Archived Low Player Return Rate

[Oxoman]

Introduction
On an anecdotal level, one of the problems I've seen a lot is that a large number of players are very disoriented upon arrival, quite understandably, which in turn leads to a high drop out rate. Often, when seeing particularly confused players in help chat or general, I'll /seen them, when I see they're new, I realise there's a lot of work to be done. I do my best to offer them relevant links or important pages but they're often left with more questions.

Looking at the statistics, every month we have in the region of 4,500 new players while the number of returning players is unchanging. Clearly, with so many new players each month, MassiveCraft has done a good job of advertising itself and attracting new players. But why isn't the number of returning players increasing. Well, either 4,500 players leave the server each month, or 4,500 don't bother to stay. Happily, I'm sure it's somewhere in the middle, and while departing players are a much more complex problem, we can certainly ask, 'Why aren't more players staying?'

Problem
There are a number of reasons for not returning:

• for some, the very nature of the server may be a turn off, and this cannot be changed nor should we change it. Everyone has different tastes;
• some may simply have little interest in Minecraft, and only joined the server to play with a friend or something of the like;
• some may be overwhelmed by the range of options and the gross uniquity that MassiveCraft represents.

It is this third problem that I believe needs addressing.

We already have resources in place to tackle this issue, but I'm not convinced that they're working. Let's isolate them.
When first joining the server, a player is shown four portals. At this stage, there is little guidance, and as simple as it may be, perhaps it is here that the first guide should be offered. A quick explanation of the four quarters of MassiveCraft. The choice between roleplay, PvP and quests may be simple for some, but it is a path not easily undone. We should tell our players what these portals mean.

As for the quests, I cannot access the transcripts, but sometimes text in the Minecraft text box isn't the most readable. I don't know what the quests address, but it may well be that the player isn't quite sure what roleplay/PvP is or how it operates in the community and they're not necessarily interested in that. They may also lack the knowledge of key commands that they will likely need later on.

Solution
There are a number of useful guides out there, such as the Main Guide (particularly the quickstart section) on the website, the Key Commands guide on the website and the Roleplay guide on the wiki are are all good examples. I feel the important thing that we need is a clear guide structure that helps new players understand the basics so that they can go out there and enjoy the server. It should give them the opportunity to easily skip through the sections that don't apply to them. This should also be strongly suggested to players upon joining the game. Furthermore, as crude as it may be, perhaps the Minecraft standard of signs wouldn't be all that bad of an idea for those who are too lazy to click a link. With very basic pointers such as /tp, the chat system, and - dare I say it - links.

EDIT:
Since some suggested specifics of a solution I will offer such.

Contents of an Overall Wiki Guide

• What is Massivecraft?
• What is roleplay?
• What is PvP?
• What are quests?
• Quick guide
  • Different chats, /tp, short and simple
• Factions as a starting point
  • Different types of factions
• Roleplay Explained
  • Stuff about Regalia
  • Stuff about creating characters
  • Stuff about roleplay rules
• PvP Explained
  • Factions recap
  • McMMO
  • Traits
• Quests Explained
  • Different quest locations
  • Quest rewards and how to do them
• Features of MassiveCraft (basically same as the Main Guide on the website)

 

[Alj23]

If I recall correctly, the starter quest is there to give players a brief introduction of the server while not being extremely log, and thus deter players with walls of text, like you said. It covers chat channels, factions, our currency, and many other things, as well as gives armor, weapons, and good upon completion. So in theory, every new player that completes the quest should be set.

In this thread, I stated an idea that would essentially create two new quest givers in the starting area, one specifically for PVP related things, and one for RP related things. This way, new players could do the starting quest that already exist, and then do the PVP and RP quest to learn more about the server.

 

[Izolda]

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I'll start out by saying that what you have pointed out is very true, and I see this with new players all the time. While I understand the solution you present, it doesn't really provide much information on how this could be implemented, and lacks some specific details on what you want to see happen to correct the problem. We can say we need guides and information presented in a way easily accessible to new players all we want, but without a plan for how to go about implementing these guides, and what types of guides should be implemented we aren't really getting anywhere.

You bring up the point of signs, but this issue is more complicated then just slapping a bunch of signs everywhere. People are still going to ignore them and are still going to have questions and we are still going to have players get confused, become frustrated and eventually give up on the server. I don't claim to know how to fix a problem like this either but there has to be more detail on what is to be done and how to implement whatever it is.

