So team convenant put out a half hour demo video of the game being demonstrated and i think ffg should have the video taken down. I was casually following the progress of this game coming from agot community and that video completely turned me off to the game. The demo'r seemed completely unprepared to discuss the games mechanics and did a horrible job describing how the game plays.  It comes across as a horribly boring game. Ffg needs to put out their own professional video demo real soon otherwise people are going to move on, especially considering the pre-sale debacle at gecon ( letting one guy buy 25 copies and then immediately start scalping them outside).

I agree the video was very mediocre. The host seemed to not have too firm of a grasp on the game - or if he did, I do not think he communicated well the mechanics of the game.

I'm not sure I agree that a pre sale debacle (I wasn't there to witness), will disuade people from getting into the game. WIth all the people who seem to be chomping at the bit to get their hands on this - hence the presale "debacle", there will be less interest in the game? Doesn't quite make sense to me.

I've just read the comments from FFG CEO, and it seemed that the situation was being handled. Can anyone attending GenCon verify?

 People who registered for the inaugural netrunner tourney were not even reserved a copy so they couldn't play. Id say that qualifies as debacle.

Was there more than one NR tourney scheduled in the weekend? Because I'm sure I read there were going to be loan copies for players registered for the tourney.

 One tournament which has not been held as of this writing. And FFG has promised to loan copies for participants. There is no debacle, only surprise how well the game sold.

dcdennis said:

So, please stop from spreading false rumors, will you?

 PUHLEEEASE! That video is not going to turn anyone off from the game. Not a chance. There is already a huge fan base built into this game and plenty more waiting to get in. This has got to be one of the most anticipated games I have seen released by FFG. Look how quickly it sold out. There's the proof that there is high demand for the game. If you seriously think that that video is going to harm sales…you're batsh@t crazy!

 Its not speculation seeing as how im telling you it has already turned me off to the game. Just doesn't look very fun as demo'd in that video in my opinion.

dcdennis said:

I see what you're saying.  I find that sometimes "how" a game is explained to you determines your own excitement for it.  At a game night, a friend brought "Last Night on Earth" to the table, tried to explain it to us, and we just did not enjoy it at all.  I later learned from BGG that it's quite fun, but the way it was explained to us, all haphazardly made it the opposite of that.

I've been meaning to get around to playing it again, but there's other games in the way.  Those first impressions mean a lot.  There's actually two different vids on YouTube with Corey explaining Star Wars; one is a ~5 minute deal that was very bland, the other was almost a half hour long and actually went through it in a real time game, which I found to be more interesting.

I'm still expecting Netrunner to go over well when we can get our hands on it, but I would prefer to see a more enthusiastic match going on.

cleardave said:

Thank you. This is how i should have worded my OP. That first impression is so important.

I'm still trying to figure out why you think FFG would have the right to pull an interview that they granted to press in public on a crowded show floor.

Manick74 said:

Yup cuz clearly thats exactly what i meant. Way to get to the heart of the issue :P

dcdennis said:

That's funny. It's clearly what you said.

Manick74 said:

As I kind of summarized above, I think what he's getting at is that FFG should publish their own "demo" video, like they've done for their other LCG's that is professionally done and better at getting the viewer into the flavour and hype of the game, as opposed to watching a demo game start mid-way through the game, being executed by a dullard.

No offense to the guys in the video, as obvious the player was learning it in the moment, but the FFG employee demoing the game should have been a little more animated and enthusiastic.

By comparison, a Games Workshop staffer will give an energetic, albeit scripted demo of Warhammer in the store.  Granted, the game has been around longer so the employee is a lot more familiar with the material, but all the more reason this "new" game should have someone really enthused about it providing the explanations and rules on the go.  If I couldn't use my imagination to see where the fun of the game would come from, I'd be very ho-hum about Netrunner, based on the video.

By comparison, I caught a video at GenCon for a DC Comics Deck Building game that look like a really bland re-skin of Ascension.  Maybe it'll be a good, if not great game, but based on that initial impression, I will probably forget it even existed by the time I wake up tomorrow.

Not that I was completely turned off, but I agree that the demo was quite lackluster for someone who has no experience playing this game.  I had no idea what was going on or how the game played out and had to stop watching the demo after about 10 minutes.  If the game was not started from a mid-point, I think I'd have had an easier time catching on and following the explanations.   When I hear "As you can see, I already have 4 points.", I am like, why is this and how would I know that?

Just to clarify for everyone, pre-registered participants did have an opportunity to buy the game the day of the event.

As DCDennis points out, it wasn't handled particularly well on Thursday. The game flew off the shelves…my friend and I each managed to grab a copy, because we new where the FFG store was in relation to the convention doors. I imagine there were people who lined up just as early as we did (or earlier) who came through doors farther away from FFG's station and thus didn't get a copy. Despite being one of the first few, we still had to wait about 20 min to purchase the game. In the line, it seemed like about 3/4 of the customers had Netrunner boxes in their hands, and 1/4 had X-wing boxes in their hands. On average, it seemed like most people where buying 2 boxes each, though probably every 5 people or so you'd see someone with a stack of 6 boxes. No idea if those were for friends or if the people were planning to resell the extras at a profit (given the limited supply). I think my friend was offered $80 for his box later that day (retails for $40). Had my friend wanted to sell the box, I'm guessing he could have gotten more than $100 for it.

All this said, I think FFG handled the distribution fairly well afterward. In addition to the note mentioned above, my friends who played in the Netrunner event say that additional boxes were flown in and available for purchase for anyone who had pre-registered for the ice breaker tourney but who hadn't been able to purchase a box on Thursday morning. This obviously wasn't all that helpful in giving someone adequate time to build a deck or play test prior to the tourney, but it did at least allow someone to play in the event.

I haven't checked out the video by Team Covenant, but I demo'd the game on Thursday morning, immediately after buying my own copy, and my demo was a lot of fun. The demo starts about mid-way through the game, and the demo-er stacks the deck so that each side as a relatively even start. Then they let you finish the game…my demo lasted about 10 minutes, with me forgetting to trigger a Jinteki net damage effect that would have flat-lined my opponent, and my opponent subsequently running on my remote server and winning. The demo was a lot of fun, though possibly somewhat boring from a spectator's perspective.

I ultimately agree that FFG should have its own demo videos, but I'd be extremely surprised if one bad video impacts sales in any way. Obviously 1-2 good promo videos could help stir up enthusiasm, but in their absence I'm still inclined to believe that the game is going to be a success. The enthusiasm for this game was through the roof among Netrunner players (customers) at GenCon, as well as on the Internet. From a new player's perspective, I'd have to say that this game is incredibly fun out of the box. I'm definitely hooked.