Ideas to bring in some more players

Ok making this thread so we can consolidate all the ideas on how to increase the player base on the short run and long run so feel free to post any ideas you have here.

One idea I have is to create seasonal mobs like back on Calypso where Eamon and Longtooth spawn every now and then as an event. This isnt a plan for the long run and more of a seasonal shorterm increas of players.

 

Nice idea, but that wouldn't bring in any new players, it would only bring over players from other planets.

 

I am speaking about new players not planet travellers (holiday makers ).

The more people we have as newbies the more that will stay, its a numbers game as I see it. So if we increase the need for sweat then this will increase the duration that a newbie (none depositor) may stay with us. While it is a fine line between making a lot of money from sweating (which might very well hurt the economy) and making enough to try out all the features for a while, ie hunting, mining, crafting.

If say a newbie could earn say 10ped a week without fail (which would need more sweat buyers) then perhaps they will be very tempted after a few weeks or a month to deposit and continuing with their chosen profession on a more realistic level.

At the moment there is not the demand for sweat to sustain to many newbies, so my idea (at last) would be to intoduce more BPs that use more sweat, perhaps the clothing BPs when they arrive could use sweat, but calculating how much is a tough call, I think 10sweat per click is to small as people will sweat it themselves. I leave the details to you.

Just a little idea, no problem if people dont agree.

Good luck all and lets get more and more ideas, it very nice to feel part of the plans thanks.

PS I would like to thank all that help us out at the Quarry, without you we would die so much more thanks from all the newbies

 

Idea 2:

Arkadia v Calypso annual battle
Arkadia v Next Island annual battle
Arkadia v RockT annual battle.

the ins and outs I wouldnt know as im a newbie

 

Hi Fopsie,

I think the major problem when trying to generate more players for all EU or a specific planet is the one that can only be solved by MA itself:

The cost to play and/or the money needed to play.

• Seeing the "cost to play" as the money that we spent for our gaming experience. In another game this would be the monthly fee.
  Yes, we can determine ourselves how much we spend - and playing the game in an educated and controlled fashion isn't this expensive, seen over long time.
  
  But it is easily possible to lose quite some $$$ in a very short time. And the probability for such has increased during the last years, due to the shift to fat & expensive mobs, and the shift to ever bigger and bigger HoF's.
  .
• The money needed to play is the basic deposit size necessary to be able to participate with the game activities. The money you need for your gear, for the stacks of loot we need to collect until we have enough to be able to sell, and for the ammo/ probes/ materials for our daily turnover.
  Such rarely exists in other games, and is unknown for the average player.
  
  And we're talking of substantial money here! A few armor sets, some weapons, FAPs, mining gear, quite fast a few 100$ are locked. And then you need sufficient free money to pay for daily activities, additionally.

This is it, IMHO, that repels the majority of new players that come for a test. It's just widely regarded as "insane" to be able to lose 100$ in a single afternoon, or to have to have "invested" 1k$ or more just to be able to play as not more then an advanced newbie.

And as soon as the new players realize this, many of them are gone for good.

For us this seems natural, we have learned to adapt over the years. We know that the 1k$ (or more) we have in storage as stackables aren't lost money, and we know that an unlimited SIB-weapon for a price of ~1k$ (incl. MU) isn't lost money. Or we hope that it is this way ...
And we have learned to think in years, we know that the 100$ we lost this afternoon will come back soon, at least partially. Or we hope that it is this way ...

But "Joe 'Average' Gamer" doesn't know this. Nor does his wife Jane, and if she caught her husband dropping an deposit of only 500$ to get things going after his first few swunting months, all marital hells will break lose ...


MA & the Planet Partners can do whatever they want, they can make tutorials, newbie areas, they could even donate every fresh player a set of untradable starting gear, they can make Ads all over the media, flood any game magazine with DVDs, it all doesn't change the main problem:

EU is just regarded as "retarded expensive" by most gamers but a few hard cores.

It can be played quite cheap at the beginning. But as soon as the participant is a bit advanced it becomes necessary to move some serious money. And to play with the big boys, welll ... We all know that you better sell house, car, wife, pets & children to achieve this.


Is there a way to change this, to escape the small niche EU has maneuvered itself in?

I doubt. It's not possible anymore to bring the TT values of gear down to "average-gamer-compatible" numbers. It's not possible anymore to "flatten" out the loot distribution, means more average loot & less crazy HoFs - the most paying customers would go in frenzy immediately.

