attracting new players

[onesoul]

How do we attract and retain new players?

MWLL is a very niche game.  I play about every other night and a napkin math count has about 40-60 players on the listed servers.  I recognize about 30% of the players as regulars.

This is a open discussion.  I have a few ideas, but this needs to be a community effort.  My remarks are observations and trends from only playing MWLL 0.5.1 for about 100 or so hours (essentially a MWLL newbie), but I've played Battletech from 1984 including all the video games.  If you get butt-hurt from my remarks, you're missing the point.

- Advertising:  I worked at Xfire for almost 6 years and the Windows client has a rotating static image ad.  I'll ask if they will run MWLL ads for free in their spare inventory.  No promises there.  Advertising cost money and I don't know if Titan, Xfire's new owners, will do it for free.  Where else are zero cost advertising opportunities?

- Xfire in-game:  All the game support expertise left Xfire with the Titan acquisition.  The [XFGM] community has prototype support for MWLL, but it ain't ready.  The more users (Xfire has a few hundred thousand unique users per day) that see MW:LL being played, the better.  Notably, Xfire has free, dedicated voice chat servers.  Create a group chat room, Actions - Join Voice Chat, invite others.  Xfire voice chat works regardless of game support.

- Recommended video settings:  This might be in the wiki, but I didn't find it.  With particles on Med setting, I don't see tracers or shots in flight, making makes some weapons borderline unusable.  Water on Low setting makes it a white sheet of paper.  I learned those the hard way when I first started playing.

- Computationally expensive maps:  Not everyone has uber gaming rigs.  Some maps alone are a burden even without Mech and terrain particle effects.  Inferno is an example.  This is tightly coupled with the recommended video settings.

- Gameplay:  Some of the regulars/vets are good.  Really good, but the more experienced players aren't coaching the "pubbers".  Moreover, the regulars have no issue repeatedly hammering the same less-experienced/skilled "pubbers" to rank up.  There is a huge skill gap between new players and regulars, and the regulars rarely step up to train newbies.  It sucks constantly getting slaughtered and learning on your own "the hard way".  (Props to doorknob for his instructional videos!)

- Teamspeak vs in-game voice chat:  Some voice chat from regulars to "pubbers" is better than none.
MWLL is a team-based game, but grouped regulars do their voice chat exclusively on Teamspeak with very little typed text.  That leaves "pubbers" to fend for themselves.  Bind 2 different buttons:  one for TS and one for in-game voice.  That way you can carry on two different voice conversations (leaving your hands free for combat).  I rarely hear players using in-game voice chat.  Perhaps "pubbers" don't have mics or don't want to be heard.  Regulars should help the entire team by using in-game voice.

Yes, the counter-proposal to that is having all players use TS, but think that through for a moment.  How much time is wasted simply moving users between TS channels for organized regulars' games?  Now try that for public.

Someone's bound to raise the issue of in-game voice quality.  It's not as good as Teamspeak, and sometimes the audio gain (volume) is wrong (quiet/loud), but the in-game voice is already there.  Voice chat bandwidth demand is also very low, usually less than 16 Kbps, because it is very easy to compress.

[Nate]

- Gameplay:  Some of the regulars/vets are good.  Really good, but the more experienced players aren't coaching the "pubbers".  Moreover, the regulars have no issue repeatedly hammering the same less-experienced/skilled "pubbers" to rank up.  There is a huge skill gap between new players and regulars, and the regulars rarely step up to train newbies.  It sucks constantly getting slaughtered and learning on your own "the hard way".  (Props to doorknob for his instructional videos!)

I'll admit that I've been getting in the bad habit of having this tendency lately, because of the following reasons: (a)There's no other server to play on at the time, (b)I can't change teams due to team player count balance to even out the skill level a bit, (c)It's extremely boring having to idle for about 10 minutes so that I'll be outmatched asset wise and thus even the playing field a bit. Yes, I know I should just leave the server if I start seeing myself do this, so please call me out whenever you see it and maybe we'll try to start something on another server.

A well written post overall, the concept of advertising has always been kicked around here, but we haven't found an effective means of doing it (and by effective means, I mean they require money).

[CGB [CoffiNail]]

How do we attract and retain new players?

MWLL is a very niche game.  I play about every other night and a napkin math count has about 40-60 players on the listed servers.  I recognize about 30% of the players as regulars.

This is a open discussion.  I have a few ideas, but this needs to be a community effort.  My remarks are observations and trends from only playing MWLL 0.5.1 for about 100 or so hours (essentially a MWLL newbie), but I've played Battletech from 1984 including all the video games.  If you get butt-hurt from my remarks, you're missing the point.

