How to Attract More Interest?

[Uatu]

So, guys, let's think of ways to get more people interested in DC! Surely a lot of people have played the Gold Box games many years ago, and would be interested in playing an updated version now! So... brainstorming...

1. FRUA - how is the FRUA community doing these days? Are they still active now? Do they know about DC?

2. I guess having some modules to play could help DC a lot... (Time to get to work!)

3. Who else could we tell DC about (that might be interested)? Maybe the various "RPG game maker" sites?

I have created a blog to tell the world about DC (and also act as a soapbox of sorts)... hopefully by using classic AD&D as a draw (for the most part). But of course I need to attract people to the blog first... ha ha.

[ddggames.com]

Having very few playable modules, I think, is the biggest problem. I've been distracted by the release of 4th Edition D&D and my frantic pursuit to put some playtest sessions together, but I do intend to continue working on DC projects, assuming I don't run into too many more issues with the engine its self.

[manikus]

Hey guys.

Thanks for your interest in promoting DC.

Here's my answer to Uatu's points.
1- I've been a member of the FRUA community a lot longer than I've been a member of the DC community. They're still active, but it's really cyclical with a lot of downtime. They are open to hearing about DC, since all of the original DCers came from the FRUA community. But, they don't particularly like us discussing DC related topics. They really just want announcements and questions/answers. Check out the latest newsletter (#38) to see a section on DC.
2- Believe it or not, from my many conversations with people interested in DC, lack of modules is not the number one reason why people don't check us out. The number one reason is that it's still not finished. (Reason number two is lack of a particular feature and reason number three is lack of playable modules.)
3- Here's what I do currently: I post here (hey, why not start with the obvious), I post at the yahoo list, I maintain a DC club/forum for 3D artists at the ArtZone, I post on the FRUA list, I have a blog at ArtZone for announcements to the broader community there about goings on, I post at the SoucreForge forums (I don't mean the ones through the DC site, though I do post there as well.) like Help Wanted, etc, I post on/maintain the official DC site, I post/maintain my own DC fan site, I post (very occasionally at Bartok's Tower (a table-top AD&D forum/site), I talk our project up to people I go to school with (CS folk), I've sent reviews/info to various game maker sites in the past (but not on a regular basis), I've sent DC links to every search engine I can think of , I've posted a lot about DC to the RuneSword community (which I maintain the official website for and do art for), I used to have a LiveJournal blog about DC (I guess I still do, I just never post in it anymore), I've posted comments on various blogs, forums, etc.

So, I would love any suggestions for more things I could do. Links to sites that might publish something about us are always cool. (Though, don't get me started about the Wikipedia community, several times tried and several times relegated to a subnote of the FRUA section or just flat out deleted.)

Mostly, I would like some help with this. For example, Uatu, your blog is a really cool idea. It's something I've been toying around with doing to my site for a while (I'd been discussing this on the yahoo list, but nobody is awake over there most of the time). People posting about us in other forums and on other sites is the best way probably, to get the word out.

[Uatu]

Ah - so that's why there is no Wikipedia article! Still, the FRUA article is what alerted me to DC in the first place... so it is much better than nothing...

I am hoping that my new blog will attract people to DC mostly via interest in 1e/2e AD&D and topics related to that... (Of course it will take time before it appears on search engines, etc.)

[manikus]

Originally Posted by Uatu I am hoping that my new blog will attract people to DC mostly via interest in 1e/2e AD&D and topics related to that... (Of course it will take time before it appears on search engines, etc.)

Have you submitted your url to the big four? (Google, yahoo, MSN and OpenDNS) They all have forms you can fill out...of course, this is probably the time that you're referring to. Is your blog set so that every time you post it auto-notifies blogger? This gets me results on my non-DC/gaming blog.

[Uatu]

Hmm - I only submitted it to Google! Guess I have some other things to do then... (Not sure I know much about the auto-notify thing...)

[manikus]

The auto-notify was a setting that I checked. I'm sure it must be in the F.A.Q. somewhere...