The New Player Experience - Finding where to improve!

Discussion in 'Community Discussion' started by Aikar, Jun 11, 2014.

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  1. Hey everyone!

    Currently our numbers for new players look like this:

    Looking 35 days back (So ignoring the past 5 days)
    Roughly, Playing = Played in the last 7 days, so that gives us an example out of how many are now actively playing on EMC. This is the core number we care about...

    Decent Chance = How many did not quit shortly after joining, and logged in a 2nd time more than an hour after the first. These are the players who either do not like our server type or were too confused - this is where we need to improve to boost Playing numbers.

    Tutorial Drop = the number we recently were working on, how many quit while still in the tutorial. This use to be 40%~ which would consist of people who were too lazy to complete the tutorial or realized we were not the type of server they wanted immediately (PvP, mini games)

    5.7% is now the "nothing else to do to please these people" ratio now.

    So when you hear us mention "Improving the tutorial", its not for helping that number, but more so getting important information to the people quickly before they enter the open world to wonder around where we cant as easy give them information in the form of messages in the world the way holograms can do.

    ----------------
    Where do you all come in?

    I recently made a thread asking for suggestions on topics commonly asked in chat for a system to auto respond to - we are def going to go with that idea!

    But, there are still more ways to help new players than automated chat replies...

    so I ask you all, if you see a new player having trouble, ask them questions to find out why they are stuck and couldn't find the information in the material we already give today.

    The only person who can tell us why they couldn't figure something out is the player having problems, but we can't be on every server 24/7 asking them these questions, so if you all can, try to find out where they are struggling and ask their input on what we could do to improve the new player experience!

    Then, if you get a good feedback from a player or you come up with an idea that can solve that players concern for all other players, please send it to the admins by PM!

    Things like new messages in the tutorial, new signs to auto place on Residences, new In game tips, new "NEXT STEP:" Type messages when they complete a specific task, new information to add to the new player books.

    Anything we can do to improve the new player experience to solve the problems they are having today.

    I would love to see us retaining at least 25% of new players, and really see the Empire grow from advertising and be back to our old days again!

    Thanks everyone :)
    Aikar, Jun 11, 2014
    #1
    607, hashhog3000, cddm95ace and 2 others like this.
  2. The biggest issue I see everyday is the soul bound wood is buggy and they can't start crafting new things right away
    DarkModFallen, Jun 11, 2014
    #2
    Bro_im_infinite and Olaf_C like this.
  3. Awesome. Key to new players actively joining the community is to do more than just a 'welcome'.
    Help them around, show them the way. It can 'cost' you a lot of time, but you can find good friends with that.
    EMC can be complex, so the fact that they ask questions is an opportunity for us to show how awesome we are.

    EMC's future is glorious!
    bloodra1n, Jun 11, 2014
    #3
    607, BlackKnight1021 and kevdudeman like this.
  4. Some of the first people I spoke to I now speak to daily. Helping new players with chests or crafting tables or basic things will help them. Buying from new players even if it's slightly over priced may help them. I like to help them set up shop signs buy all their stock and then donate it back.
    DarkModFallen, Jun 11, 2014
    #4
    bloodra1n likes this.
  5. When I joined Empire Minecraft, I didn't get a single welcome, not a single "Hello", and nobody really said anything to me.I felt out of place for a long time, and everybody really seemed to hate me, because I was just another one of those noobs who didn't know anything about the economy, or about the server in general.
    I spent a long time trying to find my way around the server, and even though the server was always full, nobody would help me when I asked for it.
    Because of that, I welcome every new player that joins, and I help anybody if they ask for it. I don't want new players to feel as secluded or clueless as I did when I joined.
    Jay2a, Jun 11, 2014
    #5
    deathconn, AshBlue789, Lukas3226 and 1 other person like this.
  6. I play a lot of random hours. When I started I had no one say much either. I had to read the forums and I don't think a lot of new players do that. I read every post in every section when I started. It helped a lot.
    DarkModFallen, Jun 11, 2014
    #6
  7. Nobody welcomed me and I didn't use the forums so I was lost for a good year xD
    jacob5089, Jun 11, 2014
    #7
  8. Porphos, Jun 11, 2014
    #8
  9. To reclarify the goal of this thread, I'm looking for info on things that a veteran knows easily that is essential to playing here that a new player has trouble understanding, and how we can give them that information clearly without a player telling them

    Getting emc to be something you can figure out on your own but player helping makes it easier.

    For example I saw a video on yt where the player did not want town play but he moved assistant off the hotbar and never used it.

    He asked multiple times how to get to survival and no one told him, and he skimmed the book too fast.

    My thoughts to improve this: block moving assistant off hot bar for new players and encourage use instead.

    2nd, give multiple starter books, where different play styles are addressed in each, letting the player read what they want most importantly first.

    This is the kind of thought I need others to help figure out too:)
    Aikar, Jun 11, 2014
    #9
  10. In this case we had video of the players problem, but most we won't ever know unless someone asks them how they are struggling
    Aikar, Jun 11, 2014
    #10
  11. What if we had an item that says commands in its lore, so when the new players hold their mouse over the item, the command they need is just displayed on their screen. That way, it will be harder for them to just ignore the essential commands.
    Jay2a, Jun 11, 2014
    #11
  12. The assistant does exactly this. Trick is to get them to use it
    Aikar, Jun 11, 2014
    #12
    607 likes this.
  13. I was thinking of something more like this:
    Empire Assistants.png
    Jay2a, Jun 11, 2014
    #13
    Mirr0rr likes this.
  14. Is it possible that instead of signs, there could be temp. Floating text that stays there for 5 minutes. I feel that new players find reading signs boring and floating text catches the eye more.

