Improving Player Retention

[derfo]

It goes without saying that DMs can do some special things and so forth in noticing/aiding new players. Though, I would probably argue when thinking about it, that in many instances I could be in a better position to mingle and help new players get involved as a player myself.

That said, we could make a system, scripted or otherwise, etc. to reward players who took on apprentices, but in reality it is very easy for us to both notice when a player is taking their time to help a newbie, and reward them appropriately, if not already rewarding enough in itself to help someone in need and possibly gain an ally/friend in the process, or even simply helping the server as a whole in welcoming new players.

[Haer Dalis 83]

It has been said over and over, so I will simply add my voice. Reward those characters who take their time to introduce new players to the server. Reward those characters who involve all those willing, and not just their clique, in their plots/story. Every kind of character has a reason to "recruit", from the paladin looking for support in his crusade to the bandit looking for more men in his gang.

[Aethereal]

The difficult thing about playing something outside of the sanctuary though is the actual finding of other players, which keeps you here. Perhaps we should let that be known to other players? It seems to me the most successful 'outside of sanctuary' groups would be a group of people who come together and make characters towards that idea, rather then a single, hoping to find others and THEN establish a group of sorts. That way, they do have a base.

I had a scenario that has some relevance to this notable observation. I was playing with a friend who I was trying to introduce to the server (we had previously attempted the same concept during the EFU:M to EFU:R transitional of Old Port) who I let guide our direction after coming through the portal into Sanctuary. It was nice to see him explore the place as we roleplayed along first arriving in the Underdark, but he was a rather intrepid one...

You see, he was playing a dwarf at the time and had previously passed by the hooded human and despite my suggestion that we speak to him, he just said, "Bleh, humans. Let us explore before dealing with miscreants," and continued along. I was not going to ruin his fun, so I played along, and we eventually got to the stairs leading to the In-Between. We went on through, the intrepid dwarf exploring as an inquisitive mind is wont to do...to only then run into a starving kobold bandit and get rather brutally murdered by it. I was able to go invisible and drag him into the nearby abandoned alchemy lab, but that had set the tone of that.

He has not played since then, and seems to have become disinterested--a great shame.

There are some insights to gain from that though, especially regarding the new player experience. [I suppose I should have provided a more explicit OOC warning regarding the dangers of taking those stairs, for one.]

[Letsplayforfun]

Several  things come to mind.

First, timezones.
You can’t do much when you log on and everthing is empty. But there’s not much we can do about it.

Second, groups.
I feel long formed groups in our community, as in most tend to exclude people.

Secretive groups, it was already mentionned. These could open up a bit, inviting risk perhaps, but inviting others into play, surely.

OOC groups that don’t want people either, especially for quests, because they don’t know who the player is, because they fear the noob will get them in trouble, because there’s loot to split, because fewer numbers is « best ». OOC groups I’ve really come to just hate, and usually avoid DMing for them. (which isn’t a solution, either for that matter). Part of the solution might be to make quest loot scripted per person taking it, not a collective loot to share. (like, spawning automatically in a PC loot bag on critter death or something, which would also lvl the loot for everyone if someone has too much already).

IC groups exclude because sometimes doesn’t make much sense to bring people along. As for « IC » exclusion, it can usually be easily be bypassed with a bit of an open mind. Remember not everything you do should be wholly IC. Maybe the PC asking/lingering on the square is useless, but even then, this is a video game : try to involve others. Asocial PCs come to mind, for example. They don’t naturally go towards others, so need a little OOC « helper » from folks. Or even bland/ neutral ones. It’s easy to just say « come along », instead of ignoring folks. Some players do. Most don’t, moving along quickly before someone asks them « where are you going ? ».

Concerning groups : it is sometimes said the new guy should make the effort be integrated. I would bring everyone’s attention as to the group’s responsability to share the effort. I was dragged in EfU because it was welcoming. Playing alts, I don’t feel it anymore. When we know a guy is new, we are all cool to answer questions, but involving the others isn’t just answering questions.

Rewarding players that involve others must be heavily encouraged. (like an official « tutor » role with benefits).