I'd also like to propose another point regarding the community itself. I don't think that this is all to blame on just poor guides and confusing lobbies, etc. Currently I role-play a majority of my time on massive and so it's what I'm most knowledgeable about on the server, but I have my fair share of experience on the server in general. Too many times have I seen players get cast aside an ignored just for the simple fact that they were new and didon't understand roleplay. There are new players who legitimately want to learn but get shunned by players without even giving them a chance to learn or improve. Almost every day I see some argument break out in OOC chat about how this player is doing something wrong or just general rudeness to people based on their roleplay quality or even their skin. As a community we are failing these players by not giving them a chance and condemning them to failure with no chance to improve. While it's true that not everyone that this happens to really wants to learn, I'm sure there is up and coming role-players who never get their chance due to being cast away because some of us aren't helping them on a constructive manner. I do what I can to help new players, and I'm sure others do to, but I think the unwillingness to give constructive help is definitely and issue that is present. I imagine that if I'm seeing this happening in roleplay it's likely to be happening in other areas on the server too.

My point is, it's not just about what the server itself can do to help players, we as a community could do more to help those who are actually askin for help but not getting it. Just something to think about.

 

[Beetletoes]

Personally, I like the idea of a mentor system. I've done this one or twice before. It involves a more experienced player sort of taking a new one under their wing, offering them a spot in their faction, helping them make a character, etc. I think while the quest teaches the basics, an actual player is best for educating a new guy.

 

[bbrickman99]

I opened my once one-man faction doors in January and ever since then I deal with this whenever I recruit someone. I've recruited both new and returning players. There is a lot to explain, even with returning players (i.e. Massive Restore, traits, vamps are back, wait vamps were gone for a time?!? etc.) I often spend a solid hour in chat with new recruits, giving them links, explaining how things work. There is a lot of confusion. Now to be fair a good 30 min of that time includes a tour and the talk is focused on the faction. But a solid 30 min are spent on server policies, mechanics, plugins, commands, changes since they were last on, etc. With my prem, I've been able to do /seen and know based on regals and time on server if they've done the starting quest or not. Usually they have done the quest yet they are *still* loaded with questions and need lots of guidance. Then I run across some that think they've done the starter quest but I can tell by /seen they have not. So either they were lying or confused.

Maybe find a way to tie a regal reward bonus into showing quick, but active understanding of a few basics of the server? How to get people to *read* and *display* comprehension and competence???? I think it's going to take regals. I don't know what this would look like exactly. I finally tried out some quests during this summer festival and remember thinking to myself how awesome it would be if there were multiple choice things I could click on to say back to the NPC's in the quests. A similar multiple choice format that required some intelligent response from new players that they read and understood rules, and then upon completion could get some regals? I don't know just throwing this idea out there to be beat around.

Here's a few critical elements of info that new players should know and returning players be reminded of:
New folks need to display competency in chat channels. Too much asking to join a faction in general or help instead of recruitment.
Faction basics, like using /f f to see who's online in my fac, etc. [[Classic mix of these two gone wrong: new guy gets on general and asks if anyone on his fac is on...]]
Traits and MCMMO - new folks should be more aware of the awesomeness these plugins bring to the server. Are they provided with knowledge of how to use in game commands to learn more about these plugins (apart from random announcements - which are nice, they are what helped me when I first came to the server, but they are random)
Respectful rule knowledge: grief, cheating, conduct in PvP, conduct in RP, stealing/looting etc.

 

[Oxoman]

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Definitely! Which is why the server encourages people to join factions, because that's where they learn to play. I think an experienced mentor system

-snip-

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I don't quite have the resources to come up with a solution. The most important thing for me was to identify the issue at hand, which I feel is quite a large one. I think you're quite right. There is a big stigma around 'noobz,' particularly in roleplay where so many of us (disclaimer: not everyone) try so hard to prove that we're good roleplayers, we can elevate ourselves above unexperienced players. This is unwelcoming and provides a barrier to entry. For me, I was refused most roleplay when I started roleplaying, until I made a significant jump in my roleplay quality that resulted from my own motivation. For many, this will not be the case and the server will seem inhospitable towards them. Overall, I want others to consider the solution.

