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GDC 2010: Gordon Walton (SW:TOR Dev) on MMO Retention |
03.11.2010
, 04:37 PM
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I finally found a bit on this lecture after searching all day. Well, you know, "all day". Been looking forward to reading about it, thought others would as well.
Additional notes forthcoming on the website I found this article. Click
As always, apologies if this has been posted already.
Quote:
“MMO Retention - Learning from the First 25 Years,” by Scott Hartsman of Trion, and Gordon Walton of BioWare.
Listening to Hartsman and Walton present was like sitting at a bar listening to two industry icons swap fascinating game tales. But a close listen reveals some priceless lessons in retaining players.
Hartsman echoed some of what McWilliams had previously discussed - store and record data, tie it all together, use it to help make design decisions, and then make sure to study how it affects other things once it goes live.
They compared games to buckets with a hole in the bottom: no matter what, you’re going to lose players. But having the right retention strategies can make those holes a lot smaller. I found some of the underrated psychological factors to retention that they listed to be noteworthy, particularly the concept of providing horizon’s of experience (content not yet seen), and masking the grind (offer achievements and rewards to encourage replayability).
Hartsman pointed to two examples from EQ to show that tough changes can drastically help player retention - hell levels and spell levels. Hell levels in Everquest were levels that required 10 times the normal amount of experience to get through. Spell levels were special levels that provided new spells. What they found out from the data was that players were (not surprisingly) quitting during hell levels, and during non-spell levels. Making changes to even out hell level experience, or spread out the spells awarded through all levels, were two potentially controversial decisions, which could backfire and anger the playerbase. Turns out though, that the players didn’t mind at all, and both changes helped retention, with the spell level changes actually leading to the highest subscription level in EQ ever.
Walton discussed aspirational experiences, and pointed out that they didn’t necessarily have to be day to day, they could be things that people aim for over the long term. In Ultima Online, for example, the data showed that people who had houses stayed longer than people who didn’t, so making changes to offer housing to more players became important.
They both included examples of retention failures as well. Walton mentioned Ultima Online’s decision to improve the user interface, in an attempt to increase acquisition. Not only did it fail in that regard, but it frustrated current players who were comfortable with the old UI, and retention went down.
Hartsman used examples from Everquest 2’s early days, pointing to the features that they put in place to make the game challenging to their target core playerbase. So they added in “locked combat,” which removed the ability for others to help you defeat a mob you were engaged with. Downside of course is that there was no opportunity for players to connect - players couldn’t heal another player, couldn’t help attack a mob, and couldn’t share buffs unless grouped. Of course, the downside is that, at launch, people grouped had to share experience debt from death. In the past, he added, the idea of “intended” meant right way vs. exploits, and now intended means having fun. The presentations I’ve seen so far have really reflected that idea, and it’s something that was highlighted by Mark Skaggs of Zynga today. (notes coming soon!)
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Some interesting concepts indeed, housing caught my eye especially....
*crosses fingers* |
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Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn.
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