Google+ Pages trick! Opportunity!

After a day of drafting Magic with Johan, Håkan, Phil and Fredrik I come home to watch some friends, eat some of my fantastic Spaghetti Bolognese and finally manages to perfect time the release of Google+ Pages.

What would one do at such a moment?


Taking smart names!

One smart, but risky, thing is to take smart names that would benefit you. There is a rumor though that many pages can have the same name, so I can't guarantee that this will work at all. I might come back tomorrow and totally dismiss my own blog post, who knows? :P But if this works, I will not only get fantastic channels of communication, I might also be more interesting to hire, because who ever hires me also get's the channels that I now have reserved to do marketing through.

Always make sure you are well prepared and that you do what you can to get an edge against your competitors.


Job interviews coming up

I do not want to get too much into details, but I have had one interview so far, which I think went pretty well. I am hoping to get a final one soon as well. Other than this one there are a few others that starts to pop up. After waiting a few months, the interest for someone like me seems to have spread.

We will see where I end up, but if everything goes the way I want it, I will end up at a fantastic place with some fantastic people. Keep your fingers crossed for me!


Here is the release video of Google+ Pages by the way!

The perfect win-win solution against piracy

Now and then I always hear this and that about people stealing peoples work/products and others saying that it is so expensive that they don't really have an option. Many game companies has tried to get around this problem by having monthly fees for their online games, others introduce Free-to-Play. In other words, MMO games is doing really fine against piracy.

But what about the other games, movies and music out there? Is there a solution?


The perfect solution is here!

Okay, this is not as concrete as I might have mislead you to believe, but it is a solution even so: Find a good substitute. Everybody wins! Okay, let's discuss this with a few examples.

Music: 
- We got Spotify, a tool where you stream music for free, but has to endure some advertisment now and then. It's like a radio where you can choose what songs and in what order you want to listen to them.

Movies:
- There are websites like Voddler, concept similar to Spotify.

Games: 
- EMPTY SPACE HERE!

Now it is getting interesting. While solutions are starting to come up in the music and movie industry, we still don't have a _really_ good system for games. What would happen if you release your game for free, but put lots of ads in it instead. For people to get rid of the ads, they need to pay. Simple. It works for the other medias, so why shouldn't it work with Games?

The problem is always that you can edit the core files and remove the ads, if you are skilled in these kinds of things, but when the Onlive games streaming software is released, this threat is easily eliminated.

Even so, you wont lose on having this solution, since the people who downloads your games from various Torrent sites will probably only be convinced to change their way if a solution like this was available. You won't get these guys anyway, so what do you have to lose? What your loyal and paying customers will do doesn't really matter, since you will earn money from the advertisement anyway (possibly you could even profit more from this).

Finally, don't forget that piracy is not only evil. It has helped many games and game companies to reach where they are today. The viral effect.

Five steps on how to promote yourself

Since I am currently only working with freelance or personal projects I know how important it is to know how to promote yourself as a person. If you really want a job, you cannot send out a CV here and there and hope for luck to come your way. As Two Face once said: "I make my own luck".


Step 1) Figure out how you want to be perceived

What job do you want to work with? Do you want to look like a strict boss or as a laid back co-worked with a creative mind? What do you want people to think when they learn things about you? What would you like your future employer to think about you?

This is something you need to figure out before you do ANYTHING else.


Step 2) Make a list of tools & contacts you can use

Do you have any contacts that can help out in giving you some positive buzz, writing recommendation letters etc? Do you have a Facebook, LinkedIn (!!!), Google+, MySpace and a Blog Account? Most importanty, have you registered your own www.yourname.com domain yet?


Step 3) Make a plan on how to spread positive buzz

Now it is time to make a plan on what you want to put on your sites, your blog and what to put in your CV & Cover letter. Be aware of that now when you are more "official" than before, harmful information such as Politics and such things might be something you have to try to hide. Choose carefully what you put in the web and make sure it fits the person you want your employer to see you as.


Step 4) Make yourself visible

Use all channels you possibly can to expose yourself to the public. The more pages you have info about yourself on, the easier it will be for someone to find you when googleing or surfing around. The best way of making yourself visible is to have a serious blog, with a www.yourname.com URL and using the different Social Media channels to promote it.

Who would notice the smart kid in the back if he never puts his arm up in the air once in a while?