Third : harshness and learning curve.
We like it (or grow to like it), but new players aren’t used to it. Making a « new player mode » where noobs have a few safeguared lives would give them a bit of time to get used to the game. Like, when in fugue, having a message saying « soon you won’t be respawning for free » with a counter based on IP/CD.

Fourth : time dedication.
EfU is enjoyable if you can dedicated 2-3 hours a day, which is a rythm most people save hardcore gamers can’t do. Occasionnal players don’t attract DM attention because they just can’t. This is why OOC groups form : it’s people you can rely on being there. Others must just tag along, hook on occasionnally, miss out on most stuff and well, for these it’s a bit dull.
Making regular DMed gaming sessions( like pnp), not just preludes, with some players might keep them.
I would add : new players travels to small pearls of places are rare, because travelling takes RL time (and is dangerous) : forming a party, waiting on others, moving along… If you can’t play 2h, you’re on your own to get back, or you wait for a reset. Having a paying « travel agency » might have some new folks see how awesome the UD is. (Mage with teleport, anyone ?)
Please put forth any ideas to balance hardcore players with occasionnal ones. Not loot balance : involvement balance.

Fifth : app systems.
We have cool factions, but it takes a stigmatizing procedure to enter them. And they exclude new players because we don’t know them. Faction should be IC recruitement only. We can always kick out ICly those that don’t fit. I would get rid of apps to enter our factions, and keep apps for subraces and prcs and the like.

6th : The magic : custom stuff.
New players don’t know about it. Probably some stuff regular players don’t know either. Stuff I don’t know because I’m a back seat DM. Forum for new players is good though, but who wants to read a huge forum when they can start playing straight off ? Having an intro scene/questy that forces new players to use/glimpse every single custom stuff might give them an idea of efu potential. Revamping the welcome area’s a good idea, maybe making two paths : vet quickstart and the new player way, with â€"short- info distilled slowly

7th : habits & server culture.
Most noobs come from social servers or hak’n’slash. Giving them more food to which they are accustomed would keep some. Race languages. Crafting weapon/armor. Pretty dresses. Dialogue options making alignement move. Celebrity points. Prostitute area for freeky cyb0rs (kidding). Whatever. More hak content would help, I believe. As for hak’n’slash players, easier quests just for the fun of killing stuff would help too (though not rewarding obviously). The thing is, being an elistist server is excellent, but elitism draws some people away, that are not all unwanted. Wanting new players to stay but not giving away one inch of our server culture is impossible, imo. The game is old. We need to compromise on what we can. On that note, some social servers have excellent role players that would teach us a lot.

8th : PvP
Not just the risk of loosing a pc. This is a red line we don’t want to cross. Some players just want epic lvls at no risk. This can’t be helped.
But pvp handling can draw new players away.
Some noobs quickly come to think that this is a pseudo arena server (which, sometimes imo, isn’t too far off, until a new period begins). And if they try their luck, either they are beaten by vets, or are scowleded for not respecting pvp spirit/rules.
I for one am in favor of efu playing modes. Normal, Harcore (no respawn, XP & loot bonus), pvp safe (unable to attack.be attacked), lvl blocked (start and stay lvl6), for example. (+New player mode ?)

That being said, EfUR is the best EFU chapter so far, imo.

My 2c

[Kinslayer988]

I really like the start at lv6 but can't go below or past that. It would allow new players to have a chance to see some of the difficult stuff and explore where a lv2 would not.

[Wrexsoul]

I was going to write a thorough post about my thoughts, but then LPFF went and put down into words almost exactly what I feel (in a more succinct way than I'd ever be able to).

I'd just like to add one other thought that tangents the time constraint issue - Hardly anything is ever planned, and often when it is people don't care. Basically, if it weren't hard enough that an event might take two hours minimum of play time, you have no clue when they'll kick off either. Nearly every DM quest I've been on has "just happened" when I've been with a group somewhere, and most player organised stuff is spur-of-the-moment too. So that means you can't really even plan your playing time to specific scheduled points either.

What this leads to, in terms of new players, is there being a lot of stuff going on, but them not noticing in advance there's something special to log on to. If this player can't/doesn't want to hang around IG for hours to "stumble upon stuff", they will likely not experience any of the cool stuff either.

