It's been a while again, I've been pretty busy and working hard to progress Monria for us all, i.e. more time on boring business stuff and less time dancing! This has meant that I've had even less time in game but I'm still here and still extremely focused. I think I've said before that I'm in this for the long haul and this year in particular I am making decisions that I feel will put us on a stronger footing going forward.
I have a vision for Monria that is spread evenly between scribbles on beer mats, mind maps, documents, sketches, spreadsheets and design plans. There's three core areas that are critical for our long term success and they are all entwined:
Environment
We have a strong community who really care about Monria and we get a lot of positive feedback from new players and visitors to Monria. We're still really focused on the community but we have had a few recent set backs.
Sweat Purchase Program
The original idea behind the sweat buying program was from @Gatekeeper, who took it upon himself to start buying sweat from new players. He then approached us about contributing to the program and the rest was history. Unfortunately Gatekeeper has had PC problems that have kept him out of the game which has affected the sweat buying. I've been thinking about how to continue this or whether we should continue it to be honest. We want to support community initiatives but there has been a lot of PED gone into sweat and I'm undecided as to whether this is the best use of this PED. We still randomly buy sweat but I'm not sure if we will re implement the official program in the future.
While in the middle of this dilemma, I have noticed that @Darth Revan Reborn has implemented his own sweat buying initiative which is exactly what we're about. I intend on being a regular shopper, well at least another opportunity for @Kendra to shine ;)
You can find out more about Darths effort here Monrian Sweat Corner - Support your fellow Monrians
New player experience
Another double whammy for us recently was that the Raines have taken an extended break from virtual life. They have both done so much to support us and have been a huge part of everything we've done here. I can't thank them both enough and hope to see them back at some point in the future
This has impacted the new player program, the sweat purchasing, the field trips and the planning of our boxing events. We're still supporting new players through player kits, field trips and I'll be running the annual boxing event in a couple of months but this has definitely had an impact.
Supporting the Monria community is a very important part of our overall plan. It is something that really needs to grow organically from within the community and I'm sure will continue to evolve over time. Some people will get more involved and some less but it is important that this is driven by the community. The free flights and repair skilling is an excellent example, it's well run and more importantly the team own it in every sense of the word. That's why I support it, have added RT to the flight schedule and if we end up with more space content in the future I will support the team to make sure they can experience it to its fullest.
On the subjects of new player experience and sweat purchasing, although they help I feel that they are really a band aid. What Monria really needs is a better progression from new born to experienced player and more immersion. This is a critical part of the foundations for future success for all of us and more importantly new players. It is on me to make this happen and I'm determined to get there no matter how long it takes.
Content
@Dark Moon Enigma has assembled a Media Team with an insane amount of talent, I can't thank @Pinthas Schmenke Dorian and @Anny enough for their contribution already. Monria has it's own history, Lore, story arcs, characters and those guys are only just getting started. This is a key part of my vision as not only does all this creativity give us new ways for people to enjoy Monria but it feeds into my development plans and the ideas I'm working on.
Our events are usually well received and we put a massive amount of effort into them. Our St Patrick's Day event this year was our best to date. There were plenty of prizes looted during the weekend and we took a few risks with a number of triggered attacks, the biggest of which were at Massacre hill and the abandoned mine. The weekend was projected live on a big screen during Gamercon which was a lot of fun. I was also delighted to have @Maximus Cashicus with us who played a blinder and will be dragged to any future exhibitions whether he likes it or not! The event itself lead to a couple of video interviews, an interview with a national news paper and some contacts.
We will continue running events and trying to make them as enjoyable and inclusive as possible. One note though, due to some of the things I am working on we will need to re-schedule some of our annual events, most notably the Round Robin will need to be moved out a couple of weeks. DM has been beating me up for a while about getting this update done so she can let everyone know with enough notice. What can I say words take me longer, especially when I use so many.....
