
Yours Sincerely
Haidro (since 2.4)
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By 3.51Miep
3/12/2012
20:15 pm
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About the Facebook inlogging part:
What if you\'re famous in your own country and don\'t want other players to beg for your autograph? I could not stay anonymously anymore, something I really value.
About the DC+ status:
It is/was a rule that paying/donating would NEVER benefit you over non-donating players, so should they change their policy?
I do agree with you with the fact this game is dying. Thanks for putting so much effort in this matter, its being appreciated.
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By 3.51Berserker
3/12/2012
20:26 pm
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Quote: Miep on 20:15:02 03-12-2012
About the Facebook inlogging part:
What if you\'re famous in your own country and don\'t want other players to beg for your autograph? I could not stay anonymously anymore, something I really value.
About the DC+ status:
It is/was a rule that paying/donating would NEVER benefit you over non-donating players, so should they change their policy?
I do agree with you with the fact this game is dying. Thanks for putting so much effort in this matter, its being appreciated.
I mentioned a option that you can keep it hiden (on your profile or if you want to show) secondly certain things you can remove on Facebook if you dont want them to show. So in that case no one will know that you are playing this game.
Concerning the DC status, yes they have to change their policy in that matter if it\'s about saving the game than it should be done by any means necessary. These are different times the player-base is too small to keep \"old\" rules. Any refreshment is acceptable in critical times like these if that is not done there wont be a game anymore.
It was also a rule that this game will be free to play.
Any player that does not use lackeys will know after 1 month of playing that the punchline of this game is pay to play. No \"free\" player can compete anymore with a lackey user that is why certain things such as different rp points, lackeys vs manual have to be changed.
your welcome i just hope that admins (Brando specifically) reads this or any other admin and brings it up to him.
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By 3.51Miep
3/12/2012
20:32 pm
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Quote: Berserker on 20:26:43 03-12-2012
I mentioned a option that you can keep it hiden (on your profile or if you want to show) secondly certain things you can remove on Facebook if you dont want them to show. So in that case no one will know that you are playing this game.
Concerning the DC status, yes they have to change their policy in that matter if it\'s about saving the game than it should be done by any means necessary. These are different times the player-base is too small to keep \"old\" rules. Any refreshment is acceptable in critical times like these if that is not done there wont be a game anymore.
It was also a rule that this game will be free to play.
Any player that does not use lackeys will know after 1 month of playing that the punchline of this game is pay to play. No \"free\" player can compete anymore with a lackey user that is why certain things such as different rp points, lackeys vs manual have to be changed.
I must admit, I did not read every single word so I was not aware of that anonymous thingy.
It\'s true, without lackeys one cannot play any significant role in this game or one has to be unemployed and dedicate his/her/its life to Omerta.
I also agree with the fact that this game needs more people in order to stay alive.
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By 3.51Kenpachi
3/12/2012
21:01 pm
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the fact that this post has been made 2 hours ago an not even one of those old spammers have responded jet must imply the game is on its last brink of breath
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By 3.51Ntt
4/12/2012
16:26 pm
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Quote: Kenpachi on 21:01:49 03-12-2012
the fact that this post has been made 2 hours ago an not even one of those old spammers have responded jet must imply the game is on its last brink of breath
who? -,o
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By Wildhorse
4/12/2012
21:19 pm
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ok this deserves a reply, I think that brando is well aware of the promotional vallue of social media like facebook, from all omerta employees and volunteers he\'s the most active person on facebook. the game/company is far from dying lucky enough, there is no risk that omerta will cease to exist in the near future, however the number of players has decreased ... on itself thats not a very surprising development, we had players who started playing this game as a 16 year old boy/girl and are married and have children by now .. so then other aspects of life get priority above gaming ofcourse.
in my opinion there is a couple of things needed to push up the spirit and atmosphere: as you mentioned : advertising and promotion to atrackt new players ... but also a change of attitude from both players and crew .. basicaly the base-structure of the game didnt change dramaticaly since i came in myself in summer 2005 (version 2.2)
I will pass on this post uncencored to brando and the omerta management team in general, and i would like to thank Berserker for the time and effords he put in it, i hope in time you will notice that you are not the only one who cares about this community and its future.
communicating about this is constructive and positive.
thanks
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By 3.51Amanethes
4/12/2012
21:44 pm
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Nice response Wildhorse. I hope this really does go to Brando cause something needs to be done. I remember playing back when I first started and my positions was 10000+ for a long time, now you are always ranked even if ES, so far fewer players.
Going to highlight a few things tho. First
however the number of players has decreased ... on itself thats not a very surprising development, we had players who started playing this game as a 16 year old boy/girl and are married and have children by now
Well yes that is true & happens with life I totally agree. What I do believe however is there are no new players to replace the ones leaving. It comes down to how Omerta got around previously. Word-of-mouth was by far the biggest way in which omerta grew. People got friends to play and help them. I know thats how I got into it, and brought some of my friends along too. Smaller playerbase = less people bringing others in.
Also, in the current environment of gaming, its extremely hard to convince someone to come play a text based game like this when they can instead play any of the new releases... Skyrim, Assassins Creed, FM13, FIFA, Borderlands, Halo, WoW Mists of Pandaria etc etc etc. I\'d premise that alot of players stayed for other people. It was a social thing. For whatever reasons - I wont speculate here - the social side is dying. IRC is quieter, I\'m a hell of a lot less likely to sit n click away at Omerta if there is no one to talk to on IRC.
but also a change of attitude from both players and crew
I think you hit the nail completely on the head. Playerbase bitches and whines about how bad the service is in #help, yet I would guess you hear some wonderful things in there when people come in abusing you for this that and the other. We both need to clean up our act and realise we aren\'t on separate sides. I wont delve into the complexities, but having ex-players sit in as crew members does bring about favouritism, and it has been a recurring complaint over many versions now (to your credit - I have not heard anything this version, and the really short pillory looks fantastic, so there may well be hope here). Very few of the Omerta staff will actually receive any payment from Omerta as a company I would presume? It makes it extremely hard, but is something that can be worked on.
