如果你们的团队与我所合作过的团队一样，那么你们便是一支由出色的开发者与设计师组成的个人发行开发团队。也就是说，在你们的团队中没有人拥有足够的市场营销/PR经验。这便意味着在看到《I Am Bread》获得成功之后，即使你们仍然希望创造下一款出色的游戏，你们也不可能拥有与他们一样高的成功几率。因为不是很了解自己的用户，你应该更加专注于市场营销方面，并开始有效地宣传自己的游戏，从而节省更多时间和成本。在本文中，我将假设你已经拥有一个网站，设计啊账号（如Facebook和Twitter）以及Google Analytics。如果你觉得这听起来不像是自己该做的事，也请别急着离开，这里还有一些你需要掌握的小窍门。
分析
在了解玩家的过程中一个最重要的元素便是确保有戏设置你的分析，并且这是你能从中获得价值的记录数据。我个人便非常喜欢用Google Analytics去审查数据。这是一种免费工具，这里拥有许多统计资料能够帮助你解决任何问题。在设置/审查你的Google Anylytics时你需要注意：
分析是否是基于数据去记录目标用户群体及其兴趣？
这些数据是非常有价值的（游戏邦注：特别是当你的游戏支持除英语以外的其它语言）。一旦你拥有有关目标用户群体及其兴趣的报告，你便能够收集有关你们当前玩家以及潜在玩家等有价值的数据。
你是否拥有适当的活动/目标？
如果没有KPI（关键绩效指标），世界上的所有数据便毫无意义。举个例子来说吧，我所追踪的一些活动包括：点击图像，点击外部链接，点击内部链接，用户何时播放/暂停/完成观看你的YouTube视频。
当你在追踪哪张图像获得最多点击时，你可以将这一数据与目标用户及其兴趣相结合去了解什么类型的玩家更喜欢这类型图像。例如我发现35岁至44岁年龄层的人更喜欢能够激发他们探索欲望的美景图片，而25岁至34岁年龄层的人则更喜欢有关一个以上的玩家正与boss进行战斗的图像。
这让我决定对不同图像进行A/B测试并真正了解哪种类型的玩家喜欢哪种类型的图像。如此我便能够以漏斗的形式去呈现出适合用户页面的流量了。
我想要追踪的一些目标包括：点击Steam页面，点击Humble商店以及新闻访问量。
当你将目标用户及其兴趣的报告与活动和目标相结合时，你不仅能够了解哪种类型的玩家对你的游戏更感兴趣，你也能从中了解哪种类型的玩家对你的游戏不感兴趣。你还可以掌握哪个网站拥有最佳流量，并且如果你的游戏能够支持多种语言，你便能够进一步了解哪个国家拥有更适合你们游戏的用户。
调查
如果你不想的话，调查通常不会花太长时间。你可以通过多种方式进行调查。例如你可以亲自去调查，也可以使用Skype或电子邮件。就我个人来讲，我更喜欢通过电子邮件进行调查，因为当我拥有足够时间时我便能够不断研究调查结果。在组织调查时，你应该确保自己所提问的问题能够获得有价值的答案。例如我总是会先问一些这样的问题，“你多大了？”“你来自哪里？”等等，这便是目标用户数据。
而在收集心理学数据时，我会问这样的问题，“为什么你要玩电子游戏？”或“你喜欢我们的游戏什么？”这些问题能够帮助我们基于角色创造过程去划分不同玩家。
过去在组织调查时，我总是会通过Steam上的讨论以及Reddit去接触玩家。当然了，你也可以通过其他渠道去接触玩家，如Craigslist。如果你没有额外的预算能够用于调查奖励，你可以寻求帮助。但是通常情况下玩家都是一些很善良的人，他们希望自己的付出能够帮助你的游戏获得成功，
关于你需要进行多少调查，这也要根据情况而定。通常当你知道该问哪些问题时，你便能够着手调查了。
有趣的小窍门！
当你已经从调查结果中获得数据时，你便能够制作一张电子数据表帮自己更好地理解这些数据。例如你可以按照年龄，性别等等方式去划分玩家，并比较他们的不同回答以明确任何发展趋势。如果你能够找到这些趋势，你便可以将这些数据与你的Google Analytics数据进行比较去验证这些趋势。
成为一个爬行者
检验分析数据并开展调查是很有趣的，但关键是你要成为一个爬行者。这就需要你：1.已经以某种形式（让玩家能够访问一些较早的内容或发行演示版本）发行了游戏，2.对于即将发行的游戏已经进行了一定的宣传。例如发布新闻稿之类。
如果这两种方法都不适合你，你也可以转向一些类似的游戏。
我所谓的爬行者是指你应该尽可能地多阅读。即阅读来自媒体文章的评论，阅读Steam上的反馈，并听取论坛上玩家的批评。也许一开始你会觉得很难（游戏邦注：特别是当存在许多消极评论时）。但当你不断尝试，你便会不断擅长过滤掉那些负面评论并从中获得一些有帮助的东西。
我的意思是，尽管玩家可能是一些很善良的人并且会在许多网络社区提供有利的贡献，但当提到你的游戏时他们也可能变得很残酷。你应该有所保留地去迎接玩家的批评。举个例子来说吧，如果有人说“游戏简直糟糕透顶！”时，这可能有多种含义。即玩家有可能陷入特定关卡中，或者他们今天过得很糟糕，亦或者他们的妈妈未兑现承诺而让他们非常难过，再或就是你的游戏真的很糟糕。
这类型的评论都是你要学会如何略过的内容。通常情况下只有当玩家回来并留下一个更具体且更具实践性的评论，他们原先的评论才有可能成为过去。在浏览评论区和论坛时，你将能从中看到一些趋势。这些内容既有可能是你的游戏的闪光点，也有可能是那些需要重新评估的部分。同样地，不管何时当你有机会快速解决玩家在你的游戏中所遇到的问题时，你都应该牢牢把握住该机会。这不仅能够帮助玩家解决问题（并获得他们的喜欢），同时也能告诉社区成员你对他们的重视。
现在该做什么呢？
这时候的你应该获得一定的表扬。你已经采取了一些行动去了解哪些喜欢你的游戏的用户。通过这么做你将更清楚什么类型的内容更适合出现在你的博客或社交媒体文章上。同时你也将更好地理解如何分配市场营销成本。例如，如果Facebook能够为你的网站带来更高的流量，你就应该创造一些基于网站转换的Facebook广告。
如果你注意到Reddit能够提供高质量的流量，但是自己在该网站上却并不活跃，那么这时你就应该想办法获得一个subreddit版块并活跃于社区中。
如果你发现一些Twitch用户能够创造不错的流量，你便应该去接触这些人并提供给他们一些免费试用的游戏内容。
