Fractal Muse
Republic University
Minmatar Republic
21
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Posted - 2012.11.11 18:42:00 -
[1] - Quote
I tend to spend a lot of time thinking about user experience and retention percentages - not just about EVE online but in general.
I have recently come back to EVE after a long period of non-playing - I got scared off with the whole Noble Exchange thing plus Walking in Stations 'expansion.'
The new player experience in EVE isn't a bad one as such. The "new" tutorials are pretty decent at guiding a player through their first brush with the game. The tutorials fall down in explaining skill paths and how important these decisions are for a character but, at the same time, picking the wrong skill and training it to level 3 isn't really significant overall.
As such, I do not agree that the skill system unto itself is a problem for new players. I do think that greater emphasis should be given to specialization and how a new player can get to a point of flying a ship 'perfectly' (in terms of skills) so that they do not feel like they can't ever catch up to older players.
Where EVE Online lacks is how it manages the transition from guided gameplay (tutorials / missions) to user directed gameplay. Once you finish the tutorials you are left with being overwhelmed with the 'what's next' question. There is little to no guidance at this stage in the game. There needs to be an intermediary phase introduced to the game that gives broad objectives but only hints as to possible ways to obtain it. In other words, there isn't one specific or right way to accomplish the objective so the burden of figuring out how to do it shifts to the player but they still have a goal to accomplish and work towards.
For example, an objective with multiple paths to accomplishing it would be to make 10,000,000 ISK. The first ten million. Make it into a milestone and reward it with something cool (maybe a skill reset? a neural remap? something that would allow a player to correct mistakes at this point? make them think about what they are going to do in EVE)
EVE needs to have something like EFT and EVEMon integrated into the game itself. The lack of these two tools makes life unnecessarily difficult for new players. The fact that most, if not all, players use one or the other of these tools (or a variation thereof) screams to a lack of something critical and fundamental in EVE's game design. Please incorporate this kind of tool into the game and introduce players to it early.
The way I figure it, if someone is interested enough to give EVE Online a try, then they are interested enough to keep on playing. This means that CCP is dropping the ball when it comes to new players. Somewhere along the line the game becomes either too frustrating for a new player or boring. The new user experience needs to reduce barriers (frustration) and make things interesting without creating reliance on 'quests' for all the interest. Players need to be taught and shown how to make their own fun. Right now, that element isn't well done since it is a tough one to encapsulate and codify. |