Interesting Analytics

[number13]

But with 30ish new accounts EVERY WEEK...that could be a HELL of a lot higher. What is happening to all these players?

My guess is the same thing happens to them that happened to me when I first logged on (way, way, way long ago):

"Oh freaking awesome! This is exactly what I've been looking for...."

"Character approval, pain the ass.  But it's got to be worth it."

*waits 48 hours (things were a little slower, once upon a time)* *logs in*

"WTF? Where is everyone? There's this one guy trying to talk to me, and everything he says is flippin' weird."

*logs off for 4 years*

The 'where is everyone' problem is solvable, but it requires that the majority of the playerbase gets smooshed into a smaller area, so that someone logging in at random is far more likely to actually see activity.  Also, it could be helpful to ensure that player activities are actually going on in the area surrounding the first-time log in spot.

Taking Allanak's starting room, for example, it should place players into a hub, where if you a guy looking in all the directions is going to see:

1: The Gaj
2: A fancier place for nobles/merchants
3: an in-game read only board providing directions to various places, along with documentation for handling important social concerns (like bowing to templars, and distrusting elves)
4: a simple store providing weapons, simple gear, food, filled waterskins, maybe cures.
5: a sparring pit
6: a general crafting area (that could provide bonuses of some sort or rentable lockers nearby to give incentive to PC crafters actually doing their thing there.)

Within Allanak, a player should be able to type a command to speedwalk his way back to the hub.

The biggest shame of Arm.2 never materializing is that we're probably stuck with the old city layouts, which are not good at providing a good experience to the first time player, nor a guaranteed social hub for long time players to find interaction.

[Patuk]

The biggest shame of Arm.2 never materializing is that we're probably stuck with the old city layouts, which are not good at providing a good experience to the first time player, nor a guaranteed social hub for long time players to find interaction.

Challenge accepted.

Kidding, mostly. But still.. I do agree that there's an awfully high amount of things that could go wrong for anyone new to the game.

[solera]

What held you the second time you logged in, 13 ?

[Malken]

Gee, the only thing that I found wrong with Armageddon when I first started playing it was that I couldn't speak a word of English beside the very basic usual words ;p

Le monsieur elf wearing a beret stands here, twirling his mustache.

[Barsook]

Within Allanak, a player should be able to type a command to speedwalk his way back to the hub.

Or do it from The Hall.

[number13]

What held you the second time you logged in, 13 ?

Epic levels of boredom, and for my second try, I just happened to log in when the Gaj was busy.

[jstorrie]

The biggest shame of Arm.2 never materializing is that we're probably stuck with the old city layouts, which are not good at providing a good experience to the first time player, nor a guaranteed social hub for long time players to find interaction.

Be a noble PC interested in city planning and be the change you want to see in the world!

[Morgenes]

From my analysis of new accounts and comparing with logs, most don't make it past character creation.  They'll create an account and soon as they see more than that they bail out and don't come back.

[Delusion]

From my analysis of new accounts and comparing with logs, most don't make it past character creation.  They'll create an account and soon as they see more than that they bail out and don't come back.

Browser-based character creation may help somewhat.

I'd also suggest that an option for heavily 'assisted' character creation - down to the point of automatically generating descriptions, horrid as that may be - would increase the numbers getting past character creation. Writing half-decent mdescs is probably pretty daunting to a lot of people.

[AmandaGreathouse]

If you guys want to use my generators or something like that or based on them for something like that, or really any reason, please feel free. Especially if it retains players. That's definitely a worthy cause. You could offer something like 'roll me' option that is just for new accounts or something, taking gender and guild choices into account to roll all of it from guild to background or as little as you want I guess? I dunno.

[Wug]

If you guys want to use my generators or something like that or based on them for something like that, or really any reason, please feel free. Especially if it retains players. That's definitely a worthy cause. You could offer something like 'roll me' option that is just for new accounts or something, taking gender and guild choices into account to roll all of it from guild to background or as little as you want I guess? I dunno.

I've used your character generator before when rewriting a new player's description.

[WWYD]

From my analysis of new accounts and comparing with logs, most don't make it past character creation.  They'll create an account and soon as they see more than that they bail out and don't come back.

Has staff ever considered an in-game helper chat to supplement the Comm100 one we already have? I think retention might go up if new players were, immediately after making their account, smacked with a "hey, press H to talk to a veteran player! They'll explain the game to you and answer questions!". What I picture happening right now is someone makes their account, opens character creation, then gets to their descriptions annnnnnd they're gone. I could be completely wrong, but if I'm not, it just makes sense to expose them to someone's enthusiasm straight away.

That's how I've gotten people to play in the past, and how I got dragged into the game in the first place.

[AmandaGreathouse]

I honestly think that the suggestion about putting helper chat in game would be very helpful. Our roommate, for instance, is interested in playing and into roleplaying, a lot, but new to muds, and has tried to play but gotten frustrated over and over with syntax, for one example, and so isn't playing. If it was as easy as asking without going to multiple sources, I think people like him would be much more likely to stick around.

Also: Thanks Wug. Warm fuzzies. Warm fuzzies.

[musashi]

I dunno. Helpers never help me with anything ... they don't even know where to buy lantern oil >_>

[Maso]

I -totally- think a browser based character application form would help A LOT. As well as the random generator for new accounts (and only new accounts) to help get them into the game a little more smoothly.

I suppose, the flip side would be that it would make it easier for douchbags to get in and be idiots. I dunno.

