What causes most new players to leave?

FazzBumm · Post by **FazzBumm** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 1:45 pm

DonKarnage wrote:QUOTE (DonKarnage @ Jun 15 2012, 01:04 AM) Maybe more game types?
Invasion/Survival (fighting off bots for as long as possible) and Escort (defending a target from point A to point could be fun. At least it would focus on the more intense aspects of Allegiance.

I think especially the second one is a fine idea. That would teach new ppl to defend cons and miners (bascially).

ALso something that Allegiance actually lacks: A real storyline. Weekly (or just periodicly) events, that drive the story forwards. Something like a big strategical map with possibilities to conquer and change something. Add this to a weekly (or just periodicly) news about what was happening in the Allegiance Universe.
For the organisation of the strategical Universe we would need a couple of trusted ppl:
- Eventleader, that cares about the events to happen
- story actualizer, that wrights the newsreports and stuff
- The Jugde, that gets secret informations and plans from all faction leaders and decides whats happening on the strategic map (together with the 2 above)
- Faction Leader, that decide what their factions wants to do in that period
- Squads are implemented as Mercenaries, that factions can hire

A system of Achievements could also really help to keep ppl attracted:
- Players could get an amount of Status points, that they could invest in special Forum signatures or text under the small picture...
- Squads could also get status points. But they can use it for more global things, like having a big textwall at the main page or get the right to rename a ship or something similar. (or start a civil disorder and takeover a government of a faction)
Where do get that status points from? Being active at gameplay! If you play for a faction in an event you get a basic salary, if you win you get a bonus. Things like this.

Greetz
Fazz

aptest · Post by **aptest** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 4:37 pm

Thinking on the lines of "dead game perception" being a major factor in player retention, here are some ideas:

We should have an in-client method to tell a new player to come at hours in which the game is most populated. Something that will preempt the "ooh, what's this game? nobody plays this game" feeling someone who just got on will get if there's no one populating the servers.

an announcement like "the community is sleeping at the moment. come back between <time a> and <time b> for a great gaming experience. During these times we have games averaging <x> players per team."

I think it's better to leave a newcomer with the long chance for an "I may come back to check this out later when the players are alive" feeling, than having them all get the "Empty dead game, NEXT!" impression.

a hot "quick game" button in the loading screen that will circumvent the server lobby and get the player automatically joined into the most populated and "ready for game" server (usually there's only one such server in our game) and auto-request-join to a team. Like watching the large list of potential servers (1) is really conductive for a new player.

some kind of distinction between "AFK, went for 5 min to get a cup of coffee or just does not want to get auto-balanced into a team" and "is reaaallly AFK, for some reason is still logged in but has actually gone to work and will be back in the evening", you know if you are one.

An understanding between community members that although we all need to vent out stress after a 1-hour game, we also need to get the new players on board, so if there are any and you still want to play don't just lurk there, get the game going.

earth200 · Post by **earth200** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:56 pm

Yeah notifying when the game is most populated would be a good idea. I keep having the bad luck of checking for a game when there are only a few people on. Right now only 1 person is on.

To new people the game appears as if it is dead.

Elzam_ · Post by **Elzam_** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:35 pm

Leaderboard - 173

tick, tock, tick, tock...

Archangelus · Post by **Archangelus** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 11:53 pm

This game looks like dead, because you made it look dead.

You reap what you plant.

You wanna this game to be alive again? Fix the @#(! yourselves did.

fwiffo · Post by **fwiffo** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 9:18 am

http://rusty.ozlabs.org/?p=196

turtlefist · Post by **turtlefist** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 9:35 am

From 4 - 12 pm Aus time which is usually dead , I notice the odd bunch of newbs getting on the newb server . I'd like to join & give some of my limited advice / help but end up getting banned . Gimme back my 0 rank .

MonAG · Post by **MonAG** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 1:16 pm

earth200 wrote:QUOTE (earth200 @ Jun 15 2012, 06:56 PM) Yeah notifying when the game is most populated would be a good idea. I keep having the bad luck of checking for a game when there are only a few people on. Right now only 1 person is on.

To new people the game appears as if it is dead.

This is not a regular weekend. ACSS (the new login system) is being tested, and players aren´t showed in the alleg web page.

aptest · Post by **aptest** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 5:03 am

MonAG wrote:QUOTE (MonAG @ Jun 16 2012, 09:16 AM) This is not a regular weekend. ACSS (the new login system) is being tested, and players aren´t showed in the alleg web page.

it is less important that the web page shows the current number of players.
it would be nice if we could see the future number of players and the times when they are online.
if we could get a graph on the webpage with players/hour it would be peachy.

DonKarnage · Post by **DonKarnage** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 6:08 am

A big notification showing when the best time to join would be, and how many hours away it is, and a way to connect directly to the most populated server.

I hate to bring up Moon Breakers again, but the game loads in 5 seconds, you push play, and you're immediately just thrown right into the action.