Eternal Montage
Frontier Explorer's League
Sadistica Alliance
82
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Posted - 2013.01.18 14:54:00 -
[1] - Quote
I think the thing that seems to make eve work is the people playing it. I wouldn't still be playing today if I didn't have someone take me under their wing early on. I try to pay it forward by blowing up noobs and then teaching them what they did wrong, and in many cases, bringing them on an adventure. Eve is tough to get into but if someone brings you on some sort of mission or exploration run or pvp run or something and you catch a glimpse of what this game really is, than you won't be going anywhere after that.
People don't understand right off the bat that the storyline is embedded in real choices and actions. They expect it to unfold through missions or some sort of linear story and when that doesn't come they give up because the monotony of missioning doesn't hold them. You have to show new players that they have to sort of come up with an idea and go out and test it, and tweak it, and perfect it and farm it. This applies to PVP and PVE. You show the new player that if you do this, this and this; THIS will happen. And once the new player sees that, they will begin to come up with their own ideas and experiments and they'll have a reason to come back and log in each day.
I think the real problem, if there is a problem, is that many old players don't do this. Perhaps not everyone is cut out for teaching, but if we're talking about new player retention, than mentoring is absolutely essential. The newbies that slip through the cracks are the ones that couldn't grasp it and never had someone come along and say "look, it's not too hard... just try this."
I think the solution to the problem isn't adding in game mechanics that guide the new player. I think it's things like RvB and Eve Uni. It's actual human beings that enjoy teaching and seeing the wonder in a new players eye when they see their first blue explosion or get their first kill or find their first mag site or mine their first chunk or steal their first salvage or kill their first sleeper or whatever. Point is, once the new player has that first big experience that hooks them, they become EXTREMELY loyal to the game. Our job as veteran players is to hone in on the newbies with potential, and reveal to them what Eve actually is, because they undoubtedly have some pretext that needs to be ameliorated.
Edit: And to the OP, the player you speak of might not have been cut out for Eve, not everyone is. I wouldn't beat yourself up over it, you did the right thing in trying to help them. I'd move on and find a new protege. There are plenty of noobs out there that need your wisdom and patience.
https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=169738 |