While surfing randomly, I chanced upon a new browser-based MMO game - Battle Dawn. Though I myself am not a big fan of MMOs, I still like to just check them out, see if it's the next World of Warcraft.
The worst part for a common user is that you always have to register and provide your e-mail (or link to your facebook account) - not great especially if you're trying to save yourself some mail junk in case you're not really into the game.
So, I headed over to the Battle Dawn site, planning to go through their forums first, look for reviews online, but I just clicked their Launch Game button on the spur of the moment. At first, just as I feared, it showed me a login/new player box. Clicking the New Player button brought up a 'select theme' page followed by a 'select server' box - configuring the world/server I'd be playing in. But imagine my pleasant surprise when after this, it put me right in the middle of a tutorial!
I was guided through establishing my first colony, creating structures, a few military units, forming my squad - and now the experience of the game started to impress me! I spent almost 10-15 mins with it, which is usually good enough to get you hooked to any average game - only the worst possible game would not intrigue you after such time!
I did finally reach a point where it wouldn't let me proceed without registering, and after getting a feel of the game it was really hard not to do that. (I didn't register only because I had to rush out for some chores)
To sum up, it was quite refreshing to see a game with decent design, but with such amazing marketing. Granted, only the geekiest of the online community would click a MMO game ad in the first place, but nevertheless, this marketing strategy could work with so many other services, too! I have seen this sort of idea a couple of times before, but only for some shopping/novelty websites, and which only let you browse a tiny amount before it came after you for registration.
Trust me, it's worth a try.
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