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Join Date 03/2001

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Results: Where did you hear about GalCiv II from?

In our recent poll asking users of GalCiv2.com where they first heard of the game, we got around 1,400 respondents.

Bear in mind, these results only tell us where people who happen to visit this website heard about the game. I was surprised how poorly the print game magazines came out. All of them combined came out to only 6%.

The big surprise was Penny-Arcade. 11% of users who responded came from Penny-Arcade. This matches up with some of the referral statistics we've seen. And I for one look forward to working in Tycho and Gabe's underground sugar mines.

Another interesting result was Gamespot which had 21%. Gamespot has some web design features that I think really do help. For instance, it has top 10 most popular games based on user interest on Gamespot overall and then on a per section basis right down to sub-sections. So a user can go to turn-based strategy games and sort by popularity.

Interestingly, the demo version only brought in 1% of respondents.

The biggest chunk came from Stardock's existing communities -- 26%. We'd be interested in hearing those who answered "Stardock (Other)" to let us know how they found out about the game. Even users who had Galactic Civilizations I would still have to find out from somewhere.

Word of mouth was an impressive 7%. That's a big chunk considering that we're talking about an on-line poll. People recommending the game is definitely key to the game's success.

Our second poll is going to ask that question outright: Would you recommend Galactic Civilizations II to others? The ultimate "has the game met your expectations" poll so to speak.

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First heard of GCII in the news section on the GCI forums

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Same. I'm a returning GalCiv I player myself.

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...and another one right here.

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I actually would have to say none of the above. I saw the game in the store (Best Buy) and picked it up, liked what I saw.

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Well my younger brother played the Galciv demo and i looked on the net about it and found out that Galciv 2 was going to be released so i waited so i found out about it by my brother..

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I think a big part about why PA brought in so many people is because A) its free to read their opinions, see ads on their site B) Alot of gamers trust their opinions C) A & B combined with the amount of traffic their site gets.

Personally I tend not to buy videogame magazines because I'm not willing to spend the 10 bucks they cost (especially when I can get similar info and demos for free online), even when I do tend to buy them I tend to take what they say with a grain of salt and for the most part ignore almost all the ads that don't look like they'd provide me with anymore info than a pretty photoshoped screeny.

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I got to know the game when the whole Stardock vs Starforce fight thingie happend.

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Yeah me too. The first time I really heard of this game was on PA, but I actually came and found out more about it when Starforce posted that torrent link and it got linked on Slashdot

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I can't vote on the other poll, so I'll justsay it here: YES

And yay for us PA kids making a showing!

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Just so you know -- I took part in this poll and must have greatly MISunderstood it. I voted for "other", but I did not see until later that "stardock" was somehow involved with that.
If others, like myself, were somehow confused or mislead, your readings may be askew.
Sorry to have to say this, but I'm afraid it may be the case.

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I'd just like to add that I can't agree enough about Gamespot and Penny Arcade. Gamespot is almost without exception the first place I hear about new games, and although I do not take their reviews as the last gospel truth, I think it is fair to say that if they don't give a game at least an 80%, I'm not even going to bother looking at it. After that, if I'm still interested in purchasing a game I'll check out at least 2 other reviews (usually the first two a google search brings up from sites I consider "reliable") and the last, perhaps most important step is checking out the Developer's web page. Having been burned in the past, I have no desire to invest in a game that has no Developer backing or online community.

Needless to say, Stardock impressed me enough to not only purchase the game, but recommend it to several friends, who also purchased the game. I'd also like to add that several people I know were interested in the game but were turned off by a lack of multiplayer. Personally, this is no big deal to me, as I can't stand playing turn based games multiplayer, even if they are simultaneous turns (which they'd have to be for anyone to even consider the idea these days).

Finally, as far as the demo goes, it came out a tiny bit late to give much of an initial sales boost I'm sure, however, where it will help is getting the game more exposure to some people who didn't hear about it at all. Just one more link on Gamespot, IGN, etc can result in more sales. I don't even consider magazines when I purchase games, btw, although I am sure that many do.

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I'm a returning Gal Civ 1 player as well. I also heard about GalCiv 2, and the GalCiv2 website, from the GalCiv 1 website.

I heard about Gal Civ 1 first from the MOO 3 box insert, but didn't really look into Gal Civ 1 until I saw a banner for it on Gamespot. I then hung around the Gal Civ 1 website and read the reviews for the game on Gamespot and Gamespy.

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Brad, in terms of that second poll, this is probably old hat to you and/or your marketing folks, but there's a pretty common measure that's all the rage among consultants right now: The guy that coined the original concept calls it a "Net Promoter Score".

I'll spare you all the details--lots more articulate stuff in the biz journals out there, but if anybody's interested, they can start at Link.

In my experience, word-of-mouth is an important factor, but it's only one--most purchasers in the gaming community as a whole tends to be fairly fragmented, so I think that a shotgun approach where different media (all with positive inputs) ultimately provide a much more compelling boost to sales than do reliance on single media--even a reliable one like word of mouth.

Just my own $0.02, I'm sure you've got your own folks who've worked in the marketing aspect of the SW business...

