Jannar... you don't look anything like Fone Bone! My world is shaken to the core.
The reason I asked is that we were talking about MySpace today, in the context of maybe setting up a Sam & Max page over there, and realized no one in the office really knows that much about it. Like - why do people use MySpace? Mainly as a networking site... to "collect" friends on your list... or do you actually meet people through it? Do you use it to seek out interests (like new bands, movies, or games)? If Sam & Max had a presence on MySpace, would you tell your MySpace friends about it?
Those are some of the questions that came up, but we're interested to hear pretty much anything that people who have used MySpace can tell us about it!
Some other questions were who we'd be able to reach if Sam & Max had a page... can we send emails to everyone who has signed up as a friend, or is that considered bad form? How do we reach new people? Would it be okay to email people who have listed adventure games or Sam & Max as their interests and give them a heads up about Sam & Max's MySpace page? And of course, the big question, that might be impossible to answer -- would raising awareness about Sam & Max on MySpace have any effect, or are we just going to be reaching the same people who already visit our website?
Also - please do use Bone banners on your MySpace page if you want. (Be sure to use the code we've embedded on that page -- it helps us to see that people who click those banners came to us from your MySpace page...) You can also embed a Sam & Max comic on your MySpace page if you want.
Emily Myspace is all about one thing... PROMOTION .. movie companies are now setting up myspace profiles for their latest movies..record companies have profiles for artists.tv shows set up profiles..Lost has profiles for all their characters..family guy has their own profile and also profiles for characters...etc Since Sam and Max is a Season and in episodic format it would make perfect sense to have Sam and Max have their own profile..
Do you use myspace to seek out interests (bands movies games?
Yes and many people do. It is also a great way to keep up to date and with the latest news on these bands..check out trailers etc
If Sam & Max had a presence on MySpace, would you tell your MySpace friends about it?
Basically people would put sam and max in their top friends list.
Someone sees sam and max in another friends list..they then add sam and max..and it builds and grows from there..
Some other questions were who we'd be able to reach if Sam & Max had a page... can we send emails to everyone who has signed up as a friend, or is that considered bad form?
You can send out messages..many people do. But more commonly used is "the bulletin" you post bulletin messages and all your friends can see the latest news etc.
How do we reach new people? Would it be okay to email people who have listed adventure games or Sam & Max as their interests and give them a heads up about Sam & Max's MySpace page?
Are you serious? thats all people do.. especially unsigned artists.. That is a good way of adding people.
would raising awareness about Sam & Max on MySpace have any effect, or are we just going to be reaching the same people who already visit our website?
It would have a big effect, because your friends list grows.. if sam and max on myspace catches on.. suddenly you can have 20, 000 friends..and you can send out bulletins to people who aren't gonna visit telltales site every day.
If you need help setting it up, PM or e-mail me.. I know my way around myspace
With the music side of things, which is the angle I'm coming from, people can add your artist's song to stream on their MySpace profile. So people can be exposed to your artist by visiting a 'friend' who has that music playing. Then they get interested in the song and follow the link back to the profile.
You may be able to work a similar thing with the webcomics.
There's now a dedicated comedy section to myspace, similar to the music section.
You might find there are benefits to putting Sam & Max in that section rather than as a 'regular user'.
And while almost all MySpace profiles are butt-ugly due to the ridiculous back-end design limitations there are a number of hacks and workarounds used to make the profiles a little more aesthetically pleasing.
The best one I've found so far (and the one I use on Bic Runga's profile) is Mike Industries.
Also you could post blogs on your profile.. add the sam and max trailer to your profile..also add the web comics.. have a look at http://www.myspace.com/familyguy to see how they've done their profile
The community aspect of this almost reminds me of what Geocities was 10 years ago... before they were bought out by Yahoo. (You guys probably have no idea what I'm talking about... gah, I feel old.)
Do you know if we can set it up stuff like blog entries or news to come from our RSS feed, or if we would have to add them manually?
Also, thanks for the Mike Industries link, JP - looks like there's some good info there.
Another question that came up today was how groups work. I see that there's a LucasArts group, for appreciation of the old LEC games. If we join that group, can we send a blanket email to everyone who's part of it? Or would they have to be on Sam & Max's friends list first?
The community aspect of this almost reminds me of what Geocities was 10 years ago... before they were bought out by Yahoo. (You guys probably have no idea what I'm talking about... gah, I feel old.)
