Attracting new users

[billairboy]

If he gets BSOD it's probably his system that have issues. And the interface is not that hard to figure out for some one that at least have played more than three computer games, pretty much every online game is a bit confusing in the beginning.

 

[DavinFelth]

Hah! Great comment above. I feel that way to. People ask "oh what game do you play" and I'm just like "ohh this MMO game... you wouldn't have heard of it" or something like that. Cause yea, it seems weird.
Nice to know someone else feels that way too.

 

[DavinFelth]

If he gets BSOD it's probably his system that have issues. And the interface is not that hard to figure out for some one that at least have played more than three computer games, pretty much every online game is a bit confusing in the beginning.

yup I pretty much agree. I play minecraft which in itself is "simple" but you play online and some servers there are like hundreds of commands to type in. I'm always having to ask "what do you type to see.."

and I play lord of the rings online - any game like that - I just think when I first started it didn't make much sense.
I use a plugin to manage my inventory there because their default way always sucked.

there are improvements to be made here still, but I see them working on it. Hey we are all here and some of us aren't geniuses ...

 

[RobBuona]

Some diferent points of view in here.

About others being to lame to give EU a try, to me is not a good consideration.
The player base is clearly in a down hill.

In less then 2 months, auction pages went don't from 1k to less the 800 in Calypso and keeps droping.
After this I could start a nice discussion about a sinking economy.

But from the majority of the posts here, somethings is really wrong with the platform itself.
Graphics, stability, hard to start, whatever, the fact is we need more players.

You wouldn't start such a discussion if you've ever heard of the concept of a self-fulfilling prophecy. While there are certainly other considerations, confidence and perception have huge influences on the economy. And this is getting quite OT, but in case you didn't notice, the auction dropped below 800 pages last year as well before going back up. That is nothing new; it happens every year as the weather gets warmer.

Every game takes time to learn, but yeah EU interface is not that much consistent and might be harder to learn but when you get around you find it quite functional

I don't CTD or crash that much, maybe once/ twice a week? So it's not like the game crash constantly for everybody..

If he went angry after that, then yeah, EU is not for him

This is not a subjective discussion. It is a fact that some people who may have become regular, depositing players have become frustrated and given up due to issues in the beginning. Whether or not you feel their frustration is warranted, or you think the interface is great, it does not change the fact that Entropia may have lost a regular depositor before he or she even started depositing. Whether you agree does not change that.

 

[TACUTTING]

when I tell my friends about the game they rolls their eyes and cant understand , I show them my SGA rocket and open the mu page for it they simply cant understand that its real value , also when I tell them I get paid every week from the CLDs I own as in shares of a virtual planet, their brain starts to boil, lol

still they play pc games alot , but this game isnt for everyone .

If you want something be prepared to spend time and your brain as you have to in most things in real life.
It takes guts and hard work to suceed here not just klick klick away as in most (boring ) games



btw, graphics alone doesnt do a game , its the game itself that counts and the gameplay

 

[BBpunisher]

Hah! Great comment above. I feel that way to. People ask "oh what game do you play" and I'm just like "ohh this MMO game... you wouldn't have heard of it" or something like that. Cause yea, it seems weird.
Nice to know someone else feels that way too.

My friends still give me grief for suggesting they play this game.

 

[TACUTTING]

most games have AI regulated opposition or fellow gamers working against you , in a competive way

This game is plain harder, as we have to compete against MA / etc , that continues to nerf various things when one finds a way to gain ahead , wich itself makes it very hard to suceed or gain profit in game , but still its doable..

This is what many players starts to feel cheated and rage quit or simply fade away .




know your enemy and you will be prepared : )

 

[Smoothie]

I've been in SL for 7 years, also my brother drag me into Eve online and APB (for 5-6 years in both). So I have some online gaming experience tho.
I can say....
None can compared with Entropia.
Entropia Universe is a unique virtual world and if someone doesn't have the patience to be in it and to learn how it works, simple he isn't made it for it.
That's my opinion.

