#yes we need more characters who can reach a more diverse audience and serve as inspiration but there is no need to tear either down

[when-all-hope-feels-lost]

i love all of the kotlc crew and the deuteragonist boys but can we remember that sophie foster is our main character, the leading lady, and honestly one of the better female protagonists in the middle grade/ya fantasy genre

[writingwithcolor]

What Does Our "Motivations” PSA Mean?

@luminalalumini said:

I've been on your blog a lot and it has a lot of really insightful information, but I notice a theme with some of your answers where you ask the writer reaching out what their 'motivation for making a character a certain [race/religion/ethnicity/nationality] is' and it's discouraging to see, because it seems like you're automatically assigning the writer some sort of ulterior motive that must be sniffed out and identified before the writer can get any tips or guidance for their question. Can't the 'motive' simply be having/wanting to have diversity in one's work? Must there be an 'ulterior motive'? I can understand that there's a lot of stigma and stereotypes and bad influence that might lead to someone trynna add marginalized groups into their stories for wrong reasons, but people that have those bad intentions certainly won't be asking for advice on how to write good representation in the first place. Idk its just been something that seemed really discouraging to me to reach out myself, knowing i'll automatically be assigned ulterior motives that i don't have and will probably have to justify why i want to add diversity to my story as if i'm comitting some sort of crime. I don't expect you guys to change your blog or respond to this or even care all that much, I'm probably just ranting into a void. I'm just curious if theres any reason to this that I haven't realized exists I suppose. I don't want y'all to take this the wrong way because I do actually love and enjoy your blog's advice in spite of my dumb griping. Cheers :))

We assume this is in reference to the following PSA:

PSA to all of our users - Motivation Matters: This lack of clarity w/r to intent has been a general issue with many recent questions. Please remember that if you don’t explain your motivations and what you intend to communicate to your audience with your plot choices, character attributes, world-building etc., we cannot effectively advise you beyond the information you provide. We Are Not Mind Readers. If, when drafting these questions, you realize you can’t explain your motivations, that is likely a hint that you need to think more on the rationales for your narrative decisions. My recommendation is to read our archives and articles on similar topics for inspiration while you think. I will be attaching this PSA to all asks with similar issues until the volume of such questions declines. 

We have answered this in three parts.

1. Of Paved Roads and Good Intentions

Allow me to give you a personal story, in solidarity towards your feelings:

When I began writing in South Asia as an outsider, specifically in the Kashmir and Lahore areas, I was doing it out of respect for the cultures I had grown up around. I did kathak dance, I grew up on immigrant-cooked North Indian food, my babysitters were Indian. I loved Mughal society, and every detail of learning about it just made me want more. The minute you told me fantasy could be outside of Europe, I hopped into the Mughal world with two feet. I was 13. I am now 28.

And had you asked me, as a teenager, what my motives were in giving my characters’ love interests blue or green eyes, one of them blond hair, my MC having red-tinted brown hair that was very emphasized, and a whole bunch of paler skinned people, I would have told you my motives were “to represent the diversity of the region.” 

I’m sure readers of the blog will spot the really, really toxic and colourist tropes present in my choices. If you’re new here, then the summary is: giving brown people “unique” coloured eyes and hair that lines up with Eurocentric beauty standards is an orientalist trope that needs to be interrogated in your writing. And favouring pale skinned people is colourist, full stop.

Did that make me a bad person with super sneaky ulterior motives who wanted to write bad representation? No.

It made me an ignorant kid from the mostly-white suburbs who grew up with media that said brown people had to “look unique” (read: look as European as possible) to be considered valuable.

And this is where it is important to remember that motives can be pure as you want, but you were still taught all of the terrible stuff that is present in society. Which means you’re going to perpetuate it unless you stop and actually question what is under your conscious motive, and work to unlearn it. Work that will never be complete.

I know it sounds scary and judgemental (and it’s one of the reasons we allow people to ask to be anonymous, for people who are afraid). Honestly, I would’ve reacted much the same as a younger writer, had you told me I was perpetuating bad things. I was trying to do good and my motives were pure, after all! But after a few years, I realized that I had fallen short, and I had a lot more to learn in order for my motives to match my impact. Part of our job at WWC is to attempt to close that gap.

We aren’t giving judgement, when we ask questions about why you want to do certain things. We are asking you to look at the structural underpinnings of your mind and question why those traits felt natural together, and, more specifically, why those traits felt natural to give to a protagonist or other major character.

I still have blond, blue-eyed characters with sandy coloured skin. I still have green-eyed characters. Because teenage me was right, that is part of the region. But by interrogating my motive, I was able to devalue those traits within the narrative, and I stopped making those traits shorthand for “this is the person you should root for.” 

It opened up room for me to be messier with my characters of colour, even the ones who my teenage self would have deemed “extra special.” Because the European-associated traits (pale hair, not-brown-eyes) stopped being special. After years of questioning, they started lining up with my motive of just being part of the diversity of the region.

Motive is important, both in the conscious and the subconscious. It’s not a judgement and it’s not assumed to be evil. It’s simply assumed to be unquestioned, so we ask that you question it and really examine your own biases.

~Mod Lesya

2. Motivations Aren't Always "Ulterior"

You can have a positive motivation or a neutral one or a negative one. Just wanting to have diversity only means your characters aren't all white and straight and cis and able-bodied -- it doesn't explain why you decided to make this specific character specifically bi and specifically Jewish (it me). Yes, sometimes it might be completely random! But it also might be "well, my crush is Costa Rican, so I gave the love interest the same background", or "I set it in X City where the predominant marginalized ethnicity is Y, so they are Y". Neither of these count as ulterior motives. But let's say for a second that you did accidentally catch yourself doing an "ulterior." Isn't that the point of the blog, to help you find those spots and clean them up?

Try thinking of it as “finding things that need adjusting” rather than “things that are bad” and it might get less scary to realize that we all do them, subconsciously. Representation that could use some work is often the product of subconscious bias, not deliberate misrepresentation, so there's every possibility that someone who wants to improve and do better didn't do it perfectly the first time. 

--Shira

3. Dress-Making as a Metaphor

I want to echo Lesya’s sentiments here but also provide a more logistical perspective. If you check the rubber stamp guide here and the “Motivation matters” PSA above, you’ll notice that concerns with respect to asker motivation are for the purposes of providing the most relevant answer possible.

It is a lot like if someone walks into a dressmaker’s shop and asks for a blue dress/ suit (Back when getting custom-made clothes was more of a thing) . The seamstress/ tailor is likely to ask a wide variety of questions:

What material do you want the outfit to be made of?

Where do you plan to wear it?

What do you want to highlight?

How do you want to feel when you wear it?

Let’s say our theoretical customer is in England during the 1920s. A tartan walking dress/ flannel suit for the winter is not the same as a periwinkle, beaded, organza ensemble/ navy pinstripe for formal dress in the summer. When we ask for motivations, we are often asking for exactly that: the specific reasons for your inquiry so we may pinpoint the most pertinent information.

The consistent problem for many of the askers who receive the PSA is they haven’t even done the level of research necessary to know what they want to ask of us. It would be like if our English customer in the 1920s responded, “IDK, some kind of blue thing.” Even worse,  WWC doesn’t have the luxury of the back-and-forth between a dressmaker and their clientele. If our asker doesn’t communicate all the information they need in mind at the time of submission, we can only say, “Well, I’m not sure if this is right, but here’s something. I hope it works, but if you had told us more, we could have done a more thorough job.”

Answering questions without context is hard, and asking for motivations, by which I mean the narratives, themes, character arcs and other literary devices that you are looking to incorporate, is the best way for us to help you, while also helping you to determine if your understanding of the problem will benefit from outside input. Because these asks are published with the goal of helping individuals with similar questions, the PSA also serves to prompt other users.

I note that asking questions is a skill, and we all start by asking the most basic questions (Not stupid questions, because to quote a dear professor, “There are no stupid questions.”). Unfortunately, WWC is not suited for the most basic questions. To this effect, we have a very helpful FAQ and archive as a starting point. Once you have used our website to answer the more basic questions, you are more ready to approach writing with diversity and decide when we can actually be of service. This is why we are so adamant that people read the FAQ. Yes, it helps us, but it also is there to save you time and spare you the ambiguity of not even knowing where to start.

The anxiety in your ask conveys to me a fear of being judged for asking questions. That fear is not something we can help you with, other than to wholeheartedly reassure you that we do not spend our unpaid, free time answering these questions in order to assume motives we can’t confirm or sit in judgment of our users who, as you say, are just trying to do better.

Yes, I am often frustrated when an asker’s question makes it clear they haven’t read the FAQ or archives. I’ve also been upset when uncivil commenters have indicated that my efforts and contributions are not worth their consideration. However, even the most tactless question has never made me think, “Ooh this person is such a naughty racist. Let me laugh at them for being a naughty racist. Let me shame them for being a naughty racist. Mwahaha.”

What kind of sad person has time for that?*

Racism is structural. It takes time to unlearn, especially if you’re in an environment that doesn’t facilitate that process to begin with. Our first priority is to help while also preserving our own boundaries and well-being. Though I am well aware of the levels of toxic gas-lighting and virtue signaling that can be found in various corners of online writing communities in the name of “progressivism*”, WWC is not that kind of space. This space is for discussions held in good faith: for us to understand each other better, rather than for one of us to “win” and another to “lose.”

Just as we have good faith that you are doing your best, we ask that you have faith that we are trying to do our best by you and the BIPOC communities we represent.

- Marika.

*If you are in any writing or social media circles that feed these anxieties or demonstrate these behaviors, I advise you to curtail your time with them and focus on your own growth. You will find, over time, that it is easier to think clearly when you are worrying less about trying to appease people who set the bar of approval so high just for the enjoyment of watching you jump. “Internet hygiene”, as I like to call it, begins with you and the boundaries you set with those you interact with online.

[maxwell-grant]

May I please ask what your preferred dynamic between Holmes & Lupin would be? (From what I can tell, the term 'frenemies' might have been invented for these two - if any two characters in fiction WOULD spend all their time trying to one-up each other it's these two, if only their diverse other commitments, challenges & interests left them the free time to do so: I'm also morally certain a sadly-hypothetical Holmes/Lupin team is one of the few things that could bring down Fantomas for Good).

I think "frenemies" is what ultimately works best for these two specifically, because there's a certain untouchability to icons as big as these two that limits the potential stories you can tell with them (although yes, definitely on board with the two having what it takes to bring down Fantomas, although probably not as cleanly and easily as they might expect).

The original Leblanc stories involving this premise are very much centered around one-upmanship, even embracing a theme of national rivalry of England vs France. They acknowledge Holmes's talents but without the awe, with a somewhat aged Holmes with mundane imperfections easily exploited by the daring young thief, someone deserving of his legend but who doesn't quite live up to it. Obviously Lupin's gotta have the upperhand, not just because it's his author writing it, but because the whole point of Lupin's creation was to be the new hotness, the counterpart to both the stuffy old Great Detectives as well as the aristocratic master burglars, and really, what kind of rising superstar would he be if he couldn't put one over the other guy? If he's gonna live up to his claim of being the greatest criminal ever, he's gotta be able to humble the greatest detective at least a little.

The treatment of Watson (Wilson) is tasteless and it's frankly a bit saddening to see that even back then writers were still shitting on Watson far too much, but on the whole I think Leblanc was a lot fairer to Holmes than he could have been (certainly other writers from this time period who added Holmes to their stories were not as fair), he makes it very clear Holmes is not just another Ganimard out of his depth and is very much as close to an equal Lupin's ever had. I think the description used to cap off their final meeting is very much on point:

"You see, monsieur, whatever we may do, we will never be on the same side. You are on one side of the fence; I am on the other. We can exchange greetings, shake hands, converse a moment, but the fence is always there.

You will remain Herlock Sholmes, detective, and I, Arsène Lupin, gentleman-burglar. And Herlock Sholmes will ever obey, more or less spontaneously, with more or less propriety, his instinct as a detective, which is to pursue the burglar and run him down, if possible.

And Arsène Lupin, in obedience to his burglarious instinct, will always be occupied in avoiding the reach of the detective, and making sport of the detective, if he can do it. And, this time, he can do it" - Arsene Lupin vs Herlock Sholmes

The consistent outcome is that Holmes "wins" the material battle while Lupin gets away with the spiritual or karmic victory. The first story, Holmes has Lupin figured out from a glance, robbing him of his greatest asset, and Lupin even tells Holmes under a guise that he has no greater admirer than himself. Holmes choses not to arrest Lupin, and instead solves the mystery as quickly as Lupin would. But he is also, well, inferior. His "commonplace appearence" dissappoints the guests and detectives at the crime scene, he doesn't resemble their expectations, he is gruff, ungracious, arrogant and all-business, an Englishman all the way, and Lupin one-ups him by returning to him his stolen watch, and Holmes is not a good sport about it.

The whole "Herlock Sholmes" name change, although it was out of legal obligation, almost reads like a cheeky courtesy of Leblanc, like he's giving Holmes enough of a courtesy in sparing him the embarassment of being the loser. And the following adventures stay consistent: Sholmes is smart, as smart as Lupin, and he's a gentleman. But he isn't as smart as he thinks he is, and he isn't as much of a gentleman as Lupin. He resorts to unsporting tactics like intimidating Lupin's lover and involving the police in their conflict, and in the end, he's solved the crime, but "sown the seeds of discord" in a family Lupin was protecting, becoming the villain for a change, a role reversion Lupin openly laughs at. Holmes wins the "loot", he wins the material battle, but Lupin has the last laugh, and despite being a self-proclaimed villain, Lupin gets the moral victory.

It's a quite unflattering view of Holmes and one perhaps not suited for a crossover outside of the specific context of Holmes being the old and stuffy intruder in an Arsene Lupin story. Then again, every great hero needs a lesson in humility every now and then.

There's a particularly interesting variant of this dynamic to be found within China's own takes on Sherlock Holmes and Arsene Lupin.

Sherlock Holmes was quite the breakout hit for Chinese audiences at the time of his release, revered as an alternative to Judge Bao and the court-case novels. It's estimated that from 1903 to 1909, detective fiction constituted over almost 50% percent of all Western translated fiction, and with Holmes followed others like Nick Carter and Charlie Chan, and then Arsene Lupin, and soon their own local versions. The most famous and popular of which was Huo Sang, created by Cheng Xiaoqing, who was one of the main translators for Conan Doyle's stories. Cheng Xiaoqing even wrote his own take on Sherlock Holmes vs Arsene Lupin called "The Diamond Necklace", intending on correcting Leblanc's take, although interestingly, he unintentionally recreates the exact outcome by giving Holmes an unsporting attitude, where he "wins" only because Lupin lets him, and Lupin gets away again with the moral high ground. He would fare off much better in correcting Holmes with his own character, Huo Sang.

Huo Sang has a lot of similarities to Holmes, even with his own Watson counterpart, but was also designed to represent a few more traditional Chinese values. He is a science teacher with no addictions who belittles the wealthy class and fights for the poor, and he is praised for humility, one story even making a point to criticize Holmes for arrogance. He is a very Westernized character, with suits and guns and cigarettes galore, but the books were very dictatic and the author marketed them as "disguised textbooks for science", playing up on a newfound social reverence to scientific methods and self-improvement and national rejuvenation.

The stories deal heavily with corruption of the police force and institutions. In the earlier stories he outright calls police detectives useless rice buckets only good for solving petty thefts and preying on those that can't defend themselves, and while they become less sinister in later stories, Huo Sang's relation with law enforcement is much more frayed than Holmes's own. He uses dirty police tactics of his own and sometimes takes the law into his own hands, thinking the law cannot possibly achieve justice on it's own. His biggest loyalty is to his country and he values his reputation above all else. He values justice more than the law, like Holmes. But like Holmes, he still prefers to work inside the law and within Chinese traditions.

"Bao Lang, you scholar, you're too idealistic. Don't you realize how weak the law is in modern society? Privilege and power, favors and money - the law has all these deadly enemies

"We investigate half to slake our thirst for knowledge, half out of duty to serve and uphold justice. In the realm of justice, we are never constrained by the wooden and unfeeling law. For in this society, which is gradually tending to surrender its core to material things, the spirit of the rule of law cannot be put into general practice, and the weak and ordinary people are aggrieved, more often than not unable to enjoy the protection of the law.

Lu Ping, as you'd expect from a counterpart to Lupin, was much different. In fact, right in his very first story, he was already pitted against Huo Sang and outsmarting him, in a story called "Wooden Puppet Play". The character is inspired by an already existing tradition within Chinese literature of the "chivalrous thief", shapeshifting masters of deception and martial arts, and considered admirable and benevolent opposite to the corrupt government officials they outwit.

