Readicti 902 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Hey guys, Connected to my recently taking over player retention and continuing to work out the App Team, I will be opening up some feedback! Are there any issues you are finding with the application process? If so- what is it? Why is it a problem? How can we change it? I also want to open up the topic of player retention. I want to hear your ideas as how to stay interested in the server as well ways to improve as a staff team in general. You guys are what make this server possible and you are also the ones that should be enjoying the server, so please share what we can do to help. Remember to keep this feedback respectful and critical~ 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aislin 4354 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Default racial spawns with the option of setting a spawn to CT will greatly improve player retention. Rather than being thrown into a big empty stupid Cloud Temple looking for players, noobs would be immediately thrown into the bosom of players. I think this would greatly improve player retention, and that CT has been a significant factor in our poor player retention recently. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Zealot (Sir_Wyvernos) 248 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Most of the time when I am on, the things that most people complain about is the degradation of food and starvation. What Aislin said is true as well. I believe/hope the tutorial island(s) will resolve it however. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicWhaleShark 2488 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I understand that the 24 hour post thing is to reduce spam. But I think it's a bit silly to deny applicants solely for that reason. Maybe make a clause when you deny an application to put their revisions and edits in red, and remove the 24 hour rule. People want to play the game and it might put some people off if they have to wait a whole day, I get put off by having to wait a single hour to craft a diamond pickaxe. The other thing that might help player retention is give them just a wee bit of spending money, give them something to work with. That way they'd be able to buy food and whatever else they may need there and then, and be satisfied. Their initial experience isn't interrupted by having to do something like voting for a server they've barely played on, because there really aren't many other options to make money initially. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quavinir_Twiceborn 1050 Share Posted March 23, 2015 In my view, player retention is mainly put down to how much fun the player has when he first comes on. First impressions are everything. I personally dont think there'd be a one trick to cause more players to stay on LOTC, but I think in general promoting a sound and accessible roleplay experience would help alot. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mephistophelian 977 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I don't know why, but being spawned in a simple room like all new players do is a bit...Eh. I know that I wasn't blasted away by the first spawn in the world of Anthos. Yes, I was no longer new, then, but still... Perhaps new players should spawn in an area with a fantastic view, and a fresh feel? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyndikate 2303 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Don't get me started on this Wanna know the reasons behind player retention? I can name a million Stupid restrictive anti-fun plugins that detract from the vanilla Minecraft new players are used to. Professions, Food Expiration, Crafting. The Playerbase - I'm not going to go into detail on this. It should be obvious to many. Too much incentive and necessity to read the forums. Too many towns/settlements that are all over the place, confusing new players on where to go. Roleplay can be very scarce in settlements sometimes, and it comes to the point that if X player is banned from visiting Y town, he's fucked. Too much "Protected land." Not enough emphasis on fantasy roleplay. It has even less fantasy than Game of Thrones, which is very weak in that department. It was much stronger years ago. Back in the day, we embraced fantasy and creativity. We accepted it. Now players are restricted on what to play, how to play, and can't even attempt to play something in fantasy without risk of being called edgy and getting pvp defaulted. The solutions Remove Nexus Professions, crafting, food expiration, everything. Do a clean slate on the technical aspects and add things that are entry level in difficulty, not a pain in the ass, and something that compliments roleplay and vanilla MC, not interfere with it. Playerbase needs to start cleaning up their act and quit the trolling, assholish and toxic behavior and instead, start being nice to each other. Start setting an example for the new players. All announcements should be in game. Not the forums. New rule changes should be announced in game. No one should have to get on the forums to avoid being screwed over. Remove Nexus Regions and instead just remove the incentive to play hermit/clique towns outside of nation capitals. Don't give me that, "players will move wherever they want to, start competing with them" bullshit. It's not about the competition. It's about the more towns being made, the more roleplay gets spread out, and new players will have a harder time finding a place to go. Start embracing the fantasy element of roleplay. More fantasy events, more engaging events and roleplay, and loosen the restrictions on lore and fantasy. Let people play what they want, and how they want it. Put less emphasis on boring nation politics, dull tavern interaction, and more emphasis on fairies, dragons, magic, curses, not playing the Sims 2 Minecraft Edition. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaBearJade 2090 Share Posted March 23, 2015 All announcements should be in game. Not the forums. New rule changes should be announced in game. No one should have to get on the forums to avoid being screwed over. I am only going to comment on this out of your negative feedback. If players are too lazy to look at the forums for a quick announcement, then why bother having forums? Not everyone will be online when a new announcement is made. Here is a solution that should make you happy and is minorly easy to do. When a new announcement is made on the forums, either A) Have the techies make a thing for when you log in it tells you to check the forum posts or B) Have GMs sporadically Broadcast the announcement of a new thread every few hours for one day Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyndikate 2303 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I am only going to comment on this out of your negative feedback. If players are too lazy to look at the forums for a quick announcement, then why bother having forums? Not everyone will be online when a new announcement is made. Here is a solution that should make you happy and is minorly easy to do. When a new announcement is made on the forums, either A) Have the techies make a thing for when you log in it tells you to check the forum posts or B) Have GMs sporadically Broadcast the announcement of a new thread every few hours for one day Because players shouldn't have to constantly be on the forums when they just want to play the game. I play a lot of MMOs and rarely ever visit the forum because I care more about whats in the game. Hell, if not for Villain Applications or Magic Apps, I'd never be on the forums. Forums are great to get to know everyone else on an in-depth level, and have a civilized discussion about things, but it should never be a requirement to play the game safely. How would you feel as a new player that you're building a nice house or getting all your bearings without even realizing you're starting on the last day before the next map's release, and you wake up in the morning and realize all your items are gone, and you can't find your house that you spent two hours building? If I was that newbie, I'd be really upset because it happened with no IG warnings. