How new players find us.

[mansa]

TheMudConnector is more valuable than TopMudSites, it seems.

[Vanth]

I think that has gradually become the case since TMS stopped allowing reviews.  It doesn't hurt that TMC's vote system is less bottable.

[Spider]

May 2009

-Top Mud List

That was me!  

Edited to add: Lots of people join via other friends too. So TMC and word of mouth. I'm sure word of mouth -keeps- more players around as well.

[kuhfelsen]

Found it on TMS, but if I knew of TMC, I would have used it instead.

[Vanth]

I think that has gradually become the case since TMS stopped allowing reviews.  It doesn't hurt that TMC's vote system is less bottable.

Glancing through the dates, it seems like we get more people from TMS when their forums are more active, but that may not necessarily be a cause-and-effect relationship.

[Vanth]

I actually crunched some numbers, and we do get more new accounts from TMC than from TMS.

However, the people we get from TMS, tend to stick around a bit longer/have a better retention rate than those from TMC.

[RogueGunslinger]

What does all this mean? Vote on both sites, of course.

[Vanth]

What does all this mean? Vote on both sites, of course.

Yes!  Vote like a Byn Runner spars.*

Also, recruit your friends, co-workers, roommates, significant others, parents, and kids.  New players recruited by existing players are much more likely to stick around than new players we get anywhere else.

*Ok, maybe not that often.  Once a day on TMC, twice a day on TMS.

[Riev]

I have a hard time explaining to people the various reasons I play an "Online, text-based roleplaying game".

Apparently, "text based" and "no graphics" really don't help the situation. People just assume its PnP games.

[Vanth]

I've had better results describing it in terms of collaborative storytelling.

[janeshephard]

I have a hard time explaining to people the various reasons I play an "Online, text-based roleplaying game".

Apparently, "text based" and "no graphics" really don't help the situation. People just assume its PnP games.

None of my immediate friends play video games period. Most are women who are getting married or dating vigorously to do so haha. My ex would probably not get it either since he never played anything (although he did read the entire Dune series). And no, I'm not inviting my ex to Armageddon. He'll have to find it on his own.

So I never have to explain any of this to anyone. Maybe I'll bring it up next time I have a chat with my yoga instructor.

[Akaramu]

Many of my friends play games, but they feel they lack the time (and in one case, the stable internet) for Armageddon. They'd probably struggle with the english a bit more than I do, as well.

[Vanth]

None of my immediate friends play video games period. Most are women who are getting married or dating vigorously to do so haha. My ex would probably not get it either since he never played anything (although he did read the entire Dune series). And no, I'm not inviting my ex to Armageddon. He'll have to find it on his own.

So I never have to explain any of this to anyone. Maybe I'll bring it up next time I have a chat with my yoga instructor.

Maybe you should tell your girlfriends that male players outnumber female players here by a ratio of...um... that I'm sure Gimfalisette could give you.

[mansa]

3 : 1, approximately.

Things have changed in the last couple years, though.

//pulls numbers out of his ass.

[Gimfalisette]

Maybe you should tell your girlfriends that male players outnumber female players here by a ratio of...um... that I'm sure Gimfalisette could give you.

2.3 males to 1 female

[Vanth]

Some interesting numbers related to player attraction and retention from a sampling of new accounts in 2009:

About 40% of new players are referred by friends, but they account for 57% of the players we retain.
About 45% come from TMS and TMC combined, and they make up 42% of the players we retain.
New players from other sources (like google searches) don't tend to stick around.

The median time before new players leave the game is about 7 calendar days.  

Death of their PC doesn't seem to be why people leave; 85% of new players who left had a living character when they stopped playing. An additional 6% had their first characters die but went ahead and made subsequent character(s).

[Gimfalisette]

About 40% of new players are referred by friends, but they account for 57% of the players we retain...85% of new players who left had a living character when they stopped playing.

This leads me to believe that lack of involvement (an inability or failure to get involved with other PCs, and thus get sucked into plots and fun) is our biggest retention risk factor.

[Gimfalisette]

Adding on: That is very exciting and encouraging data, Vanth, because permadeath in ARM isn't going to change, and if death was the cause of new players leaving, then there's little to nothing we'd really be able to do about that. But lack of involvement is probably extremely fixable. There is just a ton of stuff that players and staff could think of or do to change it.

Actually, I nearly quit ARM due to my first PC being uninvolved. Instead, I stored her and went to another role where I was able to become very involved, very quickly...and that's how I was hooked.

[Riev]

A new player to Arm, or to MUDs in general, will probably have no idea how to be "involved" within the first couple hours of their character. I've been playing for like 4 years now, and I STILL don't know how to properly exercise the secrets of involvement.

If someone logs in to a "multi-user" dungeon, and can't find other people to talk to, chances are they will quit. Most people I see that do this are in the middle of the city, clearly lost, and just give up. This is probably due to logging in at night and getting lost and not wanting to spend 20min doing nothing and don't know how to light a torch.

Chances are, if they're here from a friend, or TMS/TMC, they know something about MUDs and have enough background with context and syntax of the environment to stick it out. Joe GoogleTron is probably not going to have an idea what is going on and will therefore become confused. I think Morgenes' addition of staff knowing when a player logs in for the very first time is great for this, so at LEAST staff online can track whats going on.