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In addition to offering the demo download online, you may be able to get better exposure for the demo if you also can get a few game magazines to put a demo cd of your game in an issue or two of their magazines and put on the front of their magazine 'Galactic Civilizations 2 demo cd inside!'

Also, I've heard some game publishers have gotten retailers like Software Etc, Gamestop, EB Games, Best Buy, and Comp USA to hand out demo cds of their game in the past. That may well be worth looking into doing.

Alot of people don't have DSL connections, and would rather get the game on CD from a brick-and-mortar store, so that they only have to spend 10-15 minutes installing it rather than however long it takes to download it with their slow internet connection.

Not that having a downloadable demo online is a bad idea. I just think having it offered both online as well as in software retailers and game publications will get the demo into the hands of more gamers.

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And the poll was only usable by IE users as I think that was the only browser it worked with (At least I know I couldnt use it with Mozilla and some one in the comment section suggested that that was the problem)

Edit: well actually the poll works in the forum for me but not on the main page (unlike what is stated by the dev in the comments section announcing the previous poll)

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is was the gal civ 1 website for me too, returning gc1 player

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And the poll was only usable by IE users as I think that was the only browser it worked with (At least I know I couldnt use it with Mozilla and some one in the comment section suggested that that was the problem)

It worked perfectly for me on the mainpage, and I'm using Moz Firefox. No issue.

I put Stardock (Other), since I found out from the GC1 page when I was there downloading a patch.

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I was surprised how poorly the print game magazines came out. All of them combined came out to only 6%.

Not surprising. People who actually bother with print game magazines for information about upcoming games are not very likely to use the internet for such information (generally, because those who do then quickly abandon print magazines).

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I find it strange that the demo was included though i do understand that people could hear about gal civ2 from the demo.

But i think we need a new poll on what made you purchase gal civ2, then we might find the demo rated higher.

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Yeah, GC 1 website or SDC itself. I think I was re-installing GC 1 to play again having burned myself out on Civ III.. .

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Our second poll is going to ask that question outright: Would you recommend Galactic Civilizations II to others? The ultimate "has the game met your expectations" poll so to speak.

Isn't the question kinda "preaching to the choir" so to speak? I mean, the vast majority of people who will see this poll are forumites, and most of them are fans of the game. It'd be more accurate to have the game itself ask that question upon shutting down.

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I think the results are a little misleading. While only a small percentage heard of the game through print media, the poll doesn't ask what convinced people to buy the game. To me, that's probably what should have been asked in the poll. I've heard of quite a few games from a number of those sources that I have not purchased, nor do I intend to purchase. The number of people purchasing after word of mouth referral is probably much higher than number who have purchased after hearing about the game on Gamespot.

It's probably safe to assume that a large number of respondants and visitors to the website have already purchased the game, there might also be a number of respondants who havn't, or who have only played at a friend's place, or downloaded a copy from one of those torrents those shifty Russians set up. Furthermore, as some people pointed out, the poll did not work for everyone, myself included.

For me, the low number of people selecting print as how they heard of the game isn't too shocking. Print, by nature is going to be behind the curve in comparison to an immediate media like the internet. Magazines, unless they've scooped some type of exclusive content are usually a month behind the websites. Even daily newspapers are a day behind the internet news sites. I could hear about a story first on the web, but it might be my local paper that really explains it to me, that convinces it that it's something I should care about.

Maybe a buddy tells me about the game a few days before I see it on Gamespot, then I forget about it, later I see a print add, and remember the word of mouth and Gamespot but it's the ad that sparks the memory and makes me decide to buy the game. Regardless of how the scenarios play out, the problem is in how the question is worded if the idea is to decide where to spend the marketing budget.

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I found out about Gal Civ I from a google search for 4x space games. The first game did not quite live up to my expectations, although it was enjoyable for awhile, but when I found out a second game was planned I waited a year pre-ordered Gal Civ II and have been very pleased since.

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I came upon it while searching online for an update on two versions of the holy grail of computer games--real time 3D 4X space games--which two indie companies in Vancouver are working on. I was immediately intrigued, since GalCiv 2 seemed to focusing on this format. Well, it isn't one, but on its own terms its a great game and I hope it improves. Perhaps GalCiv 3 will be a fusion of Homeworld and GalCiv2, where GalCiv 2 works at the strategic level and a HomeWorldish tactical level lets me engage the dregin homeplanet with my custom ships, smashing this menace until it surrenders.

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I agree that asking if someone would recommend the game to a friend would be better asked after someone selects to quit out of the software, and then having the software connect to the internet and send that information to you.

I also agree that your next poll should ask what made each of us decide to purchase Galactic Civilizations 2, since finding out about the game and deciding to purchase the game are often to different factors.

While I heard about the game from the first galciv.com website, it really didn't play any factor in my buying it. The galciv2.com website and forums helped some, but I waited until gamespot and gamespy reviews came out before deciding whether to buy GalCiv 2 or not. Once I saw both sites rated the games highly, and liking what I read in the reviews, I combined what I read from the reviews along with what I've read on the galciv 2 website and it's forums. That is what convinced me to actually buy the game.

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