Play Meter

fROM THE EDITOR
How to win and
influence players
"THE MOST FUN YOU'LL EVER HAVE FOR ONLY A QUARTER!" "DON'T
MISS THE LATEST GAMES AT THE ARCADE!" "COIN-OPERATED GAMES:
DON'T LET YOUR FRIENDS HAVE ALL THE FUN!"
H
ave you seen any of these
headlines or bill boards proclaim-
ing the advantages of playing coin-
operated video games?
Of course you haven 't. But what's
wo rse , playe rs haven ' t seen them
either. While kids are being besieged
by publicity about home games, coin-
op hype remains confined within the
industry itself. Manufacturers generate
excitement for their games among their
distributor network . D istributors then
spawn that same excitement to their
customers , the operators. Nowhere in
the cheme of promoting a game does
the player enter into the picture .
Where, then, would the player come
into the picture? How about generating
coin-op game interest in a national
advertising campaign? Can you im-
agine settling down to your favo rite
prime-time program when a commer-
c ial comes on that entices players to
play coin-op games? Imag ine a fami -
ly visiti ng their local family amuse-
ment center. T he mother and daughter
engage in a competitive game of ai r
hockey or foosball. The father and son
challenge each other on any of a myriad
of games. They walk out laughing
together, talking about how much fun
they had .
I 0 PL/\ Y M f:TER/S ~ pl~ rnh~ r I \I~'J
How about ads in magazines show-
ing how much fun it can be to play eoin-
op games? T he headli ne could read ,
" Have you tried one lately?" It would
be accompa ni ed by a gro up of
teenagers competing on one of the
latest games, challenging each other to
a game of darts or pool, or seeing who
is the best pinballer.
We al l want players to play coin-op
games, but we aren' t doing anything to
make them want to play. There's no
doubt that promotior. a nd advertising
work. Haven ' t you ever tried
something after seeing a commercial?
Sure , we all have. Advertising onl y
makes consumers aware. Then it 's up
to the quality to make them come back
for more .
Ironically, in our last issue, Bonnie,
C hris, and I a ll focused our editorials
on experi e nces we had that didn't
reflect positively on the industry .
C hris, being young and single, fre-
quents places with other young singles.
He probably never noti ced games
before, but he s ure does now a nd ex-
pects quality ga mes. Bonnie knows
when a crane is a rip-off and gets mad .
And I certain ly know it 's not normal to
find a game room full of broken, filthy
games. Unfortunately, even publicity
and promotion wouldn ' t have helped
any of our situations . We can't entice
players to want to play and then not
have the games and locations to back it
up .
If someone was going to see a com-
mercial and decide to try co in -op
games, he wouldn ' t be back to any of
the locations we described . Promoting
an industry takes teamwork. Our in-
dustry probably requires it more than
most , because what each one does
dramatically affects others.
There have been so many positive
steps taken to show that the coin-op in-
dustry is a viable, wholesome industry ,
but we can't stop now. It's time to take
ambitious steps to promote what we
ha ve. 0
Valerie Cognevich
Editor