不管怎样你都应该更好地了解自己的用户以及他们对于你的游戏的看法。如此你的游戏才更有机会挤进成功的个人游戏名单中。
（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）
Learn How to Better Understand Your Audience
by Logan Williams
If you’re like the teams I’ve worked with, you’re a lean mean, self-publishing development team of talented developers and designers (if you’re super indie, this might all fall on one super hero of a developer). With that being said, you might not have someone on your team that has extensive Marketing/PR experience. This means that while you’re working on the next best thing since I Am Bread, your chances of success won’t be nearly as high as they could be. With a little knowledge of your audience, you can better focus your marketing efforts and begin to spread game awareness more efficiently and more importantly, save time and money. In this article, I’m going to assume that you already have a website, social accounts (FB & Twitter) and Google Analytics. If that does not sound like you, please don’t leave yet; there still might be some juicy tips to be had.
Without further ado, let’s learn about our players!
Analytics
One of the most important aspects of learning more about your players is making sure your analytics is setup properly and is recording data that you find valuable. I personally prefer using Google Analytics for reviewing data. It’s free and if you ever get stuck, there’s plenty of documentation to help resolve any of your issues. Some things to look out for when setting up/reviewing your Google Analytics:
Are Analytics recording demographics and interest based data?
This data is incredibly valuable (especially if your game supports languages other than English). If this is not setup, you can learn how to do this here (link goes straight to Google documentation). With demographics and interests reporting enabled, you’re now gathering valuable data about your current players, potential players and randos.
Do you have events/goals in place?
All the data in the world is nothing without KPIs (key performance indicators). For example, some of the events I track are: clicks on images, external link clicks, internal link clicks and when users play/pause/finish YouTube videos.
When tracking which images are gathering the most clicks, I can combine this data with demographics and interests to see which types of people prefer which types of images. For example, I was able to see that users ages 35 – 44 seemed to like screenshots that focused on beautiful landscapes that provoked exploration vs. users ages 25 – 34 who preferred images showing more than one player on the screen and boss battles.