- Advertising:  I worked at Xfire for almost 6 years and the Windows client has a rotating static image ad.  I'll ask if they will run MWLL ads for free in their spare inventory.  No promises there.  Advertising cost money and I don't know if Titan, Xfire's new owners, will do it for free.  Where else are zero cost advertising opportunities?

- Xfire in-game:  All the game support expertise left Xfire with the Titan acquisition.  The [XFGM] community has prototype support for MWLL, but it ain't ready.  The more users (Xfire has a few hundred thousand unique users per day) that see MW:LL being played, the better.  Notably, Xfire has free, dedicated voice chat servers.  Create a group chat room, Actions - Join Voice Chat, invite others.  Xfire voice chat works regardless of game support.
not touching these as I am not really sure what Xfire is...*edit* but I would love to see the mod advertised more
- Recommended video settings:  This might be in the wiki, but I didn't find it.  With particles on Med setting, I don't see tracers or shots in flight, making makes some weapons borderline unusable.  Water on Low setting makes it a white sheet of paper.  I learned those the hard way when I first started playing.

- Computationally expensive maps:  Not everyone has uber gaming rigs.  Some maps alone are a burden even without Mech and terrain particle effects.  Inferno is an example.  This is tightly coupled with the recommended video settings.

A lot of the map developers are trying to show their skill and iirc would intend to use their projects in MWLL for their portfolio... So they are trying to make real good looking maps in par with what Crysis can do. If a PC is running medium, there is a reason why and those extra tracer rounds could make the game unplayable for them

- Gameplay:  Some of the regulars/vets are good.  Really good, but the more experienced players aren't coaching the "pubbers".  Moreover, the regulars have no issue repeatedly hammering the same less-experienced/skilled "pubbers" to rank up.  There is a huge skill gap between new players and regulars, and the regulars rarely step up to train newbies.  It sucks constantly getting slaughtered and learning on your own "the hard way".  (Props to doorknob for his instructional videos!)
You are trying to get a bunch of gamers to want to listen to the vets?  We try, very often (and I am not meaning NotSoCoolJ's ranting and raving) to help the new players.  A lot of the time they ignore you.  We have a few resources for people who want to learn more, and more so I never see a player asking in game... "I am new, someone want to help me out? The few times you do see this, someone does if not a few give the new guy advice.  I have ran with a couple new people tossing them tid bits befroe, but this leads in to your next point

- Teamspeak vs in-game voice chat:  Some voice chat from regulars to "pubbers" is better than none.
MWLL is a team-based game, but grouped regulars do their voice chat exclusively on Teamspeak with very little typed text.  That leaves "pubbers" to fend for themselves.  Bind 2 different buttons:  one for TS and one for in-game voice.  That way you can carry on two different voice conversations (leaving your hands free for combat).  I rarely hear players using in-game voice chat.  Perhaps "pubbers" don't have mics or don't want to be heard.  Regulars should help the entire team by using in-game voice.


Yes, the counter-proposal to that is having all players use TS, but think that through for a moment.  How much time is wasted simply moving users between TS channels for organized regulars' games?  Now try that for public.

Someone's bound to raise the issue of in-game voice quality.  It's not as good as Teamspeak, and sometimes the audio gain (volume) is wrong (quiet/loud), but the in-game voice is already there.  Voice chat bandwidth demand is also very low, usually less than 16 Kbps, because it is very easy to compress.
As you are newer the in game comms really does suck worse than any cheap hooker you can find... Like some people can hear you fine, others cannot and some cannot hear you at all.  Vcomms in MWLL are VERY hit and miss... I have had a few times where I try to give advice to someone over comms and they do not hear it, or it is too faint for me to be of great help.  I think all servers should advertise a come join us on TeamSpeak and display the outreach server address... Huntress last i checked advertised their rarely used TS channel, not the community one. But yes... Crysis's Voice communication that is built is crapola! Sadly the DEVs from my knowledge do not have access to the vcomm code to try and improve it.

So it is not really the quality, it is the fact it really cannot be used effectivly.  Sometimes the same player that last night i could hear no problems all of a sudden is really quiet.  Team speak is where is it at bro.

[Cygma]

- Recommended video settings:  This might be in the wiki, but I didn't find it.  With particles on Med setting, I don't see tracers or shots in flight, making makes some weapons borderline unusable.  Water on Low setting makes it a white sheet of paper.  I learned those the hard way when I first started playing.

Please report those as they are bugs.

As for performance, we are working on optimizing things where possible without sacrificing the looks of the game. However with MW:LL being a volunteer effort, it may take a bit before we get to work on certain things.

Edit: Oh, and:

- Advertising:  I worked at Xfire for almost 6 years and the Windows client has a rotating static image ad.  I'll ask if they will run MWLL ads for free in their spare inventory.