On the players side, versions are so short now because of the KA I believe. Previously, say back in 3.0, versions lasted a long time because defensive KA meant that you had a chance with a 2nd or 3rd generation account. Currently, its just not going to happy. Die once and you are so far behind the 1st Gen accounts its almost impossible to make up. Perhaps this needs to be equalised a bit? There has also been large complaints about \"pacts\" and \"gangbang wars\" etc etc you have probably heard. Personally, I think these pacts are nothing new, but now constitute a higher % of the game than before, so is much more obvious. With new players, this problem will clear up.
Just one last thing, and this is my pet hate. Tiredness. Lackies killed the scripts almost entirely. Now the one thing that just annoys me no end is that I might put lackies on and go to bed. When I wake up I log in and bam account is tired. Am i going to sit there and grind up a tired account? Hell no. Im going to get up and walk away again. This is part of the problem with so few people on irc. But this is just my 2 cents ofc 
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By Wildhorse
4/12/2012
22:13 pm
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By giving the pacts what they want and reset a game version we ofcourse make every second or thirth generation account impossible causing players to quit playing and making every new game version a little shorter then the privious one with less players. Maybe the crew/management didnt care enough about the group of players under the so called \"top\" layer.
Thats basicaly what i ment with : change of attitude
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By 3.51Asmr
6/12/2012
2:00 am
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The game is dead for years now. get over it. buy a ps3/xbox/wii those playerinteractions trough online game services are much more social then this game for example. i freaked on omerta years ago cuz there wasnt much better (or cheaper) at that moment that i enjoyed. now there are so many graphicly perfected games that games like this tend to starve out.
+ players get befriended after yrs, closer, more closer, wars tend to happen less often, makes the game boring, always same routine, same crap, same lame helpdesk and Brando, oh Brando he is one smart businessman people, dont let urself get fooled ;d
anyways this is my 10th post this version or so just cuz it aint worth putting time in in most cases. forums r dead people ;s
greetings an old spamstar xx
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By 3.51Imdeadnow
6/12/2012
4:15 am
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Quote: Asmr on 02:00:47 06-12-2012
anyways this is my 10th post this version or so just cuz it aint worth putting time in in most cases. forums r dead people ;s
*edit 6,
but who\'s paying any attention anymore?
Users Online: 31 (0%)
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By 3.51Ntt
8/12/2012
7:21 am
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Quote: Wildhorse on 21:19:11 04-12-2012
what is this for review? like you are making this game, and tell the people what is good and wrong.
and how are lifeline goes on....? lol! This is the wrong game for you.
The game dont have to change dramatically. the rules and shitty things they brought in.
they shall turn dramatically.
and for the \'\'Brando\'\': Facebook is not omerta > so where is he? ( except the 2 worlds in the rom news)
Learn from the past.
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By 3.52Lemon
13/12/2012
3:11 am
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skip the Dc\'s!!
Time for the RoM again!
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By 3.52Jazzmatazz
13/12/2012
21:54 pm
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Quote: Lemon on 03:11:20 13-12-2012
skip the Dc\'s!!
Time for the RoM again!
Already?
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By 3.52Rawls
14/12/2012
17:07 pm
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Quote: Wildhorse on 21:19:11 04-12-2012
the game/company is far from dying lucky enough, there is no risk that omerta will cease to exist
This made me laugh and made me a cry a bit too.
Dear Wildhorse,
we all know the company won\'t go broke anytime soon.
But i believe the OP meant something else.
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By 3.52Dachong
15/12/2012
11:02 am
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Quote: Jazzmatazz on 21:54:35 13-12-2012
Already?
yeah the versions getting shorter and shorter - in a few months you have to create an account before the old is active
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By 3.52Mrnobody
27/12/2012
18:14 pm
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I played the first versions of omerta years and years ago with classmates. Then life happened and I quit playing. Now I was bored and I wanted to try it out again, but after three days of playing I see that this game is indeed, as stated in this topic, dying. The vouchers are a nice way to get you started atm, but I seem to remember things running smoother and faster, without long waiting times. I also seem to remember irc was a lot more active.
Also, I don\'t have a facebook account, I think you\'re gonna lose more people than gain new ones by making facebook a requirement to register.
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By 3.52Faust
14/1/2013
16:47 pm
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Quote: Mrnobody on 18:14:16 27-12-2012
I played the first versions of omerta years and years ago with classmates. Then life happened and I quit playing. Now I was bored and I wanted to try it out again, but after three days of playing I see that this game is indeed, as stated in this topic, dying. The vouchers are a nice way to get you started atm, but I seem to remember things running smoother and faster, without long waiting times. I also seem to remember irc was a lot more active.
Also, I don\'t have a facebook account, I think you\'re gonna lose more people than gain new ones by making facebook a requirement to register.
+++++
Damn so true...
I started in 2005 and I played too with my classmates. We were paying for DCs but not because of lackeys, just for clicklimit. Nice memories.
Now i have my account just to keep in touch with my old friends.
Omerta is dying because of this shit called lackeys.
Afraid of scripters? Do your job and Akill who deserves it.
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By 3.52Caravaggio
14/1/2013
19:32 pm
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i dont even see why someone who is looking for a free game would go for omerta there are way better f2p games out there that are not pay2win since with the lackeys omerta got pay2win
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