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独立游戏开发者是否应该外包PR工作?

发布时间:2014-02-28 15:08:45 Tags:,,,

问题:

当一款独立游戏获得成功后,媒体关注可能会令其喘不过气。Dong Nguyen(《Flappy Bird》开发者)就曾表示这种现象破坏了自己简单的生活。有些独立开发者会将PR工作外包给他人,这样自己就可以专注于开发工作,但也有些开发者对此则有所犹豫。PR公司将如何影响你独立和自主运营的能力?这是所有人都应该考虑的做法吗?保持多大的独立性才是好主意?

PR(from tacso.org)

PR(from tacso.org)

回答:

Ella Romanos(Remode Studios首席执行官)

我认为这要取决于是哪家PR公司或PR人员来做,以及开发者对PR究竟有多了解,但我认为这至少是人人都应该考虑到的一些东西。我曾同优秀和糟糕的PR公司合作过,难以充分说明优秀PR公司所存在的价值。另一方面,糟糕的PR确实会对游戏造成许多伤害。

Paul Taylor(Mode 7 Games联合创始人)

当然,我曾自己为《Frozen Synapse》这款游戏完成100%的PR工作,也使用过PR代理机构的服务(《Frozen Endzon》90%的PR工作)。我认为该代理机构能够以极低的成本完成我自己单兵作战所需处理的工作,并为我节省了大量的时间。我们使用的是Beefjack这家极小型的英国代理机构,它是一些前独立游戏开发者和记者所创办的——他们了解媒体领域,也非常留意我们的信息。所以,我认为有两种情况值得采用代理机构:策略性地使用特定PR点来节省你的时间。如果你没有自己完成的技能,那么我建议你采用代理机构的服务——开发者Dong认为处理PR严重影响了自己的精神状态,而他实际上能够支付PR费用,显然很需要他人搭把手给他解围,以便他专心做自己最擅长的事情。

Martin Darby(Remode Studios首席文化官)

我认为从其他娱乐行业,尤其是要让观众狂热地觉得自己同创作者“非常亲密”(例如音乐)领域来看,很显然采用PR服务极为重要。外部PR可提供的作用就是……节省时间:如果你不自己去做,就不会发现要写好PR材料究竟有多费时间。外部角度来看,作为开发者,你可能过于“亲近”自己的作品了。这虽然是很自然的现象,但却并不一定有帮助。像任何专业一样,这里都有处理特定事件的最佳“方式”。优秀的PR公司会清楚这些情况。在Dong的例子中,我认为采用PR服务会非常有利,但整个《Flappy Bird》现象来得太突然了,所以我们也不能指责他觉得自己濒临崩溃的感受!我认为许多独立开发者模糊了PR和营销之间的界线和两者的相互影响,所以我认为开发者应该先评估你所希望达成的目标,然后再选择适合自己的策略。

Harry Holmwood(Marvelous AQL Europe首席执行官)

我同意,PR公司可能极其有帮助。他们无法创造奇迹,也不应该寄希望于让他们将另一款游戏打造成行业神话,但如果你有一款值得报导的产品或者服务,优秀的PR公司就可以让你获得自己出马所无法实现的曝光度。但是,从接触媒体的力度来看,他们确实很有帮助。理想情况下,开发者可以在同PR机构合作的过程中维持与记者、博客主,更重要的是玩家本身的个人关系。

Tadhg Kelly(Ouya开发者关系主管)

我同意上述所有说法,但要注意:现在任何工作室都有可能面临被PR所雪藏的危险。老式的沟通方法(通过官方渠道)在这个人人都有自己新闻源的社会并不管用了,对于那些试图插入的无名者来说尤其如此。粉丝现在习惯通过网络(例如Twitter平台)直接交流,并感觉自己也是这一运动的一份子。他们重视真实性,开发者应该有自己的论坛并及时响应。所以你得在线并保持个性化。虽然PR对于官方渠道来说仍然很重要,但你不可寄期望于这就能够建立你的话语权。也不可寄希望于PR来解决你的问题。对于一个充满不喜欢同人们交谈的内向型成员的行业来说,做到这一点真的太困难了,但事实就是如此。你得用自己的语言来说出自己的营销故事。

Martin Darby(Remode Studios首席文化官)

对,我真的认为Tadhg所说的如何区分你同粉丝之间的个人联系,以及同更为正式化的渠道之间的沟通,这一点可能比听起来更困难。

Dan Efergan(Aardman Animations数字创意总监)