My development plan is progressing, I am in continuous discussions with the developers, my vision is understood and I am bound by oaths of secrecy but I'm feeling optimistic about the direction we are heading. My priorities are in areas that I feel are important for the long term and I want to invest significantly in this area in particular. I have no eta but all going well stuff will magically pop out in some VU(s) in the future......
Growth
I have put a lot of effort into the marketing side of things and now have all the data I need to properly analyse my marketing campaigns. Over the course of the last year and half we have significantly grown the amount of people that have joined Monria. Some of these people stick around on Monria and others don't. The level of activity on the moon itself has also grown, obviously a lot of this growth is during our events but also during normal periods.
Two key metrics when growing a business are the cost of acquisition and the payback period. In simple terms the cost of acquisition is how much it costs to get a paying customer and the payback period is the amount of time to recover that initial outlay. You want a low cost of acquisition and short payback period. Once these two numbers are at desirable levels then growth in theory is simply a matter of investing more money which you recover in a short time.
I have done a lot of different forms of paid marketing and have steadily reduced the cost of acquisition and increased conversions. The problem is that the payback period is not what it needs to be, it just takes far too long to reclaim the initial outlay because paying for an MMO customer is proving to be too expensive relative to how long it takes to get the spend back. Or to put it another way spending a lot of money on paid marketing will be simply pouring money down a drain. Given that we need to find our own players as Monria is not a destination that can be selected when you sign up via entropia universe this is critical to our success.
Obviously this is a challenge but interestingly enough outside of paid marketing our two biggest source of players are organic and via social media (mainly facebook) where people sign up daily. These players are also far more likely to leave the starter area, complete quests and deposit. I.e. they have a far lower cost of acquisition and much shorter payback period. So again with the long term in mind, I am working slowly and steadily on a new marketing website for the sole purpose of getting organic players and continuing to grow our social media presence. I am also reducing the paid marketing for all but the most effective campaigns. The forum performs pretty well so this will remain the same (apart from new hosting).
In Summary, that was all a rather long winded way of saying that I am:
Oh and sorry about the disruption to the events schedule, we will publish new details very soon
That's all Folks
Ant
I have a vision for Monria that is spread evenly between scribbles on beer mats, mind maps, documents, sketches, spreadsheets and design plans. There's three core areas that are critical for our long term success and they are all entwined:
- Environment (atmosphere, community, sense of belonging)
- Content (Stuff to do, events, lore)
- Growth (Player acquisition, increased activity)
Environment
We have a strong community who really care about Monria and we get a lot of positive feedback from new players and visitors to Monria. We're still really focused on the community but we have had a few recent set backs.
Sweat Purchase Program
The original idea behind the sweat buying program was from @Gatekeeper, who took it upon himself to start buying sweat from new players. He then approached us about contributing to the program and the rest was history. Unfortunately Gatekeeper has had PC problems that have kept him out of the game which has affected the sweat buying. I've been thinking about how to continue this or whether we should continue it to be honest. We want to support community initiatives but there has been a lot of PED gone into sweat and I'm undecided as to whether this is the best use of this PED. We still randomly buy sweat but I'm not sure if we will re implement the official program in the future.
While in the middle of this dilemma, I have noticed that @Darth Revan Reborn has implemented his own sweat buying initiative which is exactly what we're about. I intend on being a regular shopper, well at least another opportunity for @Kendra to shine ;)
You can find out more about Darths effort here Monrian Sweat Corner - Support your fellow Monrians
New player experience
Another double whammy for us recently was that the Raines have taken an extended break from virtual life. They have both done so much to support us and have been a huge part of everything we've done here. I can't thank them both enough and hope to see them back at some point in the future
This has impacted the new player program, the sweat purchasing, the field trips and the planning of our boxing events. We're still supporting new players through player kits, field trips and I'll be running the annual boxing event in a couple of months but this has definitely had an impact.
