R
Ryan
Guest
Possible solution to the new player retention problem...
BEFORE YOU REPLY TO THIS POST THINK YOUR REPLY OUT, AGAIN THIS IS NOT A DISCUSSION THREAD THIS IS A BRAINSTORM THREAD.
PROVIDE FEEDBACK FOR THE IDEA AT HAND AND DO NOT CRITICIZE OR REPLY TO OTHER PEOPLE'S FEEDBACK.
The way I see it we need to do something to make this shard a little bit more user friendly. I’ve noticed over the past few days that the community (or lack there of) is not a friendly one, and this will inherently drive away our potential player base. That said our biggest draw we have is that by far and away we are the largest Free Shard out there, however you must temper that with the thing that will drive players away… namely an unwelcoming community.
I think in an effort to make things better we are going to have to implement a few changes that will just out and out freak out some of our users. However none of these changes will be so drastic that it should scare our true hard core veteran players, because they know this shard is around for the long haul. As all of you know we’ve tweaked out skill gain recently to make it a little bit more of a chore, something that a few of you have complained about, but you’re the players this shard does not need. Skill gain here is not hard, it’s just the right mix to ensure that the players who are here to stay earn a character that they play.
The reality is we don’t need to get the input from our players to make changes to the shard, but that is a bad way to do business so to speak. It is what EA has done, and they have virtually ruined Ultima Online for all of us who are here. So in an effort to admit no one is perfect, and garner the respect of our players we typically will throw out ideas like I did the other day about stat loss to see what people say and think. The people who bitch, whine and moan are quickly ignored, and we take our users who actually express themselves in an intelligent or tactful manner and listen to what they have to say. Doing so has presented some interesting viewpoints; things which we have, or have not thought of and require us to think a little more before we offer up a solution regarding stat loss for our player killers.
However with that said we have to, without question make this place easier to start out for our new users. This is not something we just think needs to be done; this is something that has needed to be done for a very long time. My proposed solution to this will be outlined in detail below in an effort to garner some coherent feedback from our player base, and possibly some ideas in order to move forward.
My solution is the implementation of Haven.
Instantaneously half of the people who are reading this thread will just reply and freak out without hearing me out and understanding what my idea is. Those of you who reply to this thread without thinking will likely be banned for a period of time to be determined on a case-by-case basis.
The idea is to create Haven as a newbie area, where players can join the shard and venture with players who are veterans of the shard. The rule set will be much different than OSI’s implementation of Haven and will allow only new players to interact with the world of Haven. Veteran players will be able to go there, mingle with new players, and offer new players items and advice as well as beneficial actions to ensure that the new players have a positive experience. New players will be given a period of 7 in game days to adjust to the shard, learn what they want to do and how they want to develop their characters how they want, and then after their 7 in game days are over, they will be no longer allowed to gather resources inside of Haven, nor interact with the monsters in Haven. The only thing they can do would be to use beneficial actions on players that are new.
Haven will be an area where Veteran players will not have the ability to make trades, bank or do anything other than walk around and talk with new players who are looking to get started in the game. The idea is to not create a miniature Trammel but create a proving ground for our newcomers and provide them an area of adjustment to the shard, but still give them an area to interact with players and staff members in what will hopefully be a positive manner. Veteran players will not be able to harvest resources, or in any way interact with the world of Haven, their only thing to do in this area will be to (hopefully) interact with our new players in a positive manner, by providing assistance with healing, beneficial spells, dropping items on the ground from their pack to assist players. Veterans will not be permitted to freely leave and enter this area either. Travel between Haven and Britannia will be limited to two times per day, and Murderers will not be permitted in this land.
As for new players if they leave Haven, they will immediately loose their new player status, and be subjected to the same rules as veteran players.
The entire philosophy is to create a safe “Haven” for our newcomers to adjust to the server, without impacting the current game situations or structure. We create a harsh environment, that is just the nature of Ultima Online and I don’t want to add things like stat loss to the server because it’s not what we are about, however I need our players to do their part, and be there to assist the newcomers in a manner that will promote the shard’s growth. I despise the idea of Trammel, but I also despise the idea of people using a free service to ruin other people’s day. If you were all paying 10.99 per month to play here I could easily say “hey, they pay their fee and they can play how they want”, but it’s not about that, its about creating an overall enjoyable place for everyone to play in. The objective, the overall goal of all of this is to be the best place to go for all aspects of Ultima Online, not just one or another.