-snip-

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I think you're right, and that the quests do give a lot of guidance. Yet whether some simply fail to do the quests or whether the quests don't impart enough of the required knowledge, we need complimentary methods. The quests are easily missed, because they are observed in wide open spaces. It's easy to run past the villager in favour of big, cool-looking portals. Then players can't get back because they don't know the /tp command. Anecdotally, one guy was wondering around Jorrhildr spawn, looking rather confused, and when I approached him and asked if he needed any help, he simply replied 'strange server' and left: he'd been on for less than 5 minutes. We need to focus the attention of our new players and quickly tell them what MassiveCraft is about. Once they have this information, they can make their own informed decision on whether or not they wish to stay, which hopefully will be 'yes' in a lot of cases.

 

[Azas]

Maybe find a way to tie a regal reward bonus into showing quick, but active understanding of a few basics of the server? How to get people to *read* and *display* comprehension and competence???? I think it's going to take regals. I don't know what this would look like exactly. I finally tried out some quests during this summer festival and remember thinking to myself how awesome it would be if there were multiple choice things I could click on to say back to the NPC's in the quests. A similar multiple choice format that required some intelligent response from new players that they read and understood rules, and then upon completion could get some regals? I don't know just throwing this idea out there to be beat around.

Click to shrink...

I know some servers use spawn mazes of varying kinds. With our portal system, we could give them a short test of sorts, having to choose a door to walk through in response to a question, and if they go through a wrong door, send them to information explaining the concept again/in more detail

Edit: Separate note, another thing is returning players - if they already have data I don't think they can do the initial quests, and thus they are lost and their nostalgia can be crushed by their confusion

 

[Magivore]

updoot

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I can't agree with this more. If I did, you would have 372 agrees. I have tried helping all the players I can, although I am clearly not the best, and it in turn often has them get stuck because they want to find a faction. I always find them a faction to go to, but then the faction does not help them! It is not only an individual effort that one must provide, but also a team, as a football player cannot score if he throws the ball to someone, only to find them to slap it down and claim to be 'feeling lazy'. I almost get pissed when I ask for someone to help me help a new player, and they say 'I am feeling kind of lazy'. I personally see more people simply insist they are lazy as an excuse, more-so than being cruel. Come on, guys! If they want to be able to join a faction or interact with something I cannot do because of my lack of experience to give, someone has to be able to catch the ball and run him to his goal! D: I am no expert in PvP, PvE, hell, not even lore. I can only do so much. It might not be the most entertaining to do, but at this point of players disappearing, it is now pretty much our job, not our choice. Administrators can't help every single player that joins. That would make them grow grey hair before they even turn 25. But you know what? From how many people are always on the server, even just 10 people a day deciding to help every new player they find could increase how many stay, if not dramatically, at least a little bit.

As to the above topic... Personally, the part as to where I see players leave due to command confusion is with traits. I sometimes have to tell them to work on it later when they get a feel for everything else, because of how many there are. Variety is fun, but unfortunately not friendly within your first couple of days! Considering that this plugin is so important, as you are almost guaranteed a loss without them, do you think there is any way one could make it simpler for them? Such as in order to leap over a wall blocking them at the start, signs say they need to learn how to add the 'Jump' trait, then fire immune to cross a lava pool, and THEN it describes downside traits so you can add more? I do not know, I am not very good at this. Either way, those are one of the most important things to learn in the early, else they stand zero chance once they cannot find any food to buy or start getting attacked by a player or mob outside of a spawn. ;A:

 

[Oxoman]

@Anima_Vendit
While I agree with y'all that the player can and should help. My reason for creating this thread is that I've spent so much time trying to help players out, which is why I think a single, straightforward resource on the wiki, presented to players immediately upon arrival, would simplify things. From there, questions can be asked and mentoring can begin. The faction system can be a great tool for initiating new players, but the faction must be a good, helpful one in order for this to work. Perhaps after '/f join' we should teach players '/f leave.'

 

[Zacatero]

Hello!! First of all I would like to mention that I voted "no" on the above poll. I would also like to say that this is a topic I have felt needed to be addressed for a long time.

I agree that the server does excellent advertisement. Both on the server list websites. Also on other servers that feature the factions plug-in. If anybody goes to the version information, it gives info about massivecraft.com.

It does get kind of boring when you always see the same people on the chats. Always the same people selling stuff. Always the same people recruiting.