我们处于一个略微不寻常的领域,能够与其他公司一起共享一个PR人员。但涉及我们自己的游戏发布时,我们却几乎没有足够的时间完成他们能够为我们做的事情,例如维持与记者、博客主以及玩家的关系。但我认为这真的很重要。如今任何公司/独立开发者与自己的玩家之间的关系都是非常个人化的。人们可以在网络上胡说八道,但如果你能怀着真正的热情坦诚地说话,他们就会失去兴趣。而为了实现这一目标,你就需要对你的游戏很了解的人来替你说话。所以,最理想的外部PR人员能够实现但并不一定有必要做到这一点。

Ella Romanos

我完全同意——PR的这种促进作用正是PR人员的可贵之处。他们应该同你一起合作制定PR战略,并推进PR执行工作。无论他们是否面向公众,都应该同你讨论一些情况,并根据你想说的内容采取行动。

Oscar Clark(Applifier倡导者)

我认为我们必须重新考虑一下PR如今的意义,在游戏领域尤其如此。我们并不只是同媒体聊聊天,和记者吃吃饭,我们应该将此视为我们品牌的声音。在社交媒体时代,这种声音必须具有真实感,独特性和一致性,从而建立粉丝群体。一个以自己品牌标识为生的个人组合也许能够走得很远,但若真想放大人们的兴趣,要占领的渠道和出路就太多了,除非你真的想(以及足够幸运)成为时代思潮本身的一部分。当你无论同时无处不在地出现于每个角落时,那就意味着你需要来自外部代理机构的帮助。没有PR经验的人通常会因此而陷入困境 ,因为他们误解了自己品牌的个性。他们可能没有意识到自己必须说一些他人想听的东西,或者在自己的品牌衰落时他们可以采取一些个人措施,而在你措手不及时互联网上就会有成批的负面消息向你袭来。这正是外部声音可以提供帮助,代理机构可以助你创建公司或服务的独特声音的地方。我职业生涯中有大多数时间是在做PR工作,通常是与外部游戏PR团队合作,有时候则是与内部PR团队联手。这项工作要求你积极融入其中:你不可以寄希望于其他人能够比你更好地理解或传达你的品牌价值。但是,如果你可以让他们理解你的声音和想象,并长期认同你的沟通计划,那就真的十分可贵了。灾难不可避免,错误引用也在所难免,这就需要你去适应和倾听优秀的建议。但是,如果能够防止这些东西抑制你的想象,你可能会发现起导向作用者就会占上风。通常你可以变灾难为胜利。

Paul Taylor

我认为这一点再正确不过了。我要补充的一点就是,传统智慧并不总是管用。看看Phil Fish,他就是因为未被完全过滤而成为世界上最知名的独立开发者。但这并不是这方面的最佳例子,但我认为人们还是要谨慎引导PR信息,以免错过一些媒体所关注的兴奋事件。

Oscar Clark

这是一个很好的观点。仅仅有一个极具魅力的声音,并且成为时代思潮的一部分,这并不能让你获得任何普遍常识或洞察力……你还是有可能令用户不快。这是互联网时代,充满消极能量的人无所不在。不要让他们知道得太多并保持缄默。

Tadhg Kelly

不,应该让他们知道更多信息!

Martin Darby

正如我之前所言,我认为你可以从音乐行业清楚地看到引起争议是博取眼球的一个好方法。所谓的“不公开就是糟糕的公开咒语”。我并不是指有意识地采用这种策略,我是指要接受你无法取悦所有人,而其结果就需要你额外留神这一现实。如果你保持这种姿态,那也行。我想这对粉丝或读者来说更有趣。但我们无法估量其负面作用,负面影响究竟有多大?如果被媒体断章取义了你能接受吗?这些问题值得考虑。上周我看到GI.buz有个新闻标题是“我们X Rockstars”。我再细看其中的采访内容,就知道他们只是在以半开玩笑的态度说事,但你只看到标题时会产生什么联想?

Andrew Smith(Spilt Milk Studios总监)

这里有个高效的PR例子“Fuck PR,我讨厌任何参与其中的人,因为他们吸血一样地剥夺他人的辛勤劳动,我制作游戏,我才应该是为游戏代言的人。事实上,我并不喜欢为游戏代言这件事情,游戏应该靠自身长处取胜。如果所有的PR人员都被炒掉了,整个游戏行业就太平了。”当然这并非我所认同的立场,但有时候我希望自己能够更具侵略性和对抗性,这样更容易写标题。

Jas Purewal(Osborne Clarke律师)

“不公开就是糟糕的PR”,没错,但你想确保自己处于正确的一方。Barbara Streisand(歌手)极具攻击性地起诉摄影师(意外拍摄了Barbara的豪宅)时获得了大量PR曝光度,但她却并非从PR获益的人。更严肃地说,采用“非传统”的PR渠道很棒——但要确保你是这种做法的第一人。这也许就是真正出色的现代PR代理机构的长处——指导开发者如何使用非传统方法获得曝光度,但却并不一定是为他们而为之。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

[Gamesbriefers] Should you outsource PR?