Step 5) Alertness and quick responses

Now when you are up and running. Make sure you keep everything up to date and that you answer your emails and requests quickly. After all, the weird guy Mr. John Smith that keeps trying to add you on Linkedin.com might indeed be your future employer, trying to contact you for an interview.

Every unanswered mail is a possibly missed opportunity. Be out there, all the time! Ironically, being unemployed is actually hard work, if you do it right!

Blogger vs. Wordpress, who would win?

After discussing blog tools with my friends Johannes Thorén and checking out other nice blogs, like Joakim Nilssons blog about Social Media Management, I decided to do some research to figure out which blog tool that is best for me... and for you.


Three reasons to go for Blogger

Blogger seem to be a more beginner friendly, and actually 100% free, blog tool. It is very simple, user friendly and to a degree you can customize your blog quite a bit. Blogger also offers an easy way for you to earn money  on your blog.

Here are the three top reasons why you should choose Blogger:

1. Simplicity. Easy to use, free and it has a very good interface.
2. Everything is free! You don't have to pay anything for any of the tools!
3. Simple Advertising from Google. It is easy to set up a way to earn money.


Three reasons to go for Wordpress

Wordpress is a tool that can be used by new bloggers as well as more advanced. The problem is that the tool itself is more advanced and could thereby confuse some users. The more options and services you want, the more you will have to pay. For $100/year you will get all special features, but will still have to pay separately for special themes.

Here are the top reasons why you would choose Wordpress:

1. Full customization possibilities. If you pay, you can edit/change pretty much anything.
2. If you are a new user, you can easily set up a free blog without much problem.
3. If you are an advanced user, you can still get a kick ass blog without paying anything.


And the winner is?

If you don't wanna get much into detail with your blog. You just want it up and running and don't care for anything fancy, then Blogger is for you. Although if you want to have full control over your blog and don't care to pay a bit extra for it, then go "pro" with Wordpress, my personal favorite.

Comparing the two tools, not caring about the paying aspect, Wordpress beats Blogger by a long shot.

I do feel the irony of me blogging on Blogger still, but a little bird told me that this might change very soon.

Ways of lifting the customers spirit

Yesterday I decided to have an easy going day with my friends and girlfriend, starting the day with a draft of Magic and ending it with watching the shittiest Marvel movie in history: Captain America, the man who thinks infiltrating an enemy head quarters requires a metal shield painted with the flag of USA. Idiot...

Anyway, that's when I started to think about how movie makers and game developers use the things people care about to lift the spirit once in a while. To get a "let's do this together, for us!" kind of feeling. In movies this might be a man dressed in a country's flag (satisfying that countries population) or in games perhaps a Halloween or Christmas event. Speaking of which, the reason why I decided to take a lazy day was because I might have been too enthusiastic at the Halloween party the day before.

Johan the Priest, Me the Vampyric Wolverine, Phil the Death and Fredrik, being himself.

Developers: Take advantage of every opportunity you get

Every holiday or special occasion is an opportunity to do something fun for your players. It is also a very good opportunity to create buzz and great PR. The "We are celebrating EVERYTHING!" motto is something I embrace a lot. Aprils fools; Halloween; Christmas; The players birthday; The games' birthday... you name it!

There is so much to gain and so little pain.

Here is an old Simon an Lewis Minecraft video I've always loved to watch. Those crazy brits sure know how to create buzz about a game with their weird, but fantastic personalities.

The "Leaking" Strategy of Marketing

It does feel nice when things are starting to roll in my direction. My recent productivity boost has started to pay off. I even got missed by a falling rock and escaped death today. It is amazing what you can do to increase the chance of things come your way. But what are the game companies doing? Is "leakage" the new viral trend?


Is the EA Spouse just a viral marketing strategy?

This one is really hard to crack, at least for me, but the blogger that is called "The EA Spouse" might be an internal trick to create publicity. The thing is that much of what was originally "leaked" through this blog was negative. As they say: "All publicity is good publicity". But it might also be something else. An entrepreneurial spirited blogger, maybe even the real thing! Who knows? That's the thing with leakage, you can never really be sure.

To get to more every day "leakages", which seem to be the new name of "Announcement from company PR Department". Sometimes a song from a game gets "leaked", sometimes the beta, sometimes the demo gets out too early. In some cases you can even see movies filmed by amateurs claimed to be taken in secrecy. Also, have you ever thought about why some companies at live events to closed parties says "No cameras allowed or what we are about to discuss next"? Of course somebody will film it, put it on Youtube and create massive headlines everywhere. That's a good way of getting really cheap advertising. Just be smart.

