When The Box Opens...

[traylorpark]

So it looks like Pandora will soon be opening. None of us know the exact date, but I would not be surprised to see the first consumer Pandoras showing up in mailboxes around the world, sometime in the next 4 or 5 weeks (don’t quote me). That’s not a long time, and there is a lot that could be done in preparation.

While the Pandora has very capable hardware, that isn’t going to be it’s main selling point anymore. What are it’s main selling points, are its versatility, and more importantly its community.

Everybody knows that the Pandora is a product of the community. The community is what keeps it alive and a stagnant community will certainly do the opposite.

What I would like to do in this thread is to brainstorm what we can do in preparation for the Pandora’s arrival. What can we do to welcome the Pandora? Get people excited (again) for the Pandora? Correctly inform people (eg. it’s not a DS/PSP)? Get programmers and artists ready?

Wallpapers, print/web ads, movies, game concepts from both artists and programmers, collaborations, contests, tutorials, tool chains, libraries, case mods, stickers, merch, boxes etc. etc. etc.

Of course there are things that can’t be done without the console in your hands, but there sure are a lot that can be done to get ready for it.

What can we do? Let's get creative.

 

[rabidpoobear]

Just posting here to raise my post count too...
Oh wait, you were serious?

 

[traylorpark]

Just posting here to raise my post count too...
Oh wait, you were serious?

see, I'm trying to do something here - I'm really tired of the negativity and I was trying to start something positive.
... that wasn't needed dude.

 

[Prometheus]

Correctly inform people (eg. it’s not a DS/PSP)?

This in particular jumped out at me. One key to informing people is being civil about it, I think (I seem to recall that this pretty much came up in a thread about being considerate toward newcomers, come to think of it).

Stuff along the lines of "[Device you mentioned] is closed [expletive] and sucks. You're clearly not the right sort of customer because you're obviously [stupid/a poser/a fanboy/etc.] to be using that [expletive] in the first place. Here's why Pandora is so much better..." isn't going to inform anyone of anything, and it just puts people off of listening at all. All the information in the world will be ignored if it's delivered rudely.

So, yeah, on that point, having some patience and being polite when newcomers who may not have the same level of experience pop along (and they will) would probably be useful.

 

[mali]

Correctly inform people (eg. it’s not a DS/PSP)?

This in particular jumped out at me. One key to informing people is being civil about it, I think (I seem to recall that this pretty much came up in a thread about being considerate toward newcomers, come to think of it).

Stuff along the lines of "[Device you mentioned] is closed [expletive] and sucks. You're clearly not the right sort of customer because you're obviously [stupid/a poser/a fanboy/etc.] to be using that [expletive] in the first place. Here's why Pandora is so much better..." isn't going to inform anyone of anything, and it just puts people off of listening at all. All the information in the world will be ignored if it's delivered rudely.

So, yeah, on that point, having some patience and being polite when newcomers who may not have the same level of experience pop along (and they will) would probably be useful.

Very well said

 

[rabidpoobear]

Just posting here to raise my post count too...
Oh wait, you were serious?

see, I'm trying to do something here - I'm really tired of the negativity and I was trying to start something positive.
... that wasn't needed dude.

I was being sarrrrrrrrrrrcasssssstiiiiiiicccccccccccccccc. No hard feelings?
You do admit this thread's premise is rather redundant, as "What should we do to prepare" is pretty similar to the "What should we do until the Pandora arrives?" thread that already exists, no?
Granted, that thread's pretty much OT nonsense like everything else on here after a couple pages...

Did anyone else notice that General chat on the Wiz has 7800 replies and Pandora's has 144,000? Pretty alarming considering the Wiz is already out... did that scene sort of fizzle and die or was it just not as popular as Pandora to begin with?

 

[kingoddball]

You're just mean rabidpoo. Nasty person!

 

[rabidpoobear]

You're just mean rabidpoo. Nasty person!

Noooo you've almost caught up to me in post count!!! *runs*

Seriously though, are you feeling better about the Pandora with recent news? I know you were disheartened a while back.

 

[mali]

Did anyone else notice that General chat on the Wiz has 7800 replies and Pandora's has 144,000? Pretty alarming considering the Wiz is already out... did that scene sort of fizzle and die or was it just not as popular as Pandora to begin with?

The Wiz section is relatively young compared to the Pandora section and the Wiz is no UMPC.

edit:
Postcount is for n00bs.

 

[kingoddball]

You're just mean rabidpoo. Nasty person!

Noooo you've almost caught up to me in post count!!! *runs*

Seriously though, are you feeling better about the Pandora with recent news? I know you were disheartened a while back.

Mate - Post count is sneaking up!

As for Pandora news - WOO HOO! Would describe it! Thanks for asking!

Although.... I'm not getting too excited because we have been told many different dates for cases. It could be the same this time.

andora2ut4:

edit:
Postcount is for n00bs.

You're only saying that because you have trumped most of us combined!

 

[rabidpoobear]

As for Pandora news - WOO HOO! Would describe it! Thanks for asking!

