Eggy, I love your style.

Rep for you!

This is where I have to disagree. Before I played VS I played Yugioh, I got into yugioh, not because I stumbled onto the game at a card shop (I didnt know of any cardshops at the time), but because I saw the tv show. I was instantly attracted and started buying product. I played with the started deck for a while until I stumbled onto a card shop in my local mall where there were tons of people playing the game. After that I went to the card shop frequently and played in many tournamensts there, bought product there, made trades, and it even caused me to venture onto websites such as pojo to trade online.

Around February 2005 I was walking through a local target with my little brother looking for some of the newest yugioh product when I stumbled upon the Spider-Man vs Doc Ock Starter. I was instantly attracted, the art on the Spider-Man was amazing, and I was a heavy watcher of the Spider-Man tv show. I then looked around and saw a few packs on the ground. Having no money at the time I had my little brother buy the starter and 2 packs. When we got home we split the packs and I took Spider-Man while he took the Syndicate. Although he wasnt into it as much as I was(being probably 10 at the time, and me 16) we played a couple of games and I was drawn into it. After the next couple of days I invited a couple of friends of and I showed them the game as well. We played a few games and had a blast. Although we were usuing a lot of the mechanics wrong like boost and evasion( I loved dropping the massive Puma on turn 4 lol) we eventually figured it out with more time and playing. I went onto the internet and found a local gaming store that I now play at quite frequently. When I arrived there was already an estalished group of probably about 10 people at the store and they taught me a lot. That summer I sold my entire yugioh collection and invested a portion of it into Vs and started trading online and making my own decks and just enjoying the game.

I know I have gotten a little away from the point at hand, but now I no longer see any packs of VS at walmart or target. I have seen boxes of DSM at Walmart once or twice before but that is about it. I feel that this is where UDE has dropped the ball. I was not a comic shop regular before I got into vs, so how would I have gotten into the game or bought any product unless the sold it at the big name retail stores. If the only new players you want to add to the game are those frequent comic shop goers then ude is advertising in the right place, but if you want a larger crowd then ude must get there product into the local walmarts, targets, and toys r us and a little air time on tv wouldnt hurt either. These areas have the biggest crowds and ude seems to be avoiding them completely.

EDIT: Maybe I am the exception, but I also dont consider my self a comic fan. I have read a few x-men comics over the years, but I have no more than 20 comics to my name. I came to love the Marvel and DC superheros from tv shows. I watched the X-Men, Spider-Man, Justice League, Batman, Super Man, Teen Titans, and Silver Surfer tv shows and thus got me into the comics. As a result the l have/have had decks from these teams: X-Men, Spider-Man, JLA, Teen Titans, Heralds of Galactus

After reading what darctrunks says about getting into the game, I should add to my thoughts about UDE advertising and marketing to comic fans. With Marvel and DC being so huge, UDE should really be marketing to fans of the entire comic character license, not just comic book fans.

Meaning, look for new players who connect to the comics, or movies, or TV shows, or toys or whatever has a Spiderman or Batman face on it. Comic related merchandise seems to be at an all time high - marketting this product is as easy as it will ever be.

On a related note - I'm attending the NY Comic-con this weekend and was shocked to see UDE has no presence there whatsoever. Just lame not to be at a show with so many potential new players in a city of that size. Not even a tournament or a demo?

1) Why do players love the game itself?I think there are MANY levels to this. Myself, it's the idea of playing a game with my favorite superheroes. Playing a game that I have an invested interest in the cards/characters. The game itself can be as easy or as difficult to play as you'd like it. There's just so much going for the game on all levels. Art, strategy, creativity, . . .

2) Why do players love the community around the game?There's a social piece of this game that other games don't have. When was the last time you heard some Magic players discussing whether Braids is not a 2/2? Or asking why a Loxidon looks like an elephant? On the other hand, I've never played in an event that a heated arguement wasn't had about the power level of a character that is a 7-drop, or why Ironman is a Doom card. People care about not only the mechanics of the game, but the characters themselves. They care about the origins and story behind the game.

3) What keeps potential players from getting into the game?Three factors: In my opinion, most CCGers are already so invested in a game, that they're hesitant to spend time/money on a new game. Similarly, because there are so many people playing games like Magic and YuGiOh, potiential players are looking to play games their friends are playing. Finally, the initial cost to play the game is daunting. Magic has Pre-Cons, Starter Sets, and even Core-Edition printings in an effort to get new players as up to speed as possible. VS would benefit greatly from this strategy IMHO.

4) What factors of the community keeps potential players back?I think the hype players in the community puts into Pro Circuits and 10Ks gives a misleading feel to new-comers that there isn't a 'fun' level to this game. Players that have taken the time to create non-competative formats like Superhero Smackdown and Big Deck are the ones getting potential players involved. Talking up the last Golden Age event you played in with your $500 deck is not going to convince a potiential player it's worth picking up some cards.

