Player retention and you: brainstorming

[ibusoe]

I've noticed a marked increase in logins -- Oddly enough, from players who haven't been here for a while and have logged back in again. COINCIDENCE? Or is this very visible thread having some sort of effect?!

That, and the staff are being nicer to people.  When you guys started admitting when you're wrong it's had a huge effect on our ability to deal you.  Or admitting fallibility, etc.  My staff experience has improved by like 90% over the course of the past year.

[LauraMars]

unless you two are in a room pick-pocketing each other or something

Slightly off topic, but I thought I'd mention that there's nothing wrong with training thief skills with a friend.

[Eurynomos]

Fix the whole "point Tuluk" thing in character generation. Too many lost newbies get stuck in Morin's which is a very newbie unfriendly place.

AFAIK, Tuluk is not a starting location option for New Players. We've noticed a couple bugs where a few people are slipping through the cracks, but in general, this is the case (or should be the case). If Helpers are noticing questions about new players starting in Tuluk (Morin's Village), please let us know via the request tool.

[Ender]

I've noticed a marked increase in logins -- Oddly enough, from players who haven't been here for a while and have logged back in again. COINCIDENCE? Or is this very visible thread having some sort of effect?!

Do you mean this week?  Last week was legit the worst week we've had in the last five years for player logins.  Looking at this week's numbers so far we'll probably beat last week, but we're still trending under 200.

We have 181 unique logins so far this week.  Last week we had a total of 186.  I really want to hit home just how low that is for Arm:

Lowest weekly players by year:

2014: 225
2013: 246
2012: 237
2011: 224
2010: 252

Weeks 2015 had the five year low (out of 43 total weeks): 29



My point of this is we need, to Nyr's point, to start VOTING and voting seriously if we want this trend to change.

Another thing I tried to do in this data is mark points of big changes in comments (you can see them as red arrows).  I'm curious to see how the playerbase reacts to various types of changes to the game.  I don't really have enough data so far to undeniably link trends between changes that are viewed as beneficial or punitive to the player, and really pinning down what's widely viewed as beneficial or punitive is equally hard.

Mar 2010 - Skill levels became visible
Jul 2010 - Allanak RPT large enough to be announced on the news page
Aug 2012 - Karma change, Whirans bumped to 6, Drovians dropped to 4
Jul 2013 - HRPT
Apr 2015 - Tuluk Closes
Aug 2015 - Banking updates

[Adhira]

Fix the whole "point Tuluk" thing in character generation. Too many lost newbies get stuck in Morin's which is a very newbie unfriendly place.

AFAIK, Tuluk is not a starting location option for New Players. We've noticed a couple bugs where a few people are slipping through the cracks, but in general, this is the case (or should be the case). If Helpers are noticing questions about new players starting in Tuluk (Morin's Village), please let us know via the request tool.

This is correct. New players do not have Tuluk as a starting option.

[nauta]

Fix the whole "point Tuluk" thing in character generation. Too many lost newbies get stuck in Morin's which is a very newbie unfriendly place.

AFAIK, Tuluk is not a starting location option for New Players. We've noticed a couple bugs where a few people are slipping through the cracks, but in general, this is the case (or should be the case). If Helpers are noticing questions about new players starting in Tuluk (Morin's Village), please let us know via the request tool.

I kinda think that new players should not even be able to be Tulukis -- it's a hard role to pull off nowadays -- being an expat Tuluki in Nak -- and it might strike a lot of people as hugely discouraging to come into the game and have everyone treat you like poo.  (Just my view though: I also think new players should be heavily dissuaded from being breeds or city elves for just that reason as well.  But I can understand the balance that needs to be struck between 'options' and making sure the new player has an OKish experience.)

[Delirium]

Fix the whole "point Tuluk" thing in character generation. Too many lost newbies get stuck in Morin's which is a very newbie unfriendly place.

AFAIK, Tuluk is not a starting location option for New Players. We've noticed a couple bugs where a few people are slipping through the cracks, but in general, this is the case (or should be the case). If Helpers are noticing questions about new players starting in Tuluk (Morin's Village), please let us know via the request tool.

This is correct. New players do not have Tuluk as a starting option.

Okay well, I do see a lot of questions from confused Tuluki newbies coming through my helper inbox.

Maybe that is players who have had 2-3 characters already?

They just seem so incredibly confused. Maybe the documentation hasn't been updated yet? Is it crystal clear that Tuluk is no longer "Tuluk" but Morin's, a small logging village?

[BadSkeelz]

Aug 2011 - Karma change, Whirans bumped to 6, Drovians dropped to 4

Pretty sure this was in 2012 as I recall it happening.

[whitt]

Okay well, I do see a lot of questions from confused Tuluki newbies coming through my helper inbox.

Betting it's because they don't understand the possibly severe reaction they'll get for starting in Allanak as a Tuluki ex-pat.

First character should probably auto-pop as an Allanki human.  Period.  Then open up the full list of options.  Most folks aren't going to get Dwarfs or Elves or what it means to be a Tribal or a Tuluki until they've actually seen it.  It's bad enough that they grew up in Allanak and don't know where to buy the clothing they're wearing.

[Narf]

Okay well, I do see a lot of questions from confused Tuluki newbies coming through my helper inbox.

Betting it's because they don't understand the possibly severe reaction they'll get for starting in Allanak as a Tuluki ex-pat.