This allowed me to A/B test pages with different images and see which types of players like which images. In doing this, I’m now able to funnel traffic to pages that are better suited for the visitors.
Some of goals I like to track are: clicks to Steam page, clicks to Humble store and newsletter sign ups.
When you combine the demographic and interests reporting with events and goals, you are setting yourself up to learn not only what types of gamers are more interested in your game, but you’re also learning what types of players aren’t very interested in your game. You can also better understand which websites send the best traffic and if your game supports multiple languages, you can better understand which countries have the best audience for your game.
A helpful video on how to setup various events and goals in Google Analytics can be found here. It’s a few years old. However, the content is still relevant.
Surveys
Surveys don’t have to be time consuming if you don’t want them to be. There are plenty of ways that you can conduct surveys. You can do them in-person, through Skype or even through email. Personally, I like to do them through email because I can always review results when I have the time. When conducting surveys, make sure that you’re asking questions that will give you valuable answers. For example, I like to start by asking some simple questions like “what’s your age?” and “Where are you from?” This gives me demographic data.
When gathering psychographic data, I might ask something like “Why do you play video games?” or “What do you like about our game?” These questions help me sort players into segments in the persona creation process. The best article I’ve ever read about creating and understanding personas can be found here. If you don’t already regularly visit Moz’s blog, do yourself a favor and bookmark them now. If you’re stuck on what to ask during your surveys, Indie Game Girl has an excellent article with some questions to get you going.
When conducting surveys in the past, I’ve reached out to players via Steam discussions and Reddit. However, you can reach out to players wherever you believe they are. This includes Craigslist. If you don’t have the extra cash for incentives for the surveys, simply ask for help. For the most part, gamers are really good people and they want to see your game succeed as much as you do.
When it comes to how many surveys you need to do, it really depends. The general rule is that when you’re able to predict answers correctly, you’re good to go.
Fun Tip!
When you’ve gathered data from survey results, you can create a spreadsheet to better absorb the data you’ve received. For example, you can group users together by age, sex or whatever you want to group them by and then compare the answers to see if there are any trends. If you’re able to find trends, you can then compare this data to your Google Analytics data to see if you can validate the found trends.
Be a Creeper
Monitoring analytics data and conducting surveys is fun and all, but being a creeper is where it’s at. This really requires that you either A.) have already released your game in some capacity (early access or demo is fine) or B.) have some sort of buzz surrounding your upcoming title. For example, this could be a published article by the press.
If A and B don’t apply to you, you can still get your creep on, you just start creeping on similar games.
What I mean by being a creeper is that you should read as much as you can. Read comments from articles by the press, read feedback left on Steam and listen to player criticism on forums. It might be hard to start (especially if there is a lot of negative comments). However, the more you do it, the better you should get at skimming past bad comments and getting to the good stuff.
What I mean by this, is that while players can be great people and positively contribute in many online communities, they can also be absolutely brutal when talking about your game. You should take some criticism with a grain of salt though. For example, if someone were to say “game x sucks d**k”, this can mean many things. It can mean that the player is frustrated with a certain level, they could be having a bad day, maybe their mother didn’t buy them that pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards they were promised, or your game might just suck d**k. However, more times than not, this is not the case.
Those types of comments are the types that you should learn to skip. They should be skipped until the player returns and leaves a more specific and actionable comment. When creeping on comment sections and forums, you should start to see trends. These can be good things about your game, or they could shed light on a certain aspect of your game that should be re-evaluated. Also, whenever you have an opportunity to quickly resolve someone’s issues with your game, you should jump at the opportunity to do so. This will not only help that player out (and possibly gain their undying love), you are also showing other community members that you care.
What Now?
At this point, you deserve a pat on the back. You have taken actionable steps to learn more about the people that love your games. In doing this, you should have a better understanding of what types of content will do better in your blog and social media posts. You should also have a better understanding of where your marketing dollars should be spent. For example, if Facebook is driving the highest quality traffic to your website (highly unlikely), then it might be a good time to create some Facebook ads focused on website conversions.
If you notice that Reddit is referring good quality traffic, but you’re not very active (or not at all) on the website, it might be a good time to get a subreddit going and be active with the community.
If you notice that a few Twitch users are referring good traffic, it might be good to reach out to those streamers and give them some extra keys for a giveaway.
You should have a better overall understanding of who your audience is and where your game is going. With the chatterings of an indiepocalypse, this could be the leg up that propels your game into the ever-shrinking category of successful indie games.