I have also noticed that the beginning tutorial quest sometimes bugs up. I have personally assisted several new players when the tutorial quest screws up. And a lot of the time, they don't even get to see how awesome the server is. The quests, Regalia, the survival worlds, they don't get to see any of it before they log off and never return.

I personally agree that having a system where players can mentor new people, because the tutorial doesn't show them around, it doesn't answer questions, is an excellent idea. Of course who is allowed to be a mentor would be decided by the staff. Perhaps the program could tell a new player who is online and who is "working" as a mentor. That way if you are a mentor but don't have time to mentor anybody that day you won't show up on the list.

@Sephite

 

[Magivore]

@FighterBoi You are being spiteful. I voted you 'Read More' on another thread because you sincerely need to read about its topic, and to stop derailing it. Are you seriously going to spite vote me here, when my entire post is literally written for the topic, about the topic, and an assumed guess of a solution for the topic? Can you please settle this by messaging me instead of acting {note I said acting, not being} younger and less mature than I know you can be? You have done this to several other people. Better yet, I want to see you contribute an idea on how you can encourage players to love the community instead of angering people who are giving constructive ideas, or ones that at least can be noted in some tone.

@znake1468 My actual reason for posting here was to sort of point out a couple kinks. Although that seems like a brilliant idea, what do we do when no mentors are online? Although that could be a rare case of one person from each time zone signs in, that also kind of makes it so the players decide it is only the mentor's duty, and not their own. It might end up kind of blocking up ourselves, similar to Marty's sub-concious metagaming post about out of situations that could have only been good for us and others, but we thought was absolutely impossible.

@Oxoman Assuming that the wiki idea comes out, what would the wiki be organized like? Seeing a sort of template might help all of us sort of understand your idea more efficiently, such as PvE in the higher section, PvP in the middle section, RP in the lower, or something.

 

[Zacatero]

@znake1468 My actual reason for posting here was to sort of point out a couple kinks. Although that seems like a brilliant idea, what do we do when no mentors are online? Although that could be a rare case of one person from each time zone signs in, that also kind of makes it so the players decide it is only the mentor's duty, and not their own. It might end up kind of blocking up ourselves, similar to Marty's sub-concious metagaming post about out of situations that could have only been good for us and others, but we thought was absolutely impossible.

Click to shrink...

I had never thought of that as an issue. Of course helping new players isnt restricted to the "mentors"... But i was thinking more because, in general its hard to put all of your trust in the first schmo who shows up in front of you. And before somebody has the time to realize that this server doesnt have a lot of not-trustworthy people, most people dont trust anybody. I was thinking more like a list of "server trusted" mentors who if new people want to find a reliable person to help them they can help!!

 

[Oxoman]

Added a proposed contents of an overall "Getting Started" guide for MassiveCraft.

 

[Sephite]

Let me rethink what happened when I first logged onto Massivecraft:

