Ion is reaching out to the wrong demographic with his interviews

[T-34]

Fun fact: Nostaliroous did same reasetch on their vannila server and average age was around 20y. So no.

You wouldn't have a link to that research?

The only scientific research I could find is Nick Yee's from around 2004:

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/featu...e_.php?print=1
and
http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/gate...ographics.html

In 2004 the average age of a mmorpg-gamer was 26. Interesting enough female players are considerably older than male.

Whether the average has gone or down since then would be intereting. I haven't found anything since that study.
My personal opinion is the average wow-player is older today. But that is my pulled-out-of-the-ass-number.

[Venziir]

Fun fact: Nostaliroous did same reasetch on their vannila server and average age was around 20y. So no.

No source, no link, bizarre spelling errors and you refer to Classic instead of Retail. It's impossible to take you seriously.

[Zmagoslav]

I see... so your problem is that you don't pay attention.
Where have you been over the course of the last month when he spoke about all the other aspects of Shadowlands?
(hint: if you explore past the 1st page on the home page you might find articles/interviews where he spoke about other things.)

[TorAndre]

Before Ion started doing these interviews there was a lot of complaining that the team had no touch with the game or the community.

I think they have adjusted to that very well, yet still people search for things to complain about.

Ion is worth 15 millions dollars. If am actually starting to question if that is even enough by the amount of bullshit he has to deal with everytime he tries to read these forums.

[Kumorii]

Pretty sure they do extensive marketing research and have hired people who do so.

[Demithio]

Just more BS. I agree that Torghast was a (one) step in the wrong direction. I dont care what else they "promise" you.

[Ghostile]

Pretty sure they do extensive marketing research and have hired people who do so.

Haven't you heard? Ion is responsible for everything. Only person above him are people from activision.

[Kumorii]

Haven't you heard? Ion is responsible for everything. Only person above him are people from activision.

Heard he is responsible for Covid as well.

[Ghostile]

Heard he is responsible for Covid as well.

Probably.
I mean, people loved the blood plague from ZG

[crakerjack]

I just hope blizzard doesn't implement too many single player features down the line. WoW is an MMORPG and therefore, atleast 90% of all content should be group content. The only solo content that should be available in SL should be leveling and WQ's. Everything else should require a group.

[MoanaLisa]

Ion's messaging is mostly for current players and secondarily for gaming news media.

Developers don't determine the advertising targets. That's just stupid.

I would even question the idea that most people play WoW for the social aspect given how terrible it generally is.

But never mind that: Ion's Q&A's and interviews are about keeping current players around and to generate magazine articles that casual once-in-a-while players might catch. There's a lot of them given how expansions sell and how activity drops off. So it's important now to start hitting the main gaming mags with info about what's coming. It's not so much bring in new players, it's more to remind old players that they're still around and that something new is coming.

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I just hope blizzard doesn't implement too many single player features down the line. WoW is an MMORPG and therefore, atleast 90% of all content should be group content. The only solo content that should be available in SL should be leveling and WQ's. Everything else should require a group.

You're free to hope that but the anticipation for Torghast and the popularity of the Mage Tower says differently. Solo players are largely invisible but there's evidence from other MMO's to support the idea that they are not any kind of a small audience for content.

[Popastique]

Radio and TV ads, 2020, WoW. Ok ......

[Akibaboy]

Ion is reaching out to the wrong demographic with his interviews

The people that have been turned off from WoW are the social people. The extroverts. The casuals that liked to play in groups. Touting Torghast is a tremendous mistake. They need to try to grab people who are stuck indoors during Covid-19. I think some radio commercials, maybe a TV ad or two, to sell the general idea of playing, is the correct approach. Also, I'd have rushed out some social content for people to enjoy during the quarantine. These websites are hardcore gamers are there isn't a lot to new audience to capture from that.

They are making a pretty big mistake here.

All of those things you listed cost additional money and requires production. Sitting down and chatting with people that're already talking about video games and are attracting people interested in hearing about video games is not only smart, it's free.

[ClassicPeon]

Ion is reaching out to the wrong demographic with his interviews

The people that have been turned off from WoW are the social people. The extroverts. The casuals that liked to play in groups. Touting Torghast is a tremendous mistake. They need to try to grab people who are stuck indoors during Covid-19. I think some radio commercials, maybe a TV ad or two, to sell the general idea of playing, is the correct approach. Also, I'd have rushed out some social content for people to enjoy during the quarantine. These websites are hardcore gamers are there isn't a lot to new audience to capture from that.

They are making a pretty big mistake here.

Shadowlands is 5-7 months away. I'm not saying covid is 100% gone by then but....

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Radio Ads? Hey look we found a Boomer!

If they want to reach people that will actually play WoW, the way to do that is through Social Media, Twitch, Youtube.

But frankly these interviews aren't about expanding the base, it's about keeping the existing playerbase informed.

[crakerjack]

Ion's messaging is mostly for current players and secondarily for gaming news media.

Developers don't determine the advertising targets. That's just stupid.

I would even question the idea that most people play WoW for the social aspect given how terrible it generally is.