I don't know if it's feasible or wanted, but perhaps both DMs and players could schedule stuff a bit more often? It wouldn't have to be particularly specific, but for example if a DM would like to run something for someone, maybe they could just send a quick tell asking "I've got this thing for you, when would be a good time?". This doesn't only enable people to plan their time, it also gives them something to look forward to. The few things this has happened with DM's for me, I've been super excited and looking forward to the scheduled time a bunch. It'd be sort of like a scheduled PnP meeting, except on EfU.

Just a thought.

[Vlaid]

I actually like that most DM events are NOT widely announced. If you're out, doing stuff, DM's drop some DMly love on you in some form (be it aberrant lost children or helpful unlimited undead summoning circles...). If you're afk in the square 10 hours a day only coming to life for quest sendings, probably not so much.

For one thing, it tends to turn them all into mobs of 10-20 players when it is wisdely announced and a lot of people (myself included) get very very slim amounts of enjoyment from RPing in that kind of atmosphere. Sometimes it ends up just being not fun at all and I only stay out of obligation.

[Divine Intervention]

To your point Wrexsoul, I personally have found if a DM wants to run you something or wants faction pc's involved in an event they will usually make a forum post/pm you asking how long you have and if now is a good time.  I also agree on time constraints, at the moment I have almost unlimited playtimes, but even so it can be intensely frustrating trying to even start a quest with a random group.  I've found as often as not the main advantage of having a buddy team for questing is the fact you can basically log in and be ready to go do stuff in about 5 minutes.  Now given the choice I would rather spend an hour or two doing fun stuff than herding around players for 50 minutes into a group without leaving sanctuary.  As a new player being forced to sit around for this sort of thing would probably be even more discouraging.

I don't really think that the thing with factions has already changed (favourably imo) in that some like the Watchers are virtually app free and allow easy access to an involving part of the server's action.  However stuff like the spellguard aren't really appropriate for those without a good understanding of the server and what the faction entails.

[granny]

I don't really think that the thing with factions has already changed (favourably imo) in that some like the Watchers are virtually app free and allow easy access to an involving part of the server's action.  However stuff like the spellguard aren't really appropriate for those without a good understanding of the server and what the faction entails.

What the Spellguard needs is just some kind of Nebezzduon access. Janitors and overly explored "apprentices".

[Zango_Unchained]

What the Spellguard needs is just some kind of Nebezzduon access. Janitors and overly explored "apprentices".

Thats the Auxiliary.

[Crimsonchamp]

Hrm... On the topic of groups and clicks which may be the issue... How about another forum piece towards groups and factions? Perhaps the shady groups could hold something very short and a small clue, posted in the forums, but in one of the lower taverns, which would then lead to pms of other clues until the shady bunch meet and group up. While I'm feeling more comfortable here, and starting to recognize some names, sometimes it does seem pretty clique-ish after someone brought that up to my attention. Sometimes its hard to not just lounge about in the square, when everyone else is already off doing their own thing. Everyone knows its not safe to go out alone, and if your character isn't comfortable with a few that are available, its easier to just lounge about and wait for others who you can do things with. Maybe offer some advice in the newbie section as to how to go about doing things in your limited time on the server, goals and actions that can draw the attention of others, rather then simply waiting to get picked up by some clique and hopefully integrating.

[Dillusionist]

In the Short Term
When I first joined EFU:M I was drawn to the server by the starting sequence: being teleported to the Zigurrat, the Mist Visions, the mythology surrounding Mistlocke and the Last Keep. Not only did this serve to establish the setting but it showcased all the different on-going storylines: the Mist, H'bala, the Star-gazers, Nebezzdos... through this a new PC unfamiliar with the setting is shown very clearly how much the setting has changed over the years as the story's progressed - and that they can be a part of it. They're also given several lofty goals to pursue and mysteries to unravel.

1) Defeat H'bala and be cured of the Withering
2) Find out what the Mist is.
3) Learn what's up with the Last Keep and the Founder.