His stories are more whimsical, energized, more varied, less dedicated to strict science. He whistles while committing crimes, is identifiable by a red tie and wooden puppets he uses to signal his goons on what outfit he's gonna be wearing, and even cracks asides to the reader. In many aspects Lu Ping is influenced by hard-boiled Western detective stories, and naturally, he has a much more contemptious view of the law than Huo Sang

Well then, was he willing, in his capacity as thief, to represent the sanctity of the law and catch the murderer? Yes, he would be quite happy to round up that murderer. But he wasn't at all willing to boost the reputation of the law. He'd always felt that the law was only something like an amulet that certain smart guys had fabricated to get them out of embarassing situations.

Such an amulet migh be good for scaring away idiots, but it oculdn't threaten the violent, crafty and arrogant evil ones. Not only could it not scare them away, a lot of them hid right behind it to work their evil tricks!

Conflicts between these two are not just rooted in one-upsmanship or the patriotic conflict between the two, but instead in two differing approaches to justice, their influence on fellow Chinese writers to step outside tradition, and the respective ways they address issues in society. Additionally, it's not just a conflict between Great Detective vs Gentleman Villain, but the Holmesian Detective and the Hardboiled Detective. And, naturally, when the two met, a pattern reocurred again.

Writing a Lu Ping tale in his usual manner, Sun Liaohong deprives the detective of the advantage he typically enjoys at the hand of Cheng Xiaoqing or any other follower of Conan Doyle - narration by the detective's coadjutor.

It is Huo Sang who slinks around like a thief, alarming hotel service personnel. He becomes rattled, and even so is vain and arrogant. He is a bit too positivist about searching for clues, and he spends a remarkable amount of time just relaxing and waiting for something to happen.

The figure of "wooden puppets" turns wicked when the author uses the term to refer to Huo Sang, Bao Lang, and the police. Satirizing the genre as a play in which the author woodenly manipulates his character. But Lu Ping as puppet is a genius, moving from one identity to another, whereas Huo Sang is a dumbbell - wooden indeed, bourgeois, ridiculed.

A gentleman's agreement occurs only at the end. Huo Sang has the formal victory. He frees Lu Ping in order to get the paining, but the exhibition is held a day late and it now bears Lu Ping's seal.

In wartime, peace talks, diplomacy and gentlemen's agreements are just smoke screens, the stuff of puppetry. Both Huo Sang and Lu Ping surround themselves with lies to reach their final accomodation. Perhaps they are both puppets - Chinese Justice, the Fiction: Law and Literature in Modern China, by Jeffrey C. Kinkley

Both characters were canned in 1949 when the CCP banned detective fiction, and it was replaced with anti-spy literature about how the party police would expose counterrevolutionary conspiracies. They never got to have a rematch, and to my understanding there were a couple of films made afterwards about them, Huo Sang had a very recent one in 2019, but never another meeting.

I guess the takeaway here time and time again is that, credit to Holmes and all, but:

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/andrea-riseborough-talks-hollywood-sexism-mother-sucker-four-films-sundance/

Andrea Riseborough talks Hollywood sexism, Mother Sucker and four films at Sundance

Andrea Riseborough is having quite the banner year at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival as she is featured in four films including the U.S. Dramatic Competition films Nancy and Burden, the Midnight selection Mandy (in which she acts alongside Nicolas Cage), and the Spotlight film The Death of Stalin. From one film to the next she not only plays a completely different character, she’s thoroughly unrecognizable, transforming herself physically and vocally, whether it’s as a raven-haired eccentric in Nancy or as a country girl with a deep southern drawl in Burden. But the moment that Riseborough wanted to discuss in this interview wasn’t hers, but the collective one pushing for change in the film industry. More women have felt empowered to speak out about sexism, harassment, and abuse in Hollywood and independent film, and in this conversation and others throughout this week and in the months prior, Riseborough has added her own impassioned voice to the call. As she discusses below, she’s also working to change things systemically, having formed a production company called Mother Sucker that is run entirely by women. After several years of development, the company’s first completed project is Nancy, on which it served as co-producer. When an actor turns up at the Festival with multiple films, the inevitable question is how you managed to work this much over the course of the past year. The reality of production is more complicated though, in that you might have completed a few of these films at an earlier time, and of course, some films take longer than others to make. But still, four films at Sundance demonstrates an actor working hard and in demand, so clearly you’re doing something right. The pay disparity has been bad for the last couple of years. It’s actually gotten worse than it had been in the past. I found myself really just needing to accept more work in order to keep up as a woman. Generally the projects I really care about, the ones that push the needle, the ones that have diversity and eventually one day affect some sort of social change, are not ones that pay a great deal. You have a choice of doing one really terrible movie a year—which I’m just not interested because I end up wanting to kill myself—or, as a woman, you can do five projects to make up the same sort of pay. I would’ve liked to have not worked as much. But that’s the reality. That’s the honest truth. I did do them all back to back, and in one of the films I was paid 1/24th of what my male co-star was paid. Did you know the extent of that disparity at the time? Yes, I did. I knew that. And I went into it with my eyes open because I believed in the director, in his unique perspective and voice. That he’s not a run of the mill, mainstream director. As women, we make our money from being involved in more male-driven projects that make the money. We have to balance between doing some of that, where hopefully you don’t feel too compromised because it’s normally a male-heavy situation on set, and putting money back into films like Nancy with my company, which is an all-female film company. You’re referring to Mother Sucker, right? Yes. And then you take a hit financially, of course. Not many people want to invest in diversity. Though I do feel like that has changed in the last few months, which is a wonderful, wonderful feeling. And I feel now like I can actually step into a room and say, “I would like equal pay with my male co-star.” Not that they’ll give it to me. But I feel like I could say it and the option wouldn’t be off the table. Which is what used to happen in the past. If you asked for more money, they would just offer it to somebody else. Because they could. The long-term message being that you’re disposable. And that’s the opposite of what we’re all striving to come to believe in life, isn’t it? And that’s coming from a deeply fortunate position—I cannot even imagine what an actor of color goes through. When and why did you start Mother Sucker? In 2012, and the original concept was: What would it be like to see a film that was, from beginning to end, a female construction? Beyond that, I wondered what it would be like to live in a world where town planning had been done by women, rather than men. Where we didn’t live in concrete boxes, separate from one another, but in communal spaces where we all breast fed each other’s children. I’d really like to walk through a world of female constructs because the patriarchy has been in place for so long. I had been going through a very difficult moment with a film that I was on. I was originally the protagonist, and then I was bumped down to a secondary role in order for the male to be the protagonist. I tried to get out of it but couldn’t. So I just started writing ferociously—I’ve always written. A couple of projects came about, and we developed a few things, then I met Christina Choe and we started the Nancy journey. I quickly realized that was going to be the first film Mother Sucker was going to be part of co-producing. Because Christina’s voice is so strong. She truly is the definition of an auteur. What did you learn from the making of a film co-produced by an all-female company? We wrap early on set. Meaning you’re actually able to have a life during the shooting of the film? No, let’s not be crazy. Just very efficient. The experiment concept has not yet been fully had, because Nancy was made with several other companies, and mine is the only one that is all female. But for another film coming up I would really like to try it, to see how the energy shifts on screen when everyone around it is a woman. I mean, it might be a shitshow, who knows? But I think it’s a very interesting social experiment. I’ve spent so many days being the one woman surrounded by lots of men—and a makeup artist. Sometimes it’s very hard to do my work. Sometimes I have felt unsafe on set. People say weird things to you. You feel very outnumbered. You come onto the set and you feel virtually invisible. It’s hard to command focus on a set. I don’t mean the way a director [commands focus], I just mean to be very silent and do what you need to do. Imagine giving birth. Imagine being raped. To have that silence where it’s not just joke time for everyone else. It’s very difficult with a woman. We often do most of the emoting. We often need to get in that headspace, and it’s just tough. I just imagine getting in that headspace and being surrounded by a bunch of women. Why not just see [what happens]? We almost did it on Nancy, which was really wonderful. Let’s talk about your performance in Nancy. I would imagine it’s a tougher role because she’s somebody who makes it hard for the audience to read—she’s a bit of a fabricator and lives in her own head a lot of the time. As the performer, you have a much better sense of who Nancy is, but you also can’t always reveal that. From the beginning of Nancy, it was always very clear to me. She was an entire human being, which I really appreciated. Flawed, confused, disenfranchised, isolated. Desperately wanting to connect. Feeling isolated and disconnected from the rest of the human race, which we all feel with the advent of social media. That feeling of wanting to connect and not knowing how to do it is very timely. Christina and I used to joke that if Nancy had been brought up on the Upper East Side of New York to very liberal parents, perhaps she might have been one of the great writers of our time. But what actually happened was that she was smart enough and unusual enough that she ended up being the madwoman in her hometown. I mean, what would’ve happened to us if we hadn’t have gotten out of where we were from? We probably would have ended up as the mad people, too. You could see how, with a different writer and different performer, that role could be played as a madwoman. But you definitely pull back from that. Well, she’s just a woman. All of us, in some respect, felt that. It’s so real and accurate to portray a woman as flawed. We have a film culture in which men are portrayed as flawed consistently. And a history of portraying women born to a few narrow things, and generally not all of the things together. They rarely make up a whole person. We can all identify with Nancy. We can all laugh at the manipulations that we’ve all been part of to some extent in our lives. Whether it’s for survival, or for gain. That unhealthy behavior is very familiar to me. And then, when she reaches out to Leo and Alan, the moment is too much. She doesn’t quite know where to put it. There’s a feeling of deep discomfort as a response to being loved. I think that is something we can all identify with. That’s very human. When it’s just too much. We crave it. We pull for it. And once we get it we don’t know what to do with it. I’d like to also talk about Burden, another of your films in the Festival, with both of these appearing in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. Judy is technically a supporting character, to Garrett Hedlund’s character of Michael Burden. Yet Judy does carry a huge moral weight in the narrative but is integral to his transformation and redemption. I think of the reverend as the hero. I would like to have seen [the story] from that perspective. But yes, Judy was the catalyst for most of the change, and she suffered for a lot of the actions that Mike took. I wanted to show how much of a part she actually played, which wasn’t quite reflected in our story. The facts about what actually happened are very interesting if you look into it. Did you meet the real Judy? Oh yes. Many times. Was that helpful? I would imagine sometimes it can be intimidating or derailing. It’s tricky when you meet the real people and you get the real facts. It’s always difficult to set those aside. It was very helpful to see that Judy was the person whose heart was open to change. She was the person who stayed changed, and didn’t go back after all of this. The reverend runs up to her and yells “Super Judy” when he sees her in the supermarket. She grew up in an environment where most of the people she knew joined the Klan at 16, yet she still felt innately like it was wrong. And the way that society still is wrong. In a different time, years down the line, will a black writer have the resources to tell the story from the reverend’s perspective? I hope so. I’m kind of sick of seeing it from the same perspective all the time. I really like seeing things from a different perspective. I’m a white woman. I’ve spent so much time in my body. I’ve known enough of that. I go to the cinema, and I want to see other people. I want to see other walks of life. Different perspectives. As an actor, you’re a great ambassador for the power of story to take us out of ourselves. Part of why you do what you do is following an impulse to inhabit other experiences. And that’s also partly why we’re drawn to the cinema. Why we’re drawn to stories, no matter who we are or where we are coming from. I don’t think anyone wants to hear their own story told over and over again. I think you’re absolutely right, and I think that’s the beautiful thing about humans. We’re really hungry to understand each other. Part of the gossip and the voyeurism comes from wanting to learn more about each other, to know more about what’s going on with other people behind closed doors. This a great time because now I think studios are so focused on the way they are set up, and on the white patriarchy specifically, they are really having to be held accountable now. Whether they are interested or not, whether they are morally invested or not. We just need to make sure that the door doesn’t close. It’s open and we cannot allow it to close. That’s why I think putting women in power and into creative positions is really important, because we can’t let the change be superficial, we can’t let it all be about show and checking a box. I can honestly already tell you though that this year, going into 2018, I know that I can say I want equal pay with my male co-star who has a smaller part than I do. They may not listen, but that I can bring that up and the job won’t necessarily go away. That’s huge. It’s so huge! I feel a bit like I won the fucking lottery. It’s so weird. I have a meeting this afternoon and I’m going to bring that very thing up with my agent. She’s a wonderful agent at CAA and been in a powerful position for a long time. And we’re going to bring that up today and it feels like Christmas. It’s very empowering and hopeful. And I don’t see that as irrelevant to the art itself. As someone invested in the life and evolution of the form, I can’t help but think that if we stop thinking about actors and performers as replaceable, as types and commodities, then the casting and the performances will get better, more diverse, and truer to our experiences. I can’t help but think that. Absolutely. The more diverse voices we get, the more perspectives that stories are told from. The story is often a similar story. We can tell Star Wars from a different character’s perspective, you can tell it from the eyes of the Wookies. There is a way for every perspective to be valid. We can tell a story that we’re all familiar with, but from the perspective of somebody else, somebody’s whose shoes we may not have walked in.

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

[thotyssey]

On Point With: Blake McIver

Beginning his career as a child star with memorable roles in “Full House” and “The Little Rascals” reboot, this actor / writer / producer / director / singer / songwriter / ex-gogo boy has definitely sashayed his way into our hearts and minds. New Yorkers can enjoy a pair of performances from him this week at the Laurie Beechman Theatre: first covering a legend’s songbook in a solo show, then as a supporting player of a drag queen’s showcase that he’s directed. It’s the charming and talented Blake McIver Ewing!

Thotyssey: Hi Blake, thanks for talking to us! So, are you mad busy now with rehearsals and finishing touches on your two shows (Blake Sings Barbra and I Dream of Jackie), or are you comfortable with what you have down now for both of them?

Blake McIver: Well, I am admittedly a rehearsal addict, but I had to come back to LA for another show. So, we'll do a couple quick clean-ups before next weekend!

You've certainly been performing for nearly all of your life... have producing, writing and directing always been part of the equation as well? I've actually been directing for over a decade! I started a theatre company in Southern California at 19, and cut my teeth as a producing major during my time at UCLA. Writing came shortly thereafter, first with songwriting, and then it expanded from there! So are you pretty much open to a variety of projects, or do you have a pretty specific wheelhouse? I like wearing many different hats. It keeps my passion alive, and keeps me learning and constantly refining my skill set.

Are you still basically based out of California? I am still based out of LA. As much as I love my time in NYC, the West Coast is always home. I was born and raised in the heart of LA, which is very rare. I consider myself a unicorn, haha!

Unicorn indeed! You've had a long and amazing career as an actor, beginning with some choice gigs as a child star... including Derek from Full House, Michelle's adorable friend who slayed “Yankee Doodle Dandy” in his debut episode! When you're that young and that famous/successful, can you even fully understand what is going on... or is it just normal because that's all you know?

For me, it was just going into the family business at a young age. Both my parents have lifelong careers in entertainment, which meant that many of their friends were in the business as well. I went to regular school, with non-working kids in between gigs, so I was aware that my life wasn't exactly typical. But I wouldn't have traded it for the world.

Nor would your fans! I understand Derek was meant to be a one-time-only appearance, but that evolved into a beloved recurring role for several seasons.

You're right! Derek was supposed to be a one episode thing, that turned out to be three seasons of the show until it ended. It was a joy to be on that set every single time. It really was a cohesive family by the time I entered the cast, and they all made me feel right at home.

One fun part of Fuller House is seeing many of these supporting characters and their actors from the original show return as adults for cute cameos. It would be difficult without the Olsen Twins on board for this version, but would Derek stop by Fuller House if it were up to you?

YES! If it were up to me, Derek would definitely be the flamboyant show choir director at the School of the "new generation" kids! Have you noticed the show is so gay now? DJ and Stephanie are hitting on gay guys, and Kimmy's ex-husband is basically the New Trade. It's wonderful! Haha! That's awesome to hear. I have to be totally honest and tell you I haven't actually watched any of the reboot past the first episode! I know, sacrilegious! There's just only so many hours in the day, and I have so many Real Housewives franchises to keep up with! But I'm so glad people are loving it, and I hope it goes on and on.

Speaking of Housewives, you made appearances on a Bravo show a few years ago, "The People's Couch!" What was that experience like?

Well I have to say, when they pitched the show to us I thought, "Okay, we've officially reached the end of entertainment! You're making a show about people watching other shows on TV." Of course I hadn't yet seen the brilliant original British version, Gogglebox. And then when I saw the rough cut of the pilot, I was blown away with how fresh and funny it was. 

We really had the opportunity to engage in social commentary in a way I couldn't have predicted. Of course there was plenty of silliness along the way, but we did get to talk about some real issues on Bravo primetime, which I'm proud of.

Your album The Time Manipulator was such a diverse collection of songs and styles. 