Hey! Who's old? I had a GeoCities site before the Yahoo buyout. It's still up though very, very abandoned (I don't actually have the login info any more, and as I've changed emails I can't recover it). The site's very embarrasing (mind you, it is what led me to my present career as a web / graphic designer in the NZ Music industry).
Do you know if we can set it up stuff like blog entries or news to come from our RSS feed, or if we would have to add them manually?
There may be a workaround, but looking at the blog options and blog posting screens, I see nothing that would allow it to be posted any way other than manual cut-and-paste duplication.
Hey! Who's old? I had a GeoCities site before the Yahoo buyout. It's still up though very, very abandoned (I don't actually have the login info any more, and as I've changed emails I can't recover it). The site's very embarrasing (mind you, it is what led me to my present career as a web / graphic designer in the NZ Music industry).
Hahaha... here's mine. (And here... being an internet newbie, I was a stickler for backing up old iterations of my website back then!) I don't remember the "street number" anymore but it was in SoHo. I actually had three sites linked together because I kept running out of space.
EDIT: I'm going to regret posting those links. [:">]
bahh my websites 11 years old.. I used to compete with those crappy geocities ones haha!! as far as groups go.. you can get the moderator or owner of the group to send out a message to its members.
Since we're being nostalgic here, I had a 7-digit ICQ number back around those times as well. Luckily I didn't maintain a homepage those days - the days when 5kb/s was *super fast*.
Hey, you guys better check myspace page now By the way, those Bone ads don't work when we don't point it to the direct picture, so I changed the format a little.
By the way, those Bone ads don't work when we don't point it to the direct picture, so I changed the format a little.
I'm not sure I understand. Did you change the URL?
We have tagged URLs in there so we can keep track of where people visit us from. If we're getting a ton of traffic from your MySpace page, we want to know about it!
My advice would be to set up a Tell Tale Games myspace page with sam & max listed as one of the major titles.
Myspace is used for everything but primarily it is a meat market for people to meet each other and date. However most people who use it have become addicted to it, so it's now being used for advertising of just about anything you can think of.
My wife uses myspace to keep in touch with some traveling nurses that she is friends with. I choose not to use it, but I hop on over once in a while to read Ryan Reynold's (Just Friends movie Star) blog. http://www.myspace.com/ryanrodney That dude is hilarious. hehe.
Most recently the Nightmare Before Christmas (3d release) is running an exclusive myspace contest where they give you the chance to design your own Nightmare Before Christmas character. If you win you get a personal greeting from Tim Burton to put on your myspace.com page. (This is really quite cool, especially if you're a Tim Burton fan.) --- http://myspace.com/nightmare3d
These are just a couple of things myspace is used for. And with literally over a million users of Myspac e (and even more visitors) you will be sure to reach at least a few "new" people to adventure games.
I have to warn you though that a lot of myspace users seem to be of the ADHD generation. So I don't know how many converts you'd get. Still, it's really cheap advertising. If you sold an extra 5-10 copies, it'd probably be worth the time to set up the initial site, and then after that, cost wise, it's mostly gravey, just assign someone to update the content when it needs updating, run a contest now and again, send out a few mailings, etc and it will generate some more business for sure.
I was actually wondering just the other day how long it would take someone to throw something funny into their game/animation about Myspace. (actually my wife brought it up for a claymation project we're working on together, but it translated over nicely. hehe.)
I'd also suggest that you have someone do a regular blog on the myspace site as well. You guys, as a small company, need to get really creative with how you get the word out about your products so you can reach a much wider audience.
And if Telltale ever wanted to make an adventure game out of Jack Skellington's world, I'm sure it'd be quite popular. hehe
I see no reason why TellTale couldn't have a myspace page up as well. You might even garner a bit more support by running some exclusive myspace contests.
Yep, I saw it, could use a nice voice greeting to kick off the music though. Maybe a little dialogue between Sam and Max to get people's interest piqued.
I like how Sam and Max post back. Not only does it make me feel all caramelly inside due to happiness, but also will pique my friends interest in the game. Good, cheap strategy for getting at least some exposure, and also for finding out the size of your fanbase (at its minimum, since it is not certain that every fan will find the page).
Back to Geocities... jp-30, your page is pretty dang awesome compared to my Geocities page from back then. Emily... your's looks a little bit more like mine did. No offense.