5) What impact does game design have on the game's viability?It's a difficult game to master, which draws in 'intelligent' gamers, while making the Pokemon player run scared. If there were an intro-level game or starter that could get a potiential player interested (see my earlier reference to starters), it would help get players who are concerned about it's complexity over the 'hump' and into the game.

6) What impact does advertising have on the game's visibility?Advertising is absolutely critical to this game. It's not going to be able to compete with MtG and YuGiOh until the comic companies and UDE spend some significant efforts and moneys in advertising the game. Placing an ad in Inquest isn't going to cut it. Hit Cartoon Network. More adds in Comic books. I think the Konami game, as much as I think it'll hurt more than help the game in the long run, is advertising the game to a new subsection of the gamer-culture.

7) How much trust should UDE have of its players to run events ethically?
You can't trust anyone, especially when there's money on the line. (I'm sorry if you're offended by this statement, but regardless of what color glasses you are currently wearing, the world is full of shady people who will take advantage of you in a heartbeat if given the chance, face the facts.) However there are ways around this. I think, with a structured 'run-your-own-event' policy and better Hobby Kit (designed specifically for this type of event), there would be a great return to UDE. How about something like the Magic Player Rewards system? No prizes (or low-level prizes) for participating, but you start to score points that net you cards on a UDE-number basis. No more shipping off a Hobby Kit for $20 that never sees anything but eBay. Instead, ship 5-10 extended art rares for event prizes, and then give out extend Enemys or something for players who have enough Hobby Events under their belt.

8) How can stores best be pulled into the development of a new community-building program?Deliver what is promised (no more jerking store owners around with Hobby Kits), make running an event an easier process, and benefit the stores somehow for running the events. If a store owner feels like the event is creating business AND granting a return of some sort (say a discount on wholesale prices for stores running x-number of events) they're more likely to spend the time and money to run larger and more successful events.

9) How much of UDE's job with VS is making the game itself, and how much ought to specifically toward developing the player community around the game?It's the same job. If you design cards and then don't care what happens after they're shipped out, you end up like many of the AEG games (see Spycraft, City of Heroes, Warlord, and even L5R to some extent). In today's CCG market, you need to produce a good product, promote it well, and offer potiential players a reason to do more than buy a couple boosters and then go home.

10) How can the competitive player community be rewarded in a manner that increases the opportunities to compete for a fair reward cost?If I knew the answer to this, UDE would have already hired me for the dozen or so jobs I've already applied for. . . . .

All I can add is that I love this game, and I do everything I can to promote it, to help teach players to become better players, and to support any store willing to give it and it's players a chance to make it great.

Damn... I'd reply to everyone's ideas here one by one, but there are only 24 hours in a day. Thanks for everyone that's posted so far. I sincerely hope some of the UDE folks can glean even a quarter of what I picked up from this. There are obviously a lot of hard balancing acts to perform, but it seems with one of the smartest game discussion groups I've ever been lucky enough to witness, I definitely feel we're slowly congealing a useful recovery system. ^_^

Great ideas Homer ...very well thought

I no longer see any packs of VS at walmart or target

was very surprised at this from darctrunks .I have for a long time seen and even in the very beginning bought a spiderman deck box and starter deck from walmart .In fact it was my first set of cards .I also didn't even come aware of Vs.till one day I bought my daughter a X men comic and happen to see a full page ad for Vs. in the back of the book .I got really excited a card game that involves superheroes Yippee! I had been trying to get into magic for quite some time and it never had clicked ,so VS. was like a dream come true .I do have to admit when I saw like a lot people who saw the ads in the comics the million dollar support of the competive scene as added credentials that this wasn't some dorky kids game .

Two ideas ...one im going to start a thread on how we all got into the game ...We were all new players once and stopping to rember how we got into the game *and I'm sure we all have fond ,sentimental memories involved with our first cards,first decks ,....you are all invited and I would love to hear your stories of how you got started .This is how we will get new players into it .

Two ....I'm gonna throw out the idea yes we cut back a little when things get going again to make sure this game is around in ten years .But maybe not so severely ...instead of cutting 250 thousand prizes to 100 maybe we could just cut it to say 150 or 175 thousand at least let the winner take home 25 thousand and also make it worth it for the guy who places in the top 60 people drive or fly quite a distance to these things and the pro circuit is not easy,it involves some hard work and sacrafice.

40 thousand was always a little high ....what if have the 20 to 25 for three events and have one larger one at the end for say the orginal 40 thousand like it once was .

these are just thoughts guys ,,,,just curious what you think.

rember to post in my thread HOW YOU GOT INTO THE GAME

Long live VS.