Indeed! The Time Manipulator was intentionally stylistically diverse. It wasn't until I began writing music that I realized the diversity of my musical influences. Each track on that album represents a story from a moment in my life; some happy, painful, frustrating, etc. The narrative is quite dramatic, and I felt the genres really needed to serve the narrative. 

Of course, that's the last thing any record label wants to hear... which is why it was important for me to self produce / release the first one so that my un-diluted musical story is there.

That's the way to do it! Who would you consider some musical influences?

I'm inspired by everyone from The Beatles and Queen to Diana Ross, Carole King, Elton John, Antonio Carlos Jobim, to Gaga and Beyonce. I'm a real music nerd so if the melody and lyric meet a pure emotional intention, I'M IN! Do you have any plans for another recording? I do! I'm in the middle of a (much more musically cohesive) new EP that is inspired by my love of Motown, Blues, and Soul.

Right before recording The Time Manipulator, the internet-browsing public was alerted (thanks to Perez Hilton, I think) to the fact that you--a former child star!--were gogo dancing to fund its production, and the Thirst Pics were abound. You've already talked a lot about that experience with honest candor and charm, but I was wondering.. does being a stage and screen performer prepare you for gogo dancing at all, or is it a completely different animal?

The performative aspect of it definitely felt familiar to me. Performing for an audience has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. But does anything truly prepare you for shaking your moneymaker in a jock on a box? Not sure, lol! 

It was like playing a role to a degree. I had a character / persona in my head. He had a name and a personality that was admittedly bolder than my own. So I guess it kind of was like a fun acting gig. Def, and it paid! Is that also how you got to know people in nightlife, like promoters and drag queens, or did you already kinda know that crowd from just being a gay entertainer in LA? It all sort of happened simultaneously, in a beautiful way. Just as I was becoming more comfortable and free in my queer identity and expression, I was meeting wonderful queer artists and brilliant performers who challenged me artistically and mentally, which was really wonderful.

What's been your history as a stage performer in NYC?

Well, my NYC stage debut was as an honorary member of "The Broadway Kids" in the early 90s. I believe a Gavroche got sick before one of their big shows, and my friend Kathryn Zaremba (who was Lisa on Full House) was Annie Warbucks on Broadway. She said to the director, “my friend can learn this show in four days.” Before I knew it, I was singing and dancing alongside all these young Broadway vets who were very gracious to let the TV / Film brat come play with them! What's a dream role for you, as far as Broadway is concerned? Deena Jones in Dreamgirls. Which I realize is extremely problematic on every level, and will never and should NEVER, EVER happen.  

I wish that Disney could get it together and put Hunchback on Broadway. I would do just about anything to bring Quasi to the Broadway stage. Oh God that would be incredible!  

So I saw I Dream of Jackie during its initial run at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, starring NYC queen Jackie Cox, which you directed and also co-starred in. I absolutely loved it, it was cute and very funny, and even had sincere moments! How did you get involved with that show, which I’m happy to see returns to the Beechman on Sunday, August 20th?

I'm so glad you enjoyed IDOJ! It was such a joy bringing it to life. Jackie (aka Darius) has been my best friend since we met on day one of college at UCLA. We actually came up with the character of Jackie together, which is why I am referred to as her "Drag Father," hahaha! 

It worked out that my schedule opened up enough for me to be in NYC for the month of July, and I jumped at the chance to direct and choreograph the show. Can't wait to do it again next Sunday!

Amazing! Have you / would you ever try drag yourself, by the way?

I have very strong, angular features. Me in drag just looks like Idina MANzel.

Ha! Well, the night before IDOJ returns, the Beechman will see you solo on the stage for the return of your own hit cabaret revue, Blake Sings Barbra: The Concert! What role does Barbra Streisand's music play in your life, and what made you want to bring this show to the stage?

I've been captivated by Barbra since I first saw Funny Girl at 7 years old. But it wasn't until her 1994 comeback concert that I became completely obsessed. It was a crazy year for me: I was in my second season of Full House, I filmed The Little Rascals, and my parents’ house was destroyed in the Northridge earthquake. In the show, I take you through all these things via The Concert, which basically taught me everything I know about being a performer.

I've wanted to do this tribute show for many years, and finally sat down one day last year, during the tumult of election season, and wrote it all down.

Now that you mentioned The Little Rascals--where you play spoiled villain Waldo-- and the election, I have to quickly ask about how surreal it is that Donald Trump plays your Dad on the other end of a phone conversation in a brief cameo. That must be so surreal to process, nowadays.

It really is! And I tell the extended version of the story in my show. It becomes relevant at a certain point in the concert!  Intriguing! What's your favorite song to do in the show? I love the setlist from the concert so much, so it really changes with every audience. Last month I had some true 94 concert superfans in the audience, so during "The Way We Were" they were quoting her ad libs at me, then I quoted some back at them during the interlude, and we all screamed and it was a fabulous moment. I explained it all to the rest of the crowd after the song, haha!

Sounds like a remarkable experience, congratulations! Anything else coming up for you? Yes, in September I am directing and choreographing a tour for the wonderful cabaret and burlesque artist Ariana Savalas (of Postmodern Jukebox fame). I built the first version of her show last summer, and now it's expanding into a full Caburlesque extravaganza, which is so fun! And then I'll be back at the Beechman in October with two more shows! Excellent! So, lastly: what do you think The Little Rascals’ Waldo would be doing today, as an adult?

I feel like he'd be on a yacht in the South of France, spending his father's money as rapidly as humanly possible!

Sounds about right. Thanks, Blake!

Check Thotyssey’s calendar for Blake McIver’s scheduled NYC appearances. Follow him on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and his own website.

On Point Archives

[maneaterwithtail]

The politics are the cough. the disease is flooding to chase the trend of personal brand building. Events and confusing communities and arguably the arrangement of the direct market itself. No simplicity and lots of expense with shakeup one after the other.

And some transparently business or out of story disrupting existing (in humans versus mutants)

Starting Marvel, as an example, is harder than figuring out where to come in on the Fate series. I mention this because Comics are often compared to manga and yet however convoluted in silly may get for the most part you buy one collection, or let's not kid ourselves pirate, or wait until an animated adaptation comes out realize that it's pretty much faithful, go back to the core comic and so long as you start from the beginning you can follow to the end. Even if it's based off of a visual novel chances are everything will progress from beginning to end. It's usually when that models messed up with that something becomes destructive and difficult to follow or deal.

Unlike with manga where if you're having trouble following where to start with, like the Fate series, you can at least enjoy the latest Nasu verse offering. especially if you can turn your brain off and just engage with one example. Or if you don't want to deal with that you can just go to an entirely different property from a similar publisher that scratches a similar itch.

Like the premise of America Chavez buts I think she did it wrong? Well it's not like you can just switch over to Champions because that's a mess as well along with Miles Morales Spider-Man and ms. Marvel or spider woman.

it's expensive, patchy, filled with all sorts of weird continuity that you end up having to buy just to start. As such only the dedicated fanbase could possibly tolerate it but that also is exclusive in the sense that it's so to them with a history that it feels kind of off-putting.

I like the comicsgate comics I have heard of. I can also understand why we try to move away from that. Such as very obvious p*** tracing. And so on. Yes supposed diversity has basically led to a similar story of we're here now we're going to f*** the status quo too strongly relating to the audience or the author's pandering.

But it's not just they're going to have a trans person in an announcement. Which is a pretty major character trait I imagine that they want to talk about that or include it in the announcement.

the discontinuity does not help you build upsetting characters characterization and Circumstance. This is what I mean you're following themes story and events building to something then a new author will come in and he or she will wreck all that up so that they can go in an entirely different direction. Okay maybe you don't like the homosexual overtones of Eddie Brock and Venom. Maybe you want to stick it to all the slash shippers on Tumblr. But they've been the people who been following the comic and there's been a multi-year build up with sleeper, Eddie Brock and Venom's son.

going no now Eddy has a son he doesn't know about. oh and he was in the car that killed a child and him and Venom hate each other? Basically says f*** that other story we're going back to this story because I liked it better when I was young and I like it this way. And this kind of hostility is constant with every Changing of the Guard which can happen almost every two to three years. This keeps happening right when things are starting to get good or conclusion is reached. this undermines any death any major event or twist especially when it's in the headlines as if it's going to be meaningful

we can't even engaged in the illusion that someone has a plan charting something out when it feels like it's always fly by the seat of the pants the slightest whim can blow off the direction. We know in our conscious nothing that happens matters or at the very least when things end and we don't move on to something else then realize that there was a change but it seems seamless. Or at the very least it's a damn good seem that makes a very likeable and unique and distinct quilt. Again comparing and contrasting with manga

basically constantly ragging on the Politics as if that's what's causing the problem as opposed to Poor practices is off. yeah the customer service is definitely a no-go. But let's not kid ourselves Fanboys started it

I can straight up say that if you had a book that was straight up gay. like it starred the gay couple that once was Rescued by Captain America including his childhood hero And they were joined by the gender-bending exiled courtesan. you know those girls that always hang around in the background of Thor comics and everybody talks about winching and all that stuff? What if we actually focus on one of them and we threw in some mythological deviant queerness with the idea that men who practiced a certain form of Witchcraft had to be ladies. Now in practice this often meant anything from cross-dressing to performing ceremonies with a freaking dildo. But this is Comics so instead I can just go with the idea that after he uses magic so much he can turn or does turn into a lady. At first it's inadvertent but then he Masters the power so much that can transform into any lady. So he can go from weak little nerdy witch man to a Vanir (super durable pretty strong) or she giant.

It gets even more so when apparently he can change not just to a generic woman but any specific one. so he can literally clone an individual lady alive or dead. If she's dead you can act as a vessel for her soul so effectively while he might be booted deep within he can resurrect anyone's female loved one. Until changes back. The Twist is that while he won a beauty contest to be one of Odin's many many side pieces due to the politics and sociology of the time and the setup Odin didn't like admitting that they were both men or equals. Now the crossdressing courtesan isnt necessarily the nicest person. In fact the number one thing that characterizes him is that he hates the alpha male warrior culture or at least what he perceives of the negatives of it of Asgard. But that doesn't necessarily mean that he provides a good alternative. This will be a total retcon. not only would this make Odin effectively bisexual -although it's long since established that it seems like he's banged about so much he has had a child with everyone but his wife- but the idea that Loki and Thor grew up exposed to this weird gender-bending courtesan who tried to compete with the affections of their Queen Mother just so that that way he could get ahead and hated showing the absolute loyalty and Devotion to Asgard seeking glory in battle and death as opposed to conniving Gatling favor and trolling for booty while having to serve drinks for the Warriors that came by and were celebrated in the castle Hall.

Probably make up all sorts of relationships with other lesser-known Danny's that haven't been as much part of Marvel Thor but are important or at least well-known for the tradition. I would also shamelessly ripoff @gumon and her take on Norse mythology. With giants that just naturally produce children whether male or female. anyway ignoring all the continuity just so I could bring in the mythology that I want I would have it so that he was ultimately exiled because he got set up on a failure assignment. He got assigned to the Blue Mountain the traveling planet or set of rocks now that was the home of one of the Warriors Three the blue guy well the guy who wears blue and looks kind of like Angus Khan

The entire point of this is to get a different eye view of the Marvel Universe. What was it like to be one of those disposable pin-up girls. What is the gay population in gay culture and gay people been doing and light of the world that's been invaded from the ground been in a Perpetual fight with remnants of terrorists from World War II. And of course how they've been in for you property and making their lives and how are they responding to the fact that New York finally recognizes their marriage and of course life in the Twilight years as a gay couple that's constantly facing mortality. Also with the usual hey I'm an immortal mystical being who's having to relearn how to be human after having lived a life with a God's but neither being loyal to them nor a particular loyal to my own people. Along with the issues of the shapeshifter gender Dynamics and identity and all other sort of things. Pretty damn gay book. But I read it

Kids like imitating what they see so ripping the idea that someone's going to take some of the more iconic X-Men looks and style themselves after them when they know that their mutant doesn't seem wrong. I like the idea that we're going to open with someone who manages an online community for mutants. I like the idea of Trailblazer I like the ladies thick and I like the fact that she has a more utility power that she's going to have to work with and around hopefully being clever though that backpack does run the risk of becoming the Omnitrix and having the solution for every problem that you need.

Basically I like the children of the atom a bit more than the whole lineup of the new Warriors. I think people really should give the characters a chance so if you're turned off by yet another set of incest siblings in Marvel ya no problem or argument here.

[sempiternalsandpitturtle]

What are digital ads and why do you need them?

Digital advertising is seriously complicated. I mean, just take a quick look at this famous chart, known as the LUMAscape for the display ad ecosystem:

Via LUMA Partners

The upshot: Every digital ad that anyone sees while browsing the web or thumbing through a social media platform’s mobile app has gone through a long process of design, creative optimisation, audience targeting and/or automated ad exchange bidding, simply to get in front of their eyeballs.

Is all of the complexity worth it, though?

Yes – assuming a carefully targeted digital marketing campaign with prudent allocation of ad spend and effective ROI tracking of key metrics, such as click-through rate.

According to a 2017 Clutch survey of more than 1,000 consumers, 90% of respondents had been influenced by advertising when making purchasing decisions. At the same time, they trusted online digital ads less than TV or print media advertising, an attitude that has fueled the widespread use of ad and content blockers.

In this way, digital advertising is a double-edged sword.

Its complexity is both what makes it so effective at reaching particular demographics and the very thing that can sometimes alienate people.

Some ads are so well-targeted they seem creepy. Online collective Coding Rights once called out and satirised Facebook’s granular targeting practices in particular with the following ad:

Via Fast Company

Meanwhile, the entire rigamarole of delivering an ad from a marketer to a consumer via a publisher site/app is a technically demanding, resource-intensive process, which can be a major drag on the experience of using a site or app, especially within a web browser.

From a marketer’s perspective, ideally no tell-tale sign of this underlying complexity of the admaking process ever comes through to the viewer.

Instead, an alphabet soup of technical tools – DSPs, PMPs and others we’ll discuss later – helps sustain the intricate sequence from start to finish, ensuring the real-time completion of multiple automated actions that match ad impressions with marketers and their desired audiences.

If all goes well, the viewer sees something like this mere moments after loading a page or app:

Think of digital advertising and marketing as akin to a savvier, more circumspect Wizard of Oz: It makes a huge impression, seems like magic and captivates its audience, yet it doesn’t give any glimpse behind the curtain at its inner workings.

That’s not to say it can’t fail.

In addition to seeming creepy or hogging all of a device’s RAM, advertising can come off as intrusive or irrelevant, with pop-ups and loud autoplaying video among the leading culprits in these respects. But ultimately, the various complications of creating and delivering a digital ad pay off in the form of increased brand awareness and influence among consumers.

Better yet, digital ads are versatile. Beyond the types of banner/display ads we showed above.

Paid search,native advertising and email marketing allow for multichannel marketing campaigns that reach audiences on virtually any platform.

Let’s look at each of them in more detail, starting with the most recognisable form of digital advertising, the display ad, and then working our way up to the subtler options.

What is a display ad?

A display ad is any ad that is seen on a website, social media platform or app.

We offered a relatively simple example earlier, but here is another look at a more complicated one, in this case a banner ad (so named because it looks like an unrolled banner) running on the high-traffic website Polygon.com:

This ad includes four major components:

An image with text.

An autoplaying video in a mini window (upper-right).

An actionable “Shop Now” button.

An “Advertisement” disclaimer (upper-right).

Display ads can be static images, videos or text ads. They can appear alongside non-ad content or as interstitial ads that take up the full screen, typically for a moment while a page loads or until the viewer takes some action.

This simple ad for a Google Nexus 7 is at the other end of the spectrum from the intricate “Call of Duty: Black Ops” example, showing the vast possible range with display ad designs:

Via Search Engine Land

Display ads originated on desktop websites, but they have since made a seamless transition on to mobile and across every major social media platform.

Mobile display ads generally follow the same script as desktop ads, albeit on a reduced scale necessitating more compact design, as with this minimalistic example for the newsletter service Morning Brew, running on a popular Apple-focused blog, Daring Fireball (annotation added to point out location):

On social media platforms, display ads can look very different depending on the service in question as well as how the user is accessing it.

For example, Facebook’s desktop sites support right-column ads that look a lot like other websites’ digital ads:

In contrast, Instagram’s standard ads – like in-stream Facebook ads and boosted posts – are formatted to look almost identical to organic posts, blurring the line between display and native advertising:

Regardless of the format, the purpose of all display ads is fundamentally the same: to raise brand awareness, cultivate interested audiences and help drive conversions.

Reaching those goals requires navigating the generally intricate process we outlined earlier, starting with creative tasks such as the production of images and text, and ending with the ad actually being served to a specific impression. Many partners, from ad networks to demand side platforms, will be involved along the way.