I still remember the sad day when Geocities was bought out. I had found a clever workaround to get rid of the banners, but Yahoo changed something and the banners reappeared, worse than ever. Blast. That and I cannot even remember what my page name was. Lost to the sands of time.
Thanks. I actually won an award for that site "Best Personal Site" at the 2nd Annual NetGuide Awards (1998) (New Zealand). And it led to me getting a job at a record company as web/graphic designer in 1999. I'm now freelance, but 90% of my work is music industry related, so it's led on to bigger & better things, that's for sure.
Good to hear. I once was in the process of becoming a web designer... but then I realized I needed a bit more talent, and a bit more self-motivation. Seeing as I was lacking in both, I gave up. Mind you, I wasn't horrible... just not very good either
Well, at least it was banner free. Although Angelfire had no banners in the very beginning either, if I remember correctly. Unbelievable, isn't it? It didn't take long before they changed that, though.
Comments
http://www.myspace.com/bicrunga
and am in the process of settiing up a further 3 profiles for other local bands / artists.
Why'd'ya ask?
http://www.myspace.com/jannar85
Bic Runga? Hey, I've heard about it!
Maybe TellTale wants us to put up some Bone banners over there
*runs*
The reason I asked is that we were talking about MySpace today, in the context of maybe setting up a Sam & Max page over there, and realized no one in the office really knows that much about it. Like - why do people use MySpace? Mainly as a networking site... to "collect" friends on your list... or do you actually meet people through it? Do you use it to seek out interests (like new bands, movies, or games)? If Sam & Max had a presence on MySpace, would you tell your MySpace friends about it?
Those are some of the questions that came up, but we're interested to hear pretty much anything that people who have used MySpace can tell us about it!
Some other questions were who we'd be able to reach if Sam & Max had a page... can we send emails to everyone who has signed up as a friend, or is that considered bad form? How do we reach new people? Would it be okay to email people who have listed adventure games or Sam & Max as their interests and give them a heads up about Sam & Max's MySpace page? And of course, the big question, that might be impossible to answer -- would raising awareness about Sam & Max on MySpace have any effect, or are we just going to be reaching the same people who already visit our website?
Also - please do use Bone banners on your MySpace page if you want. (Be sure to use the code we've embedded on that page -- it helps us to see that people who click those banners came to us from your MySpace page...) You can also embed a Sam & Max comic on your MySpace page if you want.
Do you use myspace to seek out interests (bands movies games?
Yes and many people do. It is also a great way to keep up to date and with the latest news on these bands..check out trailers etc
If Sam & Max had a presence on MySpace, would you tell your MySpace friends about it?
Basically people would put sam and max in their top friends list.
Someone sees sam and max in another friends list..they then add sam and max..and it builds and grows from there..
Some other questions were who we'd be able to reach if Sam & Max had a page... can we send emails to everyone who has signed up as a friend, or is that considered bad form?
You can send out messages..many people do. But more commonly used is "the bulletin" you post bulletin messages and all your friends can see the latest news etc.
How do we reach new people? Would it be okay to email people who have listed adventure games or Sam & Max as their interests and give them a heads up about Sam & Max's MySpace page?
Are you serious? thats all people do.. especially unsigned artists.. That is a good way of adding people.
would raising awareness about Sam & Max on MySpace have any effect, or are we just going to be reaching the same people who already visit our website?
It would have a big effect, because your friends list grows.. if sam and max on myspace catches on.. suddenly you can have 20, 000 friends..and you can send out bulletins to people who aren't gonna visit telltales site every day.
If you need help setting it up, PM or e-mail me.. I know my way around myspace
You may be able to work a similar thing with the webcomics.
There's now a dedicated comedy section to myspace, similar to the music section.
http://comedy.myspace.com/
You might find there are benefits to putting Sam & Max in that section rather than as a 'regular user'.
And while almost all MySpace profiles are butt-ugly due to the ridiculous back-end design limitations there are a number of hacks and workarounds used to make the profiles a little more aesthetically pleasing.
The best one I've found so far (and the one I use on Bic Runga's profile) is Mike Industries.
Might be worth checking out.
Do you know if we can set it up stuff like blog entries or news to come from our RSS feed, or if we would have to add them manually?
Also, thanks for the Mike Industries link, JP - looks like there's some good info there.