Although.... I'm not getting too excited because we have been told many different dates for cases. It could be the same this time.

andora2ut4:

True... This date feels more real though because MW and ED are saying it, and they're gonna have to buy tickets fairly soon. So we will likely get an update on Friday if everything's on track, and there probably won't be many delays after that. If there are, MW and ED will let us know, 'cause they won't be able to head over there and just sit there waiting for delayed parts - they'll be keeping up to date on the arrival.

 

[mali]

You're only saying that because you have trumped most of us combined!

Be happy that I was away for 9 months


Back on topic, I think we should overhaul the wiki and think about structurizing informations differently to get newbies up to date efficiently. Another idea is to have a group of volunteers to welcome newbies and help them. A special status for those folks, like a logo attached to their profile similar to gurus could be a nice reward for helpfulness and strengthen the reputation of those level-headed members, imo.

 

[kingoddball]

I hope so. I'm very excited! The only reason I'm on the fence is because 'Faith' had "communication issues/language barrier" with the factory only 2 months ago and we had a similar situation.


Edit: I'm level headed! hahahahahaha! I can be anyway!

 

[Prometheus]

Can I volunteer? I can't guarantee I'll be about all the time, obviously (since life happens and all), but it's something I can do. Don't want a status or anything, just want to help out.

 

[mali]

Can I volunteer? I can't guarantee I'll be about all the time, obviously (since life happens and all), but it's something I can do. Don't want a status or anything, just want to help out.

Not that I have a say at all on these boards, but you are definitely very high on my personal list. Very helpful and commendable

 

[rabidpoobear]

I'm actually helpful to new people sometimes! I'm just unhelpful to the people who have been here a while and should know better
I'm usually kidding though. I often don't know things either and sometimes it's a pain to google for 30 mins and read through old threads when a quick asking might get a link to a post in the wiki or something.

 

[mali]

Hehe, some sarcasm and fun is _needed_ to not fall asleep
The real challenge is to treat newbies correctly. The first impressions they get from the community will influence if they'll be helpful or harsh in the future. A nice welcome will make someone happy and result in helpfulness to other newbies in the future. It's also easier to spot trolls who try to stir up trouble.

 

[traylorpark]

Correctly inform people (eg. it’s not a DS/PSP)?

This in particular jumped out at me. One key to informing people is being civil about it, I think (I seem to recall that this pretty much came up in a thread about being considerate toward newcomers, come to think of it).

Stuff along the lines of "[Device you mentioned] is closed [expletive] and sucks. You're clearly not the right sort of customer because you're obviously [stupid/a poser/a fanboy/etc.] to be using that [expletive] in the first place. Here's why Pandora is so much better..." isn't going to inform anyone of anything, and it just puts people off of listening at all. All the information in the world will be ignored if it's delivered rudely.

So, yeah, on that point, having some patience and being polite when newcomers who may not have the same level of experience pop along (and they will) would probably be useful.

Absolutely! The two are devices incredibly different in purpose and market. Perception is going to be something we will always have to work against; the notion that the Pandora is supposed to replace the DS. It really can't, at least not anytime soon. But that isn't why you would buy one in the first place! Unlike the DS, if the Pandora only sold to End Users who just played with stuff, it would probably die. But that's not it's purpose ... it's a gaming focused computer (that's really freaking small) ... and in order to really maximize your experience, you should want to try and contribute something.

You're only saying that because you have trumped most of us combined!

I think we should overhaul the wiki and think about structurizing informations differently to get newbies up to date efficiently. Another idea is to have a group of volunteers to welcome newbies and help them. A special status for those folks, like a logo attached to their profile similar to gurus could be a nice reward for helpfulness and strengthen the reputation of those level-headed members, imo.

Both ideas are awesome! I wonder how you would go about creating a group of "smiling greeters"? "Come to us first with your questions!" kinda deal.

Other things that I've thought of: promotional videos, some that wow and some that inform. Evildragon's videos are really good in this respect.
promotional kinda like these PS3 ads:
PS3 ad
PS3 rubik's cube ad
Or informative like this Google thing:
What's a browser

I think we've got enough talent in here to manage something like this. Evildragon doesn't have to do everything.

For the production side, I think I'm going to dig up some good lessons on low poly modeling/game art and pixel art. Obviously, games are gonna be made ... a lot of artists are gonna wanna start some serious projects here. Resources to help them find the knowledge they need would be great.

Also, current artists could also make some tutorials (video/otherwise) that are tailored for this community in particular.

 

[TaG]

The first impressions they get from the community will influence if they'll be helpful or harsh in the future. A nice welcome will make someone happy and result in helpfulness to other newbies in the future.

Whatever happened to PoisonedV?

I wonder how you would go about creating a group of "smiling greeters"? "Come to us first with your questions!" kinda deal.

Although I like the idea, we never used to have much success getting people to read what was easily available rather than just posting something that had been raised dozens of times - hence some of PVs warm welcomes. Many of us helped where possible (ok and maybe flamed if it seemed deserved...). I'll probably get back to doing that when this thing ships.

mali, do you have any suggestions on how to channel newbies to the meeters and greeters?

 

[renegadechic]

i think one thing is to shout out loud and proud to everyone that its not vapour. try to boost the public profile of the project and pull the interest levels right back up to a far less skeptical level.

and of course after that just work on building the community and things. maybe see if there are any homebrew sites or areas who might be interested in supporting or at least posting news and updates to their news blogs about pandora updates