How to create a display ad

The specific steps you take will vary depending on which audiences you wish to reach and where exactly you want the ads to appear.

Accordingly, it is difficult to generalise too much about the digital ad creation process.

So for simplicity, let’s look at what might be required for creating what Google calls a responsive display ad for distribution through its Display Network, which spans 2 million websites and reaches 90% of internet users. You’ll need a Google Ads account before doing any of the below.

1. Creative production

First, you will need to create text and/or image content that meets the specs for the ad format. Quality and compliance with restrictions absolutely influence an ad’s ultimate performance.

Google recommends images with “a physical setting, with a real background, and organic shadows and lighting.” A brand logo should also be included in the specified aspect ratio. Text should be clear and compelling, to fit into the 80-character limit.

2. Landing page setup

You will also need to link the ad to a relevant landing page.

For example, many display ads tout time-limited offers and promotions. Anyone who clicks on one should be taken to the right part of your site where you can take advantage of it.

eBay has mastered this technique with its Google display ads showing individual panels for items of interest, any of which can be clicked to take the viewer to the corresponding listing and some of which feature “Price Drop” or “New” labels:

3. Budget-setting

How much it costs to actually run your display ad campaign through Google’s Display Network will depend on how much you want to pay and how you choose to measure ROI. Google provides several options:

Cost per click (CPC)

Pay only when someone clicks on your ad. You can even get automated assistance from Google for placing your ads so that they generate the most clicks possible within the constraints of your budget. CPC is ideal if your goal is to realise ROI by boosting website traffic through a high click-through rate for your ads.

Cost per acquisition (CPA)

Pay when an ad leads to a sale, signup or other conversion. Based on the price you set per conversion for your CPA strategy, Google’s Conversion Optimiser can place your ads into the particular online auctions that will maximise their chances of reaching and converting a viewer. You can also do this manually.

Cost per thousand impressions

Pay every time your ad appears. This option is good if you care more about building general brand awareness at the top of the funnel than pursuing bottom-of-the-funnel ROI metrics such as website conversions.

You can set all of these parameters within Google Ads and take many other actions while there. Here’s a quick look at its interface:

Via WordStream

4. Bidding and auctioning

This is where things get a little more complicated.

The bulk of digital advertising exchanged between marketers (ad creators) and publishers (ad displayers) is done so programmatically, meaning via an automated process involving the various pieces of ad exchange tech outlined in our first image from LUMAscape.

Basically, as an advertiser, you place bids for how much you’re willing to pay to have your ad appear in an available spot. As the intermediary/network, Google then compares these bids in real time in an auction format and displays the winner’s ad.

Let’s say you made it through all of these steps. For a responsive ad (i.e., one that can be automatically adjusted into different sizes depending on the impression it targets), the end result might look something like this:

Via WordStream

Google Display Network (GDN) isn’t the only option for placing ads.

Some advertisers use purpose-built solutions like private marketplaces (PMPs) and demand-side platforms (DSPs) as alternatives or complements to GDN. A PMP sets up a direct relationship between an advertiser and publisher, foregoing the chaos and highly variable impression quality of an open auction format.

Via Spotx.tv.

A DSP connects to ad networks beyond just Google’s, allowing for more diversity in audience targeting as captured in the chart below showing the networks incorporated into one vendor’s DSP solution.

Via acquisio.com.

So at the end of the day, how well do display ads work?

ROI varies considerably based on industry and the quality of their design, targeting and placement.

The average click-through rate for GDN ads across all industries is 0.32%. That sounds miniscule, and in absolute terms it is. But it has to be considered in the context of a multi-pronged advertising strategy, and in light of the fact that an ad can still serve a purpose without being clicked on.

Google itself recognises this reality with its payment options beyond just CPC, and its executives have also advised less fixation on click-through rate in evaluating campaign success.

Pay attention to website traffic and social media mentions, too.

Display ads aren’t working in a vacuum, either. HubSpot found that more than half of its customers combined these digital ads with inbound marketing efforts in order to reach audiences at different parts of the funnel.

Tips for display ad success:

Always use high-quality images and legible typefaces while also complying with the network’s specs.

Use specific text (e.g. “New shoes, available Jun. 22”), not generic slogans or clickbait headlines (“You won’t believe what’s coming!”).

Maintain brand consistency between ads and other aspects of your marketing strategy, such as content marketing assets.

Learn the ins and outs of campaign management tools like Google Ads.

Take advantage of GDN optimisers that automatically help you stay within your campaign budget.

Try a variety of ad formats and products; look beyond GDN to DSPs once you’re familiar with display advertising.

Paid search and SEO

Search engines are the go-to resources for finding many types of information online, so it’s no surprise that the real estate on their results page is highly valuable to advertisers.

Compared with display ads, paid search or search engine advertising consistently yield higher click-through rates, averaging up to 2% for Google Ads. That’s not surprising since many web searches are made with purchase intent, something that’s not true of every or even most website or app visits.

Take this DuckDuckGo search ad; it shows a very straightforward placement that matches the original query:

Search ads can also be more complex, such as this collection of thumbnails on Google, each leading to a product page on a retailer site:

Search engine advertising often follows a model of pay-per-click (PPC), and indeed PPC is frequently used as a synonym for paid search.

As an advertiser, you pay the search engine for each click your ad generates. This isn’t the only possible payment model for search-based digital ads, though, as Google for instance recommends CPA as well for some campaigns.

As with display advertising, the networks that distribute the ads provide the necessary tools for initiating and managing a search/PPC campaign. Running the first search ad above on DuckDuckGo would require a Bing Ads account, for instance.

How to create a search ad

While some parts of the search ad creation process – such as writing text, setting a budget and bidding for space – are mostly similar to the one for making display ads, there are some key differences, predominantly in the areas of keyword research and search engine optimisation (SEO).

Keywords

A keyword is the term or phrase you want your ads to be served up in response to.

For example, the “Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3” ad above appeared in response to an exact match search for its title, but also for the queries “Marvel Ultimate Alliance” and just “Marvel Alliance.” All of these are likely keywords that the advertiser targeted.

Using a tool like Google Ads’ Keyword Planner, you can align your paid search campaign with categories such as exact match, phrase match, broad match and modified broad. Between them, these types capture varying levels of precision in searches – e.g., a broad match might run an ad for Microsoft Azure even in response to a search for “Windows Server”, but an exact match would need “Microsoft Azure”, specifically.

Here’s a look at Keyword Planner in action:

Via Keyword Tool

Evaluating keywords is an essential part of measuring ROI on search ads.

Although some industries have very obvious keywords that correlate with buying intent, others do not, necessitating extensive research.

Choosing overly broad keywords can quickly drain your budget, as the ads will run too often and not get clicked since they won’t always be relevant and have far too much competition.

SEO

Search ads don’t succeed or fail on their own merits.

Even the best-designed Google or Bing ad might not generate the expected ROI, in terms of website visits and sales, if the advertiser hasn’t optimised its site beforehand.

Imagine clicking an ad only to go to a cluttered, confusing site that didn’t make it easy to buy the advertised product.

A lot of this preparatory work doubles as SEO, the broad term for making a website more likely to appear higher up in organic search results.

Putting more info at the top of the page, simplifying site navigation, optimising for smaller screens and content marketing all help with SEO as well as with ensuring that an ad that gets clicked/viewed doesn’t go to waste.

Poor optimisation can compromise the ROI of a PPC campaign by failing to generate enough sales to offset your budget.

Tips for paid search success:

Include calls to action that lead to a relevant landing page.

Have a negative keyword strategy to exclude irrelevant traffic.

Track ROI, e.g. through conversions like purchases or newsletter signups.

Avoid overly broad keyword matching in your PPC campaigns.

Develop and deploy an SEO strategy to make the most of organic traffic and ease conversions from ad clicks.

Native advertising

Where’s the line between an ad and a piece of organic content? Native ads are meant to skirt this distinction altogether.

They look as similar as possible to the other content on the sites/apps on which they appear, often with only a small disclaimer to distinguish their presence.

This example from Lifehacker shows a Mailchimp post slotted almost inconspicuously between noncommercial items:

Gmail ads arguably fit into this category too.

They look similar to regular emails and appear directly in your inbox, by default near other promotions to further lessen the sense that they’re actually ads, despite the disclaimers.

Native digital ads are highly effective for several reasons.

For starters, they seem less intrusive than display ads in particular, which aren’t particularly well-regarded by many website visitors.

Their content, which is often long-form and well-researched, is also sophisticated enough to stand out not only from the simple sales pitches of display/search ads, but even from a lot of other organic content.

This piece from oil conglomerate Eni that ran on CNN told a compelling story within an intricately designed page:

Via CNN

But most importantly, native ads can shore up weaknesses in an advertising strategy by circumventing the effects of ad blockers.

Ad blocking is ubiquitous. Eight in 10 adults use at least one form of ad blocking, according to Deloitte, and usage is especially high among younger demographics.

As of 2019, popular web browser Mozilla Firefox, which comes preinstalled on many Linux-based operating systems, also enables content blocking by default.

Content blockers remove most display and search ads, but leave native ads unscathed.

While ad blockers face headwinds from changes in Google Chrome in particular that might break their core functionality, the lost revenue from widespread use is currently substantial. Accordingly, native ads might deserve a place in your marketing strategy as a hedge.

Unlike the highly programmatic processes by which display and search ads are sold, native ads are often pitched and placed on sites as a result of a direct relationship between the advertiser and publisher. That said, there are native ad platforms like Outbrain and Taboola that allow these ads to be shown on numerous sites, a la a display ad.

Tips for native ad success:

Perform due diligence on the publisher’s audience and where else the post might appear besides their websites, e.g. on their social media platforms or in a newsletter.

Track metrics such as views per post, social shares and leads generated; determine your cost per lead and compare it to the price of running the ad in the first place.

A/B test headlines and content to see what gets better results. Reoptimise these details as needed.

Build strong relationships with multiple publishers to keep your native ad placement options open.

Digital advertising is a means, not an end

Digital ads support the other parts of your marketing strategy. Combining them with practices such as email marketing, affiliate programs and influencer campaigns will yield the best results in terms of increased conversions and heightened brand awareness.

Don’t simply run digital ads because you feel you have to; coordinate them with your other marketing efforts so that your audiences gain a clear and consistent perspective on what you’re offering.

With the tips and best practices we’ve outlined here in mind, you have a blueprint for how to approach your next digital ad campaign. It can seem complex at first – and there are a lot of moving parts, no doubt – but the benefits are worth the effort of mastering ad creation and placement.

from http://bit.ly/2UsRmvM

[imapplied]

Our Top 10 Blog Posts of 2018

The time has come, friends: 2018 is drawing to a close. Maybe you feel like it flew by. Maybe you feel like it dragged on forever.

Either way, you’re wrong. As is the case with nearly every calendar year, 2018 was, in fact, 365 days long. Our planet went around the sun exactly once. Isn’t that right, Copernicus?

Yes.

Regardless of how long or short this year felt to you, we can all agree on one thing: a lot went down in the online advertising space. Whether you specialize in paid search, paid social, SEO, or all of the above, there has been no shortage of trends, changes, and innovations to keep track of.

And that’s why we do our annual wrap-up: to give you a quick recap of the most important lessons you can bring with you into the new year.

Let’s get started!

You’ll often hear people refer to Instagram as a visual platform—a place to escape the wordiness of Facebook and Twitter.

And that’s largely true. But, as Gordon points out in this post, the caption beneath (or to the right of) your photo can make a huge difference in terms of post performance. It’s with words that savvy Instagram users drive their engagement numbers through the roof.

In this post, Gordon walks you through four categories of Instagram captions—self-deprecating, “imagine what they would say,” wordplay, and “call out a friend”—and provides over 30 examples of posts that execute them perfectly.

Implement these strategies, and you’ll give your Instagram account the boost it needs to reach new audiences and grow your brand.

When you’re tasked with managing and optimizing several social media accounts, stress is pretty much guaranteed.

You have to keep track of different usernames and passwords. You have to create and keep up with various posting schedules. You have to assess the performance of each individual account over time.

Enter social media management tools. Although each platform is unique, the core selling point remains the same: spend less time managing your accounts and drive better results.

Take Hootsuite, for example. Within a single, easy-to-use platform, you can do the following for free: manage three social accounts in one spot, schedule up to 30 posts in advance, and leverage contest to drive quality leads.

Check out Margot’s full post to get her inside scoop on six more budget-friendly social media management platforms!

Simply put, pain points are the problems your prospects experience. As a marketer, you want to convince your prospects that your product or service is the solution to their pain points.

To do that, of course, you have to know what your prospects’ pain points are.

That’s why qualitative research is so crucial. By giving your prospects the opportunity to vocalize their frustrations and challenges, you deliver to your marketing team the insights they need to develop more focused and effective campaigns.

Customer insight round tables are a fantastic way to uncover pain points.

After breaking down the different approaches you can take to conduct solid research, Dan discusses the four types of pain points: financial, productivity, processes, and support.

A common financial pain point is spending too much money. Similarly, a prospect experiencing a productivity pain point feels that he or she is wasting too much time. When someone seeks to resolve a processes pain point, he or she needs help with the inner workings the business. Finally, support pain points refer to those instances when your prospects feel as if they’re not getting the help they need.

To get Dan’s advice as to how you can navigate your prospects’ diverse pain points across paid search and paid social, check out the full post!

Facebook Ads is an exceptional platform for many reasons. The biggest one: it gives you the extra-granular targeting options you need to serve your ad creative to the most valuable audiences possible.

For real estate marketers—whose target demographics range everywhere from newlyweds to grandparents—this ability is huge. Facebook Ads is the ideal place to deliver visually engaging property advertisements to perfectly crafted audiences.

Without well-informed strategies, however, you’re not going to drive the ROI you’re looking for.

Accordingly, Margot uses this blog post to provide seven expert Facebook advertising tips specifically for real estate marketers.

Here’s a sample: be transparent with your prospects. As you know, selling an apartment or a house is nothing like selling a pair of sneakers—it’s a huge decision. That’s why it’s particularly important for you to cultivate a reliable, trustworthy brand through your Facebook Ads.

So how do you do it? With honesty and directness. If your ad involves pictures—and it probably should—make sure they’re realistic. When you’re describing the features of the property, be as simple and as accurate as possible. Your prospects will truly appreciate the authenticity.

For the rest of Margot’s insights, head over to the full post!

Back in May, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect in the European Union. In a nutshell, the GDPR requires the utmost transparency from businesses that sell products to and/or collect data from European consumers.

You may wonder: transparent in regard to what? Per the GDPR, after obtaining the consent of the consumers, businesses must make accessible 1) the kinds of personal data they collect and 2) they ways in which they use those personal data.

Basically, the GDPR allows consumers to demand access to the data that’s been collected on them AND to outright block attempts to collect such data in the first place.

Facebook, of course, is one of the businesses that must comply with the GDPR. Given their past scandals involving breaches of user data, they took it seriously. And that affects those who advertise with Facebook Ads.

Check out Allen’s full breakdown of the GDPR and what it means for your Facebook Ads account.

The Facebook team kicked off 2018 with a bang when they announced a massive change: the prioritization of social interactions over businesses’ paid and organic content in the News Feed.

According to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, the drive to deliver users more meaningful, positive experiences inspired him and his colleagues to initiate the change. They want, in other words, to make Facebook more about engagement between friends and less about engagement between consumers and brands.

As Allen emphasizes, this change does not mean that promoting your business through paid ads and organic content is useless. What it does mean is that you have to legitimately engage Facebook users—by delivering valuable information, by catalyzing discussions, and so on—if you’re going to have any chance of driving ROI.

That’s an entirely attainable goal. But, as is the case with all forms of digital marketing, it requires strategy and forethought.

Dive into the full blog post to get all of Allen’s advice.   

Although Google Marketing Live makes a splash in the online advertising world year in and year out, the 2018 conference—conducted in mid-July—was uniquely important.

Why? Three words: Responsive Search Ads.The best way to describe Responsive Search Ads, believe it or not, is describe its older sibling: the traditional search ad. When creating a traditional search ad, you write your headlines and descriptions together, thus generating a single static text ad.

Responsive Search Ads, on the other hand, are far more dynamic. With this new Google Ads format, you can write up to 15 headlines and four descriptions for a single ad. Then, Google uses machine learning to test the tens of thousands of possible combinations and determines which mixes of headlines and descriptions drive the best results for your business.

That’s not all—Responsive Search Ads are bigger, too. Thanks to a bonus headline, a bonus description, and more characters per description, this new format gives you up to 300 total characters to work with. That’s double the size of an Expanded Text Ad.

Evidently, Responsive Search Ads are powerful tools. Check out Mark’s complete list of features and best practices!