Another question that came up today was how groups work. I see that there's a LucasArts group, for appreciation of the old LEC games. If we join that group, can we send a blanket email to everyone who's part of it? Or would they have to be on Sam & Max's friends list first?
Thanks for the info so far... very helpful!
Hey! Who's old? I had a GeoCities site before the Yahoo buyout. It's still up though very, very abandoned (I don't actually have the login info any more, and as I've changed emails I can't recover it). The site's very embarrasing (mind you, it is what led me to my present career as a web / graphic designer in the NZ Music industry).
There may be a workaround, but looking at the blog options and blog posting screens, I see nothing that would allow it to be posted any way other than manual cut-and-paste duplication.
Hahaha... here's mine. (And here... being an internet newbie, I was a stickler for backing up old iterations of my website back then!) I don't remember the "street number" anymore but it was in SoHo. I actually had three sites linked together because I kept running out of space.
EDIT: I'm going to regret posting those links. [:">]
Anyway, regarding the subject of the thread, generally I avoid it like the plague.
Well, at least I know where your adventuregamers screenname comes from now.
And Junkface, a Semisonic album I suppose?
Yes, I've been "fov" for a looooong time.
*goes back to feeling old*
*sniff*
http://theeternalstruggle.spaces.msn.com/
I've been trying to write in this more often but I've been busy.
I'll be starting a new blog site when I get to Japan on wednesday.
Just don't ask her how to pronounce it.
So Sam and Max on Myspace.. WHEN?
Cool, thanks!
I'm not sure I understand. Did you change the URL?
We have tagged URLs in there so we can keep track of where people visit us from. If we're getting a ton of traffic from your MySpace page, we want to know about it!
SOON!
http://www.telltalegames.com/getimage/spot/4974498/_s3679306
(Whiched caused this url to disappear!)
I pointed the image url to
http://files.telltalegames.com/banners/bonebanner_dragon.jpg
and it worked.
I still have that active url thingy, though.
When can we post Sam & Maaaaax ads? B-)
:-$
Myspace is used for everything but primarily it is a meat market for people to meet each other and date. However most people who use it have become addicted to it, so it's now being used for advertising of just about anything you can think of.
My wife uses myspace to keep in touch with some traveling nurses that she is friends with. I choose not to use it, but I hop on over once in a while to read Ryan Reynold's (Just Friends movie Star) blog. http://www.myspace.com/ryanrodney That dude is hilarious. hehe.
Most recently the Nightmare Before Christmas (3d release) is running an exclusive myspace contest where they give you the chance to design your own Nightmare Before Christmas character. If you win you get a personal greeting from Tim Burton to put on your myspace.com page. (This is really quite cool, especially if you're a Tim Burton fan.) --- http://myspace.com/nightmare3d
These are just a couple of things myspace is used for. And with literally over a million users of Myspac e (and even more visitors) you will be sure to reach at least a few "new" people to adventure games.
I have to warn you though that a lot of myspace users seem to be of the ADHD generation. So I don't know how many converts you'd get. Still, it's really cheap advertising. If you sold an extra 5-10 copies, it'd probably be worth the time to set up the initial site, and then after that, cost wise, it's mostly gravey, just assign someone to update the content when it needs updating, run a contest now and again, send out a few mailings, etc and it will generate some more business for sure.
I was actually wondering just the other day how long it would take someone to throw something funny into their game/animation about Myspace. (actually my wife brought it up for a claymation project we're working on together, but it translated over nicely. hehe.)
I'd also suggest that you have someone do a regular blog on the myspace site as well. You guys, as a small company, need to get really creative with how you get the word out about your products so you can reach a much wider audience.
And if Telltale ever wanted to make an adventure game out of Jack Skellington's world, I'm sure it'd be quite popular. hehe
I see no reason why TellTale couldn't have a myspace page up as well. You might even garner a bit more support by running some exclusive myspace contests.
Yep, I saw it, could use a nice voice greeting to kick off the music though. Maybe a little dialogue between Sam and Max to get people's interest piqued.
Back to Geocities... jp-30, your page is pretty dang awesome compared to my Geocities page from back then. Emily... your's looks a little bit more like mine did. No offense.
I still remember the sad day when Geocities was bought out. I had found a clever workaround to get rid of the banners, but Yahoo changed something and the banners reappeared, worse than ever. Blast. That and I cannot even remember what my page name was. Lost to the sands of time.
--Erwin
--Erwin