Community Growth - We have a new opening

  • '17 '16 '15 '14 '12

    Oh I have one!
    This would take a fair bit of work and dedicated people to pull it off, but it might actually be pretty fun to do it.

    There are people who learn about axis & allies by watching youtube videos.

    Suppose you were a new recruit and you went to youtube looking for info, and you found a channel with a series of videos with the following features:

    1. the first video explains that the game can be played face to face with the physical board and pieces, or online with triplea (maybe show a board set up and a triplea screen and move some pieces around on both to demonstrate)
    2. the videos are recordings of turns in an actual game being played by some pretty good players
    3. each video is a screen recording of a turn being done by one of the players, with their voiceover explaining their move
    4. each video concludes by showing them post the turn on……drumroll… axis and allies league forum
    5. the game has some typical moves that demonstrate common strategies in the game (eg sealion threat & defense etc)
    6. in the video description give a link to the site, the thread for that particular game on the forum, and where to get the K.I.S.S. triplea guide
    7. ask the youtube guys to give a shout out in the interest of promoting the game and building the pool of players
  • Disciplinary Group Banned

    Advertise on FB, board gaming sites, and other social media sites about A&A dot org.

  • Disciplinary Group Banned

    @variance:

    Oh I have one!
    This would take a fair bit of work and dedicated people to pull it off, but it might actually be pretty fun to do it.

    There are people who learn about axis & allies by watching youtube videos.

    Suppose you were a new recruit and you went to youtube looking for info, and you found a channel with a series of videos with the following features:

    1. the first video explains that the game can be played face to face with the physical board and pieces, or online with triplea (maybe show a board set up and a triplea screen and move some pieces around on both to demonstrate)
    2. the videos are recordings of turns in an actual game being played by some pretty good players
    3. each video is a screen recording of a turn being done by one of the players, with their voiceover explaining their move
    4. each video concludes by showing them post the turn on……drumroll… axis and allies league forum
    5. the game has some typical moves that demonstrate common strategies in the game (eg sealion threat & defense etc)
    6. in the video description give a link to the site, the thread for that particular game on the forum, and where to get the K.I.S.S. triplea guide
    7. ask the youtube guys to give a shout out in the interest of promoting the game and building the pool of players

    Nice plan variance. We should also introduce 1941 A&A to the newbies that haven’t played A&A yet. In that way they will not be to overwhelm with 1940 A&A Global.

    I have found that the complexity of a game will scare some people off.

  • '17 '16 '15 '14 '12

    I agree Dauvrio.  Maybe the re-release of Anniversary would make this a good time to do this with Anniversary, if people played Anniversary on the league.

  • '18 '17 '16

    @variance:

    Oh I have one!
    This would take a fair bit of work and dedicated people to pull it off, but it might actually be pretty fun to do it.

    There are people who learn about axis & allies by watching youtube videos.

    Suppose you were a new recruit and you went to youtube looking for info, and you found a channel with a series of videos with the following features:

    1. the first video explains that the game can be played face to face with the physical board and pieces, or online with triplea (maybe show a board set up and a triplea screen and move some pieces around on both to demonstrate)
    2. the videos are recordings of turns in an actual game being played by some pretty good players
    3. each video is a screen recording of a turn being done by one of the players, with their voiceover explaining their move
    4. each video concludes by showing them post the turn on……drumroll… axis and allies league forum
    5. the game has some typical moves that demonstrate common strategies in the game (eg sealion threat & defense etc)
    6. in the video description give a link to the site, the thread for that particular game on the forum, and where to get the K.I.S.S. triplea guide
    7. ask the youtube guys to give a shout out in the interest of promoting the game and building the pool of players

    This is a great idea varience with one exception. None of the YouTubers that I know of also play Triple A. You couldn’t do the type of videos that you’re talking about without being a player and having the screenshots to share on your channel.