First character should probably auto-pop as an Allanki human.  Period.  Then open up the full list of options.  Most folks aren't going to get Dwarfs or Elves or what it means to be a Tribal or a Tuluki until they've actually seen it.  It's bad enough that they grew up in Allanak and don't know where to buy the clothing they're wearing.

Having a game where you have exactly one option for race and culture for a first time player is probably going to cost you more than it gains you.

[LauraMars]

Having a game where you have exactly one option for race and culture for a first time player is probably going to cost you more than it gains you.

Gonna have to agree with that one, much as it pains me.  When investigating a potential game, most people like to see options, not be told "there's many options, but they're all too hard for you - so you only get one option."  While I may think that the right choice for becoming acclimated to Armageddon is to put everyone in a human suit and start them up in the Gaj - I realize it might not make an appealing first impression.

[Delirium]

Okay well, I do see a lot of questions from confused Tuluki newbies coming through my helper inbox.

Betting it's because they don't understand the possibly severe reaction they'll get for starting in Allanak as a Tuluki ex-pat.

First character should probably auto-pop as an Allanki human.  Period.  Then open up the full list of options.  Most folks aren't going to get Dwarfs or Elves or what it means to be a Tribal or a Tuluki until they've actually seen it.  It's bad enough that they grew up in Allanak and don't know where to buy the clothing they're wearing.

Having a game where you have exactly one option for race and culture for a first time player is probably going to cost you more than it gains you.

Yeah... my first PC was a halfbreed. I remember obsessively studying the docs and trying to act appropriately. I got a kudos even.

Let's not limit, but let's make it as easy as possible for them to know what they're getting into.

[In Dreams]

Having an option to just be able to get into the game quickly and see the world and the roleplay is very appealing, though. When I first arrived here the sheer amount of documentation and culture to absorb very nearly scared me off from ever even seeing the gameworld because of all the barriers to entry.

Maybe an option to just be able to hop right in with an Allanaki human and a basic background would help?

[Delirium]

Welcome to Armageddon! For your very first character, you may choose:

a) Quick-Start Option
b) Customized Option

If they choose a) they would choose a gender and be plopped into Allanak as a human, with an appropriately randomized background, sdesc, and description.

After their first character, they have to write their own.

[LauraMars]

That's a good idea.  Best of both worlds.

[Jihelu]

So we've got a way to get people 'into' the game easily...how do you get them to stay?

[LauraMars]

ropes

[Ender]

Aug 2011 - Karma change, Whirans bumped to 6, Drovians dropped to 4

Pretty sure this was in 2012 as I recall it happening.

You're correct, it's marked 2012 in the chart I posted.  Changed it in my post

[Molten Heart]

So we've got a way to get people 'into' the game easily...how do you get them to stay?

Replicate the atmosphere of the game in 2013.

[Lizzie]

So we've got a way to get people 'into' the game easily...how do you get them to stay?

Replicate the atmosphere of the game in 2013.

You can't. It's not possible. Many of the staffers that contributed to 2013 being as popular as it was, are no longer on staff. There is a whole other set of staffers that are here now, that weren't staff then. Several veterans that contributed to it - are no longer playing. There is a whole new set of players who are playing, who weren't then.

The volcano was in a different place. Tuluk was not only still open, but so were Hlum nobles, and a couple of houses that have since been "absorbed" into other houses.

You'd basically have to completely retcon the game, re-create the same staff and playerbase, make them all the same relative age with the same relative state of employment/marriage/children (so that they can't say "sorry - got twins/a job/family obligations now, didn't 2 years ago, can't play like I used to"), and everyone involved would have to be 100% perfectly okay with the idea that their characters, which were alive then and aren't even in the database anymore, have to be recreated and they have to continue playing them.

[Beethoven]

I believe he's talking about recreating the general atmosphere that made 2013 such a popular time for Arm, not recreating absolutely every single detail.

[BadSkeelz]

I would have to return to being unemployed to recapture that atmosphere tho.

[Taijan]

Phew, this thread moves fast.  Something caught my eye that I wanted to address:

[Take out] GMH vending machines too.   Automating those things kills the need for characters to be recruited and cultivated into providers.

Since this has been one of the projects I've helped with, I just wanted to clear up a possible misconception - these vending machines only provide items that previously needed staff to load, which doesn't include things that can be crafted.  So the only thing it should kill is the need to place an order and then wait x number of days for it to be ready.

[zanthalandreams]

Oh, well in that case, I retract that part.   I have a vaguely different memory of one such having items that could be crafted by a GMH merchant who was provided with the correct materials. . . which negated the need to hire and cultivate up an actual PC who could make those very same things.  Convenience trumps relying on actual player interactions to provide resources.

That has been a while ago, though, and may have changed.   Sorry if I got it wrong.

[Dresan]

One thing that those numbers tell us is that the only thing staff need to do to make the population go up over 300, is throw an HRPT and lower the karma requirement of whirans to 3 (lets not though).

However we always bleed players as soon as people begin dying and there is nothing big going on. I remember how horrible things were when Arm 2.0 had fizzled and staff were on their 'only player generated plots' policy for months. Now those were some real sad times. Suprised we didn't dip below 150 back then.  


The point is that things aren't as bad as those numbers dictate (mostly because Tuluk is closed and the player-base consolidated) , but besides voting the game should make the changes necessary to tackle the factors that make the game bleed players after big changes or events. Otherwise in the future, we'll be back here again with even lower pitiful numbers.