KEY TOPICS
If you aren't scared of launch day, you ought to be. Of the seven major persistent worlds (PW) launches and several minor ones since 1996, only two have avoided significant levels of tragedy. On the other five, servers crashed, critical bugs abounded, and customer service (CS) was overwhelmed or nonexistent; in other words, they were a mess. You're probably thinking: "Hey, we planned for this ahead of time; didn't we just go through a test period? We'll be different from those other guys, really." And you may be right; stranger things have happened . Chances are, though, you aren't as ready as you could be, especially if this is your first time out of the gate. Like real combat, until you've lived the hell, it is impossible to truly comprehend just what is about to happen. A good launch is absolutely critical to your long- term success. Ultimate Online ( UO ) and EverQuest ( EQ ) were able to get away with poor launches because they had first-mover advantage in the marketplace . That luxury is no longer available for games entering the market today. Every player who tries your game and then flies away after a bad launch seems to make it known on one Internet rant site or another these days, which means several other players won't be giving you money, either. The ones who don't bother to post on the Internet are still subject to using traditional word of mouth to spread knowledge of their dissatisfaction to interested parties. |