7 Great Places to Advertise Your PBEM or Roleplaying Game
We’ve posted several articles over the years on how and where to advertise your games:
- 9 places to advertise your PBEM game (October 2010)
- 5 ways to advertise your roleplaying game (December 2010)
- 10 places to advertise your PBEM roleplaying game (December 2014)
- 4 of the best places to advertise your PBEM game (May 2015)
However as most things do, websites and resources come and go. Given that our most recent article on the topic is now over 4 years old, we thought it would be a good time to provide an update. Here are 7 areas to think about when it comes to advertising and promoting your games:
1. Social Media
Social Media is still king despite all the attempts to leave it behind. If you’re not on Facebook and Twitter, you’re selling yourself short. There are literally billions of people on these platforms, to say nothing of all the other social media sites that exist today. It might be unreasonable to expect to get a billion new players, but you could reasonably find 2 or 3 or 5. Discord servers have also increased in popularity over the last few years.
A few things to look for: On Facebook and Discord, you can create your own groups and pages for your games. You can also recruit from groups specifically dedicated to advertising or recruiting or from groups about game’s genre. Here are some from Facebook:
- Roleplayers Everywhere
- RPG Games
- RPG Roll Call
- Star Trek Sim Hub
- Star Trek: RPG Collective
- Starfleet Recruitment Center
- Ultimate Play-by-Post/Email/Chat Simming & Online Roleplayng
With all of these groups, be sure to familiarize yourself with their rules about posting and advertising before actually recruiting players.
2. Ad Portals
No explanation for these, but here they are!
3. Banner Exchanges
Most of these have fizzled out, but one today reigns supreme for play-by-post: The Starbase 400 Banner Exchange. Other options might include joining a banner exchange not exclusively tied to role playing or one simply related to sci-fi, fantasy, or whatever genre your game uses.
4. Community Forums
Here’a a quick list. As always, be sure to familiarize yourself with each individual site’s rules before posting or recruiting for new players.
5. Community Events
First are the community conventions and conferences. Besides SciWorld and FallFest, which OngoingWorlds sponsors every year, three groups produced Project Khitomer several months back. These are great opportunities to meet and connect with other role players to share and exchange ideas. You might even find a new player or two.
Next are the competitions: ToS, the Squiddies, and the Simming Prize. You absolutely have to do these! They’re low-cost, low-risk ways to get your game out there in front of the broader community. You might even win too! More recently, we introduced a new role play game show, the Simming Endeavor. If we ever decide to produce future seasons, being a contestant is a great way to really put your role play out there for people to see.
6. Outside the box
Sometimes it just helps to get your link out there! Instead of thinking directly about ads, how can you get people to see your game without it looking like an ad? Two come to my mind: The Role Play Wiki encyclopedia and the Outpost 42 News satire blog. Write a page entry yourself about your game on Role Play Wiki and see if Outpost 42 News might write a satirical article about you. They’ve already written a couple about us!
7. OngoingWorlds!
Speaking of us…. Advertise here! No really! Here’s what we mean: We wouldn’t likely publish a blatant ad on our blog, but if there’s something unique about your game, you’re about to hit an important milestone, or you’re going to host an event, please write an article and send it to us. We love to cover what’s going on in the community.
