APB community manager Chris Dye recently created a stir by challenging fans to sign on to the official APB page on the social network Facebook. The number of sign ups far exceeded the challenge. As a result, WarCry decided to find out about the decision to use Facebook and its potential future as a tool for Realtime Worlds.
Oh...and there's a little exclusive announcement for the community at the end of the interview too.
Introduce yourself and describe your role at Realtime Worlds and in the development of APB.
My name's Chris 'Ulric' Dye, and I'm the Community Relations Manager at Realtime worlds, I'm in charge of building up the community aspects of the upcoming urban action MMO - APB: All Points Bulletin.
Recently, you told the community that APB would begin beta sign ups if the APB Facebook page reached 500 'fans'. Did you meet your goal and, if so, by how much did you exceed it?
We met the target faster than anyone had predicted, from sending the announcement out to all the news sites, we had hit the target within 3 hours, and the group currently has over 2500 Fans, which is a great initial response.
Who came up with the idea for using Facebook?
Utilising the huge potential of Facebook was part of my plan coming into RTW, and after announcing my appointment we were approached by a keen APB fan who had already reserved and begun a small APB Facebook group, we agreed that turning this already established group into the official Facebook Group would be more beneficial than creating multiple groups, and so the Official APB Facebook group was born.
Why did you opt to use Facebook?
Facebook has been growing at a phenomenal rate over the last few years, now positioning itself as the number 1 social network globally with over 100 million members; this offers a huge opportunity to reach segments of the online market unreachable via traditional gaming sites.
What are the intended goals for using social networking sites like Facebook?
As we have already seen some games following suit and releasing their own Facebook groups off the back of our announcements last week, it would be unwise to reveal our full strategy, however generally speaking our aim is to enable players to feel like they are a part of a large community, regardless of how they choose to spend their time outside of APB.
More news regarding our Facebook group plans and activities will follow in the coming weeks.
What made you decide to use Facebook as a launch pad for the beta sign up event?
The 'Register your interest' as a first step along the winding road to beta was considered a big enough deal that we needed to maximize its potential, at the same time we were discussing ways of promoting our Facebook group, so the opportunity to tie these together happened fairly naturally, and has been a great success.
Some have said that using a social networking program like Facebook doesn't reach the target 'gaming' audience. What is your response to that?
Firstly that depends on what 'gaming' audiences you are aiming to reach, secondly a community made up of over 100 million users with PC's and internet access, it would be naïve to think that there isn't a huge potential audience for the right sort of game, and with the social elements of APB, we hope to appeal to as many users as possible.
Do you have any plans to use the Facebook platform for major announcements and/or events?
This will all depend on how the group grows, for now we will be targeting specific promotions and other opportunities to the Facebook group as exclusives, with main announcements still being distributed via mainstream sources, however as the group continues to grow, so will its use by us as a priority communication channel.
Will you add an APB 'application' of some sort on Facebook?
I was thinking we could release some sort of application where you are a vampire and you can bite people and turn them into another vampire.......................................................what it's already been done?
On a serious note we are looking at the various potential uses of the Facebook application system, however it's too early to say exactly where this will lead.
Do you have any plans to use other social networking sites like MySpace for future announcements?
I strongly feel that Facebook offers possibly the strongest social networking system out there, and this would be supported by its recent move to the top of the global Social network rankings, so it is our main focus at this time.
We are currently looking into additional sites with a view to having a presence (whether this is a fully dedicated APB site or a more generalized Realtime Worlds site) and this will depend on the interest shown by players over the coming weeks.
They say the sincerest form of flattery is imitation. It must be since both Jumpgate Evolution and City of Heroes now have Facebook pages as well. What is your response to the 'imitation' of your idea?
It's great to see other companies following our lead, the more publicity Facebook gets as a destination for gaming communities, the larger that community will get.
Whilst it is true there have been groups dedicated to games before, I really feel this could be the start of a new generation of official sites giving the level of support usually only found on official forums and large fan sites.
Now that you've met your goal for beta sign ups, how many have you received so far? Is there any way to track how many have come from the Facebook page?
The response has been great and by the end of last week we had already surpassed 5000 registered interests, with a large % of Facebook fans showing their interest, as we advance with promotions we predict the 2 numbers will converge as people learn the benefits of being both a Fan, and being signed up for news from Realtime Worlds.
What is the timeline for the beta? Will it begin in, say, 1 month? 3 months? 6 months?
Whilst we have some predicted dates we are aiming to internally, it would be unfair to release these until we are as sure as possible we will hit them, we are keen to avoid the traditional MMO scenario of constantly changing dates.
You've indicated that APB is much further along than previously announced. Is it 'feature complete'?
Whilst APB is developing at a very exciting rate, we are very aware that feedback from players is essential in determining the final feature set; therefore I don't think we can call it 'Feature complete' at this point.
It is the case that we have been keeping a low profile though so it's probably fair to say it is further along than people realize. The development staff are playing the game internally with big multiplayer sessions every week.
How long will the closed beta last?
Until we and the closed beta players feel that, it's ready for a wider audience.
Will there be an open beta? If so, how long will it last?
We have various stages of beta planned, and towards the end of this will include a public beta, more details will follow.
Please talk to your community. They have big ears to hear you.
We appreciate that details of APB are still somewhat shrouded in mystery, as we progress more details on the various aspects will emerge, of course we are keen to interact with the community and intend to carry on doing this via fan sites, our Facebook group (Facebook) and announcements.
Following on from this point and as a thank you to WarCry for this interview, we have decided to announce here, an exclusive competition open to all members of our Facebook group (including anyone who wishes to sign up to enter this competition).
As you will see there is a fan photos section (Facebook Fan Photos) we are inviting fans to submit their best APB themed graffiti / artwork between now and 30th September, after which we will pick a winner who will win an exclusive prize, details of which will be posted on the Facebook site in the coming weeks.
Chris 'Ulric' Dye
www.realtimeworlds.com
www.apb.com
Thank you so much, Chris, for talking with us and for the GREAT news about the contest!
Source : WarCry Network