People felt like they had something to do in Mistlocke, a reason to be there, and a problem to solve. EFU:R is more of a sandbox at a glance. EFU:R's starting sequence is nice and setting appropriate, don't get me  wrong. It establishes the atmosphere of Sanctuary well enough. But the  only major plot point we're introduced to in the first hour of playing  is a note by a guy named Faussad, but only EFU veterans really know of  his true signifiance. I'm sure asking around town could turn up all  sortsof nifty rumors on Faussad, the Man in the Mask, Dread Empire, Mad  Marge, etc. But I just don't think the impact is quite the same as  EFU:M's mist journey.

In the Long Term
Whether or not people stay depends on whether or not they can make friends, and feel they can have meaningful story impact. I think very often when it comes to questing and player-plots the stakes are so high, and people are so afraid of failure or betrayal, they only bring close friends along to guarantee success. This makes IC sense... especially since death is so crippling if not permanent, and banditry is rampant. But this also encourages exclusion. So much happens behind closed doors, and very few people will take a chance at recruiting idlers in Freedom Square as guardsmen or laborers.

All you can really do is reward people for taking a chance and making their machinations a little more public, even if entails more risk than would make IC sense.

[Pigadig]

Maybe something akin to the Mistlocke begining could be made?

Like the portal malfunctions and you get the option to see visions or the [OOC: for experienced players] shortcut choice.

[Cruzel]

Maybe a point not so much for retention of new players, but of old ones.

When considering coming back, I found myself salivating at the prospect of being back in Sanctuary and possibly stomping around in all the iconic and nostalgic places.

However, when reading all of the changes, I found myself left with an overwhelming sense of... "With all this stuff that's happened, how the hell do I start a concept for this?" I first considered playing a cleric, before reading that half the gods were dead and no longer granting spells (Including the one I wanted to play) yet some abstract reward for playing one anyway was implied. I get that wanting to be mysterious is cool and everything, but unless there's something ingame to give primer to a new player choosing to be a cleric of a dead god, there's just nothing there explaining about how much the player would know about the fate of their god, etc.  

All in all, there's more questions than answers. Like someone else pointed out... To really 'click' with EFU, you pretty much need to get inside knowledge of the setting by actually playing.  It's been like this with every major setting shift within EFU, but I  feel like EFU:R seems a lot harder to dive into from scratch. EFU,  EFU:A and EFU:M  All presented themselves in the out-of-game resources very well, and gave the players a primer of basically where they were and what the overall aim/endgame should be for a character (Be it escape to the surface, escape from the islands/defeating the nightrisers, or defeating H'bala and curing the withering) All of which had the common theme of "Survive", but EFU:R is essentially presenting itself as "The entire world has gone to shit, try not to die."

  As badass as the events as I've read them are... It makes starting fresh really intimidating and confusing without knowing anything about what's going on firsthand. Fleshing out a concept without having some kind of idea of where you came from or what you intend to do is difficult, made even more so by the lack of a clear cut way to  get up to speed before diving into the server.

[Wrexsoul]

I actually like that most DM events are NOT widely announced. If you're out, doing stuff, DM's drop some DMly love on you in some form (be it aberrant lost children or helpful unlimited undead summoning circles...). If you're afk in the square 10 hours a day only coming to life for quest sendings, probably not so much.

For one thing, it tends to turn them all into mobs of 10-20 players when it is wisdely announced and a lot of people (myself included) get very very slim amounts of enjoyment from RPing in that kind of atmosphere. Sometimes it ends up just being not fun at all and I only stay out of obligation.

I want to clarify that I didn't mean for DM's to turn their events into public announcements - that doesn't work out very well for most quests. I meant that in addition to the "random stuff" happening when you're out and about, it would help if some (non-public) stuff could be made possible to plan your playing time in advance for.

Because every single DM event I've been included in that wasn't planned in advance led to sessions -at least- 4 hours long, sometimes turning into all-nighters, even though the actual DM event part of it was around 2 hours. And that's a long time to be around if you are working and/or have a busy schedule. Planning some of these things in advance would give players (both new and old) to a) have stuff to look forward to and feel there is really attention of this kind going on, and b) be able to actually get to experience DM quests even if you only have a few hours here and there to play (I'd say even only having 2 hours to play every day is a larger commitment than many can spare).

So to summarise: With "plan in advance" I don't mean "publically announce for the whole server".