Overly Positive

So for those of you who don’t know, Mythic and GOA have been hyping up WAR’s upcoming Land of the Dead. Certainly the traditional buzzworthy articles, tease interviews, and testing has been done, and there are a lot of folks talking about it. But what you may not know yet is that there’s a viral marketing campaign consisting of mailed cartouches, skulls, and bones being sent to various folks in the blogosphere. Together, all of these can be combined and interpreted into rewards and in-game items. If you’re curious, there is a consolidation thread on the Land of the Dead puzzle on Warhammer Alliance about it.

Sending skulls and bones, and strange things in the mail might seem like a waste of time to some, but to be honest, viral marketing in and of itself has taken hold pretty well. This isn’t the first time WAR has sent out promotional items. Back before Valentine’s Day there were a bunch of bloodied valentines sent out to hype WAR’s Night of Murder event. Before Land of the Dead came mysterious packages of red hair dye and DVD’s with timestamps, a way to hype the insertion of new classes into the game. And now, bloggers and fansites find themselves in an Indiana Jones-like Egyptian puzzle (whip and fedora not included).

If not for the digital age, viral marketing wouldn’t have been as worthwhile. But in a time when you can find out about anything instantaneously, the fact that Mythic is doing this has created a lot of interest and curiosity that normally would not be there. Sites like Kotaku, who normally wouldn’t carry a WAR article unless it was a major news piece, are now publishing pictures of their packages and nodding approvingly at something to break up their mundane routines. Small sites and blogs who are dedicated to WAR benefit from a boost and a recognition by the developers that they’re reading them and that they matter in the game’s overall voice. I know that being recognized by a company for what you are essentially writing and promoting for them is always more motivation to write more.

Non-traditional marketing for MMOs can really take hold in the next couple years as the various online games out there jockey for position. What if you saw some feathery wings sent to blogs by Aion’s NCSoft, or perhaps an audio-recorded message of assistance sought by a Republic senator for Star Wars: The Old Republic (“help me Obi-Wan Kenobi…”). These are the kinds of things that while short term, will be memorialized and remembered for being innovative, fun, and interesting.

Whether or not WAR’s Land of the Dead will succeed remains to be seen. But Mythic is certainly doing the right things by getting the word out in unique, viral ways. Certainly, if you’ve thought about WAR, and skulls with sunglasses made you smile, then you’ve been summarily “infected”. As far as MMO publicity goes, that’s not a bad thing.