 

[Angel]

It is a tough game to sell to your friends. Definitely not a game for everyone but it sure doesn't hurt for anyone to try. For a new player they would have to spend a lot of doing nothing running around exploring which is a far cry from what the mainstream of gamers are used to. Progress is slow. I for one have not successfully convinced a friend to play it. The patience is an issue with a lot of people trying to learn the game.

I have seen MA put some effort on making it more friendly to newcomers compared to before where there was absolutely nothing that tells you what the hell to do in game. But that isn't enough. I am lost to what to recommend even to this topic because it is just a tough job to tackle for anyone. They need to hire someone that specializes on such a thing. This comment I made is useless. GL

 

[dr3w]

It is a tough game to sell to your friends. Definitely not a game for everyone but it sure doesn't hurt for anyone to try. For a new player they would have to spend a lot of doing nothing running around exploring which is a far cry from what the mainstream of gamers are used to. Progress is slow. I for one have not successfully convinced a friend to play it. The patience is an issue with a lot of people trying to learn the game.

I have seen MA put some effort on making it more friendly to newcomers compared to before where there was absolutely nothing that tells you what the hell to do in game. But that isn't enough. I am lost to what to recommend even to this topic because it is just a tough job to tackle for anyone. They need to hire someone that specializes on such a thing. This comment I made is useless. GL

One of the best here, tbh.

When I got here from "Excel in Space" (eve-o), my first impression was "WTF". Then I heard MUSIC. "WTF II" Then I tried to read something somewhere. "WTF III".

Then I logged off. When I logged back - there was some massive updates and... Cryengine. "WTF IV".

Stupid controls, all shit around, all strange people telling me "ECO" like fucking zombies, zombies sweating, zombies near AH, mobs with SUCH names, and NOTHING to do.

But as amount of "WTF" was counting - the more I was getting in, since it's my nature when I meet "WTF".

Mainstream majority is different.

 

[combo22]

Game becomes more complex, to many buttons to push, when I started in the old days it was more simple.
Back then you could sweat a creature without any tool, it was more straight forward than it's now, this is just an example where they made things more complicated without any reason.

Another problem is the HUGE amount of items released each VU, even as an old player I find difficult to keep up.
Even if a player manage to figure out how things works when he starts to "play" he would soon realize that it cost to much, and I think this is the major issue, you can ignore a lot of bugs and unfinished stuff if you can play, If you can't play you'll start to see all the bad things, because you have time to do this.

 

[xaph]

What?

You guys complain about stability, problems with installation and that the game sux.. But that's just whining from my point of view. Compare to any other F2P game out there and you find out they are just much worse in many aspects. Including the cost to play actually!

Just give me one name of one F2P mmo that you think is that great. I will give you ten reasons why it's worse then EU

I second this.
'Other games having problems is not an excuse to have problems of your own.'

Besides that look around, check my failed logins over 6 months with CTD 100% after 2-3 months of fresh install. Don't get me wrong I want to play, but it's people like you who respond like (not said) that should take a reality check of why the whole platform fails to attract recurrent players.
Pull your (not said) head in!
Enjoy your day

 

[Black Widow iK]

Creating a new account because of a perception that your current account is "unlucky" is an extremely short-sighted, and are I say, stupid idea. You want skills. Skills are very good to have. Don't throw away skills.

Hmm, So do you believe skills influence returns or were you hinting at something else?

 

[PW3CKA]

I second this.
'Other games having problems is not an excuse to have problems of your own.'

Besides that look around, check my failed logins over 6 months with CTD 100% after 2-3 months of fresh install. Don't get me wrong I want to play, but it's people like you who respond like (not said) that should take a reality check of why the whole platform fails to attract recurrent players.
Pull your (not said) head in!
Enjoy your day

Nah, it's some simple to miss read. What I reacted on with my comments were statements like "There is 100 F2P games and much better then EU". This is simply not true, EU is actually one of the best F2P MMO, if not the best.

Of course, the fact somebody else has worse game does not mean the shit we have all over place in EU should not get fixed. Of course there is so much things wrong, but I disagree that there are other better F2P MMOs >)

 

[truantduck]

Hmm, So do you believe skills influence returns or were you hinting at something else?