    What you really need to do to develop this good idea is have one of the Triple A players become a YouTuber. It’s not rocket science on having your own channel and there are plenty of resources out there on YouTube to show you how to do it. It would certainly be a unique channel compared to the others that are out there. One of the difficulties in putting out content for each of us is trying to find different ways or things to talk about on our channels that haven’t been done before. The only thing close to what you’re talking about is a channel by Panzer Penguin located here;
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8DOWQ95uI-nTPIGIAJnpow

    I think that what you might find that after one person starts to put out Triple A content on YouTube then others will follow. I can tell you that it is something that I would subscribe to and watch. It’s difficult to spend the required amount of time to read game summaries in that section in the forum without eventually going cross-eyed from reading page after page. Seeing it in video format would be a much more attractive option. I can envision you showing the playoff and championship games complete with commentary and analysis.

    One of the best things about being a YouTuber is the community that we are developing there. Every one of us promotes each other’s channel and videos. I’m sure that I wouldn’t be alone in promoting your channel(s) as well. I have no doubt that over time your game will grow from the exposure and we will all be better players from watching your channel.

    If anyone is interested in giving it a shot, I will help out in any way that I can in helping you to get started and answering any questions you might have.

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    I know just the man for the job!

  • '17 '16 '15 '14 '12

    I’ve used camtasia before.  Maybe I could just start recording my league games (obviously tell my opponent that I am doing it).  These would have to be verrrry slow games because I would probably do a turn and make a video each weekend.  Lots of voice over explaining what’s going on.  I would also like to set up the table game and maybe for each episode show what it looks like at the beginning and end of the turn.  That’s a lot of work but it would be educational for sure.

    I’ll look into what infrastructure I would need to do this.

  • Liaison TripleA '11 '10

    The trick to making it good and watchable is light dialogue - just the highlights, less than 5 minutes, conclusion shown.

    Basically top 10 moves of the game and bam result


  • Some sort of a Let’s play video??

  • '18 '17 '16

    If you’re trying to draw more players in, you might want to consider making a “How To” video first. Start by showing them on your computer screen where to go to register and how to download the necessary software and whatever else is involved to get playing their first game. Then show them how the controls work. How to move, how to roll dice, how to scramble, etc. Basically take them through all of the steps of playing a game right through to the end. After that when you make your game videos you can tell them if they want to play, all they have to do is click on the link that you provided that will take them to the “How To” video that will show them how to get started.

    Remember that they may not already be a member of this site and may not even know that it exists, so don’t forget to show them how to sign up here first and then lead them to the game. Down the road you can make some of the videos that we discussed in Toronto to teach them the finer points of how to play the game successfully.

  • '17 '16 '15 '14 '12

    OK I think I have assembled all the things I need to do this:

    triplea software
    a phone that shoots good video
    a big table and good lighting
    a copy of Global 1940 (and Anniversary which arrived today :-) )
    camtasia software (there might be better/cheaper but I have used this before for screen capture and editing)
    a fast computer with a fancy video card for video rendering
    a half decent microphone for voiceover
    beers

    I think a good format might be:
    1 video per round
    no more than 10 minutes per video
    show triplea history
    show physical board at start and end of the round
    minimal voiceover
    links in the description to the league forum, to this particular game, and to garg’s KISS guide
    Maybe do several games that show some standard axis openers

  • '18 '17 '16

    After you make you video and you’re satisfied with it, it will be helpful for you to compress the file into an MP-4 before you try to upload it to YouTube. It will take forever if you try to upload a MOV file. I use a program called Handbreake to compress the file.

    Here is a step by step that I use;
    1. Film the video segments
    2. Upload the files to my computer
    3. Put the segments into iMovie and stitch together segments and edit if necessary
    4. Save the video onto my desktop
    5. Drag the video into Handbreake and compress into MP-4
    6. Upload MP-4 file to my YouTube channel
    7. While video is uploading, label the video and put in any other info, links, etc.
    8. Select a thumbnail from the internet and upload it to my computer desktop. Select the thumbnail with the Custom Thumbnail function on the video info
    9. Publish video when it’s finished uploading
    10. Finish drinking the beer and watch the video to make sure it turned out right

    You can pm me for my phone number if you need a more detailed explanation.

