Dominions 3: popularity rising?

[Tenebrion]

Intelligent games attract intelligent gamers. The kind of people that most gamers worry about, from the MMORPG community, are the people that likely wouldn't be interested in Dominions, much less discussing the finer points of the game. Among the 600,000 or so monthly uniques that visit mmorpg.com, even if you assume that half of those visitors are immature, that'd mean there's a potential of 300,000 gamers that could be interested in Dominions.

People that are concerned about 'perma death', graphics, expansions instead of patches, etc wouldn't likely give Dominions a second glance. It's the mature gamers that want a different and deep experience, and would find an interest in Dominions, so the community on the Shrapnel forums would remain much the same. Just look at the communities from games like EVE and Poxnora ; the games are complex, and as a result, the communities are top notch, despite the player base being made up of MMORPG gamers.

[DonCorazon]

What surprises me is, given the apparent size of the fan base here, how few reviews there are on popular sites like Metacritic and Amazon. Maybe its just me but I use those sites all the time. I posted reviews for Dom 3 on both places, even though I purchased Dom 3 through Shrapnel. I suppose putting it on some Amazon lists that come up when more widely known games are searched would help increase exposure even more.

I guess it is a mixed blessing as I appreciate the smaller community size and interaction with developers here, but on the other hand, my hope is strong commercial success motivates continual development of the franchise. As they say, content is king and I think Dom 3 is a hidden gem.

Also, I have yet to do this but I think there is strong crossover between those who love fantasy boardgames and Dom 3 and consequently posting on Boardgamegeek would also bring in many more fans.

[Kristoffer O]

Boardgamegeek?

Sounds interesting. Unfortunately I rarely take time for boardgames nowdays.

[DonCorazon]

I fear providing this link for it can become a rather addicting website if you enjoy boardgames but here it is:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/
Some amazing games have come out over the years, especially from Europe (Puerto Rico, Tigris & Euphrates, Ra among some of my favorites), and some fun fantasy wargames (Battlelore).

[Kristoffer O]

There was 429 viewing the dominions forum just now. I suppose most are just inlogged and not reading, but it's still the highest number I've ever seen.

[Evil Dave]

I agree w/ DonCorazon that trying to attract boardgamers might be more satisfying than trying to get MMORPG players. Boardgamers seem to be (IME) more interested in strategy, deep games, and games where the ideal strategy and tactics depend on what (you think) your opponent is doing.

I'm not sure all boardgamers will like Dom3, because there are some big differences between the way boardgames and computer strategy games have developed in the past few years, but I think making them aware of it won't hurt. And, of course, all boardgamers are used to MP-only play, because for most boardgames, that's all there is.

[Tenebrion]

DonCorazon said:
As they say, content is king and I think Dom 3 is a hidden gem.

I absolutely agree. As a lifelong fan of strategy and fantasy games of all flavors, it still amazes me that I didn't find out about Dominions until a few months ago. I can't help but wonder just how many hundreds of thousands of gamers there are out there who are just like I was - completely unaware of this highly addictive, deep strategy game, just waiting for someone to tell them about it.

[S.R. Krol]

DonCorazon said:
What surprises me is, given the apparent size of the fan base here, how few reviews there are on popular sites like Metacritic and Amazon.

Metacritic is unfortunately rather useless to the indie world. The fact that there are eight reviews from official sites/publications is actually pretty good compared to most non-mainstream reviews, but still sorely lacking. They also drop titles from their list pretty quickly. I recall the frustration I had when Weird Worlds came out, and though it was getting great reviews left and right Metacritic refused to put them up even after I pointed every single one out to them. That's when I learned they only use "approved" review sites. Or so they say. You'll notice that for a really popular, big budget title like Halo 38 they'll have reviews from everyone on the planet.

As far as Amazon goes I think that's simply a matter of most folks not realizing that you can find it on Amazon.

The 'Geek is a good avenue. Jason Lutes, who has been active in the map making community before, is on their fairly regular so there are some Dom players already there. I know we've looked into advertising with them, not sure what type of decisions have been made with that.

[DonCorazon]

I've been on the Geek for a couple years and know people who log on and read it religiously such as one of my close friends who runs the Berkeley board game group. It is an amazing site - the amount of user created content is staggering and I think one of the best examples of the power of web communities.

I think MP Dom 3 comes closer than anything else in providing the epic fantasy war game experience dreamt of by many board gamers, going back to games like TSR's Divine Right, and Avalon Hill's Titan, leading up to FantasyFlight's a Game of Thrones and Days of Wonder's Battlelore. Even better, the PC format of Dom 3 takes care of all the mechanical pain of an actual boardgame (dice, looking up results on tables, etc.). Either an ad or comments from BGG users like myself (I believe word of mouth is the best form of advertisement, especially when it is from authentic / non-troll sources) would be useful in capturing this demographic to increase Dominions fan base.

[PashaDawg]

I have commonly described Dom 3 to friends as a board game on the computer. I think DonCorazon is right that many board gamers would groove on Dom 3. (Unfortunately, I have been a total failure at getting any real friends to try Dom 3. Maybe I push too hard. Maybe it's the freakish look in my eyes.)