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ski_king3 0 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I actually agree with Cyndikate in regards to making all announcements of major changes happen in-game. It should still happen on the forums as well, but some folks don't check the forums, especially the new players. Also, I think the AT needs to be a bit more lenient when reviewing applications. I may be wrong, but it looks like more are being denied than accepted, which should never be the case. Players by and large learn to roleplay on LotC, so being strict in the application review process doesn't do anything to improve the quality of candidates we get. However, it does hurt us in getting new players on the server, as not all denied applicants reapply. Also, if I'm wrong about this, then feel free to let me know, I did a really quick count of accepted and denied apps recently but didn't check over the span of a month or longer. Also, I think it would be cool if AT folk kept track of new players on the server and messaged them if they needed any help. This would be a sorta big task, so I don't know if it could ever happen, but I feel like if new players get PM's from staff members making sure their transition is okay, then they'll be more likely to stay on the server initially. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hearth_ 1023 Share Posted March 23, 2015 To be honest, the server is way too complicated for new players. Even a tutorial island wouldn't help, and frankly it would ruin roleplay. What, we have a magical place that teaches us how to do everything in life without having to learn it through interactions? Sigh. The Lord of the Craft has held a very special place in my heart for years. When I started back in Aegis, I recall there being a stupid 'professions' plugin that was designed to 'improve roleplay'. Sound familiar? Well it was removed because it turns out, it actually hindered the quality of roleplay drastically, just as it is now. Anyways, this isn't about the quality of roleplay, it's about the new players. These 'professions' or 'skills' are ridiculous. They have to adapt to an entire new crafting system, which is a ton of work, after writing a massive application, which is a ton of work. Not to mention, the plugin is so, so very expensive to get anywhere. With the addition of vast expanses of protected land, the players can't even get the materials they need to begin crafting. Please, if you want to make the server more welcoming, remove the new crafting system that takes a quarter of an hour to make an iron pickaxe. Love you. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicWhaleShark 2488 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I'm going to argue for the crafting plugin in this case. While it's certainly expensive and it's also tedious at times with crafting times, not being able to control the quality of a weapon you produce, having to find a crafting station for your specific need, needing a waterlogged schematic to figure out how to make a diamond weapon despite being perfectly capable of making weapons in different materials, etc. I think it's definitely encouraged roleplay to occur around trade RP and the like. People are going to go to a craftsman if they want to go through with that RP. But they are encouraged to go to a craftsman when they are not able to do something on their own, and even further they are more likely to go more often. Sure, you have people with alts that are there specifically to grind, but those people wouldn't have roleplayed with you anyways, they would have just gone to a crafting table and smushed two pieces of iron and a stick together to make a sword. It's given substance to the merchant side of RP and backing to craftsman that want to say they're the best. It's quite different from the skill plugins in the past where you stood by a wall of furnaces to improve your sword damage, I'd say it's an improvement and it should definitely stay. The crafting plugin is not perfect, but I think it's done its job in improving roleplay to at least some degree. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hearth_ 1023 Share Posted March 23, 2015 I apologize if I sound rude during my post, it's the accidental tone I carry during a slight argument. Anyways, Yes, I can admit that having to go find a specific person or workbench for a specific item creates roleplay. But does hours of being alone in the wilds causing mass deforestation? I think not. You can't even aquire wood if you didn't choose lumberjack, which is a bit crazy. You're revoking players of a basic material of the core game, minecraft. How are you expected to make all of those benches without being able to acquire wood? New players are dirt poor remember, so they cannot afford to buy materials to make these benches. Remember this post is about the introduction of new players, not an argument on if the crafting plugin increases roleplay or not. But seriously, tell the people who spend hours of their life increasing a virtual skill so they can effectively gather a log. Last I checked, not all of us are thirty year olds living in our parents basement without a life. All in all, the plugin, to me at least, hinders new players from enjoying their time. The server should be more about interaction, and less about being alone in the woods. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaBearJade 2090 Share Posted March 23, 2015 To tend to a lot of the issues brought up: We actually do more pending than accepted/denied. However we are working with new ways to bring it to more accepted and pending than denied. To get new players used to plugins we have tutorial island and a few other things in planning that will help new players adapt to our server. The comment about the 24 hour rule. The reason this will not be changed is, if a player can not abide by a simple rule as "reapply after 24 hours" then how can we trust them to abide by any other rule. The 24 hour rule helps ensure that their application is perfected and they get a good grasp on lore. Many times when they reapply within 24 hours, there is hardly any change to the application. All in all there are currently solutions for some of the problems you have all stated. All feedback is appreciated and welcome. ^_^ 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salvo 1852 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Protected land, to be honest. Griefers, true, they exist. But denying people the basic ability to build or MINE, (half of this game's name) has always been frustrating. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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