  • '17 '16 '15 '14 '12

    OK so far I was able to record some screen video of triplea, some phone video of my cat, put the clips together, added a nifty transition, recorded a voice over, auto-levelled and noise reduced the audio, and saved it as MP4 at 720p.  I think that’s all I need.  Going to practice this and make a prototype.

  • '17 '16 '15 '14 '12

  • '17 '16

    I watched two videos about Carriers operation.
    Very interesting to start with a real board.

    But, I cannot catch what was the specific lesson to learn from each about how to better use Fgs and Carrier.

    In one video, I heard that 1 Carrier was able to bring 4 planes into battle.
    Plainly stated, without details, it is against the rule.
    So, I have to think about what you meant.
    I have to infere that you were probably talking about exchanging two ground planes to land on carrier and 2 carrier-based to land on Australia.
    Not clear though, more explanations needed.
    Saying more and repeating things is better than being too laconic in such tutorial video.

    Also, make a video about how to access to AA.org and get Triple A, then find a player, etc.
    Just show relevant forum thread and OP, at least.
    Even me, don’t know how to settle a game and make the PBEMail process begin and flow.

  • '17 '16 '15 '14 '12

    Baron, thanks for checking out the videos!

    These are meant to be examples of complex moves. They may be obvious to some people but others may learn some insight by thinking about the moves rather than having the details explained to them.  For example, the idea that you can use 1 carrier to get 4 fighters into a battle by being the launchpad for 2 fighters and the landing pad for 2 other fighters is something that a lot of people do not grasp.  Likewise, using multinational carrier/plane combinations to expand movement and landing opportunities is also not well understood my many. A lot of people learn more effectively by actively thinking about something rather than being lectured to, so I will demonstrate some moves from real games but not lecture. Youtube is an informal context anyway, and no one wants a lecture.

    The Anniversary video is an introductory one that shows you where to get the software etc that you need to play online.

  • '17 '16

    Maybe I’m too much bias about tactics.
    I like to talk and learned more and when reading, and more watching about them, I love to ear and enjoy all little details to see if I miss something about the general idea so I can learned more in-depth lessons.

    In the specific case we are talking, I knew the principles of switching ground based and carrier based aircrafts. What, I was asking myself was: is this he talking about or it is something more specific?
    And without details, I cannot tell for sure.

    Nonetheless, this tactic is a really good choice to show and help people improve the use of Carrier.

    Also, you are right about not telling all the details of moves for a given battle.
    But still, I think that focusing to the one specific moves help everyone without being a full lesson.
    In the videos we are talking, it would have been probably took 30 to 60 seconds at most.

  • '17 '16 '15 '14 '12

    Thanks Baron. I will keep it in mind for the new videos I make


  • Having thought about this I think our problem is not attracting new members but rather retaining them. We have many thousands of members but a tiny proportion of them current. If this is true then efforts to attract new members will achieve far more after we have improved our ability to keep them.

    D jensen will have the data to tell us whether this is correct.

    Without that data I would say that new members are drawn here by the forum being a repository for extras such as FAQs and playing aids and an informal opportunity for newbies to interact with more experienced players seeking advice and guidance.

    So what might retain the interest of those new members we currently lose?

    One example would be to try harder to attract them into the League, which is rather daunting if efforts are not made to draw new players in.

  • TripleA

    Definitely having solid getting started videos would be great.

    A few other points:

    • TripleA supports 100s of maps based on various sets of A&A rules and some even beyond. Need to better advertise and educate folks on cool maps to try to keep things fresh. There are both simple maps and vastly deep/complex maps. This should help to retain existing members.
    • Figure out how to attract new members from other TBS communities. I’m sure almost all of us have played other TBS (PC or board) and figuring out how to reach into those players bases is essential.
    • Get more marketing presence through reviews, youtube videos, tournaments, etc.
    • Work to close the gap between the community here on A&A.org and the TripleA forum/lobby.
    • Finding more TripleA developers and map creators as well as folks to moderate this forum, TripleA forum, and TripleA lobby.

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