Maybe there'd be a way to turn the steering wheel slowly and clandestinely, towards a system where it would be possible to play with reasonable costs again.
A few things that IMHO would help to achieve this:

1. Auction: No more fixed fees, just a fixed percentage of the selling price.
2. Auction: Enabling PEC values again.
3. Loot: Less huge Uber-loots, better average loot.
4. Loot: good MU items in all kinds of mobs, not anymore only in the big ones
5. Items: good middle class gear with lower TT
6. Newbies: more uses for sweat to establish a way they can live for a while (thx, MaxMoon!)

I fear, Fopsie, this isn't what you wanted as answers. But you asked "how to increase the player base on the short run and long run", and this is the only answer I can give.

Have a good time, and phat lootz!

 

Dont worry any feedback and Idea's are welcome, well atleast if its somewhat constructive and not overly critisizing about the system. I Agree to meny points you rased in your post but know that a lot of this will not change so we will have to work around this. Calypso is afterall somewhat flurishing atm even though all off the above apply to them aswell.

A good idea to get newbies to increase the value for thier buck spent is to teach them how to trade and subsidise their costs via trading first, this will both boost the econimy and boost new player retention in the long run.

 

1. Auction: No more fixed fees, just a fixed percentage of the selling price.
2. Auction: Enabling PEC values again.

That will kill all shop owners and render shops completely useless.
For a shop owner it is already a hard struggle to compete with the auction.

I personally belief that the auction has already too many options to give it a advantage over shops.
And I would not mind if they get removed and auction go's back to basic, and even I use auction myself.

But thats is a personal opinion.

Regards,
Ion

 

Hi Atlan,

maybe we should just drop the shops? (with adequate compensation for the owners?)

Or have a server-wide directorys of what shop offers what where?

I know, I'm quite strange, but I rarely relied on shops, other then Auktumas in the mall, for a while.

I think a less restrictive auction policy would fuel the trade at all.

Have a good time!

 

what xandra says i fully 100% support, i even did a simular support case for the loot part but it apears to not be taken like advise but as whining and u get a cut n paste return.
i understand planet partners might not be able to have a good impact on those points though.
auction is also imho way to expensive to use, but i never saw auction as competition for shops since shops are more personal.

 

I have a booth on caly and I would be seriously unhappy if shops where dropped.
I use it to export and sell ark items.
If something isn't selling I simply replace it with something new for the cost of only a little decay.
If something isn't selling in auction I still loose my auction fee.
I can leave it in my shop as long as I want and don't have to worry about selling times that end.
Before the shop bug I had steady customers who bought items on a regular basis, something I don't have in auction.
They can come and buy whenever they want and I restock as fast as possible.
Selling taxes and fee's are lower than in auction, so I get a little more in return.
And thats to name a few.

Even here on Ark I already miss a shop actually.

But hmmm, I think we drift off of the topic.

Regards,
Ion

 

Are we talking player retention, player attraction, or both?

The underlying key to all business expansion... advertise, advertise, advertise. Whether it's through word of mouth, passive community reviews, or aggressive ad campaigns, effective marketing strategies put butts in seats. What economic demographic they target is an interesting question.

I don't think EU ever heavily targeted the end-user b/c that wasn't the area of expansion they were concerned with (was PPs). Now it's up to the PPs to attract new players, and for MA to keep rolling out (and fixing) base functionality to keep them.

Think of all the amazing indie films that could've grossed 100m+ usd if people simply knew they existed.

The existing economy model has proven to attract and keep players, we're all here afterall. If the PP's want to retain the less economically focused demo, then they're going to have to really ramp up the "for free" features (and add some more).

While a thriving PED economy will certainly be healthy for the PPs bottom line, an equal amount of effort should probably be centered on a thriving social economy...

 

Heya Ark
Ok, well I been busy here in real life so I haven't been on in a bit.. but I made my way to calypso to start purchases on my vtols, and my supplys for them.. so ill be here for about 2-3 weeks, but I will do is offer completely new players trip back to the Ark by flying my vtols.. now when they accept the offer we will train on the planet in and out pvp areas then start the voyage back.. the first trip could bring back about nine new players.. now if people see this as player stealing please let me know but I think it would be great for noon and I will not be charging them because they will in return be helping me bring items and my ships back to the Ark... so what does eveyone think?