Good stuff

[Bloodycrow]

- Xfire in-game:  All the game support expertise left Xfire with the Titan acquisition.  The [XFGM] community has prototype support for MWLL, but it ain't ready.  The more users (Xfire has a few hundred thousand unique users per day) that see MW:LL being played, the better.  Notably, Xfire has free, dedicated voice chat servers.  Create a group chat room, Actions - Join Voice Chat, invite others.  Xfire voice chat works regardless of game support.

As a constant Xfire user, I would love to see this implemented. As it is, I can't even get it to track the Crysis Wars usage; I use the 64bit version of Wars, and despite using the Xfire 64bit, it will only track the 32bit version.

[=KoS= Tripod]

Honestly improving with the help of vets doesn't take much effort or voice comms

Find the highest ranking dude on your team (a group of friends or clan members that stick together is even better) and follow them around. Shoot what they shoot, retreat when they retreat and try to take either a similar asset or one that compliments theirs

Doing something as simple as this (you don't even have to talk to the guy) will net you a whole load of experience. I used to ask if any newer players wanted a wingman to help them out whenever I joined, but no one ever answered so I stopped.

If you want help, don't expect for it to be handed to you like we can read your mind
(that goes for all new guys, not just you as having prior experience in MW games really helps)

Most of the other questions got answered well by others

[TAX_MAN!]

As a constant Xfire user, I would love to see this implemented. As it is, I can't even get it to track the Crysis Wars usage; I use the 64bit version of Wars, and despite using the Xfire 64bit, it will only track the 32bit version.

Make sure it's set to use the DX10 overlay.  It'll work that way.  My xfire tracks it just fine.

[Bloodycrow]

As a constant Xfire user, I would love to see this implemented. As it is, I can't even get it to track the Crysis Wars usage; I use the 64bit version of Wars, and despite using the Xfire 64bit, it will only track the 32bit version.

Make sure it's set to use the DX10 overlay.  It'll work that way.  My xfire tracks it just fine.

Thank you for the suggestion. It is set to the DX10 overlay, however. Perhaps it's because I use the Steam version of Crysis Wars that it won't track when I run MWLL?

[TAX_MAN!]

Thank you for the suggestion. It is set to the DX10 overlay, however. Perhaps it's because I use the Steam version of Crysis Wars that it won't track when I run MWLL?

Yeah, there's a problem with that.  I've also setup steam to use the overlay on Crysis Wars.  Just one thing.  The game crashes if you try to use both overlays.  Don't know why, but it does that.  So depending on who I am playing with I will have to disable xfire in game for Crysis Wars.

[Gwartham Haldane]

Well the way I see it is that even in its hayday, mech wasnt a giant game, not by the standards of the day.

And then to think its hayday was well over a decade ago, and anything mech related that has come out since has been pretty crappy......

Most people out there playing games today have either totally forgotten about mechwarrior, or were too young to even remember mechwarrior.

Add to that the game requires a "dead" game in order to play.

Really this is going to be a word of mouth type game.

My suggestion is advertise wherever you can, possibly getting it gamesite coverage whenever you can.

[Ressk [CSF]]

the newbs in the server need to speak up more in the typing. Sure we are usually chatting away in team-speak but that doesn't mean you cant ask people for help via typing. Things go smoother if ppl say anything at all, while normally people just sit there in their mellowing mood and get frustrated.

[Gouty]

- Gameplay:  Some of the regulars/vets are good.  Really good, but the more experienced players aren't coaching the "pubbers".  Moreover, the regulars have no issue repeatedly hammering the same less-experienced/skilled "pubbers" to rank up.  There is a huge skill gap between new players and regulars, and the regulars rarely step up to train newbies.  It sucks constantly getting slaughtered and learning on your own "the hard way".  (Props to doorknob for his instructional videos!)

In my experience, if a new player is asking questions on a packed server (using the in game text chat), people will normally help them out.  It is, however, difficult to do whilst typing and trying to play yourself (so teamspeak is preferable)

Also, some regulars are very keen to help out:

RMA Sandhurst

Please point this resource out to them!

I realise that I haven't done much to promote the Academy, I have a couple of ideas, but they aren't complete.  If anyone else has any ideas, PM me or start a topic, or don't

[12oz Jesus]

I would offer that the gameplay doesn't suffer so much from vets vs newbies as simply certain mechanics that lead to a certain repetitiveness if the player is not just a hardcore Mechwarrior fan.  Giant robots with crap-loads of firepower are fun no matter if you've heard of the old MW games or not, but sometimes the way matches (limited to 1 to 3 server/gametype choices at most) play out can lead to a lack of retention of newer, more casual gamers before they stick around long enough to learn the nuances of the game and potentially fall in love with the game for what it is.