But never mind that: Ion's Q&A's and interviews are about keeping current players around and to generate magazine articles that casual once-in-a-while players might catch. There's a lot of them given how expansions sell and how activity drops off. So it's important now to start hitting the main gaming mags with info about what's coming. It's not so much bring in new players, it's more to remind old players that they're still around and that something new is coming.

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You're free to hope that but the anticipation for Torghast and the popularity of the Mage Tower says differently. Solo players are largely invisible but there's evidence from other MMO's to support the idea that they are not any kind of a small audience for content.

This is my outlook on players who prefer single player content in WoW: they found a niche playstyle in a game that is intended to be played with others. That's it. There are numerous games I've played over the years where I preferred a modded version of it and never really played the game for how it was intended. There's 100% nothing wrong with that and I'll never argue against that. That being said, I would never dare provide feedback on the state of the game because I'm not playing it the way its intended. If someone enjoys single player content in WoW, that's perfectly fine, but they begin to cross the line when they ask blizzard for some attention. Blizzard should never produce any content that is purely based around single player content. I can deal w/ Torghast because it's not forced single player content. I just don't want blizzard to go any further down that path where parts of the game are forced single player.

I just want Blizzard to focus majority of their attention on group content because that's what matters most in WoW. Now again, I'm not saying screw people who don't enjoy group content, I'm just saying blizzard shouldn't cater to them. Intended playstyle > Niche playstyle. If someone enjoys doing legacy content for transmog or achievements, that's not wrong, it's just niche. If someone isn't into m+, raiding or PvP, their feedback shouldn't be considered, at all.

[kranur]

Ion is reaching out to the wrong demographic with his interviews

The people that have been turned off from WoW are the social people. The extroverts. The casuals that liked to play in groups. Touting Torghast is a tremendous mistake. They need to try to grab people who are stuck indoors during Covid-19. I think some radio commercials, maybe a TV ad or two, to sell the general idea of playing, is the correct approach. Also, I'd have rushed out some social content for people to enjoy during the quarantine. These websites are hardcore gamers are there isn't a lot to new audience to capture from that.

They are making a pretty big mistake here.

Except they're not. By forcing people to basically create a schedule with a large group and sacrifice their real life a lot, the outcome was that only 1% or less was having a chance at completing the content, which was not a good thing. Video games are about playing when you have some time to relax and have fun.

Basically you want to tell people that don't have time to play at the same time with others to go fuck themselves.

You have the choice to do it with a group of friends/randoms or do it alone. There's a reason M+ is a success and that is acessibility. You have an hour to play? Cool you just hop in and so something with some sort of meaning in that time, a thing that was just not true in the very distant past.

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Fun fact: Nostaliroous did same reasetch on their vannila server and average age was around 20y. So no.

Many private servers are filled with kids or unemployed that don't have money for the sub which is a big reason why they play privates.

[Whitedragon]

"I am 1 person, that means everyone must do it!"

Nah, radio is on the fall, we used to have 3 radio stations here, now we have 1.
and the average person to listen to the radio is not the kinda person to play video games, usually listening to radio in their car, at the beach, at their home sitting in their recliner, these are not the kinda people to play wow, plus video games are a genre that you cant really sell well just by audio, that is why games dont advert on radio, they do so on tv and youtube, radio is for stuff like products, consumed products, not video games.

Funny if Radio is on the fall why are things like Iheartradio picking up in popularity... As a counterpoint to your first statement in my area we had 2 local stations 5 years ago and now we have 4 so.... As for overall coverage many workplace environments only allow radio to be played, because phone/Ipod media users can be hard to communicate with. Also people who work out of their cars always tend to have access.

That being said I tend to agree that the demographic probably isn't going to be one you will pick up many sales from... The people who are in the age range to be listening to radio most likely ether already know of world of warcraft and are currently playing it or have played it at some point so don't need an add, or are of the group that will most likely never be into playing it regardless of the add.

[Elias01]

Except they're not. By forcing people to basically create a schedule with a large group and sacrifice their real life a lot, the outcome was that only 1% or less was having a chance at completing the content, which was not a good thing. Video games are about playing when you have some time to relax and have fun.

Basically you want to tell people that don't have time to play at the same time with others to go fuck themselves.

You have the choice to do it with a group of friends/randoms or do it alone. There's a reason M+ is a success and that is acessibility. You have an hour to play? Cool you just hop in and so something with some sort of meaning in that time, a thing that was just not true in the very distant past.

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Many private servers are filled with kids or unemployed that don't have money for the sub which is a big reason why they play privates.

Yes its good thing to not have acessible raiding. All this push to force everybody into raid was such fail. Since Blizzard made raiding more acessible it pretty much become THE only focus of develepoers to push everybody into high end game while rest of game just root in less than medicore state. Making masses experience everything makes game boring.

[Luxeley]

I 100% disagree with the Torgast point, not because Torgast is good or bad, just simply there are only 3 new features. So basically, its Torgast or bust, that's all they really have. Otherwise, I agree with every point you dredge up. Blizzard makes a hobby out of missing opportunities. They could've brought back Vanilla dungeons are a Tw XP in Shadowlands. It would serve as the perfect conduit to bring in new players who are bored with Classic, but no that makes sense too. The bottom line here is that Blizzard has never been an innovative company, they borrow and/or steal features from other MMOs and improve them. They're the Japanese automakers of the gaming industry.