Supporting the Monria community is a very important part of our overall plan. It is something that really needs to grow organically from within the community and I'm sure will continue to evolve over time. Some people will get more involved and some less but it is important that this is driven by the community. The free flights and repair skilling is an excellent example, it's well run and more importantly the team own it in every sense of the word. That's why I support it, have added RT to the flight schedule and if we end up with more space content in the future I will support the team to make sure they can experience it to its fullest.
On the subjects of new player experience and sweat purchasing, although they help I feel that they are really a band aid. What Monria really needs is a better progression from new born to experienced player and more immersion. This is a critical part of the foundations for future success for all of us and more importantly new players. It is on me to make this happen and I'm determined to get there no matter how long it takes.
Content
@Dark Moon Enigma has assembled a Media Team with an insane amount of talent, I can't thank @Pinthas Schmenke Dorian and @Anny enough for their contribution already. Monria has it's own history, Lore, story arcs, characters and those guys are only just getting started. This is a key part of my vision as not only does all this creativity give us new ways for people to enjoy Monria but it feeds into my development plans and the ideas I'm working on.
Our events are usually well received and we put a massive amount of effort into them. Our St Patrick's Day event this year was our best to date. There were plenty of prizes looted during the weekend and we took a few risks with a number of triggered attacks, the biggest of which were at Massacre hill and the abandoned mine. The weekend was projected live on a big screen during Gamercon which was a lot of fun. I was also delighted to have @Maximus Cashicus with us who played a blinder and will be dragged to any future exhibitions whether he likes it or not! The event itself lead to a couple of video interviews, an interview with a national news paper and some contacts.
We will continue running events and trying to make them as enjoyable and inclusive as possible. One note though, due to some of the things I am working on we will need to re-schedule some of our annual events, most notably the Round Robin will need to be moved out a couple of weeks. DM has been beating me up for a while about getting this update done so she can let everyone know with enough notice. What can I say words take me longer, especially when I use so many.....
My development plan is progressing, I am in continuous discussions with the developers, my vision is understood and I am bound by oaths of secrecy but I'm feeling optimistic about the direction we are heading. My priorities are in areas that I feel are important for the long term and I want to invest significantly in this area in particular. I have no eta but all going well stuff will magically pop out in some VU(s) in the future......
Growth
I have put a lot of effort into the marketing side of things and now have all the data I need to properly analyse my marketing campaigns. Over the course of the last year and half we have significantly grown the amount of people that have joined Monria. Some of these people stick around on Monria and others don't. The level of activity on the moon itself has also grown, obviously a lot of this growth is during our events but also during normal periods.
Two key metrics when growing a business are the cost of acquisition and the payback period. In simple terms the cost of acquisition is how much it costs to get a paying customer and the payback period is the amount of time to recover that initial outlay. You want a low cost of acquisition and short payback period. Once these two numbers are at desirable levels then growth in theory is simply a matter of investing more money which you recover in a short time.
I have done a lot of different forms of paid marketing and have steadily reduced the cost of acquisition and increased conversions. The problem is that the payback period is not what it needs to be, it just takes far too long to reclaim the initial outlay because paying for an MMO customer is proving to be too expensive relative to how long it takes to get the spend back. Or to put it another way spending a lot of money on paid marketing will be simply pouring money down a drain. Given that we need to find our own players as Monria is not a destination that can be selected when you sign up via entropia universe this is critical to our success.
Obviously this is a challenge but interestingly enough outside of paid marketing our two biggest source of players are organic and via social media (mainly facebook) where people sign up daily. These players are also far more likely to leave the starter area, complete quests and deposit. I.e. they have a far lower cost of acquisition and much shorter payback period. So again with the long term in mind, I am working slowly and steadily on a new marketing website for the sole purpose of getting organic players and continuing to grow our social media presence. I am also reducing the paid marketing for all but the most effective campaigns. The forum performs pretty well so this will remain the same (apart from new hosting).
In Summary, that was all a rather long winded way of saying that I am:
- Working on Development
- Building a new website
Oh and sorry about the disruption to the events schedule, we will publish new details very soon
That's all Folks
Ant