Get more evade and you get hit fewer times. Get hit fewer times, repair your armor less and fap less.

Get more crafting ability, you succeed more.

Get more tier upgrade, you get more salvage.

Get more hp, get more regen, use fap less, die less, use less fuel or mind essence.

Get more hunting skills, have more choice of weapons. Pay less for your L gun.


I mean, why do I even have to type this out? Ofc skills effect your profitability in this game. Duh.

 

[Black Widow iK]

Ofc skills effect your profitability in this game. Duh.

Ok, yah, Duh, but notice I said ''influence returns'' not profitability. Obviously you can slowly become more profitable on avg. by playing *coughgamblingcough* more efficiently, but the way you put it it sounded as if you were hinting skills affected returns.

 

[Xen]

it sounded as if you were hinting skills affected returns.

They might.

Shouldn't they?

 

[truantduck]

This is a thread about new user first impressions. Begone noob questions.

 

[qamori]

I actually saw that MA created some video tutorials for noobs. This may help getting started with a bit less frustration!
Besides the whining there is alot of information on this forum and Entropedia, but new users dont know about it.


1 - A good idea would be to have a mandatory video tutorial at signup, something like the videos we always skip while playing Assassins Creed.
On that video they should also stress the importance of getting a Mentor with experience.

2 - Another idea would be start every noob at the location of the noob missions, so they can get the free level 0 gun and a few cells.
I started at PA, and for days I though the only thing you could do was run around ! So I left without spending 1 cent or shooting a single shot and came back 4 years later.

 

[mike jones]

I think he will be more then pissed at you when you tell him how much it costs to gear yourself.

 

[Aio]

I think he will be more then pissed at you when you tell him how much it costs to gear yourself.

Free? $10? $100? $1000? $10000? $100000?

That's a pretty subjective question. The game is essentially the same for all budgets - yeah, you're not gonna ATH hunting punies; but you can still get an unusually high loot or some items. If anyone wants to play this game just to gamble for the ATHs they really should just download a casino app for their mobile.


With 100ped I could successfully complete all noob missions, the puny iron (16.6k), achieve graduation from mentorship, and have a fairly good understanding of the basic game. So we can say MA have gotten this right. However, where's the player education? Not once does MA say "don't do this activity - you will lose PED". Yes, I know, they market it as an unlimited world, which it is. But I believe the biggest problem with player longevity is twofold - misunderstanding the game before gambling with $100 rather than $10, and the basic crapness of presentation.

Tell me the problem here:

Auction. Message Center/chat. Quickbar links. Action book. Skill tracker. Inventory. Lower HUD. Radar. Soc terminal. Storage. Help. Keyboard layout.

All have different styles, borders, fonts, themes. It's a complete mess. Yet all the functionality in the world is there (yes, little bits can be improved, but that should come naturally with a coherent visual screen).

MA struggle to sell their product - it's obvious by the global reach but the completely terrible numbers of active accounts and new player retention. This is well explained by a problem list:

• Download
• Login
• Character Creation
• HUD/Panels
• Tutorials
• Noob Activities / Learning
• Noob Missions
• Low Economy
• Larger Game
• High Economy
• End Game

Now; new players start from the top of the list. Retention players from the bottom. New players don't even reach the meat of the game before they've been killed off by the downloading/login process (it's reasonable, compared to others, but not perfect and this will kill at a guess 40% of all new accounts - before a person has bought into a product (i.e. invested time), they will not give it two chances so a slow download, a single CTD, a poor account setup will be game over here.

The remaining 60% will enter character creation, dunno really what this is like but I'd estimate another 10% drop just because people can't be arsed. Half left before we've even loaded the game proper.

Now they see the HUD, first thoughts? Amateurish. Why's everything different? Why does some look modern sci-fi, some medieval, some 80's sci-fi? See you 25%. Finally they get to the reasonable bit of the game, I can't imagine too many would leave here instantly but of course there are going to be some who either stayed even with the thought "this is a bit shitty" or some who just don't want to play a game like this, and just wanted to check it out. So let's be fair and say bye to another half - 12.5% remain.

