GridStream Productions

This is bound to come up eventually, so I'm just gonna lay it out right now:

http://www.mmoradio.com/contests/funcomfridays

At first, I was like, well sure fine, this is cool, just a little marketing. But then somebody pointed out to me the "Funcom for sponsoring this event." If Funcom PAID a friggin DIME for this spot, I'm going to go ballistic. After everything that GSP has done for Funcom for FREE (and others ) they resort to going to a basically corporate radio station to do their biddings. This is an absolute OUTRAGE! I might be jumping the gun a bit, but I know that GSP (with me being part of for 2 years) , my station SoSound, and a league of other groups that have put their heart and soul into radio stations to help support AO for FREE, should be appaled by this.

I bring this up on these fourms, because GSP started this genre and deserve to be the first ones to be called out. Something has seriously gone awry in Funcom's marketing department if they think this is a good move. I for one, would like the faithful listeners of GSP to stand and unite on this issue.....I know the work it takes to keep a station going, and GSP has been utterly faithful to Funcom for a long time. I hope there is an internal uprising within the GSP ranks to be pissed about this too, and I am 100% behind you. Rawk on GSP

Funcom marketing on Gridstream or SoS or any of the various radio stations dedicated to AO would be worthless. The listeners are already players. Why waste money marketing to people who are already customers? Instead they pay to market to people listening to a generic MMOG radio and hopefully gain an audience who are MMOG'ers but yet not customers of AO yet.

does 'sponsoring' neccesarely mean 'money'?

I get a little more disgusted with FC every month. I think my opinion of them has reached the lowest it can fall. I'm well past tired of the ungrateful, unfaithful and utterly unimpressive twits. There's a lot of reasons I left the game after being a faithful customer for over 3 years. This kind of garbage got very high on the list in the end and just piled higher, ensuring my "vacation" is going to become a fully permanent move.

I think you misunderstood "sponsored". I have a few friends who run shops IRL. They're all gaming shops. They get competitions and the like "sponsored" by the game stores whose wares they sell. It's got NOTHING to do with money. They're sponsoring the T-shirts. That's all.
Now I know GSP doesn't get T-shirts, we all know that. But honestly, I can't help but think that, if you asked for them for prizes, say, every saturday, you'd get some. I might be wrong, but that's all this is. It's a kick to help them get started, and to promote a "funny" angle to FC.

Now while it's respectless to go around GSP, who in itself is one of the reasons they get a lot of new people, and who'se one of the factors that keep people ingame when the game get's dull, it's also an attempt to bring other such things to the fray.

Fun Com will be answering the emails, questions and so on, and the people will get a T-shirt. I bet you could get the same with GSP if you wanted, but it'd require you to suddenly do a lot of FC promo, which is all this is.

No money has been put into this in forms of wages or other such costs.





Tm

Aameul wrote:Funcom marketing on Gridstream or SoS or any of the various radio stations dedicated to AO would be worthless. The listeners are already players. Why waste money marketing to people who are already customers?

This isn't necessarily true. I can't speak for GSP, but I get alot of emails from listeners that just happened to stumble across my station on Live365, and even some that wonder what the heck Anarchy Online is. As a Live365 stations GSP and SoS are publically avaible to anybody.

Mummu wrote:does 'sponsoring' neccesarely mean 'money'?

Maybe not, but it entails some sort of "love", that in my opinion should go to GSP, and not somebody who rarely, if ever has shown any love of Funcom.

Oddysee wrote:Now while it's respectless to go around GSP, who in itself is one of the reasons they get a lot of new people,

My point exactually. Maybe it's not "money", but it's promotion for Funcom (which GSP does everday 24/7, and doesn't ask for ANYTHING), and MMo Radio that will suddenly start doing (which they've never done before) and I bet they did ask for something. It's just a matter of respect.

Here's my take on it so far:

I internally exploded when I saw it. It seemed to be an insult at first, especially that it's happening during prime time live hours for GSP. I won't deny that I wasn't thinking very clearly because of my reaction, and I almost reacted in a VERY bad way.

I'm quite glad I didn't, and not just for the sake of PR.

GSP does not control what FC does, and we ARE sponsored by FC. That alone is enough weight to allow FC the right to give us a nice hot cup of shut the f*&# up and on-your-way-sir. Of course they have not done that, and they have no reason to do that, but they are within RIGHTS to do it.

But secondly is the honor of it. They are not breaching contracts, nor are they neccessarily stomping on us. They are certainly not insulting us.

We at GSP have fought tooth and nail to make ourselves one of the best online radio stations for an MMORPG. Being first on the market, we had the obligation to live up to the title, and so far I think we've done a bang-up job. But that's not all because we're GSP, it's also because the players of Anarchy Online have supported us and helped us every step of the way.

The people who make GSP stand out:

* Those who listen in all the time, L365-VIP and otherwise. (yes, I don't say it enough, those are stats that we see, and every single person who listens in contributes WAY more than they could imagine simply by staying tuned)

* Those who show up to parties and lend a hand in supporting the events, and who roleplay during an event to bring a sense of immersion to the world when GSP is gridcasting on location.

* Those who donate credits when we're falling low

* Those who participate in the activities and contests (yes, even winning money in a contest is a way to support GSP)

* Those who show up to these forums to post, no matter who or why, are contributing to the community of GSP and AO

* Those who help defend us from the naysayers who would shoot us down because they think that GSP doesn't deserve to be a community device in the world of Rubi-Ka.