Frankly, people tend to blow the scope of the ecommerce revolution just a touch out of proportion. No—traditional, brick-and-mortar retail outlets aren’t dead in the water.

That being said, ecommerce has certainly become a force to be reckoned with—and it’s growing at a stunning rate. As Dan points out in this blog post, total global ecommerce sales are expected to surpass $4 trillion in 2020. For reference, that’s one-fifth of the U.S. economy.

Demonstrably, there’s never been a better time to sell products online. At the same time, however, the breakneck speed at which ecommerce is expanding may leave you feeling out of breath and overwhelmed. That’s normal.

Luckily, Dan is here to help. With this post, he provides in-depth analyses of the seven biggest trends in the online retail industry. Thanks to his expertise, you can leverage his insights to better prepare your business for the developments barreling towards us.

For example, take his thoughts on trend #6: Research Online, Purchase Offline (ROPO). Of the consumers who do purchase goods in physical stores, 39% still do their research online first.

Dan’s advice: use the suite of tools at your disposal—geolocation tracking, POS systems, targeted advertisements—to build detailed shopper profiles. With that kind of information, you uncover the extent to which your prospects are participating in ROPO.

I’m going to tell you something you likely already know: voice search is a big deal. Increasingly, consumers are choosing to seek information by speaking to smart devices rather than by manually typing into search engines.

And the implications for search marketers are real. For years, you’ve been attaching snazzy text ads and informative blog posts to the keywords consumers include in their traditional, basic searches. Now, they’re turning to their phones, tablets, and speakers and asking them full-blown questions. Paid search experts and SEOs alike are scrambling to figure out the best strategies they can adopt.

The problem, we find, with conversations about voice search is that they’re seldom grounded by data. Everyone wants to vocalize their opinion on the matter, but nobody wants to back up their bold claims with cold, hard statistics.

Gordon refuses to participate in such alarmist culture. That’s why he put together the comprehensive list of voice search statistics that you need to make informed decisions about your search marketing strategies going into the new year.

We began with Instagram, and we will conclude with Instagram. Considering the platform’s recent achievement of over one billion users, this seems appropriate.

Instagram, like its parent company Facebook, is a hybrid—it’s a platform people use to engage with both the people and the brands in their lives. As such, when you post a photo (with a stellar caption!) from your business’ account, you’re not only competing with the other firms in your industry—you’re competing with prospects’ friends, families, and pets, too.

This makes it rather difficult to stand out against the clutter and make meaningful, lasting impressions on consumers.

Fortunately, thanks to years of experience in the field, Margot knows a thing or two about social media marketing. In this blog post, she walks you through seven proven strategies you can implement to reach more consumers, earn more likes, start conversations, and drive returns.

If that’s not enticing enough, here’s a sneak peek: there are free tools you can use to make your photos look better.

Whether you’re looking to enhance your photos with sleek text-based messages or to simply expand the range of editing capabilities at your disposal, there’s a tool out there for you.

Head over to the full post to get the rest of Margot’s tips!

First Found Here

from https://www.imapplied.co.za/seo/our-top-10-blog-posts-of-2018/

[a-breton]

Non-Gaming Brands Find Value in the Twitch Audience

It seemed to happen overnight and with little warning: Video gaming grew out of its awkward phase, emerged from mom’s basement and confidently launched itself onto the social media scene – winning the attention of millions of active and deeply engaged viewers in the process.

With the help of streaming media technology and a virtually unlimited ability for consumers to build social communities around the things they love, massively popular video games like Call of Duty and League of Legends have been transformed from isolated youth activities into powerful and participatory online events. The new entertainment category these events have spawned – esports – is projected to reach $1.65 billion in market revenue by 2020, making it a lucrative playing field for enterprising marketers.

Few social media platforms have done more to help brands capitalize on this booming entertainment trend than Twitch. In case you happen to be a n00b, Twitch began as a livestreaming video platform built around the interests of the gaming audience. But, as this passion-driven community grew, so too did the company’s view of its marketing value. Thanks to some savvy content partnerships with big media brands like the BBC, Disney Digital Network, and even the NFL, Twitch is expanding into other areas of streaming news and entertainment and now averages more viewers than many cable networks.

Jane Weedon, director of business development for Twitch, shares her insights on tapping into the huge audiences for livestreaming video for gamers without alienating the core fan base or losing brand identity.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Ready to Go Live? All You Need to Know Now

CCO: The Twitch community has expanded far beyond its initial audience of video gamers. How has your content strategy evolved in response?

Jane: The content we support on Twitch is still tied to our community of enthusiastic gamers; but over time it has surfaced that they have a lot of additional interests aside from gaming, such as anime, vlogging, comedy, and the creative arts. Given the many different passions of our (content) creators, we are putting a big focus on providing better means of discovery to ensure their fans can easily find them, such as adding new tags, recommendations, and categories.

.@Twitch evolved its content to serve gaming audience’s other interests like anime & vlogging. Jane Weedon Click To Tweet

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Road Map to Success: Content Marketing Strategy Essentials

CCO: On the business side, what makes Twitch valuable to its marketing partners? And, as you scale your offerings by continually adding new content partnerships, how can you protect this value from being diluted?

Jane: Twitch has mastered the art of delivering live, interactive, shared entertainment on a global scale with a creator-focused approach. The result is a large and passionate fan community connected by chat behavior and emote-driven language (a meme-based pictographic shorthand) native to Twitch. In addition, our core demographic is the hard-to-reach, cord-cutting 18- to 34-year-olds who consume all of their content on laptops and mobile devices.

The key to our success lies in seeing what streaming interests surface among our community and blending those with the content and our data. This ensures that our partnerships are aligned with our users.

In general, the Twitch community is very savvy; so, transparency and authenticity are essential. We also offer a managed service to help brands understand authentic ways to communicate with Twitch communities, as well as identifying the most appropriate communities and streamers for brands to engage with.

Transparency & authenticity are essential given the @Twitch community’s savviness, says Jane Weedon. Click To Tweet

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: The ABCs of Connecting With Generation Z

CCO: How does your team determine what content ideas to pursue through media partnerships vs. what community members might contribute organically on their personal channels?

Jane: Content pursued through media partnerships is based on areas of interest surfaced by our community. For example, when we saw an affinity for anime, based on creators who were cosplaying as anime characters and playing anime-related games, we began streaming anime marathons, all of which have been well received. When things happen organically, like the TwitchPlaysPokémon channel, it is usually the community that first rallies around this content, which we, in turn, help amplify.

An example of how this worked for brands led to a very successful branded campaign using the concept of chat-driven video: Old Spice’s Nature Adventure. Procter & Gamble unleashed an individual into the woods who had to perform actions dictated by Twitch chat, all to promote the Old Spice line of products.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 13 Smart Brands Using Technology to Power Their Content

CCO: Are there opportunities for brand marketers to license and/or leverage Twitch content off the platform?

Jane: Yes. A recent successful example is PepsiCo’s 7-Eleven Summer Series Presented by Brisk, (Pepsi’s brand of iced tea). PepsiCo took the concept of being an event sponsor to a whole new level by creating original programming to coincide with the release of a limited time product with exclusive retail placement. PepsiCo and Twitch created an off-season competitive gaming tournament for the popular video game Rocket League where the event’s commentators and personalities consumed Brisk and performed in skits about purchasing the product at 7-Eleven.

Viewers not only cheered for shoutcasters (live gaming commentators) to consume bottles, they engaged with Brisk via social media after the broadcasts were over. They named their cars Brisk in the game, created videos speculating about potential Brisk-themed in-game car customization options, and took over the Rocket League subreddit with threads about Brisk.

Fans in chat even created their own catchphrase: “Take the risk. Drink the Brisk,” which became the rallying cry for the whole event.

This positioned Brisk not as just a brand name appearing in front of a broadcast but as an interaction point in the fan experience, a conversation piece, and a content provider. The key ingredient of success here was PepsiCo successfully identifying and incorporating into their messaging the style of organic fan interaction on Twitch and within the esports community.

CCO: The nature of social video means that much of the content on Twitch will always be unscripted. Are there ways that brands can minimize the risks involved in engaging on a platform where anything can happen?

Jane: In addition to Twitch’s robust community guidelines and terms of service, which are designed to ensure the site is welcoming to everyone, we provide a full suite of moderation tools and features to help channel owners mitigate inappropriate behavior in chat. Also, every channel has a report button with the reports monitored 24/7 by a global human moderation team.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: When Content Backfires: How to Handle Negative Feedback Online

CCO: Social video is an evolving area where some content marketers may not have a lot of experience. What advice can you offer to help them measure the performance of their content activities on Twitch and maximize the impact of their engagement there?

Jane: I’d suggest digging into user engagement data – going beyond minutes watched, clicks, and uniques. Twitch can measure viewer engagement via chat and the use of emotes – especially useful if a brand introduces a custom emote for a promotional stream. We also offer unique technical features like Extensions, tools that allow third-party developers to help channel owners customize their pages with interactive experiences via custom overlays. They can be directly integrated with live video on Twitch and will grow the unique relationship between creators and their communities, leading to higher engagement and more dedicated fans.

Extensions can include polls, leaderboards, virtual pets, interactive overlays, mini-games, music playlists, game-specific tools, and more. These extra points of interaction, which any content provider can use, offer yet another type of user engagement data without altering any content.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Are You Measuring Right in Your Content Marketing?

CCO: The gaming industry has a reputation for being less accepting of women participants, sometimes even openly hostile. How has Twitch ensured that the community is a place where female audiences can feel they belong?

Jane: Twitch has a “welcome-everybody” philosophy, which is reflected both through internal and external initiatives. They range from participating in national events – such as Pride Month, Women’s History Month, and African-American History Month – to TwitchUnity, our annual site-wide holiday, and TwitchCon, where we have panels and organizations that deal with inclusivity and diversity. At our office, we’ve hosted Geek Girl Dinner and Glassbreaker events, which are both designed to empower women, and we’ve spoken at public events, such as Grace Hopper’s celebration of women in computing, where we also provided scholarships to two students majoring in computer science to attend the conference.

CCO: What are you most excited about when it comes to Twitch’s future plans for engaging its community through content?

Jane: For us, success is about seeing our creators succeed. The fact that on our service they can turn a hobby they are passionate about into a way to make a living creating unique content is hugely exciting.

A version of this article originally appeared in the November issue of  Chief Content Officer. Sign up to receive your free subscription.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

from http://bit.ly/2Dx82Mn

[digital-strategy]

https://ift.tt/2mJ5ely

Editor’s note: Per Westergaard is a longtime editor-in-chief and CEO of a range of Danish regional, national and digital titles. Søren Schultz Jørgensen has worked as a journalist and editor at several Danish news media during the last 20 years. Last year, they undertook an international inquiry into the state of newsroom innovation; here’s what they found.

The news media most successful at creating and maintaining ties with their readers, users, listeners and viewers will increasingly be media that dare challenge some of the journalist dogmas of the last century: the dogma of arm’s length; the dogma of neutrality; the dogma of objectivity; the belief that journalists have a special ability to find and choose what is important for citizens. And not least: the basic idea, that journalism is primarily about transporting news and information from A to B.

For journalism to be relevant for citizens in the future, it will to a large extent need to challenge these deeply rooted professional dogmas, thus creating a media landscape that is more varied, more lively, more organically open to the citizens and much more diverse than the news industry we have seen for a hundred years.

These are some of the conclusions in our book, The Journalistic Connection, published in Danish this past March under the title Den journalistiske Forbindelse. The book is the written result of a yearlong research journey, undertaken in 2017, through nine European countries and the United States, visiting and studying 54 media companies pioneering new ways to connect with their audiences and communities.

We identified nine different ways by which news media in the Western world are currently trying to forge closer ties and stronger relations to their communities and audiences. Below, we’ll take a look at each of the nine ways. First, however, we need to clarify the purpose and the ambition of our journey.

Our angle on the current state of journalism is this: The crisis of journalism and legacy news media is structural, and not just a matter of technological challenges or broken business models. When citizens of Western societies, to a deeply disturbing extent, turn their backs on original news journalism, spend less time on news on radio and television, buy fewer newspapers, and express a growing distrust of media institutions, we need to submit the core content of the news media — journalism itself — to a critical review.

Today’s core questions for news media — old or new, small or big, privately or publicly owned — must be social and cultural: How can journalism regain its relevance, meaning, and trusted prominence in society? How can journalism reconnect with citizens?

These were the questions that guided our journey, starting at home in Denmark, where we researched an initial list of 120 media that could be rewarding to visit — new media, legacy media, born-digital, radio, television and printed newspapers. We sorted through that list and ended up with just over 50 of the most interesting and innovative outlets in the international media landscape today.

The outlets were selected because they try out new ideas, in areas such as journalistic engagement, cooperation, listening, and activism. But at the same time, they’re able to demonstrate that new ways of connecting with and engaging citizens create better results in terms of user satisfaction, circulation, audience, or earnings.

The journey in the U.S. took us through New York City, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington, Austin, Dallas, San Francisco, San Diego, and Seattle. The European leg of the trip led us through Spain, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, the U.K., Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.

Half of the interviews were conducted in the U.S., the other half in Europe, with the ambition of gathering inspiration, ideas, and strategies that both American and European news professionals can mirror themselves in and — hopefully — learn from. We need to learn from the best on both sides of the Atlantic to a much greater degree.

As mentioned above, we identified nine ways — or movements — through which news media are pushing their journalism in a more engaging, cooperative and community-oriented direction:

1. From neutrality to identity

Many news organizations are working intensely on sharpening their own profiles and identities, challenging the dogma of neutrality and fleeing away from the catch-all omnibus news ideal for several reasons. The need for a clear media identity grows when online news content is spread in small, unidentifiable bites across the Internet. Also, in order to make people relate to and identity with you, you must show them what you stand for. Show them who you are, and from which perspective — geographically, socio-demographically, or politically — you view the world. Prime examples of news media working with their identities in this targeted way are the Norwegian newspaper

Klassekampen

(The Class Struggle), the regional online news site

Voice of San Diego

and

The Evergrey

in Seattle.

2. From omnibus to niche

Niche media’s ability to create relevance for users — and to mobilize both interest and willingness to pay — is far greater than the ability of the omnibus media. And apart from a very few media with global reach (e.g. The Guardian, BBC, CNN), all news media can be considered niche operations. However, many broad-reaching legacy media hesitate to openly show and communicate which niche audience they seek to engage. Maybe because the democratic value of niche media is somewhat controversial: creating strong bonds among a homogenous audience instead of bridging different communities. Nonetheless, targeted niche media like the Seattle-based tech site

GeekWire

, Berlin-based youth site

Ze.tt

and the intellectual daily

Information

in Copenhagen show that is possible to create both quality journalism of high public value and cater to targeted audiences at the same time.

3. From flock to club

Gathering people around the news media, in clearly defined communities — clubs — is a strategy gaining momentum on both sides of the Atlantic. This implies transforming what were formerly known as subscribers, users, or readers into members, that must either register or pay to join the inner circles of the crowd around the news media. Spanish

El Diario

and French

Mediapart

have put membership models at the heart of their identities and their journalistic operations. Many American media companies — from legacy players like The New York Times and the

Gannett group

to online startups organized in the

News Revenue Hub

— follow the same path.

4. From ink to sweat

Many media companies are pursuing new ways to create physical journalism in the form of public meetings, festivals, events, and stage plays. Live and engaging. And yes, they consider it journalism. French daily

Le Monde

has made physical live events an important way to engage with citizens and to generate new revenue. The same strategy is used by

The Texas Tribune

, which carries out a variety of small and big events yearround. Danish startup

Zetland

regularly sets up journalistic shows around the prominent theaters in Copenhagen.

5. From speaking to listening

The legacy media business often has the character of a walled fortress more than of an open and accessible house. But both in the U.S. and Europe, news organizations are increasingly opening up — physically and mentally — in order to be more accessible to the citizens they serve. More than anything, this means listening to citizens and creating more transparency in editorial matters. This can be done through direct personal dialogue, through physical presence in communities, or through the systematic use of small and big data. The listening solutions developed by Chicago-based

Hearken

are now used by public radio and TV stations in the U.S. The regional German newspaper

Braunschweiger Zeitung

, which brands itself Bürgerzeitung — the newspaper of the citizens — listens through extensive use of physical meetings in local communities and by each day dedicating editorial resources and columns in the paper to cover questions asked by readers.

6. From arm’s length to cooperation

In order to maintain independence and neutrality, modern journalism has kept its distance, holding everyone outside the newsroom at arm’s length: citizens, interest groups, public institutions, private corporations, decision makers. However, this pattern is clearly changing. More and more newsrooms are involving citizens directly throughout the journalistic process: from ideation to research to delivery of independent content to the subsequent debate of published stories. The Dutch online site

De Correspondent

, German

Correctiv

, and

ProPublica

in New York are prime examples of organizations that have refined this co-creation process — without giving up editorial gatekeeping. They have all also pioneered cooperation with grassroots, NGOs, and public institutions — as well as with other media companies — as a way to create a both substantially deeper and more engaging journalism.