I spawned in the old Regalia and I was amazed with the ships and the buildings. I didn't even see the beginners quest NPC the first time I entered Massivecraft. I was distracted by everything else. I started running around - as pink rainbow fox (as this was the skin I was using since I found out you could change skins) and looking at all the amazing buildings around me. I read the signs on the ships and concluded that this server was - different. I got exicted and I think I ran (still being a pink fox) into the Tavern. I hadn't seen a player until then and suddenly I stood in front of ten people. One of them whispered to me that pink foxes are not allowed in the city. I got scared, ran away and logged off - confused.
The second time I quickly teleported back to the spawn and entered a ship. After all I knew now that pink foxes are not allowed in the town, so I thought I try a ship. In my rush I again didn't see the quest NPC. I'm not sure to which map I got in the end, but it was one with a big protected area. I didn't find a way to even gather a block of dirt and - now starving - I logged off again.
The third time was finally the time I stayed. The main reason I came back three months later was Regalia and its buildings. When I logged on, I killed myself somehow to not be in the starving mode anymore and I spawned in new Regalia. I was confused, because the wonderful ships were gone and it looked different than the last time I was there. I was nearly about to log off again, if it hadn't been for a player standing at the spawn and helping new people. He whispered me and we got talking. He showed me the Quest NPC, explained the medieval style of Regalia, that everyone should have a medieval skin and after I got to know this server for real this time (two hours explaining and a week of living in a dirthole because I wanted to try to survive myself) he invited me into his faction. From there onwards it was easy to fall for Massivecraft.

~~~~~~~

Now since I started I think important things changed. The Quest-NPC is easier to see for example and you also get more items and money when doing the quest. When I started I struggeled to make some regals, but today you can set up a faction and have 20r left when you do the quest.
But as much as we put quest, signs etc up, nothing is as good as someone you can refer to, who introduces you to the server. I remember I kept asking this guy at the spawn a lot of questions and he never got tired to answer them. Of course he simply wanted to recruit me for his faction, but he was very patient.

So I agree that a mentor system would be good to keep new players on the server. A few thoughts how this could look like:

• I think anyone who has been actively on the server for 1 month should be able to become mentor and
• maybe there could be something like a reward system. Like a small amount of regals every day the new player loggs on or maybe a small lore item every week.
• To become a mentor the new player could have to type some sort of command with the name of his mentor and then the mentor needs to confirm it.
• The mentor shouldn't be able to have more than 3 to 5 new players to look after, so we guarantee that the mentor addresses their questions and doesn't overlook them.
• After 2-3 weeks the relationship should get disbanded automatically, as by then the new player should have had enough time to ask all the questions he had to find either a faction or his own way. This would prevent blocking the new players as @Anima_Vendit mentioned

 

[FighterBoi]

@FighterBoi You are being spiteful. I voted you 'Read More' on another thread because you sincerely need to read about its topic, and to stop derailing it. Are you seriously going to spite vote me here, when my entire post is literally written for the topic, about the topic, and an assumed guess of a solution for the topic? Can you please settle this by messaging me instead of acting {note I said acting, not being} younger and less mature than I know you can be? You have done this to several other people. Better yet, I want to see you contribute an idea on how you can encourage players to love the community instead of angering people who are giving constructive ideas, or ones that at least can be noted in some tone.

@znake1468 My actual reason for posting here was to sort of point out a couple kinks. Although that seems like a brilliant idea, what do we do when no mentors are online? Although that could be a rare case of one person from each time zone signs in, that also kind of makes it so the players decide it is only the mentor's duty, and not their own. It might end up kind of blocking up ourselves, similar to Marty's sub-concious metagaming post about out of situations that could have only been good for us and others, but we thought was absolutely impossible.

@Oxoman Assuming that the wiki idea comes out, what would the wiki be organized like? Seeing a sort of template might help all of us sort of understand your idea more efficiently, such as PvE in the higher section, PvP in the middle section, RP in the lower, or something.

Click to shrink...

You are very annoying , please leave me alone . If you have a problem , send me a personal conversation instead of tagging me in places not related to the thread , and when i reply to your post stop rating me "read more" . Now leave me alone .

 

[Suzzie]

You are very annoying , please leave me alone . If you have a problem , send me a personal conversation instead of tagging me in places not related to the thread , and when i reply to your post stop rating me "read more" . Now leave me alone .

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This was related to the thread as you rated his post "Read the subject again" when it wasn't off-topic.
Please read his post again.

 

[Absorbius]

I'm finding some points I agree with on both sides of the argument here, but I believe it all really falls down to those two things: the community, and the availability of information.

Many players have no idea the forums even exist, and if they do, hardly go on them. The forums aren't presented as a way that users can ask questions. Without that, they resort to help chat. Which, don't get me wrong, has some fantastically helpful people who frequently answer questions, and I can't thank them more. We also have the Game staff, who do their part in helping the new and old out. Unfortunately, there will always be questions, and it's on my opinion that I'd say that some things (such as MassiveChat) could be explained a bit more concisely.

On the other hand, the community occasionally poses a problem. Despite the overwhelming numbers of helpful and calmly oriented people who put things aside to help the new people, it only takes one or two others before new players feel intimidated and unwanted, and end up leaving. As a roleplayer, primarily, I sometimes find others criticizing new players for having incompliant skins, or doing something wrong. Now, this isn't inherently bad, but people can occasionally sound rude and indifferent to the new players. We already have systems in place for this, namely the Guard system (which primarily aims to help people out with roleplay OOC). Unfortunately, the guards can't be everywhere, and aren't staffed to their full extent - so the rest of the community needs to take some slack on occasion and refrain from getting frustrated with new roleplayers.

Anyway, that's my two cents. As I said, I agree with both sides of this; I'm just adding my personal opinion.

Thanks, and ciao~.