Game is just too boring!

[crsutton]

My wife was looking over my shoulder while I played a turn last night. In spite of my heated effort to explain such things as PPs, line of supplies, base construction and the ever importance and joy of pilot training, she just did not seem to get engaged. Heck, I even went so far as to let her watch a combat replay-something that has on many occasion caused me to tear up. Anyways, she lasted about ten minutes and walked way muttering something about "total waste and pathetic loser" ( I'm pretty sure she was referring to the game as a " pathetic loser", not me.)

Anyhow, the experience started me thinking. Although we have a great game as it is, we really should make an effort to draw in the unengaged so that our hobby can grow-and so that the guys at Matrix will feel appreciated and continue to support the game. Below are just a few ideas I would like to throw out to you as a group. I think with a little thought and some quick modding we could potentially make this game the "darling" of the internet.

Some ideas to make WITP-AE the most popular game ever.

1. WITP on line. Make it a massive WPO where everybody pays $9.95 a month (you can charge it or use Paypal) to be part of a major on-line war. Players should take on the role of a character from WWII and then level up after meeting certain goals. Big emphasis on the role playing here.

2. Attract more chicks. Surely there is some way to make massive carrier battles in a 60 year old conflict more attractive to cute girls. Teenage girls would be better because they will spread the word by text or on Facebook.

3. Easter eggs. Invade some obscure dot hex in Alaska and “whoa” what do you find? You just unlocked 500 oaka bombs, and the CA of your choice is now totally invisible for the next six months.

4. Allow trading between players. I should be able to go to AE.net and trade 300 of these useless matilda tanks to a Japanese player some really cool nates.

5. AE Con; a big annual convention where everybody dresses up like some character from the war and lots of useless free stuff is given away. Of course, there will be a lot of hot chicks there (See suggestion #2) wearing really skimpy outfits at the display booths. If you could get Adam West to appear as the guest of honor, that would really ice the cake.

6. Matrix needs to set up the AE store where we can buy T-shirts, mugs, water bottles and surplus WWII aircraft-all with the AE-Witp logo prominently displayed. Better yet, tie it into leveling up in the MMO. Become a 32nd degree Tanaka and get an AE cup holder that glows in the dark.

7. Major celebrity endorsements. Come on now, what could be better than some A-list guy (better yet A-list hot chick like Lady Gaga) wearing a spiffy AE-WITP baseball cap? I heard Tiger Woods can be gotten at a very reasonable rate these days. Clint Eastwood would be cool too. Rutger Hauer- all of these guys could use come extra coin.

8. We need to develop our own really cool slang to attract more young and hip players. We have to find our on “in” terminology just like surfers and emo girls have now. Phrases that we can call our own. I am not completely up on this but I think anything with “dude” or “tube” would work the best. So in the future you JFBs would not go on the forum to brag about torpedoing a tanker. Instead you would say, “ Yo Dude, I just totally lanced a oil ” (Get it? Don’t worry you will get the hang of it soon enough).

9. Ditch the turn based thing. It has been done to death. It is time for AE to go “real time.” This will make it more fun and actually serve to shorten the campaign for most of us….

10. Find some way to get Super Mario into the game. Come on, who the heck doesn’t get a little chuckle whenever the little guy pops up on the screen?

11. Force feedback. IMHO this just not done enough in turn based games. Say a force feedback desk chair so that if one your carriers gets “lanced” you will be wearing your Dr. Pepper in your lap. Now that’s what I call excitement.

12. More fantasy in the game. The game is just too dry and predictable. To me, It is just not fantasy enough that every betty bomber in the game is fully torpedo trained, why not stretch it a little bit and give them photon torpedoes as well? Heck, think about the hours of replay time if you could recruit an army of flying monkeys just like they had in the Wizard of Oz. Now, that's what I call fun!

13. Nintendo Wii and AE-a pairing for the ages. Call me crazy but I see some sort of combination of AE with one of those plastic tennis racquets-making for hours of family oriented fun.

14. Finally, one word; ……clans. So far, for some reason or another I have been turned down by numerous on-line clans. I really want a place where I can feel "special" about myself and belong.