By Gamesbriefers

Question:

When an indie game is successful, the press attention can be completely overwhelming. Dong Nguyen says that it ruined his simple life. Some indies outsource their PR so that they can focus on development, but others are hesitant to do so. How does a PR firm affect your ability to operate independently and autonomously? Is this something that everybody should consider doing? At what point is it a good idea?

Answers:

Ella-RomanosElla Romanos CEO of Remode Studios

I think it really depends on who the PR firm/person is and also how PR savvy the developer is, but I think it is definitely something that everybody should at least consider. Having worked with good and bad PR companies, I can’t advocate enough the value of a good PR company.  On the other hand, a bad one does a lot more harm that good.

Paul Taylor Co-founder, Mode 7 Games

Absolutely. I’ve done PR 100% myself on a title (Frozen Synapse) and used an agency for, I’d say, about 90% of the work (Frozen Endzone). I’d say the agency delivered a result that was equivalent to something I could have achieved myself at quite a low cost and saved me a massive, massive amount of time; in this particular instance it was a good move. We used Beefjack, who are a very small UK agency run by an ex-journo and indie game dev – they really understand their area of press and also were very attentive to our message. So, I think the two situations to use an agency are: – Tactical usage on particular PR points to save you time – If you don’t have the skills to do it yourself I directly recommended to Dong that he used an agency – someone who is saying that dealing with PR is negatively affecting their mental state (as he did), and who can afford it, absolutely needs someone to be helping them out so they can concentrate on what they do best.

Martin DarbyMartin Darby CCO of Remode Studios

I think it’s pretty clear to see from other entertainment industries, particularly ones where an audience is fanatical about feeling ‘close’ to the creators (such as music), that when this stuff is valuable, it can be very valuable. What external PR offers is… · Saving time: You don’t realise how time consuming it is to write well until you have to do it. · External perspective: As a creator, you can often be “too close”. This is only natural, but not always helpful. · Tricks of the trade: As with any profession there are optimum ‘ways’ of handling certain things. A good PR firm will know these. In Dong’s case I think it would have been highly beneficial, but the whole Flappy Bird thing came out of nowhere so fast you can hardly blame him for feeling overwhelmed!

Generally I think a lot of indies see a blurred line between PR and Marketing and the interplay between the two, so it’s a case of assessing what you are hoping to achieve then choosing the tactics that suit you.

Harry Holmwood CEO of Marvelous AQL Europe

I agree, PR companies can be extremely valuable. They can’t perform miracles, and there’s the danger of expecting them to turn ‘yet another game’ into an interesting story, but, if you’ve got a newsworthy product or service, a good PR agency can get you attention you’d struggle to get on your own. However, in terms of being able to reach out to media, they can be very useful. Ideally, maintaining personal relationships with journalists, bloggers and, most importantly, players themselves would be done alongside working with a PR agency.

Tadhg Kelly Developer relations at Ouya

Agree with all that, but with a caveat: The danger for any studio operating in modern times is hiding or getting cloaked by PR. The old managed way of communicating (through official channels etc) doesn’t work as well in a world where everyone has their own news organ, especially for unknowns trying to break in. Fans are now used to talking directly with an online presence (such as through Twitter) and feeling as though they’re part of a movement. They’re used to authenticity, to AMAs and tweet threads and a dev having a forum and being responsive in it. So you have to be personal and engaged. While PR remains very valuable for official comms, you just can’t expect that work to establish your voice on its own. And it’s unfair to expect PR to solve that problem for you.

That’s pretty tough for an industry of introverts that kind of don’t like talking to people, but it is what it is. You have to tell your own marketing story in your own words. A lot.

Martin Darby CCO of Remode Studios

Yes I actually think that is a very good point Tadhg & knowing where to distinguish between a personal connection to your fans and a more formalised matter communication probably harder than it sounds.

Dan Efergan Creative Director, Digital at Aardman Animations

We’re in a slightly unusual place, being able to share a PR person across the rest of the companies shenanigans. But when it comes to our game releases we wouldn’t have nearly enough time to do the things they get done for us, as other have said, maintaining relationships with journalists, bloggers and players etc. But… and I think this is really important. The relationship any company/indie has with their players these days is very personal. People can sniff out bullshit a mile away, so if you don’t talk honestly, with true passion, they’ll lose interest. And to get that you need people close to the heart of your game doing the talking. So the best external PR peeps facilitate this but don’t necessarily do this.