Sry if the spelling is off im on my droid typing this
-illz

 

On Another Note..
I Think Us As the Players and Some of us as Advisors Can Take advantage of the Sweat system and Provide Services, Role Play, ANd Other Activities... Did Anyone See This Video

[video=youtube;ITUSDHLlBNs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITUSDHLlBNs[/video]

The IDea i Like about this. is that its actually Using the EU Systems Environment As a player to player Education System..
i Think We need to Change the Way we are playing here.. And Find ways to Play The Environment.. The Only Way this System Really looks like a Casino is because People Play it Like a Casino.. But if u ever go to a Casino Alot of Branded Casinos have other Features then just gambling(Not Say EU Is a Casino Bcuz i dont thing it is)

A while back i started a Thread about Sweat here on the Ark( And i felt like i was wasting my time with the Thread with some of the comments i got back)
But in all truth, The Ark Seems to Run off the Player BAse that Pays.. I agree to this and i dont want it anyother way.. but what we the Players need to do really is get off of the Idea of what this game seems to put in to somes Heads and start Looking at what could really be of use here, We Can Use Sweat for rental services, Put together a Search and Explore Quest for noobs... Theres so much that can really be put into play.. and not cost much at all..
Now This Falls into place with my Fleet im Building.. Im Creating a Pilot Temp Agency.. Where Players will be Able to Join my Fleets in Different Types of Quest, That Will be MAde up later at a different Date.. But for now Will Offer Piloting to Anyone...

But What Im Saying is: BAsicly, Who Has Played: Grand Theft Auto, Or Saints Row, or Call of Duty, Or MAss Effect, Or Red Dead Redemption.. Imagine all Of these Games IN ONE UNIVERSE.. Take All of the HoFs and Globals As Gifts And Offer Something.. Make Your Own Adventure Within this Universe.

Example: I Have Crafted "Jester D1s"( OoOooO Nobody Uses Thos, Well Who Cares.. its in EU, if it sucked so Bad why not get Rid of them)

Now i Place 1 Jester D1 on a RiverFall Somewhere on Arkadia, and i give the Coords to The Spot where it could be Found..
Now The New Player Has a Chance to Find Themselves a Weapon, They Will Go thru Whatever Hell Comes with Getting that Weapon, But The Player May Decide Midway to Depo in Order to Complete the Mission.
Complete that mission And U get another One.. And u set terms like: Find that weapon, Keep the Weapon or Use Looted Ammo to give back as a Prize.. Start a Webpage Dedicated to Your Adventures, Offering Sometype Of package Deal to Make Profit..

Oops i Just Gave u My Idea(Shruggs)
Try it or Wait till u See My Set Up And Bring in More Quest Makers..

Eventually, Games like this Will Be a Place for people to Have real Jobs, i just think We need to find the Way to Utilize it
-illz

 

This is an issue that has been reiterated in planetcalypsoforum:
rookies last less in the game and the cost of playing has increased.

As founder of Argentrópicos in January 2008 I can say, without any doubt, that newcomers actually take less time to leave the game and that the percentage of players who reached the equivalent of "graduation" of mentoring is much lower that then.

No doubt in this situation has a big impact the price of sweat, with the current price (1K sweat = 2 peds) is not enough to survive. I believe that this strategic decision of Mindark to indirectly reduce the price of sweat has not been good. In my time the need to deposit appeared with force when the avatar required a better armor, weapons or tools that would enable him to the next level. Today the player most likely will not reach that point, tired of sweating for a few coins they stop playing sooner.

I have also seen many players of good level, frequent depositors, leaving for long periods or even permanently because the low return of the loot.

I think increasing the amount of loot small globals or "minis" with objects with MU enough to justify its sale by auction would be very important for the miner, the manufacturer or the hunter who repeatedly performed sessions over 50 100 or more peds.

Another necessary action is to restore, with improvements, the system of mentoring. Accompany a novice has a significant cost in time and peds. Beyond the desire to help a recognition award will help those who help.

On the other hand I have always believed that freedom, not restrictions, are that drive of the economy. In this sense it seems that EU is going in the opposite direction.

 

Okay, what I have to say is a little off topic, but it is related to the growth of the planet.

The auction portion of this discussion brings back one of my first posts as a noob, while borrowing ideas from EVE Online. Of course, this has to be done by MA and not any PP.