It would just be nice to make it easier for potentially good players who might be getting put off (and before you say it - just because they are easily intimidated or too lazy to put hours of investment into a game they haven't even played yet does not mean they wouldn't be awesome Arm'ers once they got the hang of it).

[hyzhenhok]

In-game helper chat and automatic character generation sounds ballin'.

[musashi]

Let me play devil's advocate for a moment ... do you guys know about some of the applications staff receives for characters? The huge winged demon (human assassin), so on and so forth.

The application process might be a little bit of a pain but it also acts as a filter to basically make sure the person app'ing in is even interested in role playing before we turn them loose on the game.

I am a little leery of doing away with that and letting anyone and everyone automatically skate through character generation and get approved without at least first making sure they realize this is not a hack and slash and they should not go attack the first mob they come across.

[Eurynomos]

I'm more than a little leery of any sort of automatic generator for character descriptions. It would, inevitably, make our jobs more difficult, as we try to decipher who is real or not, and who is trying to play the game in earnest but just needs a nudge in the right direction, and who is an absolute complete newb and needs a lot of hand holding. A lot of that, believe it or not, is determined at character creation.

Our player base is not only remaining stable, but growing in small increments. It means we must be doing something right.

[My 2 sids]

Player creation has two parts though:  the actual PC being created, then there is the actual character creation page.  Especially for someone who is new to online mudding - just figuring out how to format can be a bit confusing.

[Maso]

Browser based creation then. And examples! Like...lets have some example backgrounds and descriptions for a variety of races, locations and guilds for new players to reference. Or full character examples. Give people a clear idea as to the standard expected, but also help inspire them a little at the same time.

[Nyr]

We have room to make improvements.

We also must consider the far end of the scale, even if we don't wish to do so.  The good point is that if we make it easier for players to get into this game, there will undoubtedly be some out there that will be hooked into the game, the plots, the interaction...people that would otherwise not have chosen to play because of the slightly more intimidating process of approval and wait times to get in post-submission. 

The unfortunate reality is that if we make it tremendously easy--to the point that any new player can make a character without thinking, without typing more than a few letters...it will be good for the new players that try.  However, we would have no way of identifying the player's aptitude or their own drive to play the game according to the rules.  Automated applications to this extent would mean that we have no idea what we're getting.  We do assist players with their applications, yes, if it is feasible.  Oh, it's three lines and it's an okay description?  I'll write in an extra line for them.  Oh, they used "boy" or "girl?"  I'll change that for them.  Oh, their background is that they're a noble city-elf from a rich king's family?  I'll change that for them and tell them why, and direct them to helpers.

We see that and we identify it and we know in advance that these sorts of players need to be watched.  We generally expect that if they do play, they may possibly seek out a helper, and our relatively friendly (on an OOC front) playerbase will be able to identify if these people are absolute noobcakes and either need direct player assistance or even as much as staff assistance.

Then there are players that submit applications that are like "the bigass dued with spked hare" with a one-line, typo-ridden description about muscles and a cloak and being an assassin, and no background. Are we helping this player by writing up a description for him in addition to a background?  I tend to think not.  They've demonstrated that they cannot follow or do not understand the directions.  They've demonstrated that they do not understand the gameworld.  They've demonstrated that they can't spell and can't use punctuation.  These are put into the rejection pile when I see them, and then they are directed to documentation about how to create a character, how the gameworld operates, how to talk to a helper, etc.  Those of us on staff are also pretty good at identifying multiplayers or OOC coordination from newbies based on the new apps coming in (a bunch of people that have never played the game before are in a family together?  odd, huh). 

Automating that aspect of the game needs to be considered more carefully.  There are things we can do to improve and ease the creation process, however.  We've already changed one of those things this year and saw a significant impact.  Additionally, we now have newbie areas.  That's a good thing.

[Maso]

Then there are players that submit applications that are like "the bigass dued with spked hare" with a one-line, typo-ridden description about muscles and a cloak and being an assassin, and no background.

This really happens? That's sad! But yeah, it's got to be a very fine balance. But personally, even now when I'm struggling or trying out a new race or start location, I often feel I could do with some generic examples just to give me a nudge in the right direction, or a bit of inspiration. I've just started keeping well written descriptions of other characters I see, of the rarer races, so that I can look back at them for inspiration in the future. But I reckon this would help new players a lot.

Newbie area is cool, I remember that being discussed way back. I might have to point it just to have a nosey!

[Delirium]

Here's an idea.

Write a generic 'example' description that new accounts see when they are writing up their first character.

It would be race-specific depending on which option they chose in character generation.

I volunteer to write them!

I realize there are examples on the site, but honestly they are woefully out of date and a bit difficult to find...

[Maso]

Here's an idea.

Write a generic 'example' description that new accounts see when they are writing up their first character.

It would be race-specific depending on which option they chose in character generation.

I volunteer to write them!

I realize there are examples on the site, but honestly they are woefully out of date and a bit difficult to find...

Yeah exactly! But I think backgrounds would be needed too...some how. Logistically I don't know because they would need to be location AND race based...but that's probably the most intimidating part. Most muds require descriptions, so this is something that some new players will already be familiar with (examples for the style of Arm would be good), but bio's...based on a world they have no experience with, with tons of cultural rules that are strikingly different from other fantasy based games....well that's scary.

And seriously, someone could have given me a hint when I app'd my first character, child of magick loving Tuluki's who liked to read. Guys. Where were you when I needed you?

[Nyr]

That's a good idea.  One that even breaks down why it's a good desc would be good, too...hmm...