7. From own to other platforms

It weakens business opportunities of the news media and their journalistic control when they put their content on social media. That seems to be the common consensus in the news industry. Using social media is a double-edged sword, but handled in the right way — maybe more as a way to cooperate than distribute — social network technologies have big potential to enhance and deepen engagement, while at the same time creating stronger journalism.

David Fahrenthold’s

Twitter-based research on Donald Trump’s charitable giving, earning him and The Washington Post a Pulitzer Prize, is the golden example. The

Wall Street Journal’s use of Snapchat Discover

to cover the lives of Americans hit by the opioid crisis in the U.S. is another.

8. From problem to solution

Even the most hardcore investigative journalists have discovered they gain greater impact if they add a solution-oriented level to their work. Constructive journalism simply creates more engagement among readers, users, viewers. They read more, they are more likely to share content, and they express more interest in knowing more about the issue when the piece has a constructive angle. The Danish public broadcaster

DR

has refined this type of journalism over several years, thus improving ratings and reach of its TV news. In the U.S., the Berkeley-based

Center for Investigative Reporting

integrates a solution-oriented element in many of its investigative projects — even arranging solution summits for the stakeholders around some of the problems its deep-digging journalists have uncovered.

9. From observers to activists

Several news outlets — established as well as new ones — are testing whether they can create a new relevance to their readers, users, and viewers through activist campaigns or journalistic advocacy. This move is particularly controversial for many journalists — and clearly not a strategy suitable for all types of media operations. However, a campaign-oriented approach to journalism has successfully been used as a way to engage and create action among citizens for European news media such as

The Guardian

,

Gazeta Wyborcza

in Poland, and the Danish regional newspaper

Fyens Stiftstidende

.

Our book describes and analyzes all these examples and many, many more, in depth and detail. If there’s a common denominator for the 50-plus news organizations we’ve met and studied — apart, of course, from striving to connect with citizens in new ways — it’s their focus on innovation and experiments.

All the new digital publishers we’ve met seem founded on the courage and ambition of radical innovation. But also, in the legacy media institutions we visited, there seems to be a new understanding of the need for dramatic change and open-ended experiments.

This is why we find no reason to preach one particular model of journalism for the future. All the experiments and ideas unfolding in the current media landscape on both sides of the Atlantic indicate that there will be dozens, if not hundreds, of different models, all of which carry a hope for journalism in the future.

via Nieman Lab

[larryland]

by Barbara Waldinger

Metaphor:  the oft-repeated word describing Rabbi Michael Levitz-Sharon (Tara Franklin)’s view of biblical stories in Mark-Leiren-Young’s Bar Mitzvah Boy.  The Creation of the World in 7 Days, the Burning Bush, Noah’s Ark, the Binding of Isaac—all metaphors, not to be taken literally, according to the Rabbi.

This modern view of the Hebrew Bible is not Leiren-Young’s only attempt to keep us off-balance in his prize-winning play receiving its American Premiere at the Chester Theatre Company.  In an apparent role-reversal, Rabbi Michael (yes, her name is Michael) makes her way to the stage in a running suit as the play opens, while the other character in this two-hander, Joey “Yosef” Brant (Will LeBow) is dressed in a Rabbi’s traditional garb:  a suit, yarmulke and tallit.  In an ironic twist on the play’s title, Brant, a middle-aged, divorced divorce attorney, begs the Rabbi to prepare him for an adult Bar Mitzvah before his grandson undergoes the same rite in the same synagogue the following week.  After much protestation (“This is not Hogwart’s,” says Rabbi Michael, observing that only a magician could pull this off in such a short time), she agrees to tutor him.  The eighteen scenes in this intermissionless play chronicle these sessions as a relationship develops between the Rabbi, who is dealing with her daughter’s terminal illness, and the attorney, who tries to reconnect with the faith he lost 52 years ago.

Mark Leiren-Young won the 2017 Jewish Playwriting Prize for this play, which received its world premiere at the Pacific Theatre in his native Vancouver, British Columbia, where Leiren-Young was Bar Mitzvahed.  In addition to writing for the theatre, Leiren-Young, a journalist, writes for film and television, including his award-winning TV special, Greenpieces: The World’s First Eco-Comedy. 

Bar Mitzvah Boy is thin on plot, but instead focuses on the two characters, their lives and the interaction between them.  Although the opening scenes are comic, filled with punch-lines perfectly delivered by these two talented actors, the play gradually tugs at our emotions as the illness of the Rabbi’s daughter, Rachel, takes its toll.  This can feel manipulative, as the audience is caught between laughter and tears.  That is what life does, of course, but it becomes obvious that the playwright is the one pulling the strings, rather than allowing the story to unfold organically.

Some of the characters’ motivations feel manufactured to fit the structure of the play:  for example, even after Joey’s big reveal, when he finally explains his need to be Bar Mitzvahed, we don’t feel the immediate urgency, despite LeBow’s brilliance in this role.  His reasons for abandoning his religion years ago don’t stand up to scrutiny.  And notwithstanding Leiren-Young’s desire to balance each character’s need for the other, the Rabbi’s need for Joey, except as a friend and perhaps as an attorney, is not clear, compared to Joey’s obvious reliance on the Rabbi for his Bar Mitzvah training.

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However, setting aside flaws in the play, the work of the artists, both onstage and off, is impressive.  From the moment we view Will LeBow, a self-described atheist disowned by his Jewish family, we are convinced that Joey Brant and Will LeBow are one person.  In a beautiful melding of character and actor, we follow his journey of rediscovery as he revisits the Jewish traditions he left long ago.  Challenging the Torah portion he is assigned to explicate (the story of Abraham and Isaac) he decides that only Al Queda or a paranoid schizophrenic would ask a father to sacrifice his son.  Yet, somehow, when it is time for him to “become a man” we are moved by his acceptance of the power of community.

Tara Franklin’s portrayal is more problematic.  Her costume changes alone must be distractions for her as she switches from running clothes to different dresses in the course of the production.  And the necessity to absorb a whole culture along with its language in the time it takes to rehearse a play is daunting.  Nevertheless, because of her superior acting skills, we eventually come to believe in her character.

Director Guy Ben-Aharon, the Founder and Artistic Director of Boston’s Israeli Stage, uses both the small proscenium as well as the auditorium to create the world of the play.  As Joey leaves and enters each scene, he descends the few steps to the audience, engaging with the Rabbi from there.  Ben-Aharon is aided by a talented design team:  Scenic Designer David Towlun, constructs the Rabbi’s office, displaying a highly unusual horizontal space on the wall for what seems to be hundreds of books, surrounded by a circular backstage area visible through milky double doors that resemble the Ten Commandments.  Lighting Designer Lara Dubin, the resident lighting expert, provides gorgeous pastel lighting emanating from  that circular area, and original overhead lighting instruments that look like open books facing downward with small bulbs inside, including an orange one representing the synagogue’s Eternal Flame.  Sound Designer David Reiffel offers a wonderful collection of Jewish music, both singing and instrumental, that matches the mood of each scene; while Costume Designer Charles Schoonmaker meets the challenge of dressing the Rabbi, though it might have been better if the process could have been simplified.

Bar Mitzvah Boy will certainly appeal to a Jewish audience, who will recognize themselves and their traditions in the play but because of its exploration of faith and the role of religion this play can serve as a universal metaphor that reaches out to diverse audiences as well.

BAR MITZVAH BOY runs from June 21—July 1.  Tickets may be purchased online at chestertheatre.org or call 413-354-7771.

Chester Theatre Company presents BAR MITZVAH BOY by Mark Leiren-Young.  Directed by Guy Ben-Aharon.  Cast:  Tara Franklin (Rabbi Michael Levitz-Sharon) and Will LeBow (Joey “Yosef” Brant).  Scenic Design:  David Towlun; Costume Design:  Charles Schoonmaker; Lighting Design:  Lara Dubin; Sound Design:  David Reiffel; Stage Manager:  Laura Kathryne Gomez.

Running Time:  80 minutes, no intermission; Chester Theatre Company, Chester Town Hall, Middlefield Street, Chester, MA.; from June 21; closing July 1.

REVIEW: “Bar Mitzvah Boy” at Chester Theatre Company by Barbara Waldinger Metaphor:  the oft-repeated word describing Rabbi Michael Levitz-Sharon (Tara Franklin)’s view of biblical stories in Mark-Leiren-Young’s…

[les-bi-katamari]

B-SIDE: SESSION 1

The ‘B-Side’ campaign is actually in the same setting, focused on different characters in the Athanar Marches. In addition to the npc Silenne from the A-Side, our party is:

Fara Undertree, the height of fashion, dwarven seamstress to house Vassar. She previously served Ivandra's mother Castia, who she loved with all her heart, though she never knew her feelings were requited. She continues to serve Ivandra, who she treats as her own adoptive daughter. Since Casyia's death she has slept her way through most of the castle staff and Vassarein guard. Brute Fighter. Played by Megan.

Liriel Selevarun, tattooed wood elf carnie. She is a wanderer exiled from her family, seeking out new inspirations to hone her Art - a mix of dance, martial arts, tattoos, and mystic elemental powers. Incorrigibly vain. Has no idea she's got a Charisma of 6. Four Elements Monk. Played by me.

Nisha Loy, human musician. Also a carnie. Performs music alongside Liriel's act, among others. Useless lesbian flirt. Lore Bard. Played by Gwen.

-

The campaign begins as Ivandra orders the evacuation of the castle. Castle Vassarein is abuzz with activity as people prepare to flee. Fara Undertree, personal seamstress and tailor to Ivandra, is instead busy preparing several outfits for Ivandra while she’s away. [“I should probably let her dress herself, but I don’t trust like that.”]

Ivandra comes to offer her money before she goes, but Fara continues finishing up the outfit she’s working on. When she notices Ivandra’s red-rimmed eyes, she takes a handkerchief and walks over to place it directly in her breast pocket, because that’s the kind of person she is.

Fara is very upset with her basically-adoptive-daughter sending her into exile – “It’s not exile…” “It feels like exile!” and has Mom Words for her about not letting the castle burn down, not wearing some kind of hideous wool smock while she’s gone. She gives her a hug goodbye before she leaves.

Afterwards, she goes to find Silenne, who is in the garden, brooding near the sepulcher. She’s despondent over being bested by the other spy; “I feel like I’ve been so monumentally useless.” Fara resolves to go with her, and that they’ll enjoy this ‘vacation’ together. She leaves a flower for Castia before they go.

-

As their carriage approaches the under-construction walls of Rothanvar, they pass by a collection of colorful tents and people, and large crowds drawn to them.

Rothanvar is full of a very diverse assortment of people, foods, sights, and sounds – and everywhere the scent of sea-spray. It is a tiered city, built on a seaside bluff (and on elven ruins). The more affluent part is up in the Clifftop district. In addition to steep streets and stairs, there are massive lifts used for transit from the clifftop down to the waterfront district. There is a FAR bigger wealth disparity here.

Fara and Silenne look for lodging at the tavern called the Cliffside Keep, rather than the… EXTREMELY sketchy waterfront inn, the Silent Siren. The nice tavern is PACKED.

After a night of empty flirting, Fara awakes to Silenne, who is gazing out the window, apologizing to Castia for not being there for Ivandra. As she comes back to bed, she touches Fara on the shoulder – she catches her hand, and says, “It’s going to be alright, goose.”

-

That same night, Liriel also wakes up to the sound of footsteps outside and fingers scraping along a tent. (“ftr even though liriel doesn’t NEED to sleep, she definitely DOES” “elves on sleep: ‘I just think it’s neat!’”)

She pokes around outside, seeing and hearing fantastically bejeweled knives FWIP into the ground nearby. As she sneaks around trying to find the source, she hears a voice behind her – “Are you lost, love?” There’s pale a figure in ragged clown’s motley, white and black and grey and blue. She looks vaguely elven, and her eyes are closed. Liriel starts slowly backing away

“Nooo, I work here? But um, if you lost some knives, they’re right over there –“

The figure smiles, holding out a hand, in which a knife appears.

“Oh, they ARE yours, yes, just like-“

The figure’s grin grows wider, and three more knives appear.

“O-oh, you have lots of them, oka-“

The figure starts juggling knives, as more and more appear.

“That’s very impressive actu-“

Now there are nine knives, no longer juggling, but floating in midair. They all turn to point at Liriel. “DO YOU WANT TO PLAY WITH US?”

“Nooo, I really don’t, I was sleeping and-“

The eyes open, they are completely empty. The grin is even wider, face cracking. She’s very very, close, and Liriel earthbends a bunch of dirt up between them and runs back towards the tents screaming. There is angry-sounding snarling and scuttling from the other side.

Others start to burst out of the tents, asking what’s going on. I catch one last glimpse of a tattered motley darting behind one of the tents, and try to tell everyone what happened.

Osvaldo Salazar: Kazalian halfling, ringmaster. Dark olive skin, MANY sailor tattoos. Short and compact. Short black hair, shaved sides, many piercings. Medea’s husband.

Medea Salazar: Tiefling illusionist. Tall, pale, freckled with crimson, long violet hair (normally braided), hooves. Mute but hearing; signs. Osvaldo’s wife. Circus mom.

Damian Timori: Human; older man; currently in classy pyjamas. Runs a "house of curiosities"

Suraan: Massive dragonborn; 6’3; rust-red, covered in scars. One of her eyes is a clear blue-green; the other is milky-white, with a ragged scar. Doesn’t talk much; sometimes signs. Strongwoman.

Nisha: Gwen’s character! Our bard.

There’s no trace of what I saw anywhere. No knives, no knife marks in the ground, no footprints but my own – only the mound of earth and grass I pulled up.

-

The next morning, after Fara picks out Silenne’s clothes and is shocked to learn she swims – “Alright. You have a secret life, as some kind of pond-floating trollop.” – they decide to check out the circus.

Osvaldo is in top form bringing in the crowds, [“No sick or elderly patrons!”] with the help of a claque pretending his hair was turned white by seeing the performance the previous night. [“Claque: Gentlemen, you are about to see something what was frightened to deaaaath - on the top of my headth"]

The two are amused, and decide to check out the carnival a bit. “It’s nicer than the last one we saw, ay lost they all HAVE clothes" "Yes, I'm not mentally redressing all of these ones. Much."

Fara feels a chill on the back of her neck, and whips around to see – someone looking familiar. A woman in pale lavender, a shock of dirty blonde hair, a thin-boned hand reaches out towards her… and suddenly the reverie breaks, as a crowd of laughing children passes between them.

They go to the fortune-reader, which Nisha has recently taken over. She gives the excited Silenne a love reading, gathering that she’s in a rut, and may have to look in new places.

Then she gives Fara a reading, on her family, and ‘fate’ takes over the spread. There are a lot of cards about home, industriousness, work, but then things take a bigger turn. Queen of pentacles – three of swords – page of wands – the devil. Nisha feels compelled to keep placing cards. Eight of swords – the star – two of wands – eight of cups – Death. She almost reaches for another card, but stops.

[For those of us who don’t tarot, ‘Fate’ summarizes for us: the queen of pentacles represents Castia; the page of wands is Ivandra. There’s a big choice coming for her – the Devil, Glasya and the Star, Apphia. Restriction, loss, and Death – while not always literal – is combined with a strong sense of finality, inevitability.]

The two leave, a bit glum, despite Nisha’s attempts to focus on the hope in it. After getting some mead, they visit another tent, with the sign ‘The Illustrated Woman.’

The tent is dark as they are ushered in, and through their colorblind darkvision, they can see Liriel seated on the floor. She slowly begins to rise, twisting and dancing, as sparks of fire flit from her fingers, offering brief glimpses of her and her tattoos, glimmering in the bursts of light. As she reaches her full height, she makes a grand gesture and the lanterns in the tent alight.

She continues to dance, weaving and sinuous, as she begins to focus on a large urn on the floor. As she dances over it, a serpentine form begins to emerge, made of water – it twists and turns, following her dance as it rises out of the urn entirely, growing more draconic in appearance, until the dance reaches its climax – the water dragon rushes towards the small audience, before bursting into a light mist.

Liriel bows and keeps posing and preening as Silenne and Fara approach to admire her tattoos and unsubtly check her out. She's fully tattooed from the neck down, covered in overlapping, shimmering designs that seem to move as she does. Most are beasts and magical creatures, particularly dragons.

They ask more about her tattoos, which Liriel is proud to tell them she did herself as she shows them off.

