CD Installers: Possible Solutions

August 20th, 2007 16 Comments

Whenever there’s a new game or major patch/episode, we produce thousands of CDs to be rolled-out by sales team and distributed to key accounts and outlets. Though this is a tried-and-tested method, I still receive complaints and feedback from both cafe owners and players about the scarcity of the CDs and the unavailabiltity of it in some areas.

Here are possible ideas racing through my mind on how to best manage and effect changes for the better.

First, let’s analyze the problem. Is it a question about quantity? I guess not. It may be a question about distribution. Perhaps adding more options to distribution and making it easier for the average player to get their hands on the CDs will be the key.

With the current internet infrastructure here in the country, it will be hard to expect a 100% response to full downloads. Perhaps in developed countries like Korea or the US, that can happen. Seldom do games produce CDs for patches since they anticipate their users to just download it.

When RF Online was launched, I was fearing the negative implications on what that developers called the patches/episodes – “Giga Update”. OMG! A 1 gig update?!? Madness! (No, this is Sparta!!!).

At any rate, we made it a habit to make a CD installer set for any major update for all our games. But for small updates, like what happened for FlyFF Version 8 (40MB), it was deemed prudent to just offer it for download. There just is so much cost involved in the CDs. As a manager, I have to watch the budget and see where I can save. It’s a business, after all. So, Ragnarok Episode 15 Rachel will be offered as an advanced download and NO CDs will be made for this patch. Our sales team will be going around the cafes and give them the patch files. They then just have to wait for the launch date once they install it as a “sleeper file” on their systems.

Now, let’s get back to solving the CD problem.

Here are possible solutions

1. Online Ordering and Delivery – the primary barrier to this is merchant accounts only accept credit cards. I am now working on doing online ordering of CDs without the need for credit cards. I will be posting an announcement of this as I experiment with RF Online Episode 2 CDs and Perfect World CDs. I think this is the best solution so far.

2. Drop off Points – Maybe big cafes can be distribution points. Our friends from Netopia can be contacted. I’m sure they’ll agree. Other key cafes accross the country can also participate.

3. Events – having CDs available and events has always been our practice. But the users have to be informed of this. Call to action here would be an information campaign.

Do you know any other solutions? I would love to hear from you.

GM T

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  • gerald

    GM tristan p OT Po

    Wala n b pag asa makpag laro mga international players ng pRO? Alang announcement eh.

  • aLex

    waaa… bakit nio pa kasi ban international ip’s eh.. wala tuloy kami magawa naglalaro sana kami ngaun pRO para saan ba yang IP banning (international)? hay nako

  • fatman

    It has been my experience that Mini-Stop isn’t a reliable distributor of your CDs.

    Maybe you should look into the distribution department of Level Up because, for some reason, the gaming cafe I frequent in Pasig doesn’t seem to care to have the CDs there. Has Level Up done anything that offended some of the cafes?

  • joel

    meron ako mga kaguild gs2 nila bumalik RO mga 3 ata xla kso wla mahanap na CD.. *omg*

  • n8

    meron po akong suggestion…

    kung bigyan nio po kaya ng free RO cd ang mga e-cafes owners, tapos bigyan cla ng right para kopyahin and i-benta ung copied cd(d naman pirated since authorized cla d ba?)… ang dami po kasing reason kung bat kumokonti ung players e, sa tingin ko po ung iba ay may kinalaman sa distibution ng RO cd…

    una po, kakaunti ung authorized dealers sa mga provinces… kung meron man po d cla para sa lahat. sa pampanga po kac i think ung pinakamalpit na dealer(according dun sa site nio) e sa bulacan pa… pahirapan po talaga sa cd d2, no wonder and konti na ng kapampangan players. pangalawa po, malalaki ung major patches lately… kailangan po talaga ng cd, esp. i-cafes, i think ung reason kung bat kumonti na ang mga cafes na merong pRO dahil nagkaroon ng decline sa population ng RO… pero noong server merge marami ring gustong bumalik sana, unfortunately majority ng i-cafes ay wala ng pRO, dahilan po cguro n2 dahil luma ung cd nila kung i-install nila ulit need pa nila i-patch ulit, w/c would take some time d po ba??.

    i think marami pong beneits ung suggestion ko d lang po sa LUG pati na rin sa cafe owners saka players:

    sa LUG po, d nio na kailangang gumawa ng libo-libong cds, since wala naman pong guarantee na bibili lahat ng players, kung meron man po cguro e kaunti lang, tapos ung iba maghihiraman n lang… ung point ko po d2 e mababawasan po un gastusin nio at kakalat ulit ung game. cguro po mababawasan ng kaunti ung income pero AFAIK d naman po talaga kau kumikita ng ganun kalaki sa mga cds d ba?… mas kumikita pa rin kau sa mga load…ung target po d2 more locations kung san pwedeng mag laro/makakuha ng cd, more players, probably more income sa side nio.

    sa cafe owners, extra income cguro(magkano lang po blank cd d ba?), tapos kung babalik un dating sigla ng game, lalaki rin ang kita nila.

    sa mga players, d na cla mahihirapang mag hanap… since ang daming internet cafe ngaun.