Now we all know MA's new player generation isn't the best - shall we say 1000 per month? Seems fair. But from this you only get 125 accounts lasting more than say a week or two? Hmm.

Back to the list - older players are coming from the bottom. So their biggest gripes are content (we see this every time a new mayhem/invasion/migration is announced, with all the yawns) and economy. Not going to get into this, there's thousands of threads. Obviously need to be fixed but lets be honest, the reason we notice people leaving is that there are so few of us here.

Obviously I'm fabricating the numbers here but if MA don't start treating those fragile accounts better, they just can't expect player numbers to ever achieve a level at which the game is completely sustainable and profitable.

 

[crazy]

I think some of you need to play other games before assuming EU is that terrible to DL, play and learn. There are lots of other games that are much more complicated, buggy, shitty graphics or any of the other excuses that are listed, and they are much more popular, some even mainstream.

Took me and my friend hours to get another game installed on his system, so that problem is not unique to EU.

For me, the bottom line is that MA just are not making the product public in the right places. The more people that would play, the more tutorials you will find on youtube, the more streamers EU will get, and so more players will arrive.

Also, maybe the product just isn't that appealing to people? I think its pretty clear that MA cant go down the 'get rich playing a computer game' advertising again, as for 99.9% percent of people this isn't going to be true. So after that, what does Entropia Universe offer to someone who has thousands of other F2P games to choose from?

 

[truantduck]

Just because other games are epic failures, it doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement (especially in the UI) here in Entropia. I'm happy you like EU as much as I do, but get some perspective, and realize construtive criticisms are helpful.

 

[Farmer Smurf]

So I have introduced the game to a few friends and family. This is my routine.

If it comes up in casual conversation such as I play "mario brothers" what game(s) do you play. Or, that game looks cool, what is it? I usually respond with. Its a mmo game you know kind of like WOW yes I go there lol.

If I am actually trying to show EU to someone I think might enjoy it or actually play. I try to hit these points in conversation before they ever touch the game themselves. usually while I play, and they watch, or while the game DL and installs.

1. its a small indie niche game, there are bugs, crashes and undeveloped content.
2. The game has been around about a decade, has had continual growth.
3. it has an old school mmo feel to it, its simple to play but complex to "master".

4. your noobie months will be the most frustrating, and most prone to expensive mistakes, be patient and make some friends, get a soc, leave it and get another soc, keep changing soc's making friends til you find one you don't want to leave. the key here is get some people you can reach out to when you need assistance (NO NOT I AM BROKE GIVE ME STUFF) assistance, those type of players are not well received usually.

5. game is free to log in, like a bar is free to walk into. you might even find some free peanuts, but the girls, booze, food, hell even the music on the jukebox....is going to cost you. Everything in EU costs $$$

6. EU is real cash based, you deposit money into the game, in return you get game currency at a fixed rate. you can through a complex system of banking voodoo, after paying a large service charge withdraw your game currency back into us dollars. which will after many moons of time be deposited into your bank account.

7. you can technically make money in the game if you work hard invest right and spend right..but you can also spend as much as your willing to deposit, on play toys and just play. There are even people who never deposit and just play on the peanuts, or "trade up" which is how I started.

8. The game changes at the whims of the developers, often resulting in a personal $ loss to some groups of players. markets shift, items come and go or change. Growth comes with changes, EU always changing.

9. basically imo pay to play the game, but don't spend more than your willing to lose. at least for your first year in game take it slow read, talk to people, ask questions, learn. its a complex world, with few official statements of how things work, full of fish and sharks (the players that is).

10. EU is a game of years not months. plan to play for many years, though you can take a 2 year break and and not be penalized like in some games.