Click to see post on the idea: Market Trading

With EVE, you train various marketing skills, which will allow you to further expand your trading ability into systems, range of systems, remote buy/sell/mod orders, and lowering your fees. If this can be added, then we will have a true trading profession, and not just some auction where it discourage low base price/qty listings. MA can build similar skills in game via the numbers of transactions done. IE: Trading +1 for setting up a listing, Selling +1 for ppl buying from the listing, Buying +1 for buying from other listings, etc. This will allow both new and old players alike, to use the market trading system, and not given overly unfair advantage to the rich as the auction system does.

The current auction trading from what I can tell atm is too much hassle, and it ties up the limited amount of PED a new player already lacks; hence more likely to see a new player TT'ing then to put up an auction listing that costs 50 PEC for something that only worth 2 PED w a 102% avg MU. These params has "discourage trading and growth" written all over it, especially for a new player. The more a new player sells back to TT, the less the economy will grow.

In addition, as an experience player, why would anyone want to buy anything at small qty, at 200% MU (to support noob?), when one can buy the same total qty, at 110% MU. No one will pick the first option. So those small qty at high MU in fact are likely only purchased by new players. The true bottom line on how you play this game is how much PED you spend.

IMHO the current auction system hinders new players growth, and more important, a new planet's growth.

jc

 

I think the attraction of new players is the easy part. There are loads of great ways to get them in. The hard part is retention and there is only one thing that can fix that... Lower cost of play.

Yes, you can get a tt gun and hunt beginner mobs pretty inexpensively, but that's not what the masses of gamers in the world want. They want to play long and play hard and get more powerful. If they can't do that then they won't stay.

As it is now... We have a few nice systems and more coming soon. We have a few planets, some more developed than others, and more coming soon. Overall there is a great base in place, but it will all be for naught if we can't get MANY more depositing players in and staying.

Some things like quests, free side games, storylines, etc are great to a degree, but it really comes down to the cost. More people in game paying a smaller amount per month is better than a few people paying a bunch each month. You can always find more people to pay a little each month. There simply aren't enough people who will be willing to pay big money to play.

Walmart hasn't taken over the world by being the most expensive retailer around.

 

I've seen a few suggestions in this thread regarding a fundamental change in the loot payout system. I have serious doubts that the distribution model will ever be radically altered, regardless of the degree of influence each PP may have on Mindark. I hope I'm proven wrong, as I also feel more decay rev could be generated if they allowed the user a more even return instead of the variant spikes. The second the even the return, the ubers will scream Skill devaluation, as it will be even less difficult to skill up on long grinding runs...

With that in mind, I feel the more viable solution is bolstering awareness of the planets, their content, and the end-user social aspect. Get them involved in the storyline, the evolving histories.

We seem to be stuck in a mindset that the free or cheap cost of game-play is the game's only saving grace for expansion. I disagree. I think there are many out there willing to part with their entertainment money for an engrossing / immersive experience.

 

I´m just dropping in the door here,
haven´t really read the entire thread since it´s a lot of text and i want to go to bed right after i posted my2pecs.

Treasure hunting will be released somewhere in August,
that update will definatly bring a huge wave of newspawn with it, if not it will bring holiday vacation players which is good for the economy aswell.
I´m sure when we will have new missions this planet will be more attractive and will help keep the `rookie` entertained longer.

 

I agree to a point. There are many subscription games where people can play as hard as they want and as much as they want for what $15 - $20 per month. To do the same in EU is much more expensive. I think they just need to bring the cost down some... not really down to the $15 - $20 range, but quite a bit lower than it is now. If cost to play is brought down to where it was 5 years ago that would be a big help. It was still expensive, but the level wasn't insanely high.

There are plenty of people willing to pay for fun, but most of them aren't rich.

(side note... ATH levels and frequency. I think the chance should still be there for a nice payout, but even if you take one 50k ATH and break it up.. that's 1,000 globals. 1,000 additional globals in game for the cost of one less ATH.)

 

I have seen so many new player start here and someone tell them its better on calypso.
And there they go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its a dam shame all the Arkadia teams work is goning to help Calypso.

There is a simple sulotion new players need something to do , not all depo first day some see if other interesting things to do
for when they can't depo! (Thats how I and many tested before depo)

Solution pure and simple!
---------------------------------------------
All need to be put into game at same start place!
(THEY CAN TP TOO OTHERS IF CROWDED!)

More people in one area creates social gatherings and freindships.
(Need sweat camp for something to do)

Thats it the A team has everything else covered , but this.
Economy will build fast from bottom up.