Ella-RomanosElla Romanos CEO of Remode Studios

Totally agree – that facilitation of PR is what makes PR people good.  They should work with you to define a strategy and the tactics for that, then facilitate the implementation.  Whether they are public facing or not should be something they discuss with you, and should depend on the story you are trying to tell.

Oscar ClarkOscar Clark Evangelist for Applifier

I think we have to reconsider what PR means nowadays; especially in games. We aren’t just talking press releases and dinners with key journalists (although I do kinda miss some of that). Instead we should be thinking of this as the voice of our brand. In the social media age that voice has to feel authentic, distinctive and consistent and build an audience of advocate followers. A one man band who lives and breaths their own brand identity they can go a hell of a long way themselves. But there are too many channels and outlets to really scale up the level of interest unless you are willing (and lucky enough) to become part of the zeitgeist itself. When you can’t be everywhere at once, that’s when you need help from an external agency. People who haven’t been trained in PR (and yes you can learn the skills) often fall down because they mistake their own personality for the brand. They may not realise that they have something to say others want to hear or they can (all too often) take things personally when their star wanes; and let’s face it where you start getting stupid internet death threats who can blame you. That’s where the external voice can help and agencies can help you build up the voice of your company or service as distinct from your own. I’ve spent most of my career doing PR of some kind; and often working with external games PR teams, sometime with internal PR groups where I was accountable to a larger organisation. Making this work requires you to proactively engage with them; you can’t expect anyone else to understand or communicate the values of your brand better than you. However, if you can get them to buy into your voice and vision and agree a communication plan for the long haul this can be really valuable.

Disasters will happen. Misquotes will happen. That’s where you need to be able to adapt and listen to good advice. However, if don’t let these things dampen your vision you might just find that the spin doctors were onto something. You can often turn disaster into triumph.

Paul Taylor Co-founder, Mode 7 Games

I think there’s a lot of truth to this. One thing I’d add is that, at the moment, conventional wisdom doesn’t always stand up. Look at someone like Phil Fish who became, basically, the world’s best-known indie developer at one time just simply by virtue of being totally unfiltered. Sure, that’s not the best example in terms of outcome, but actually I think people have to be really careful with guiding the message in PR terms, lest they lose some of the excitement and danger that the press love…

Oscar ClarkOscar Clark Evangelist for Applifier

That is a good point and I’m kicking myself for not saying it… Just because you have a charismatic voice and you become part of the zeitgeist doesn’t give you any universal knowledge or insight… Just as much an opportunity to piss people off. And you will. It’s the internet and there be trolls. Just don’t feed them and stay frosty

Tadhg Kelly Developer relations at Ouya

Oh no. Feed the rolls. Fill them up!

Martin DarbyMartin Darby CCO of Remode Studios

As I alluded to earlier, I think you can clearly see from the music industry that whipping up controversy is a proven way to get more eyeballs. The “no publicity is bad publicity mantra”. And I don’t necessarily mean consciously strategising to do so, I mean just accepting that you are never going to please everyone and therefore the fallout of not doing so is worth the extra attention anyway. If you take this stance, then fine. I for one find it a lot more interesting as a fan or reader. However having no boundaries can backfire. How far is too far? When does a line get crossed?

Can you accept it if something is taken out of context by the press? -these are the questions to ask. Just last week GI.biz ran a headline called “We’re F**king Rockstars”. When I read the interview it was clearly something said as tongue-in-cheek at the end, but when you see a headline that is not the first association!

Andrew Smith Director of Spilt Milk Studios

In response to nobody in particular, here is an example of effective PR: “Fuck PR. I hate anyone involved in it because, frankly, they’re leeching off of other peoples’ hard work. I make the game, I should be the one to talk about it. In fact, I don’t even like the fact that I have to talk about it. Games should be able to succeed on their own merits. The whole games industry would be a better place if everyone in PR was just fired. End of.” Of course this is not a position I agree with, but sometimes I wish I had the balls to be overly aggressive and purposefully confrontational. It gets easy headlines.

Jas Purewal Lawyer at Osborne Clarke

“No publicity is bad PR” indeed – but you want to make sure you’re on the right side of the table. Barbara Streisand got plenty of PR when she very aggressively sued the photographer who’d accidentally taken photos of her luxury home, but it wasn’t her who benefitted from the PR (I’m talking about the Streisand Effect ofc). More seriously, taking ‘non-traditional’ approaches to PR is great – just know what you’re doing first. Which is perhaps where really good modern PR agencies can earn their crust – advising developers how to use unconventional methods to get ahead, but not necessarily doing it for them.(source:gamesbrief


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