I am aware that I have a little negative tone here, but in fact, I would like to finish off this blog post by saying that I actually admire this kind of marketing strategies.

Here is some typical leakage webcast on the Sony Playstation 4:

The upcoming Games Race

As many of you know, there are certain months where new games typically tend to hit the stores. One combo is November-December, specifically BEFORE x-mas. I bet you can figure out why. The other one is before the summer, generally May-June.

Right now we have the pre-xmas games coming up. Battlefield 3, Assassins Creed: Relevations, Anno 2070, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Star Wars: The Old Republic are a few examples.

Games that I fear we will have to wait for until May-June is StarCraft 2: The Heart of the Swarm and Diablo III. Blizzard would have overwhelmed us with their, usually, brilliant marketing by now if they aimed for x-mas.


Who will win the big race?

Is there a race? Of course there is. All of the games listed above are competing about becoming this years x-mas present. This is when all the big companies gather their brilliant minds to create the best marketing plan for their title. Some go for the more experimental viral methods (like Bungie) while others aim for TV commercials and overwhelming banners.

Just before x-mas we have a great moment where we can learn a lot about marketing and PR. Keep an eye out and think for yourself "Could I have done it better?". If your answer is yes, well... either you are wrong or you really got something.


Let's finish off this blog post with an awesome new trailer of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm.

Keep your hands where they belong...

I just came back, a bit drunk, from my big birthday celebration. Although I am a bit annoyed that someone was not so nice to a dear friend of mine, I am pretty satisfied with my birthday celebration. It was fun, most of my friends where there and I got a nice "Rena Rama Rolf" DVD to hang around my neck.

Thanks everyone for an amazing party. I hope I see you all again soon.


Marketing vs. IRL: The ice breaker

When you are out partying you often come across something one may call "ice breakers". It is the phrase that people use to initiate a conversation with you. Todays ice breaker was: "How are you? What are your plans now?". When you think about it. The ice breaker principle not only applies to parties, but to the way you communicate with your customers in a company.

When communicating to your customers, you need a good ice breaker. Think of it like you are in a club and want to pick up a girl. You don't want to use whatever everyone else is saying. You want to be original, but still  not be to "far fetched", so to speak.

"Are you out of premium credits? Maybe I can help!". If you are playing a game, would you not consider learning more after hearing this phrase?

The Dawn of Micro Payment Systems for Games

While spending much of this day to re-build some of my, yes I know how nerdy it is, Magic: The Gathering decks. After building the first out of three decks I worked with during the day, I started thinking about Magic as a strategically brilliant product. Richard Garfield's idea was around 10 years before it's time if you compare it to how more and more computer games are sold today.



Micro Payment is the Key

Magic: The Gathering is a game where you commonly play with 40-60 cards built from booster packs of 15 randomized cards from a certain theme each.

The game it self is free to play. You may play it as much as you can, as long as you buy the "parts" yourself. Much like many of the current Free to Play games we have today, only that Magic: The Gathering actually required you to actually own some initial parts to be able to take advantage of your free unlimited game time.

This system has worked since the game was released in the 1990's and it is only now that the concept is REALLY starting to show itself in digital form.

Today the monthly payment system is dying out. Welcome to the future and thanks Richard Garfield and Wizards of the Coast for showing us game developers a brilliant way to sell our games.


Oh, yes. The decks I built during the day was: Life gain (BLUE; WHITE; GREEN), Pumped Creatures (WHITE; GREEN) as well as a very odd deck where much of it is based on messing the opponent up with spells and dirty bombs (RED, BLUE, BLACK).

Bethesda versus Mojang

The childish game is still being played. Who the good guys here is obviously Mojang, but really... was this the best move of Bethesda? This feud will probably hurt the company way more than actually letting Mojang use the name Scrolls.

Another sign of inexperience from Bethesda's part. Until this came up I actually didn't think much bad of the company, other than that they made my favorite game into a FPS (Fallout). This is something I can forgive them for. I see the logic in their decision now.


The word "Scrolls" may never be used!

Yes, it is true. Bethesda claims that because they have the Elder Scrolls brand, no company can use the word "Scrolls" in their product. If this logic is to be sustained in all cases, then we will, for example, not see any games with the following in their titles:

- "Age of"
- "World of"
- "Life"
- "Portal"

And so on. You get the picture.

GROW UP BETHESDA!