BEFORE YOU REPLY TO THIS POST THINK YOUR REPLY OUT, AGAIN THIS IS NOT A DISCUSSION THREAD THIS IS A BRAINSTORM THREAD.
PROVIDE FEEDBACK FOR THE IDEA AT HAND AND DO NOT CRITICIZE OR REPLY TO OTHER PEOPLE'S FEEDBACK.
The way I see it we need to do something to make this shard a little bit more user friendly. I’ve noticed over the past few days that the community (or lack there of) is not a friendly one, and this will inherently drive away our potential player base. That said our biggest draw we have is that by far and away we are the largest Free Shard out there, however you must temper that with the thing that will drive players away… namely an unwelcoming community.
I think in an effort to make things better we are going to have to implement a few changes that will just out and out freak out some of our users. However none of these changes will be so drastic that it should scare our true hard core veteran players, because they know this shard is around for the long haul. As all of you know we’ve tweaked out skill gain recently to make it a little bit more of a chore, something that a few of you have complained about, but you’re the players this shard does not need. Skill gain here is not hard, it’s just the right mix to ensure that the players who are here to stay earn a character that they play.
The reality is we don’t need to get the input from our players to make changes to the shard, but that is a bad way to do business so to speak. It is what EA has done, and they have virtually ruined Ultima Online for all of us who are here. So in an effort to admit no one is perfect, and garner the respect of our players we typically will throw out ideas like I did the other day about stat loss to see what people say and think. The people who bitch, whine and moan are quickly ignored, and we take our users who actually express themselves in an intelligent or tactful manner and listen to what they have to say. Doing so has presented some interesting viewpoints; things which we have, or have not thought of and require us to think a little more before we offer up a solution regarding stat loss for our player killers.
However with that said we have to, without question make this place easier to start out for our new users. This is not something we just think needs to be done; this is something that has needed to be done for a very long time. My proposed solution to this will be outlined in detail below in an effort to garner some coherent feedback from our player base, and possibly some ideas in order to move forward.
My solution is the implementation of Haven.
Instantaneously half of the people who are reading this thread will just reply and freak out without hearing me out and understanding what my idea is. Those of you who reply to this thread without thinking will likely be banned for a period of time to be determined on a case-by-case basis.
The idea is to create Haven as a newbie area, where players can join the shard and venture with players who are veterans of the shard. The rule set will be much different than OSI’s implementation of Haven and will allow only new players to interact with the world of Haven. Veteran players will be able to go there, mingle with new players, and offer new players items and advice as well as beneficial actions to ensure that the new players have a positive experience. New players will be given a period of 7 in game days to adjust to the shard, learn what they want to do and how they want to develop their characters how they want, and then after their 7 in game days are over, they will be no longer allowed to gather resources inside of Haven, nor interact with the monsters in Haven. The only thing they can do would be to use beneficial actions on players that are new.
Haven will be an area where Veteran players will not have the ability to make trades, bank or do anything other than walk around and talk with new players who are looking to get started in the game. The idea is to not create a miniature Trammel but create a proving ground for our newcomers and provide them an area of adjustment to the shard, but still give them an area to interact with players and staff members in what will hopefully be a positive manner. Veteran players will not be able to harvest resources, or in any way interact with the world of Haven, their only thing to do in this area will be to (hopefully) interact with our new players in a positive manner, by providing assistance with healing, beneficial spells, dropping items on the ground from their pack to assist players. Veterans will not be permitted to freely leave and enter this area either. Travel between Haven and Britannia will be limited to two times per day, and Murderers will not be permitted in this land.
As for new players if they leave Haven, they will immediately loose their new player status, and be subjected to the same rules as veteran players.
The entire philosophy is to create a safe “Haven” for our newcomers to adjust to the server, without impacting the current game situations or structure. We create a harsh environment, that is just the nature of Ultima Online and I don’t want to add things like stat loss to the server because it’s not what we are about, however I need our players to do their part, and be there to assist the newcomers in a manner that will promote the shard’s growth. I despise the idea of Trammel, but I also despise the idea of people using a free service to ruin other people’s day. If you were all paying 10.99 per month to play here I could easily say “hey, they pay their fee and they can play how they want”, but it’s not about that, its about creating an overall enjoyable place for everyone to play in. The objective, the overall goal of all of this is to be the best place to go for all aspects of Ultima Online, not just one or another.
wheres that new land mass we voted on hehe 
anyways keep up the good work.