  • Hitori

    You could minimize cost..I think by simply improving your download sites…Make it more newbie friendly…provide accurate guides…encourage users to use torrents….provide not just patches…but the whole client installer….and LASTLY keep it running 99% of the time.

    I think its not mostly the internet infrastructure…its how players make use of it…You can ask how many of your young players know what a “torrent” is?

    PS:
    During Hugel I had a hard time looking for a CD…
    Until someone in RB made a link to your FTP site\
    (Which after 2 years of playing PRO, I did not know it exist)…

  • http://jherskie.blogspot.com/2007/08/top-5-from-in-game-to-irl.html jherskie

    for my part, i collect the cds so i’d appreciate that they be readily available at key areas. :)

  • http://gmtristan.com GM T

    Thanks for the nice suggestions. Will improve the download sites and look into the cafe solution on burning and distributing.

    Maraming salamat po ulit. Malaking tulong ito sa amin.

  • Variance

    How big is it usually? I suppose its less than 1 gig right? If that’s the case, just allow cafes to save the files on flashdrives as well. No need to burn the CD and risk getting a bad one. Just save the installer on a 256-1gig flash drive and voila! Also most computer shops do not have CD burning capabilities. They usually don’t need it. Just a reader is enough. But they do have USB ports right?

  • seaneas

    Wala pa ako maisip na sugestion for this, pro isa nakita ko about sa mga CD dati is: ang mamahal na instead na maglaro ka these games, wag nalang. bukod sa mahal na installer mahal pa ang load. I could still remember ung last na attend ko sa launching ng RF d2 sa amin (Leyte). Nung nakita ko ang game at napanood. Nasabi ko talaga na maganda pro sa mahal ng installer at ng load (hindi pa kasama ang need to upgrade the pc) nakita ko na hindi ito pang masa. One reason kung bakit marami pa rin naglalaro sa pRO (is it?) at sa flyff dahil sa hindi mahal compared to RF. Kahit binigyan ako ng libreng installer ng RF, as a whole, masasabi ko na mahal ang game na yun. Hope marami maglaro sa RF once F2P is implemented come Aug. 28.

    Isang kulang din sa marketing nyo ang ung mga cards na available in the market mahirap din hanapin.

  • AzzrocK

    CD distribution to Icafe’s and provide authority to copy them

    Copy installer files to a Flash driver option for players- this would minimize time to burn it to a disc if the demand on a certain area is too high. Although we would always want to have the original CDs you guys make as part of a collection…

  • jethro

    please I need the Hugel CD ngaun… gs2 ko na uli mag laru ng RO please any1 can help me?

    malabon/navotas area me

  • Lhurbaei

    Sana,mkipag-cooperate nlang kau sa national book store.. pano nman ung mlalayo dyan? sa national book store, maraming players ang mgkakaroon ng access.. at cguradong hndi pa mloloko mga tao dhil hndi nila un ibebenta.. dba, dpat for free ang installers na yan?

    ako, ilang buwan na akong nghahanap ng installer na yan pero wla parin!! ngtitiyaga nlang akong mglaro sa mga internet cafes.. syang din at hndi ako mkpagdownload dhil pag natapos ng idownload, puro nman errors.. -___-.. npansin ko nga ngaun sa RF, tuwing my chip wars,, wla na.. ang konti ng nglalaban.. prang hndi na war ang tawag dun!!

    At sana din,, ibalik na yung dati.. gawing international.. ang boring kac pag puro filipino lng.. hndi tau mkapaginteract.. at sana for free na ang rf habambuhay!! i love this game!!

  • Baby Doll

    where can i buy perfect world cd installer? having troubles downloading it, seems that the file stored in their ftp sites are corrupted. T__T.

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  • http://www.americanrecordablemedia.com/ Buy Blank CD

    Try to go on your local computer store. Maybe they have a copy of that game.


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