Mechanics working against hooking players early and getting them addicted (as I see it, just my humble opinion):

1.  There is not only little consequence to getting your mech/vehicle blown up, but in fact certain players will benefit from it.
 - It is often easier and quicker to earn your way to an upgraded mech by running headlong into enemy territory to get in as many hits in as possible before being blown up - and thus gaining rank (and c-bills on respawn) as it is to nurse a little starter mech long enough to build some bank, actually survive the long walk back to sell the damaged hull and have enough for a decent upgrade.
- obviously the skilled will say it is easy to do the latter but it is not usually apparent or so easy for newer players.

2.  In light of #1, there isn't that much benefit and/or satisfaction to getting that kill on an enemy mech that will just be returning all shined up at the end of respawn countdown.
 - Given the nature of well-armored steel beasts, the slow and team-effort kills are a bit different than the usual rather instant-gratification /"all my l33t skills" kills of the usual popular FPS games such that the kill itself isn't necessarily satisfying enough on its own.  After all, you didn't round a corner and headshot your adversary before they could return fire (usually), you either popped in and out of cover plinking away until they succumbed or were just one of several people burning them down.  To be clear: the strategic nature of the kill is NOT a bad thing.  It just is different from what many may be used to and therefore requires a little more "reward" or "impact" for the kill than the current 30 second spawn timer delay.  This is not me speaking, it is a recognition of the current majority of gamers (right or wrong).
- Seeing the dead husk of the adversary you just killed/helped to kill for the rest of the round or until the objective you were fighting for is taken leaves a player with much more impact and satisfaction.  Of course, in reverse, some players dislike having to wait to respawn.  Certain games such as Red Orchestra, World of Tanks, Navy Field, Counter-strike, and other survival incentivising games have managed to balance the two and remain quite popular.
 - Other rewards/impact effects certainly exist that may not involve dead players have to wait a few minutes to re-join for the next objective.

3. Starting over with no tangible rewards for previous hours of playtime...  The phenomenon prevalent in modern gaming is one of a feeling of "wasted" time once the map resets and you have nothing to show for that previous kick-ass round.
 - This was discussed in a previous thread and I understand the sentiment of the current players.  I'm just offering my take on the lack of new player attraction despite MWLL being a much better game overall than certain other games that enjoy 100 times the popularity.  The hardcore players say "we don't ned them."  Perhaps that's true, but the developers who naturally want to show their baby to a broad audience may disagree.
- Persistence doesn't have to follow the Modern Warfare 3 or "everybody gets a trophy" model.  Even fairly temporary rewards that are spent or last only a day or 2 would go a long way to scratching the itch of something more to play for.

I certainly don't have all the answers and I know I even missed some of the questions.  I just thought I'd throw out my 2 cents on the matter as I really like the mod and would like to get more enjoyment out of it myself.

Keep the change.

[SquareSphere }12thVR{]

not a bad post and i'm glad you took the time to look at older threads that cover this topic as well.

The mentality to play this type of game is very different than what is currently offered in the main stream.  MWLL is focused on team based combined arms and does not cater to lone wolf, one man armies.

That's nothing against the currently set of FPS, there are plenty in the at large "mechwarrior" community that hate the fact that mechs don't rule all and can't destroy any asset in 2-3 alpha strikes.

[[IPA] Thalamus]

Unfortunately, OP is right in that MWLL is a mod of an almost dead game, reviving an almost dead franchise. Although I have to say that I know many people in their early 20s who have played earlier releases of Mechwarrior and kept them in good memory.  They were amazed when they heard of the MW3015 trailer, but none actually googled for further information -- so there might still be a number of potential players who just don't know about MWLL.



But the fact that Battletech is hibernating doesn't mean that MWLL can't have its own niche. Surviving and doing well in MWLL depends largely on a solid situational awareness (-> communication) and tactical judgement (-> which fights to pick, when to retreat). Knowledge about the different assets in the game is also a pre. As a bonus, there is a cozy community. I do not know any other game, at least not a combined arms science fiction game,  that offers such a combination. And the combined arms aspect makes the MWLL experience just more diverse and appropriate for all kinds of people.
    If I had to take a guess though, I'd say that our target audience is roughly the same as the target audience of EVE, the X-series and maybe tactical shooters like ARMA: people who like a game where you have to consciously maneuver, where its helpful to (not literally) compare tech sheets of different assets and were succes is a joint achievement. People who might just view crunching numbers as a entertaining aspect of the game experience. Also, the MWLL universe offers plenty of opportunities to see yourself as a part of a big storyline.


So as it would really be nice to have more players, and there is a possible target audience in players of other "techy" multiplayer games, I'm convinced that we could win new players if we went to their communities and showed them what MWLL is, what they can expect from playing the game and what its origins (storywise) are.