Improving Player Retention

[xxWhisperingWindsxx]

I've been following this thread, and until now haven't really felt the need to contribute, as most of it has been covered.  However, I'd like to address something EmeraldFalcon & Howland touched on.
 
Yes, the death penalty here is harsh and somewhat hard to deal with for some players.  I know that alone has caused a myriad of troubles for some players.  I guess it's a feeling of a death of any sort is akin to a failure or a bad PC.  So then that whole frustrating mindset becomes an exercise in frustration.  The PC loses something for you.  Or you feel like you have to always be in the "right" group.  Or that you're having to play catch-up to some imaginary place.
 
Death /will/ happen here.  Even the most mechanically elite players have experienced PC death.  It is simply a fact of life.  Sometimes, yes, it is ridiculously frustrating.  Especially when you've got limited play time.  Having come from years of tabletop and console games where death is easier to avoid, or basically without consequence, it was a hard lesson for me to wrap my head around.  I still sometimes have issues with it, depending on the type of death.  All that being said ... if you can come to grips that it is a fact of life, and sometimes does become a boon instead of a setback, it'll make the going a bit easier for you.

As for the "elitism" of our server.  Well, yes and no.  Will you do better if you're mechanically sound?  Absolutely.  That's just a basic fact in any video game.  Do we cater to a certain type/level of player?  Probably.  But as one of the weakest mechanical players here, I can also tell you, if you bring other skills to the table, it can be worked with.  Maybe your forte is brilliant RP, maybe it's weaving a hellacious story, maybe it's the ability to attract a group.  Maybe you've got just enough of everything that you can pull your weight no matter the situation.  Yes, it's all a form of elitism, but one that can be worked with.

I'm probably a bit biased.  EFU was my first online server.  It was my introduction to the world of online gaming outside of play-by-post.  I'm not going to blow sunshine up your butt and say this is a utopia.  There's been times I've been so frustrated and angry and disgusted with EFU as a whole, I've wanted to tell the entire lot to go to hell.   BUT ... time after time I come back.  I've found my niche here.  I've tried other servers, but for me they just weren't the same.  We take some getting used to sometimes.
 
If you're time challenged, a week isn't really a fair test of us as a server.  Trust me, I understand time constraints.  There's times I'm happy to be able to log in once a week.  Other times I can play every day.  Give us a bit more time.  For our flaws, we also have a lot of strengths.
 
Maybe at the end of the day we aren't the right server for you.  And that's okay too.  We're not the right place for everyone, and not everyone is right for us.  That's not really elitism, that's just a reality.  But I hope you give us a bit more time :)

[gauntlet]

I want to add that the server is more than it seems. If you are a great RPer, that's all you need to be. You'll learn the rest of the "necessary" skills on the way.

Some people above may say they are bad at the mechanics of NWN. Trust me, they are not as bad as me. And I still find (ahem, "found") plenty to enjoy in this server. I used to really, really suck early on, dying multiple times some days. Losing weeks of leveling progress frequently. But I learned. I went from really, really sucking, to just generally sucking, which is enough of an improvement, and I know I can get better.

Of course, the crux of the matter here is that your RP might be based/focused on an ability you can only start using past level 4. Like some have said, level 5/6 is quite reachable, but there's no denying that, if you suck as much as me, there will be periods of time when you are level 4 (or lower).

But you say yourself you are good at RP. Well, RP this: your struggle surviving in the wilderness, your difficulty learning how to transform into an animal, etc... You can summon other animals to observe them and imitate them in hopes of bettering your transformations! You can look for a druid teacher (other experienced PC druids) to help you with survival! And related to that, the most important thing is to RP with and adventure with other players. These makes leveling enjoyable!

Heck, even when losing a level, the IC bond that can be formed from questing with other PCs can make it all worth it. You lose exp when respawning (and maybe a level or two), but you don't necessarily lose the work you've done from RPing.

And I just want to finish with this: DMs DO REWARD GOOD RP. Most importantly, if DMs see you do great RP, involving others, and notice you struggle on the mechanics side, they DO swing things your way from time to time through some loot here, some mechanical benefit there, that makes surviving quite a bit easier. And of course, DM XP is XP Forever! No respawning will ever take that away from you.

[Ingo]

I'd just like to comment here and thank the Scrappers, Hounds and Zooks for help, both getting involved with things ICly, and also with advice, etc.. OOCly. They're pretty damn cool guys, but the main one I want to give a shoutout to, is Gracken. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have made my scrapper and I'd likely have decided it was time to move on from NWN.

[PanamaLane]

Couple thoughts to add, I didn't really read every post so forgive me if they have been mentioned. New PC's should definitely be encouraged to visit the forums. One thing I can also mention about the forums, at the dawn of EFU the PM was rare, now it seems like the go to. This is to avoid people metagaming, but in the old days, use of the public forums was a great way to let others know your secret plots and plans and hook people into them.

Secondly, new players need to be reminded that this game is tough as shit. Excuse my language, but there is no other way to say it. You don't play EFU to "win" you play to lose, so to speak. You are going to be battered and beaten, you are going to lose lvls. If you want to level up and gear up…play diablo. The greatest part of EFU is the challenge of it. The worst part of EFU is the challenge of it. I know it took me 10 years to accept this and in the end, learn to love it. XP loss just is what it is, a set back, a hardship which makes you stronger.

Thirdly, nothing will get a player to stick around more then DM attention. I know that this is rare enough even for vets and people heavily involved in plots. But if you can hook a player as PC into a DM plot/event on day 1, new players are seeing the best of what EFU has to offer. It can be easy to think, this server is about collecting rock worms. Those of us that know its not can tell players otherwise, but nothing will do it better then showing them that.

[Cat]

I wanted to add a little bit about the dm attention part. While it's nice to have spice and stuff added during questing (which more often than not ends in death >_> ) it's nice to sometimes have ambiance around places to make things seem lively.

And I actually noticed yesterday a dm was doing this, which was awesome to see. Hearing the npc's chatter a bit among themselves, having one guard spin his baton and then drop it, causing another watcher to scold him. That was really nice to see, and something I hope that continues.

[MexicanGunslinger]

It can be daunting starting a character and trying to fit in no matter the concept, I think player retention is extremely important and would like to bump this :), I have been playing again a couple of days now and have already had some awesome experiences with some new people, they bring freshness to EfU for sure. xo