I do think affiliates can play a big role.  But what we really need is not the type of affiliate who is going to stick a link in their signature on a bitcoin site, but one who will actively recruit players who have never used bitcoin at all.  They can hand-hold their players through the process of getting set up with an exchange, setting up an intermediary wallet and backing it up, and the ins and outs of safely moving bitcoins around.  This is a tougher sell than the old days of hand-holding people through the process of getting Neteller and connecting it to their bank accounts to deposit on Party Poker circa 2004, so it needs to be more rewarding for the affiliate.  More ambitious affiliates can sell bitcoins directly to their players, and take a little commission there.  This would be a good way for a winning player to make some money on the side and convert their excess bitcoin to cash without going through an exchange.