    Also, perhaps you should lessen the wording for that can also drive away the new players who do not enjoy reading a lot of words.
    Unoski, Jun 11, 2014
    #14
  15. This actually adds to the problem. When Yallquit and I first joined he wanted to leave in the tutorial but I pushed through and told him to give it a try to. We skipped the tutorial though, didn't read any of it.

    Okay so, the reason why it adds to the problem? The problem is when you join it feels like you are just being force fed way to much information, it's actually just being shoved down your throat. That is why pretty much everyone skips the tutorial. There is to much text in there, some background text makes front text hard to read, the text about the empire assistant is unreadable, being blue text against a purple portal. That isn't the main focus though, being all the floating text, it's the fact that it's information being forced on you.

    People want choice, we're all rebels at heart we don't take orders. If when you joined it through you right on your plot, with a simple sign that said this is your plot which is one of the biggest issues I have seen, people don't even know the plot they are put on is theirs..but the sign says "This is your plot. For help use /tutorial" then people will do it out of curiosity, and follow through because it was THEIR choice to do.

    It's a psychological game, I am telling you. It's also why you want to give them the most absolutely basic information they need to survive their first day. It's part of the 'investment theory' where you do something simple, but are to invested to back out. Game companies do it every day, like those downloadable clients that take 2 minutes to download, but then once you download it the game itself takes 30 minutes to download? It's part of the investment theory, you give them something simple, they complete it, and now they mentally feel to invested to back out.

    At any point a player feels forced to do something, they will most of the time do the complete opposite. But that tutorial in general is a sad case, I don't want to be mean because that is not who I am, but it's really bad. EMC is the first server I have played on with the floating text thing since I got back, and honestly it's awful. I think it could be used in cool ways but for a tutorial it just doesn't work. Text overlaying text makes it unreadable, there is just text all over your screen. You get dropped right in and are instantly overwhelmed with information, most of which is useless to a new player.

    Anyway, I could keep going on but this post is long enough already. This is why I wanted a chance to fix the new player problems. :p
    Best of luck on this though, interested in seeing what you come up with to fix these issues.

    Edit: Lol lost my contribution title too.
    VirtualJunky, Jun 12, 2014
    #15
    607 and Bro_im_infinite like this.
  16. A player I saw had trouble in the Empire Guide.

    It does not say that PSET is per player and set is for all.
    He mainly had trouble knowing what t and f meant.
    Unoski, Jun 12, 2014
    #16
  17. I think u should have 2 kinds of tutorials....the one you have for people logging on for the first time and a second one like you used to have that rewards diamonds and rupees for correct answers. That way when someone says, I'm out of rupees how do I get more? We can direct brand new players to a tutorial game where they have a chance to learn and get free stuff. And make voting instructions part of this, so many new players have trouble voting, the voting page takes too long to load or they don't understand captchas. So maybe a voting troubleshooting guide would be nice. Also maybe some wall of signs around town spawn that gives a list of common commands that they can go and look at?

    Another problem is new people don't always know to scroll up the chat box to see all the /help instructions.
    MrsWishes, Jun 12, 2014
    #17
  18. Hmm, ok we can work on using true/false instead, and I think yes/no even works.... Might be better to use that wording.

    /help should fit into 1 chat screen, it actually doesn't even use all the lines. At least the NEW one does.

    Until they go into sub helps that is :/ Ideally we need multi pages for each sub category, and render the category list above each article too.
    Aikar, Jun 13, 2014
    #18
  19. For some people, yes. But those who "rush" through it and rebel against the idea of information being pushed on them are of the "Elitist" crew, and you fit into that category (thats not an insult either).

    However, MOST players are not of that type, and NEED information as they suffer on being able to figure things out on their own.

    Not everyone wants or even can go to the website while playing - numerous people have said they cant browse while playing due to PC lag.

    The Holograms have show great improvements into numbers, and is actually pretty tame as it stands.

    I've personally watched many people in the tutorial, and most (i'd be comfortable to say 90%+) pause and read the holograms.

    There is no data to back up the idea that the tutorial is turning people off.

    also - creating a "part 2" tutorial has been mentioned by us as being planned. The goal is: end of tutorial asks you:

    1) Go to Town - Economy/Peaceful
    2) Go to Frontier - Survival
    3) Get Extra Training - Accessible later too by /training

    This training room would then have interactive rooms like the previous tutorial, as well as individual rooms per topic, showing off and detailing each feature in explicit detail.

    This will be a huge help... and I will be working with the build team here soon on designing this.

    I have an overall vision on what this should look like, I just now need to guide them in that design and let them do the building.

    Essentially we will have various rooms that you can even access by `/train vault` for example to go directly to vault room, so players can tell new players specific rooms to visit to learn about a feature.
    Aikar, Jun 13, 2014
    #19
    607, bloodra1n and MrsWishes like this.
  20. I want me some soul bound wood
    NathanRP, Jun 13, 2014
    #20
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