IMO if you can accept all the above, you might be a EU player. if you cant accept it, you will not enjoy your EU experience. But your millage may vary give it a shot see what you think, Welcome to EU

 

[fluske]

i have introduced couple people to pe,i sat next to them when they downloaded game so i could explain the controls ect,,
i have given peds/weapons/tools to all of them + advice and ways how to profit from the start,but none of thme still plays,
most people dont have the stamina to do the grinding and the finding of current niches

 

[Naithen]

I made a post not so long ago about how i found it difficult loading EU onto my new Windows "8.1" PC, I-7, million dollar video card etc, and after a bit of tweaking i got it to (finally) run, is it running as good as it should be on my new PC? NO! But i am a gamer and i can handle it.But i thought to myself at the time if i was a new interested gamer would i have deleted it and moved on? Probably! You only have a small window to make an impression on a new customer, if you make it tough on them they are gone. . .forever!

 

[Kristin]

I recently invited a new friend and active gamer to play EU via Planet Calypso.

I explained to him how the game worked and how I had found success here, and by the time he got home to his computer he was super excited to play.

This is a paraphrase of his experience after finally installing and downloading...

1) He had several timeouts trying to log in.

2) "The title screen is all pixelated with a white stripe on the left side. I hope the actual game has more polish than this crap" I remember him saying that clearly.

3) He really struggled with the interface In so many ways. He was confused by the message center and the action library being different. He wanted to move those buttons around. He had numerous complaints about the interface, chat, and actions. I struggle to recall and recount them all. Suffice to say, he felt overwhelmed by all the different ways in which the interface works inconsistently.

4) He CTD'd several times, and even BSOD'd. That could be his system, but he plays many other games and claims not to have had any stability issues recently. I don't know.

5) he gave up, extremely frustrated. Angry even. Pissed at me for suggesting he play this game.


All of this occurred with assistance from me, an experienced player talking him through the process over teamspeak.

You missed the main point Rei. The game changed dramatically. It isn't worth to attract new players anymore. I run it at Win7/64 and don't have serious problems with updates or crashes. It runs stable for me. But me and my sis left it lately because it has lost all it's reasons to play.

Once we were at the old yellow Port Atlantis noob arrival area together with friends and Simon and Emma (2005-2008). The mechanics were (nearly) the same but the feeling was completely different. Each newbie was welcomed personally by other colonists ... or even by MA officials. We had a breathtaking time at Fort Argus, Fort Troy and other well populated places. They are all dead and abandoned today. It became a grinding game. Really lame.

By chance you remember Cat's "Battle Royale"? You took part at least. That was another spirit than the current missions. I doubt anyone would put such effort into a special event like this today. Even Hurrikane with his WoF vanished ... or shall I say he gave up? Or lost interest?

Sure, PE/EU is still unique. Very special. A niche game even. But it lost all it's charme. Your question seems wrong to me. I can't see hardware or server problems. The reason folks leave the game after one hour or one week is: the game itself became uncomely.

P.S: Auction sites:
Asteroid: 12
Calypso: 742
Monria: 7
Planet Cyrene: 15
Rocktropia: 28
Hell: 1
Next Island: 9 (wich is amazing!)
Ancient Greece: 2 (should be some stuff to think about for MA!)
Planet Arkadia: 176
Planet Toulan: 2

... it'll die soon.

 

[truantduck]

You missed the main point Rei.

... it'll die soon.

I've been here since the beginning. If I had one PED for every person who predicted the game would die soon I'd own all the mod faps.

See, *you* missed the point. This is a thread about new user experience. Please go complain about the game economy and other issues elsewhere.

 

[Kristin]

I've been here since the beginning. If I had one PED for every person who predicted the game would die soon I'd own all the mod faps.

See, *you* missed the point. This is a thread about new user experience. Please go complain about the game economy and other issues elsewhere.

Well, just have a look at the forum activities here ;-) ... or even at EntropiaPlanets ... time for witdraw to save at least some PEC. Would be a big failure to drag new players into this game.

 

[Peezle]

I've been here since the beginning. If I had one PED for every person who predicted the game would die soon I'd own all the mod faps.

Yes, I agree and I would own all the bps. Still you agree that the game needs more players, since living in Monaco is not an option for most of us.

The answer? More Youtube videos like PigBenis who made the game look what it can be: fun.

Also, more investment from MA in said videos and social media, not more useless unpopulated planets.