Thread: Suggestions/Ideas for Helping TTP Grow

I saw the ‘Is TTP really growing?’ thread, and came up with these suggestions in response to that. I wasn’t sure if I should have replied to that thread or just posted it here, the Suggestions section, as these are more general suggestions to help TTP grow, and do not answer the question of whether TTP is growing or not (even though many suggestions were posted in that thread). Please move this thread as you see fit.



SUGGESTIONS TO HELP TTP GROW AND SUCCEED

I organized this post by posing key questions (inspired by Kraker) and providing suggestions on how TTP can improve in each of those areas.

Originally Posted by Kraker Jak

I think it starts from the top down. Why come to a website? Ask yourself that question...why do people come to a website of a server they play on...what exclusive stuff do people gain by coming to TTP.com? Why waste the time?

How will players find the TTP game servers?

(1) Randomly finding TTP on the game server list

• Not exactly the most proactive method of promoting TTP, but I’m guessing this is how most players find their way into a TTP server.
• Late at night, there are fewer servers with players in them, including TTP. If TTP can have enough players on late at night and throughout the night, then there is a higher chance that late night players (and perhaps some international players) will find their way into a TTP server. There is at least one thing we can do to help accomplish this goal. Late at night, in CSS, the only servers that seem to have players in them are the 24/7 Dust2 servers. Therefore, late at night, before the server dies, an admin can set the server to 24/7 Dust2 and another admin can set it back to normal in the morning. The same methodology would be applied to TTP’s other gaming servers.

(2) Recommendations from current TTP players

• I’m not sure if this brings in a lot of traffic, but players that find TTP through friends probably have a higher chance of sticking around (as oppose to someone who doesn’t know anyone at TTP).
• Many places have ‘Invite a Friend’ promotions and incentives. Maybe TTP could grant a ‘One Month Free Reserved Slot’ coupon to someone who invites a friend.

(3) By finding the TTP forums/website

Why should players stay in a TTP game server?

(1) TTP provides a casual, team play environment

• Usually, these games are more fun to play when everyone is trying to work together as a team and complete the intended objective. TTP provides an environment, monitored and enforced by Admins, where casual players who want to work as a team can find each other, without having to compete in a competitive league.
• Finding this kind of environment is rare, valuable, and desired.

(2) TTP consists of a Mature Gaming Community

• No fucking asshats in our god damn servers. They are removed, quickly and usually permanently.

• Although the above bullet is true, I think that sometimes TTP players might be too hard on new players that join the server.
• If a player looks lost or doesn’t know what they are doing, it’s easy to complain about it and yell at the player (I know I feel this way when the Bomber in CSS doesn’t go the right way). But I think we should try to discipline ourselves and explain to the player what’s going on and help him out (like maybe telling the player to ‘follow you’ or ‘follow the team’ and ‘press 5 then hold down the trigger button’ to plant the bomb). After all, they are probably new to the game… and we were all noobs once, too.
• I think this helpful attitude sends a much better message to the player, and encourages them to play here more, especially since they know that they won’t be yelled at just because they are new, and they have met a community of players that can be there to help him (and/or direct him to the TTP forums where the player can find threads about how to play and get better).
• Similarly, there are the players that are not new to the game, but perhaps new to the server, and don’t understand the rules or why we have them. Even if they give a little bit of attitude, I think we should try at least once to explain to them what TTP is. They might change their attitude. I imagine most players won’t be receptive, but I still think it’s better to give them one chance than no chance.

• There is the message that shows up when you join the server that states the rules, but realistically I’m not sure how effective that is. It is the player’s responsibility to read it, but I think most players would just by pass it. One possibility to improve the message is to make it extremely brief, so that players are not intimidated by the wall of text. Maybe two or three simple bullet points that would get the main message across; this is a TTP teamplay server where team play is enforced.

How will players find the TTP forums?

(1) Messages from TTP Servers during the game

(2) Recommendations from current TTP players

(3) Google searches for game related media such as articles, guides, and videos.

• For example, players who pick up the game will search Google for stuff like “how do I do this?” or “map strategies” or “guides”. TTP needs to produce articles that will show up as one of the first results when they search for this information.
• In order for this to be more successful, players will need to write more high quality articles.
• As an incentive, players are granted a free reserved slot for submitting high quality articles.
• This incentive should be communicated better to the TTP community.

Originally Posted by Arreo

Originally Posted by Arreo

(even that big jump in October)

And you want to know what that was a result of?



People searched for Borderlands related things and ended up on our site reading our threads.

So maybe we need to have more dedicated forums related to new games? Threads about new and exciting games are big search engine magnets.