* Even someone who posts to a "what are you listening to now" thread on their blog or on another forum with "GridStream Productions" -- you're probably not aware just how much of a difference that makes, but that stuff actually shows up on web searches -- trust me, it makes an impact every time.

Notice that we don't outwardly advertise, save for here and on the Reet Retreat forum (and sometimes the other community forums) on the AO site, and that's just to inform people of what's happening. Our true advertisement is word of mouth. We're not commercialized, and we don't see any financial gain from people tuning in. But they DO tune in, and they tell OTHER people to tune in.

I doubt many people can understand how much the heart of a DJ soars when just one single new listener tunes in and sends a /tell gridbot say "new listener here, this is cool stuff!". And knowing that it's not because we shoved it in anyone's face, it's because the word-of-mouth power drives it forward. It's because we're obviously doing something right.

I hold no ill will towards FC at all. This corporate station that's doing some sort of "Q&A" on friday nights with FC staff is just that: corporate. They're in it for the money and the marketing. And FC is in it for the advertisement and the exposure. Both have something to gain from it.

GSP is not who we are for the sake of Funcom. We are who we are for the sake of a fantastic game in a wonderful world full of AWEsome people. It just happens to be a world designed by FC, and they have been honorable enough to sponsor and support us, because they know a good thing when they see one. And community relations in Anarchy Online is unarguably a good thing.

The difference between the GSP listener and the listener of a Q&A on a commercial station is the difference in truly caring about what goes on. The commercial listener does not really care, but only shows a mild interest. The GSP listener (and yes, definitely the SoS listener as well) truly cares about the community and the goings-on where it counts: here in the field, where the players be.

We're players of Anarchy Online, just like everybody else, and we're proud as hell to be such a sculpted part of the Rubi-Kan community.

Those other guys are just a few commercializers looking to make a few bucks in the real world.

Me? I've got a day job. (two, actually)

Thanks, peeps.

*reads Tarryk's post, stands, and applauds*

VERY well said!

/Applauds Tarryk.

Last night when I read this post initially, I had a response typed out, then deleted it, then typed out, then deleted it again. Not only would it have come off as angry and bitter over something that doesn't even deserve that waste of energy, but I felt I shouldn't be the first to say something. (as no one had responded yet).
I got the feeling somewhere in my head though that quite a few people, after reading your initial post Otori went through a collective "WTF?!" and were stunned. I my self went over to that MMORadio site, registered and looked around extensively to see what they were about.

First of all, in my opinion and most importantly, SoSound and GSP...you guys have had a loyal and long-standing following of players for 3 years and some change. I'm not gonna speak for anyone else but IMO you guys have nothing to fear from this "coke-commercial-crap-station".

Secondly, AO seems to me to be a "niche game" on their site. The forum for AO is stuck off in an "other" category along with Lineage II and a few other games. I'm not trying to say there's a popularity contest, but it seems the forums there for AO players are primarily populated by noobs and not very populated at all.

Third: the only advertising for this MMORadio I've seen at all (And I think subsequently anyone here has seen) is when Otori posted this here.
My advice is to forget it, sweep it back under the rug you dragged it out from and leave it there in the dark.

The more you wave the flag of injustice over something like that the more attention it will draw and THAT's when you start to have a "risk" of your listeners being faced with having to choose between that generic shite or GSP.

I choose GSP, not that I had to think about it or really MAKE a choice in the first place.

Initially Regulas had made post in the AO Forums about it (Reets I beleive), and that is where I first heard about it, in fact where I got the link. And then poof I can't find the post now. So maybe there was some sort of outcry to Funcom....not by me, as this place and my forums is the only places I had brought it up. I'm sorted leaning toward the general consensus here, at first I was genuiely angry but now I've just sorta simmered down to Funcom just wanting to find more ways to get their name out there.

Being with GSP for 2 years, I've seen them get the shaft on more than one occasion and it just sorta personally stung me a little, thinking they might be getting it again.

Well as most of us in AO do I have many Characters that I play but Jugsmalone is in game for one purpose and one only that is to support and be loyal to GSP .....sure all my Characters listen to GSP but some have never entered the doors of Reets some dont even enter contest ... some only show up to collect on winnings but GSP is a part of thier lives it is thier information of other players its the voice of AO not only for the music which you all know is not what I normally listen too but I have come to enjoy it still but at any one time if your just lost or in need of help if you send a tell grildbot say Help can you tell me how to get to anywhere in game GSP will do thier best to find you a guid or to give you directions ... they go out of thier way to help everyone who asks them for help of any kind ......I have gotten more information from GSP and more help from them on things than i have from the arks not to say I dont like or support wht the arks do it just the ARK have limitations as to What they can help with GSP does not....so they can at times do a lot more than the ark the ARK can point us inthe direction GSP can give us the direction .... many Props to the DJs and corodinators of GSP even those we dont see but re thier in many ways to keep the bots running and the music flowing I love you and will always remain loyal with out GSP Jugs would have no purpose

Yeah I too saw the post in Reet Retreat Otori - you didn't imagine it. Hadn't really noticed it was gone, but then again apart from reading the thread title I didn't give it much thought. And apart from sounding sorta official as a backing thing from FC and maybe this is a test to see if they do more, it's still only 1 night a week for 1 month right? And FC has done many contests in the past involving GSP with many prizes awarded(I should know I won 2 Jobe Lux Apt keys) so it's not like they've never been involved with you too. Being devil's advocate here.