Just a few thoughts. I open up the thread for comments.

[SuluSea]

 
Great post!

[GenChaos33]

OP is crazy! Would be alot of effort with very little results. To be MMO style game, the game would have to be 3D and hence would not look or feel like the game is now. Just crazy talk. True wargames will never be main stream.

[Grollub]

LOL @ OP ! [:D]

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: GeneralChaos

OP is crazy! Would be alot of effort with very little results. To be MMO style game, the game would have to be 3D and hence would not look or feel like the game is now. Just crazy talk. True wargames will never be main stream.

Crazy! That does it. That guy is "so" not getting into my new AE-Adam West clan.[X(]

[Walloc]

Any one other than me, wondering how much time Crsutton spend in Paris Hiltons limo last night?
I mean after that responce from his wife, who wouldnt [:D]
That Sulu with his avatar find it a good post only strengthen the suspecion.

Kind regards,

Rasmus

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

(better yet A-list hot chick like Lady Gaga)

10. Find some way to get Super Mario into the game.

Is not he the reason for the allied damage control boost, running around fixing pipes and finding ways to get the water out of the ships?

[Smeulders]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

10. Find some way to get Super Mario into the game. Come on, who the heck doesn’t get a little chuckle whenever the little guy pops up on the screen?

That one isn't too hard

[Chickenboy]

[:D]

You are invited into my 'nutjob' clan, sir. Dude-we can lance us some invisible CAs and break out the flying monkeys together. In 'haptic' real time too. The chicks'll be all over us before long! Or Adam West-your apparent preference...not that there's anything wrong with that...[:'(]

[USSAmerica]

ORIGINAL: crsutton

ORIGINAL: GeneralChaos

OP is crazy! Would be alot of effort with very little results. To be MMO style game, the game would have to be 3D and hence would not look or feel like the game is now. Just crazy talk. True wargames will never be main stream.

Crazy! That does it. That guy is "so" not getting into my new AE-Adam West clan.[X(]

Where can I apply to your clan! [&o][&o][&o]

Great stuff, crsutton!

[Skyros]

What no magic. How about healimg spells for disabled aircraft and +2 bomb shields.

[spartanwarrior]

I would like to see some enhances graphics at the minimum.

[NormS3]

Brilliant!

Now i gotta go clean out my keyboard, anybody know how long it takes beer to evaporate?

[The Gnome]

In order to make the China campaign more interesting we can convert it into the elven kingdom.

[The Gnome]

PS And somewhere out there Joe Wilkerson is muttering to himself "Don't these rubes know how hard this'll be to code?"

[John Lansford]

The game wouldn't really take off online though, until a FPS mode was introduced.  Who wouldn't want to recreate Sergeant Basilone's heroics on Guadalcanal, or be the gunnery director on the Houston in 1942, or command I-19 as the Wasp comes into range?  Every combat, every engagement, should have a FPS situation where you could affect the outcome directly!

Of course, that would mean each day's events would take several days of real time to actually work through, but think of the fun!

[Grfin Zeppelin]

How about micro transactions ? Buy a pimped Yamato for 4.99$ or for 9.99 $ your ships have unlimited fuel and stuff like this.

[Chickenboy]

I'm thinking of the 'mining' opportunities here. I'm picturing a third party vendor for mundane activities to improve one's gameplay.

Here we go: for a nominal daily fee, you can have Chinese computer laborers manage your pilot training pool daily. I can think of at least one player that would go for that...[;)]

[Grfin Zeppelin]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

I'm thinking of the 'mining' opportunities here. I'm picturing a third party vendor for mundane activities to improve one's gameplay.

Here we go: for a nominal daily fee, you can have Chinese computer laborers manage your pilot training pool daily. I can think of at least one player that would go for that...[;)]

Or you buy trained pilots for a small fee out ot the pool ^^ Microtransactions would improve gameplay for everyone *nods*

[rockmedic109]

Flying Monkeys are already in the game judging by the results I am getting from my pilots.[8|]