(4) By discovering TTP related media on the Internet

• I’m not sure what TTP has out there right now… I know I saw that ‘Hilter was banned from TTP CSS servers’ on YouTube and thought that shit was hilarious, but maybe there should be more.

• I’m going to make a crazy suggestion here… I think TTP should record their CSS Saturday Night Fights (SNF), edit them, have two players add commentary, and they throw up on YouTube. I think this would have several major positive impacts on TTP.
• When people search for Counter Strike on YouTube, TTP would have a major presence, especially if multiple SNF videos were uploaded, say, one per week or even one per month.
• Current TTP players would have an incentive to participate in SNF (and purchase a reserved slot) because it would give them something that they can show their friends, or throw on Facebook (or other social media), or just watch and enjoy for themselves.
• The same thing can be applied to other games TTP hosts.
  
• In the long run, I imagined that these Saturday Night Fights would turn into a seasonal event, like a football season.
• There would be ‘preseason’, where teams would be made up randomly and not count towards anything.
• Then there would be actual ‘season’, where it’s basically like a tournament.
• Unsure about whether to have prizes at the end.
• Bragging right is already a pretty good prize.
• It’s supposed to be more casual than competitive.
• Adding prizes might make it too competitive and cause drama.
• Adding small prizes might be fun.
• I think it was mentioned that having prizes would be illegal.

Originally Posted by (2)manno

Originally Posted by CivilWars

I think where TG has an advantage is that they give you reasons to be active on the forums. They do special things for their members. Some people may think that pins and ribbons for competing in matches are lame, but some people get off on that. They have divisions in PR that battle each other for bargging rights and what not. I think that is one area we could improve. Offer matches, scrims, tournies, whatever for "active" members.

this.

i like this idea and i know it was thrown around a bit earlier within the context of something awhile ago... and i'm pretty sure it was sat. nite fites... can't find the link though. someone find that link!!!!

anyway, competition is healthy thing and i dare say in the heydays of the bf2 server there were many. frozen chosen's challenge, bf2 turkey shoot, etc. that really helped grow the bf2 community... and frankly set the stage for being the destination community when other communities failed.

this kind of thing really boosts the # of players that stick around after they drop in. pulls them into the forums, makes them wonder about the teams, the players, the ranks, etc. creates something to be a part of other than just the game.

what do you think keeps those eve guys still playing eve? it's the stuff they have to talk about, not the gameplay (welcome to eve, 23hrs. & 45min. of waiting around for 15min. of excitement).

the best thing ttp can do to help itself is to help generate things to talk about aside from the rando topics it's members throw out in various forums.

(5) Internet Ads

(6) When players get kicked or banned.

• After a player gets kicked or banned from the server, I think the message should say why they were kicked or banned and instructions for them to go to the TTP forums.

Why should players go to the TTP forums?
(incomplete, below are a few of my notes)

To register and get a free reserved slot for one month! (saw this suggestion from another person’s post)

Originally Posted by CivilWars

We should do the 30 day free trial scam, lol not really, but give them 30 days to try it for free, then turn it off and see them sign up for a paying slot, lol.

To get unbanned.

Traditional forum reasons.

To check out SNF! (if created)

Why should players stay on your forums?
(incomplete, below are a few of my notes)

Traditional forum reasons

To check out SNF regularly! (if created)

Why should players pay for a reserved slot?
(incomplete, below are a few of my notes)

So they don’t get kicked during peak hours.

To be eligible for SNF! (if created)

Why should players go to TTP instead of a competitor?
(incomplete)

Regularly evaluating the games that TTP Hosts
(incomplete, below are a few of my notes)

Usually FPS games

Need to find solution to Old Games without New Players

Maybe explore other games, like StarCraft 2?

RPG’s?

Originally Posted by jmw_man

Originally Posted by Blakeman

Originally Posted by jmw_man

Best way for TTP to grow: Expand to other games - obviously this is hard to do since you need to work hard to prime and work hard to make it an enjoyable place to play for visitors, basically it requires highly active members that work hard to use teamplay, and highly active admins to keep the server clean of trash. Sucks though, to grow, you need a larger population...

I agree with JMW, expansion into other games is key, so long as we know when to cut our losses... (.. like Arma2 at release... ).

I think that the MMO crowd could really get a boost if we had a full section on it instead of a subsection. Promoting TTP in games that are not FPS could be a way to expand the users into realms that are not in line with the current line up of server run games. If we host guilds for MMOs just like clans (think this was done with EVE?) then it could promote the site as well.

I also think the media aspect of TTP is a great opportunity, the podcasts are a wonderful addition and I really enjoy them. I think that perhaps having more visual reference to them on the site might help, like a side bar with a button to the download or something.

Anyway, we are getting more into the 'suggestions' realm than OTS realm...