"Even the ones on your back?" "Oh, yes! I'm *very* flexible." Silenne swallows audibly.

They ask if she tattoos anyone else - she does, but it's painful and permanent. She also offers temporary painting, which Silenne eagerly accepts. Liriel takes her aside to show them her sketchbooks, and paints a little dragon on her wrist and forearm, in cerulean and violet.

Fara, who has been watching intently, asks if she can get one too. She is delighted to be offered Liriel's sketchbooks to look through, immediately giving Silenne the rest of her mead, and chats about a potential collaboration, using some of Liriel's designs in outfits. She ends up getting flowers painted along her collarbone (and carefully sealed so they won't rub off on her dress).

Nisha, who has been relieved of fortune-telling duty, has joined them in the tent as Liriel paints on Fara. She reintroduces herself to Fara and Silenne as the musician who accompanies Liriel's performance in the big top. "It's not as close and personal as this performance, of course, but oh, you should see what I can do with fire in that space!"

Fara rolls insight to see if Nisha and Liriel have fucked, and we decide they have. Nisha's flaw is that she's 'always a sucker for a pretty face,' after all, and flattery can get her everywhere with Liriel.

["We've been playing the A-side for months and there have barely been any kisses, and in the B-side our characters are already making movies on each other!"]

After some more flirting, Fara asks for other sights they should see - Liriel has trained long and hard for this, and she manages to promote some of the other circus performers' acts rather than simply declaring herself the greatest sight there is to see. Even if it's true. Nisha gives her an approving nod as she recommends they go see Suraan and Damian's daytime acts.

End of session.

[kayawagner]

Gnome Stew Notables – Avery Alder

Welcome to the next installment of our Gnome Spotlight: Notables series. The notables series is a look at game developers in the gaming industry doing good work. The series will focus on female game creators and game creators of color primarily, and each entry will be a short bio and interview. We’ve currently got a group of authors and guest authors interviewing game creators and hope to bring you many more entries in the series as it continues on. If you’ve got a suggestion for someone we should be doing a notables article on, send us a note at headgnome@gnomestew.com. – Head Gnome John

Meet Avery

Avery is an experienced game designer interested in bringing meaningful and easy-to-learn games to a wider audience. Emphasizing collaboration and games where players decide ‘what is possible’, Avery’s games work to realize the potential for roleplaying games to challenge our politics, transform our lives, and bring about social change. Her works include: Monsterhearts, The Quiet Year, Ribbon Drive.

Check out Avery’s Kickstarter for Dream Askew//Dream Apart

@dreamaskew on twitter

Talking with Avery

1.) You have a new game out! Tell us about your latest game on Kickstarter. It’s called Dream Askew?

Yes! My latest project is on Kickstarter now! It is actually a split book with two games that are sort of companion games. I wrote Dream Askew, which is about a queer community amid the collapse of civilization, where the characters are influential people and explore what they would do with all the potential and scarcity that they now have. It is explicitly about a marginalized community banding together, and acknowledges that the apocalypse won’t reach everyone at the same time. I like that all of that possibility could be really hopeful… Benjamin Rosenbaum’s game Dream Apart is about being members of a Jewish shtetl in 19th century Eastern Europe. Both are designed as diceless and gm-less games that are good for seasoned players but are also beginner-friendly.

softcover, full colour, half-letter (5.5 x 8.5), approx. 100-180 pages

2.) Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

I have been designing games since high school and have explored a lot of different themes and approaches, but I keep coming back to themes of self-doubt, troubled communities—with conflicts like ideological differences—and relationships, queer community, and the post-apocalypse or exploring what would happen after the collapse of civilization. My games don’t focus on despair and suffering though. They focus on finding out where hope survives in that process.

I am really proud of my game Ribbon Drive, which was a freeform game that used songs from music playlists brought by the players to inspire the scenes and framing that players responded to in the game. For me, this game was about players coming in with a vision of the future—the places the game would go—and learning how to re-examine, and eventually let go of, that vision.

In 2012 I released probably my most popular game, Monsterhearts, where players are teenage monsters—both literally and metaphorically. They are teens making sense of their changing bodies and social worlds, while being monsterous creatures with their associated behavioral traits. This game had a lot of queer themes, with monstrosity standing in as a metaphor for a lot of things, but especially queerness. Sexuality and its confusing abiguities are core mechanic for the game.

I also designed The Quiet Year, which is a map drawing game about a community that has survived the collapse of civilization and is trying to rebuild. It is sort of a combination of board game, world building, and and abstract poetry exercise!

3.) Can you tell me a little bit more about how you make those thematic choices? Are these intentional and goal oriented? More personal?

I think it’s a mixture of personal interest and goal. I have lots of ideas and start working on lots of games and then abandon most of them…so the ones that have a burning need to be created are the ones that make it through. They are the games with themes I find really compelling, and that do mechanical things that push back against prevailing design trends…or build on those trends. There was a period in the indie design community when every design revolved around scene-level conflict resolution mechanics, and play pushed toward these conflicts in every scene. Ribbon Drive was designed as a game where you didn’t have conflict, and even when there were obstacles you could take a detour. You couldn’t use traits in the same scene that you introduced them. I think it’s important to have games about learning humility and self-reflection, not just conflict. One factor in choosing these elements is that they feel like a timely contribution to the community at a meta- level. Play can serve to promote belonging to a world working towards revolution and looking really critically at our own goals and actions. The games I design that make it to production really further that…it’s not coincidental.

4.) How did you get into games? Was there a memorable or meaningful gaming (or design) experience that encouraged you to get involved?

I have always been excited about games. D&D 3.5 was my first RPG experience. I was in a logging town where there weren’t a lot of opportunities, but with D&D I was able to imagine a world bigger than my small town. I was playing with a group of boys who were all smarmy know-it-alls, and would argue that the one GM-ing was wrong or could have done better. The games would always fizzle. From the get go I could see the potential in the medium and see us all having trouble accessing that potential, and with all our play styles wanting really different things. So I started designing my own games pretty quickly to try to see how to make the play experience better. I released my first game a month after I graduated high school.

5.) Who did you look up to when you got started in the industry? Or who do you look up to now?

Paul Czege wrote My Life With Master, the first indie role playing game I ever ordered, and it was the game that introduced me to tight minimal design. In that game, you play as a minion to an intimidating master—a figure like Dracula or Frankenstein. There was the tension of wanting to do something for your master while also knowing you can’t escape them, but slowly developing curiosity about the townsfolk and the bravery and competence to overthrow the master. Your character was represented by only a few stats: Self-Loathing, Weariness, and Love for the townsfolk was all the definition that you needed. Czege’s focused, minimal, tight, thematic mechanics really informed the kind of designer I became.

6.) Are there any important changes you see (or would like to see) occurring in the industry?

I have seen more games by and about women, which is really exciting. I see women designers getting a spotlight more often and also more queer themes being included in stories—both by queer designers and by designers working to exclude fewer people from their stories. I also see a push for diversity generally, and more conventions thinking about diversity of guests they bring out…But I see most of that push for diversity in ways that focus on gender and sexuality and not on race. I’ve seen panels on bringing diversity to the games industry that are all white, so I’d want more designers of color to be given guest spots at conventions and to get their work spotlighted more often. And maybe more attention on decolonization led by indigenous people in the community. From a design perspective, the thing I’d really want to see are games accessible to new players and that play in a few hours (ex. Jason Morningstar’s games point a way forward). I work to design games that are mechanically simple, but they still typically require a lot of high concept thinking and take 3-4 hours. There aren’t many games that play in just one or two hours.

7.) I’m glad you mentioned the time commitment that many RPGs take. Are there other ways these games could be more beginner-friendly?

In terms of a way that a book presents its concepts, not using acronyms is huge! Acronyms make it really imposing. In terms of design, games that require less math and that explain the concepts in the same place that you find them on the character sheet make them more accessible, so new players aren’t just looking down and seeing all these numbers. For play, thinking about making spaces accessible to new parents since many people have young children. In terms of themes, I think that as designers and storytellers we need to be really mindful about what themes will make sense to a general audience, and which are recursive tropes and memes that gamers have developed that are inscrutable to the outside world…like the progression of rat killing in sewers to becoming a demi-god doesn’t make sense to people who don’t already know it. If you are going to tell those stories and want them to be welcoming to new players, you really have to spell it out for new players…and what else might they know that looks similar. We like to think that these stories are like Lord of the Rings, but they really aren’t. The model for a D&D character arc is outside the usual.

I think a thing that comes up with my work is that people who are long time gamers have more trouble connecting thematically with what I’m writing than people who haven’t played RPGs before. For example, with Ribbon Drive, if you are coming in from D&D and Pathfinder as a point of reference to this game you are going to stumble more because really obvious cultural touchstones for some aren’t necessarily gamer touchstones, so people stumble over them.

8.) I am very excited for your new project. Can you tell me a little more about it before I let you go?

One of the really cool things about this Kickstarter project is the way Dream Askew & Dream Apart are in dialogue. They both are about marginalized communities that have created this place of belonging and possibility, while at the fringes of society. They build off the same themes but take them to really different places; in one case taking those themes in the context of a group that really existed, while the other is about a more fantastic range of possibilities. One asks you to build upon and explore your relationship to history, and the other asks you to imagine and build a world together. I’m interested in ways these games are both very similar and very divergent, and compliment each other and tease out the themes and possibilities of each. With Benjamin, thinking that if this project is about them both being a type of game, we’ve included a chapter on designing this type of game—encouraging people to continue exploring community, development, and juggling tensions and choices though game design. The book is not just a manual for how to play a game but is a manual for how to play a particular kind of game, as well as a piece that encourages you to design and explore further on your own.

I think it is really important to say that, in addition to Dream Askew & Dream Apart being rich games with powerful themes, I think they are really fun. Fun games that are for anyone. The first time I played Dream Apart we were high-fiving and laughing…it was just so fun to play!

Thanks for joining us for this entry in the notables series.  You can find more in the series here: and please feel free to drop us any suggestions for people we should interview at headgnome@gnomestew.com.

Gnome Stew Notables – Avery Alder published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com

[swipestream]

Gnome Stew Notables – Avery Alder

Welcome to the next installment of our Gnome Spotlight: Notables series. The notables series is a look at game developers in the gaming industry doing good work. The series will focus on female game creators and game creators of color primarily, and each entry will be a short bio and interview. We’ve currently got a group of authors and guest authors interviewing game creators and hope to bring you many more entries in the series as it continues on. If you’ve got a suggestion for someone we should be doing a notables article on, send us a note at headgnome@gnomestew.com. – Head Gnome John

Meet Avery

Avery is an experienced game designer interested in bringing meaningful and easy-to-learn games to a wider audience. Emphasizing collaboration and games where players decide ‘what is possible’, Avery’s games work to realize the potential for roleplaying games to challenge our politics, transform our lives, and bring about social change. Her works include: Monsterhearts, The Quiet Year, Ribbon Drive.

Check out Avery’s Kickstarter for Dream Askew//Dream Apart

@dreamaskew on twitter

Talking with Avery

1.) You have a new game out! Tell us about your latest game on Kickstarter. It’s called Dream Askew?

Yes! My latest project is on Kickstarter now! It is actually a split book with two games that are sort of companion games. I wrote Dream Askew, which is about a queer community amid the collapse of civilization, where the characters are influential people and explore what they would do with all the potential and scarcity that they now have. It is explicitly about a marginalized community banding together, and acknowledges that the apocalypse won’t reach everyone at the same time. I like that all of that possibility could be really hopeful… Benjamin Rosenbaum’s game Dream Apart is about being members of a Jewish shtetl in 19th century Eastern Europe. Both are designed as diceless and gm-less games that are good for seasoned players but are also beginner-friendly.

softcover, full colour, half-letter (5.5 x 8.5), approx. 100-180 pages

2.) Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.

I have been designing games since high school and have explored a lot of different themes and approaches, but I keep coming back to themes of self-doubt, troubled communities—with conflicts like ideological differences—and relationships, queer community, and the post-apocalypse or exploring what would happen after the collapse of civilization. My games don’t focus on despair and suffering though. They focus on finding out where hope survives in that process.

I am really proud of my game Ribbon Drive, which was a freeform game that used songs from music playlists brought by the players to inspire the scenes and framing that players responded to in the game. For me, this game was about players coming in with a vision of the future—the places the game would go—and learning how to re-examine, and eventually let go of, that vision.

In 2012 I released probably my most popular game, Monsterhearts, where players are teenage monsters—both literally and metaphorically. They are teens making sense of their changing bodies and social worlds, while being monsterous creatures with their associated behavioral traits. This game had a lot of queer themes, with monstrosity standing in as a metaphor for a lot of things, but especially queerness. Sexuality and its confusing abiguities are core mechanic for the game.

I also designed The Quiet Year, which is a map drawing game about a community that has survived the collapse of civilization and is trying to rebuild. It is sort of a combination of board game, world building, and and abstract poetry exercise!

3.) Can you tell me a little bit more about how you make those thematic choices? Are these intentional and goal oriented? More personal?

I think it’s a mixture of personal interest and goal. I have lots of ideas and start working on lots of games and then abandon most of them…so the ones that have a burning need to be created are the ones that make it through. They are the games with themes I find really compelling, and that do mechanical things that push back against prevailing design trends…or build on those trends. There was a period in the indie design community when every design revolved around scene-level conflict resolution mechanics, and play pushed toward these conflicts in every scene. Ribbon Drive was designed as a game where you didn’t have conflict, and even when there were obstacles you could take a detour. You couldn’t use traits in the same scene that you introduced them. I think it’s important to have games about learning humility and self-reflection, not just conflict. One factor in choosing these elements is that they feel like a timely contribution to the community at a meta- level. Play can serve to promote belonging to a world working towards revolution and looking really critically at our own goals and actions. The games I design that make it to production really further that…it’s not coincidental.

4.) How did you get into games? Was there a memorable or meaningful gaming (or design) experience that encouraged you to get involved?

I have always been excited about games. D&D 3.5 was my first RPG experience. I was in a logging town where there weren’t a lot of opportunities, but with D&D I was able to imagine a world bigger than my small town. I was playing with a group of boys who were all smarmy know-it-alls, and would argue that the one GM-ing was wrong or could have done better. The games would always fizzle. From the get go I could see the potential in the medium and see us all having trouble accessing that potential, and with all our play styles wanting really different things. So I started designing my own games pretty quickly to try to see how to make the play experience better. I released my first game a month after I graduated high school.

5.) Who did you look up to when you got started in the industry? Or who do you look up to now?

Paul Czege wrote My Life With Master, the first indie role playing game I ever ordered, and it was the game that introduced me to tight minimal design. In that game, you play as a minion to an intimidating master—a figure like Dracula or Frankenstein. There was the tension of wanting to do something for your master while also knowing you can’t escape them, but slowly developing curiosity about the townsfolk and the bravery and competence to overthrow the master. Your character was represented by only a few stats: Self-Loathing, Weariness, and Love for the townsfolk was all the definition that you needed. Czege’s focused, minimal, tight, thematic mechanics really informed the kind of designer I became.

6.) Are there any important changes you see (or would like to see) occurring in the industry?

I have seen more games by and about women, which is really exciting. I see women designers getting a spotlight more often and also more queer themes being included in stories—both by queer designers and by designers working to exclude fewer people from their stories. I also see a push for diversity generally, and more conventions thinking about diversity of guests they bring out…But I see most of that push for diversity in ways that focus on gender and sexuality and not on race. I’ve seen panels on bringing diversity to the games industry that are all white, so I’d want more designers of color to be given guest spots at conventions and to get their work spotlighted more often. And maybe more attention on decolonization led by indigenous people in the community. From a design perspective, the thing I’d really want to see are games accessible to new players and that play in a few hours (ex. Jason Morningstar’s games point a way forward). I work to design games that are mechanically simple, but they still typically require a lot of high concept thinking and take 3-4 hours. There aren’t many games that play in just one or two hours.

7.) I’m glad you mentioned the time commitment that many RPGs take. Are there other ways these games could be more beginner-friendly?

In terms of a way that a book presents its concepts, not using acronyms is huge! Acronyms make it really imposing. In terms of design, games that require less math and that explain the concepts in the same place that you find them on the character sheet make them more accessible, so new players aren’t just looking down and seeing all these numbers. For play, thinking about making spaces accessible to new parents since many people have young children. In terms of themes, I think that as designers and storytellers we need to be really mindful about what themes will make sense to a general audience, and which are recursive tropes and memes that gamers have developed that are inscrutable to the outside world…like the progression of rat killing in sewers to becoming a demi-god doesn’t make sense to people who don’t already know it. If you are going to tell those stories and want them to be welcoming to new players, you really have to spell it out for new players…and what else might they know that looks similar. We like to think that these stories are like Lord of the Rings, but they really aren’t. The model for a D&D character arc is outside the usual.