I agree with all of the above.
In regards to expansion into other games, the key is to not have losses of course, each and every game is a favorite to many people and making it a success takes hard work running the server.

The MMO window is a great opportunity as well, many, MANY people play MMO's and many of those are unborn FPS lovers like me. I played 3rd person games and MMO's until I was introduced to the "right" FPS game; BF2.

Regularly evaluating costs, sales, and promotions
(incomplete, below are a few of my notes)

Free one month reserved slot trial!

Invite a Friend promotion!

Free one month reserved slot for writing a good article!

Coupons… I don’t know what for.

Originally Posted by DancingCorpse

Hell, while we are on the subject of Reserve slots:

Why not at QuakeCon we give out coupons or something for reserve slots like that to people who visit the booth, maybe a 1 week to 1 month reserve slot deal. Maybe even uber prizes we throw out like the other booths.

Wouldn't be hard to do either, just have a random list of codes generated, put them in a database and then print them out. Then just have a option for entering a coupon code when signing up for a reserve slot.

Evaluating the website layout
(incomplete, below are a few of my notes)

A way to communicate specials and promotions better.

A very visible, ‘New to TTP Forums?’ link on the home page.
- Free Reserved Slot?
- Banned?
- I’m looking for…
A game…
The forums…
A clan…
SNF videos…
TTP contact info…
The store…

I’m going to make a crazy suggestion here… I think TTP should record their CSS Saturday Night Fights (SNF), edit them, have two players add commentary, and they throw up on YouTube. I think this would have several major positive impacts on TTP.

This has been suggested before, and is being worked on, the main problem is having dedicated people/leaders to run the FNF/SNF, and then to edit/post the video. I will read the rest after breakfast.

Nice list. I think the biggest thing is for games that allow it, IE all but BF2 I believe, if you play with someone that is a teamplayer add them to your friends list. I often look at my friends list to see where they are playing, then join them. For those that don't know in Steam that is shift+tab to bring up friends, add friends, recently played with. In BC2 if you go to the squad management screen you can click the arrow next to any player and send them a friend invite.

Does anyone have experience with increasing a youtube video's exposure? If we had a TTP youtube channel, with videos uploaded, we could get some decent exposure there. I'd definitely go and watch videos as a reg, and it's not hard to login and favorite a video, or subscribe to the channel. I think that those things increase the ranking in a search. We wouldn't have to do anything shady, just tell regs to watch and favorite if they can and see where it gets us on youtube search results (obviously we'd work to get lots of results for things like "Counterstrike" "Tactical" "FPS" "games" etc). Anyone know about the algorithms youtube chooses to serve results for those things? If someone had a TTP youtube account (hopefully the editing guru) we could have a TTP channel that each SNF video would be hosted on.

Since it's the age of short attention spans, we could have something like the 2-4 best rounds of the Saturday Night Fight and cut everything else out.

You could also have people record demos constantly and post "round of the week" for our various games, focusing on the best 3 minutes of action (appropriate interval for each game) for each game each week. We have some pretty spectacular rounds on the CSS servers and I have at least one per week where I'm dead, watching someone pull off some crazy move or fantastic call.

We could even tell Rocketfish360 to do some edits for us, haha. Just kidding (CSS forum goers know what I mean).

Originally Posted by CivilWars

I’m going to make a crazy suggestion here… I think TTP should record their CSS Saturday Night Fights (SNF), edit them, have two players add commentary, and they throw up on YouTube. I think this would have several major positive impacts on TTP.

This has been suggested before, and is being worked on, the main problem is having dedicated people/leaders to run the FNF/SNF, and then to edit/post the video. I will read the rest after breakfast.

Not just CS:S...any game at TTP would work. *cough DoD:S cough*

Originally Posted by CivilWars

I’m going to make a crazy suggestion here… I think TTP should record their CSS Saturday Night Fights (SNF), edit them, have two players add commentary, and they throw up on YouTube. I think this would have several major positive impacts on TTP.

This has been suggested before, and is being worked on, the main problem is having dedicated people/leaders to run the FNF/SNF, and then to edit/post the video. I will read the rest after breakfast.

I'd be down to help...I can do commentary like a pro.

Originally Posted by bust331

Originally Posted by CivilWars

I’m going to make a crazy suggestion here… I think TTP should record their CSS Saturday Night Fights (SNF), edit them, have two players add commentary, and they throw up on YouTube. I think this would have several major positive impacts on TTP.

This has been suggested before, and is being worked on, the main problem is having dedicated people/leaders to run the FNF/SNF, and then to edit/post the video. I will read the rest after breakfast.

I'd be down to help...I can do commentary like a pro.

Then be like enf and do it. That is why we have the TTP TF2 top plays.