I think a thing that comes up with my work is that people who are long time gamers have more trouble connecting thematically with what I’m writing than people who haven’t played RPGs before. For example, with Ribbon Drive, if you are coming in from D&D and Pathfinder as a point of reference to this game you are going to stumble more because really obvious cultural touchstones for some aren’t necessarily gamer touchstones, so people stumble over them.

8.) I am very excited for your new project. Can you tell me a little more about it before I let you go?

One of the really cool things about this Kickstarter project is the way Dream Askew & Dream Apart are in dialogue. They both are about marginalized communities that have created this place of belonging and possibility, while at the fringes of society. They build off the same themes but take them to really different places; in one case taking those themes in the context of a group that really existed, while the other is about a more fantastic range of possibilities. One asks you to build upon and explore your relationship to history, and the other asks you to imagine and build a world together. I’m interested in ways these games are both very similar and very divergent, and compliment each other and tease out the themes and possibilities of each. With Benjamin, thinking that if this project is about them both being a type of game, we’ve included a chapter on designing this type of game—encouraging people to continue exploring community, development, and juggling tensions and choices though game design. The book is not just a manual for how to play a game but is a manual for how to play a particular kind of game, as well as a piece that encourages you to design and explore further on your own.

I think it is really important to say that, in addition to Dream Askew & Dream Apart being rich games with powerful themes, I think they are really fun. Fun games that are for anyone. The first time I played Dream Apart we were high-fiving and laughing…it was just so fun to play!

Thanks for joining us for this entry in the notables series.  You can find more in the series here: and please feel free to drop us any suggestions for people we should interview at headgnome@gnomestew.com.

Gnome Stew Notables – Avery Alder published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

[briangroth27]

The Cloverfield Paradox Review

I absolutely love Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane, so I was stoked when God Particle was announced as the third Cloverfield film. The delays in its theatrical release were frustrating, but I hoped they would only improve it and make the wait worthwhile. When Netflix renamed it The Cloverfield Paradox and released it right after the Super Bowl, I was shocked and excited. And it was…underwhelming, unfortunately. I absolutely believe there’s a great concept at the core of this movie, but it’s nowhere near the quality of the first two.

Full Spoilers…

The story of a particle accelerator experiment seeking to create an unlimited energy source for an Earth quickly running out of them was a solid premise that felt reasonably realistic and relevant to problems we may be facing in the near future. Ava Hamilton’s (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) dual emotional struggles of leaving her husband (Roger Davies) back on Earth for years while she tested the accelerator and her attempts to grapple with the deaths of her children in an accidental house fire gave the film some strong emotional resonance. Mbatha-Raw carried the emotional arc of the movie very well (and she had the best material to work with), though the middle of the film seemed to lose focus on that aspect. In the end, I enjoyed the way she was able to push her alternate self onto a better road by warning her about the house fire along with providing her the instructions on making their particle accelerator work. Hamilton’s brief desire to jump ship and live on this alternate universe with her kids was understandable, but I liked that they referenced the realism of that situation: those weren’t really her kids and they already had a mother. I definitely appreciated that they didn’t make it an easy decision, like having the alternate Hamilton die in the fire instead of her kids. The rest of the characters were pretty thinly drawn and didn’t capture my attention the way Hamilton did. They were fine for what we did get out of them—and I appreciate the diversity of the casting throughout the movie—but they struggled to escape the stock characterizations they were given. For example, a subplot about a parallel version of Schmidt (Daniel Bruhl) being a traitor only served to give Mina (Elizabeth Debicki) a reason to try and kill him, without giving him the chance to reflect on who he might’ve become or revealing some hidden truth about this version of himself (or giving her a moment to realize that now she was the traitor). That all the astronauts represented different countries (and eventually, different universes) was a nice way of reinforcing the theme of cooperation and the idea that the only way to save the world is if we work together. The scenes set on Earth—apparently added after test audiences wanted to know what was happening there—didn’t work that well for me (despite solid acting) because they didn’t show much; they ended up taking screentime from the more interesting plot in space without swapping in something equally engaging. If you’re going to tease apocalyptic tears in the fabric of space and time, show us what comes out of them! If it was meant to be a thematic tie to 10 Cloverfield Lane’s bunker setting, it didn’t work for me. And if the escape pod or the crashed alternate Cloverfield Station was supposed to be the mystery debris at the end of the original film, that could’ve been explained better.

I thought the physics gone crazy was fun, creepy, weird, and imaginative, but I would've liked them to push things even further, particularly given any logic rules seemed to be out the window. Instead of the "very similar Earth" they traveled to, I wish they had gone much bigger and visited the dimension all the aliens and monsters are coming from (“Earth is gone!” was a cool hook, but finding out they’d just moved the station across the solar system was a letdown, even with the alternate Hamilton stuff). Not only would a dimension of original aliens be more innovative than what they did (and the danger would've been bigger, showcasing their escape from a universe gone mad), but it would've worked as more of a direct backstory to the rest of the Cloverfield films instead of just saying all the weirdness is a completely unintentional result of an unrelated accident. Scientists trying to out-think the impossible to get back to their dimension would've been a fun challenge for their logic-driven minds, while inadvertently opening doors to those horrors throughout the multiverse as they got home would’ve been a better gut-punch twist ending than just a massive Clover showing up (think of all the alternate versions of Hamilton’s kids who will now suffer because of the monsters she let into their worlds). I would have cut the conspiracy theory exposition about the station and just showed a montage of it happening (with a Hamilton voice-over explaining it), complete with scenes from the other two movies, making the link between films a surprise. Additionally, if you wanted to continue Hamilton’s story, you could have her set out to fix the mess she inadvertently caused (which, yes, sounds a lot like Abrams’ series Fringe, which had a similar event break physics in multiple universes). Unfortunately, it seems a more solid connection would've been impossible with the way this movie was made: God Particle was a standalone film that had Cloverfield connections retrofitted into it during production (so was 10 Cloverfield Lane, but that was a far stronger solo effort and it was less important to the overall Cloverfield mythos). Had this been written as a Cloverfield movie from the start, it would've been much tighter and stronger. As it stands, it feels more like a good idea that didn't reach its potential.

That said, I don't think they ever needed to connect these movies into a shared universe in the first place. Abrams' initial idea of Cloverfield being a "theme park" with each movie being an unconnected but thematically-linked "ride" was cool; sort of a cinematic Twilight Zone. Still, this was an interesting way of connecting the films without having to explicitly explain how each new movie fits in (particularly if they continue folding previously unconnected movies into the Cloverfield umbrella, like the upcoming Overlord). Whatever craziness is going on in future installments, we can just assume it's happening in a different time/reality from the other films (unless a character recurs). 

The Cloverfield Paradox is fun and showcases a strong performance from Mbatha-Raw, but unfortunately falls short of its predecessors. Luckily, this isn’t a conventional franchise, so this one’s untapped potential doesn’t hurt the other films in the series or create unnecessary work for future sequels to pick up the slack. I wouldn’t mind seeing Mbatha-Raw’s Hamilton set out to stop the breaches (maybe she could team up with Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Michelle from 10 Cloverfield Lane!), only to show up in the aliens’ dimension so that we could explore the weirdness to the fullest in a true, from-the-first-draft Cloverfield movie.

Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

Long story short, we have tripled DAU and monthly revenues by launching Diggy’s Adventure on iOS and Android. We were spending 1 Million EUR a month on paid user acquisition during Global Launch. Cool, right? But why would you care? Because not every game in the Appstore is a hit. Diggy is our mobile hit, but in terms of numbers we are far from games like Pokemon Go or Clash Royale. Your game doesn’t have to be a hit to be profitable.

After successful global launch, Diggy’s Adventure made over 5 Million EUR in less than 3 months.

DIGGY’S ADVENTURE

Released in September 2016 on iOS

Released in October 2016 on Android

8 Million downloads

Diggy’s Adventure is our mobile game with a well written story that is full of plot twists as you progress through thousands of brain-teasers and beautiful locations such as Egypt, Scandinavia, China, or Atlantis. Diggy is not only a nimble tiny miner but also a hilarious character to spend some time with. Great adventure game meets puzzles. You can join the family of Diggy, Professor, Linda and Rusty on their journey to explore a world full of ancient civilizations and mysteries.

DEVELOPMENT AT PIXELFEDERATION

I know there should be some market research activities before prototyping. Honestly, we didn’t pay very much attention to research in the past. Truth be told, our mobile games are ported from the web, we were not investing in Market Research

Researching key players in your game’s category can give you some great insights into what your target audience values in a game. How are other apps/games named? Are they memorable? Which categories are they targeting? Which keywords are they ranking high for? An analysis could prove to be very useful in getting your game in front of the right audience.

The situation is different now. We recently opened Match 3 division and realized market research is crucial. You know, we are learning by doing. When we launched TrainStation back in 2015 our soft launch process wasn’t so good either, and look at where we are now.

SOFT LAUNCH

Thank you, Diggy, for explaining the simple definition of Soft launch. But why do we need to soft launch our game in the first place?

Lowering the risk of failure

Understanding our game performance

Understanding our audience

Collect feedback

Optimize FTUE

A/B test of tutorials

Test marketing channels

Test creative assets

LTV > CPI

Kill the game, if necessary

Detailed view on WHAT’S THE POINT OF A SOFT LAUNCH? will follow in the next blogpost.

DO’S & DONT’S of Soft launch

SOFT LAUNCH KPI’S

When it comes to creating a mobile game soft launch strategy, you should first have a clear understanding of your objectives. You should align objectives with KPIs before diving headfirst into a plan of action.

What did we do here with setup of KPI’s? We looked at numbers of our already-mobile-launched game Trainstation. We compared platforms and their performance. We saw relative uplift, which we included into the setup of Diggy’s Adventure KPI’s. We also did this with retention KPI’s, but I find monetization metrics more interesting.

ITERATIONS

Each build has a changelog, so we can get back to every change we made in the past. Also, we wanted to track which changes made the biggest change in metrics.

SOME SOFT LAUNCH FACTS

Duration:  6 months Platforms: Android, iOS Countries: PH, MX, CA, NL, AU, CZ, SK User Acquisition: 80 000 users Targeting: Female & Male, Age 25+, affinity

THE CREATIVE PART

In mobile games marketing, the quality of the creative has historically been less relevant. Developers used to be able to get away with a few screen grabs and maybe some gameplay videos that one of their ad partners made. This is also changing.

Creatives can be funny, dramatic and scary. They can stir emotions in your players and help them view your game as more than a disposable experience. We’ve seen that the best-performing creatives are the ones that can elicit a reaction from the viewer, even if it’s a little ridiculous. No matter what kind of creative you use for your game, development and testing has also become more important.

We never realized that until last year. We were struggling big time. CPI’s went up, conversion rates went down and we didn’t know what to do. We’ve reached out to our fb rep and this is how it looked like.

You know this situation, right? Six different issues and you get the same answer. After a couple of discussions our fb rep Ricardo invited us to their offices in Dublin for a Creative Hack. We realized that there is no need for changing the creative, but for changing our mindset and workflow!

Developers should consider working with both in-house artists and external creative firms to make a steady pipeline of static and video creatives for all of their marketing channels. You need to develop a creative cycle! Once you have a diverse array of creatives, you need to test them rigorously to see which ones best meet your key KPIs and increase install rates.

Okay, you may ask what does all of this have to do with Global launch of Diggy’s Adventure? Trust me, a LOT! Since May, our ad units are 100% video. This creative hack helped us to open our minds and think outside the box. We have developed a two week creative cycle and brainstormed the shit out of our heads. That’s how our global launch videos were made.  

[embedded content]

To grab attention within the first 3 seconds, we used an eye-catching headline that was clear and exciting even without sound. The video also included short questions, encouraging players to think. “Can you solve it?” was connected with engaging copy “There is no riddle that can’t be solved. Test your skills in Diggy’s Adventure”. “Play Game” call-to-action button directed people to the app stores where they could download the game.

APP STORE OPTIMIZATION

With over 2 million mobile apps in the major app stores, getting your app discovered is one of the biggest issues facing mobile app publishers today. ASO is the process of optimizing mobile apps to rank higher in an app store’s search results. The higher your app ranks in an app store’s search results, the more visible it is to potential customers. That increased visibility tends to translate into more traffic to your app’s page in the app store.

The goal of ASO is to drive more traffic to your app’s page in the app store, so searchers can take a specific action: downloading your game.

Also, the ASO process requires a crucial understanding of your target customer base, including the keywords your potential customers are using to find apps similar to yours. When you learn more about which keywords are being used, you will have a better understanding of the language of your potential customers – a crucial piece of any marketing plan – and you can home in on your keyword choices.

If you’re not using ASO to increase your app’s search ranking, you’re missing out on the largest discovery channel available to your app.

With hundreds of thousands of apps in each app store vying to rank above one another, the amazing reality is that the majority of publishers are not investing in app store optimization. So here’s our gift to you: ASO is your secret weapon.

Spend time every week improving your ASO and you will meaningfully impact your app’s ranking and overall success.

GLOBAL LAUNCH

FACEBOOK ONLY

We decided to devote our whole advertising budget for the launch of Diggy’s Adventure to Facebook. First, we have our own in-house team for managing Facebook ads. Second, we have great experience with Facebook ads comparing to other Ad networks. Also, with over 600 million gamers on Facebook and Instagram, you can grow faster by marketing to a global audience thanks to various options of targeting.

We started with interest targeting, but we also looked at our existing customer base and identified the customers who were most valuable in terms of activity and in-app payments. Then we used Lookalike Audiences for international markets to find more people like them in the areas where we wanted to introduce the game.

Next, we targeted these groups with video ad units across Facebook, Instagram and the Audience Network – entire Facebook family of apps and services.

To ensure we were targeting the right people, we created multiple audience segments (app event + demographic) using our own BI tool and Facebook Analytics. Then we created a Custom Audience from these segments and created further lookalike audiences for different countries.

The plan was to spend 150k EUR for the first month after global launch date. Then I realized it would be a missed opportunity to stick with this plan and we raised the budget to 1 Million EUR per month. Yep, 1 Million EUR monthly spent only on Facebook platform. Soon we recognized that’s not a healthy portfolio.

We had been working with ad networks in the past, but results (and also feelings) were mixed. There are tons of ad networks out there and we were probably working with the bad ones. Fortunately, now we have reports like Appflyer Performance Index or latest Singular Global ROI index so we can choose our partners wisely. We are finally starting to diversify our paid user acquisition channels and build partnerships.

FEATURING Apple & Google play

There were more than 70 000 games submitted to the iTunes App Store in the Q4 2016. Yes, you read that right: 70k games!

To get your app chosen as a feature, it’s helpful to know how apps get chosen as features. Because it’s not done by some complicated algorithm–they’re actually hand-picked. To better serve different countries, Apple actually has 155 app stores, each with a local editorial team.  Ehrenberg explained that, each week, the local app store editors determine the best–and most relevant–apps for their specific users. By having humans choose the apps, Apple ensures that the featured apps will be the ones most likely to appeal to local users.

Having Apple feature you on the App Store can make or break a mobile game, as it helps you stand out among a million competitors. But this is easier said than done.

We got featured by Apple once and by Google twice during global launch! Blogpost about how we pulled it off will follow.

Success? Yes, indeed!

After successful global launch, Diggy’s Adventure made over 5 Million EUR in less than 3 months. We basically tripled our revenue. I think I should mention that we monetize our players only with In-App purchases. There are no ads in Diggy at all. Well, it’s not completely true because we run rewarded video A/B test but only on 1/3 of our traffic. We wanted to be sure rewarded video doesn’t cannibalize in-app purchases.

After the mobile launch we set a new daily record during the Black Friday special offer to 180k EUR. There was a discussion about Black Friday because I found a couple of articles about the strength of Black Friday offers and realized this would be a missed opportunity. Diggy devs even added a new Black Box mechanic.

What I wanted to say is you should target specialized markets by incorporating regional festivals. Need to brush up on your world celebrations? Here’s a quick guide to popular holidays worldwide. Definitely worth it!

Metrics during Global launch

These numbers are the best that we were able to achieve during global launch.

Metrics 2-3 months after Global launch

This is how it looks like 2-3 months after launch.

Facebook

Ad networks

What went wrong?

In gaming not everything goes according to your wishes. That’s our story, too. This is not criticism, we all did our best. Of course we made mistakes, but we learned our lessons. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and fail. And fail fast, as our CEO often says. It is hugely important to ensure that all the lessons from a failure will find their way into the next project. It’s these lessons that will make you and your next game better.

So yeah, this is how we did it. Lessons were learned (quite a few). Hopefully, we can benefit from all of these mistakes & lessons this year with our next mobile games in the pipeline.

What do you think about it? What should we improve?