The 'absolute' part is debatable - imho. We have heard snippets of "we
were shocked that players got level 50 in xx days played..." makes me think
that they (Verant) are concerned with 'how hard' it is to make levels, etc.
Like why have hell levels? If they want to have some kind of milestone, it
should be a positive re-enforcement - not a negative. If they want to
retain players, that is. More than half of my friends who I started this
game with have pretty much ended their EQ careers because it got to be just
too hard (and too boring) to make progress. In short, it was no fun any
more. A few others have made level 50 - the level of nothing to do. And so
they re-start chars in other classes.
Here are 2 scenarios:
EQ-X: hard to play. Serious players make lev 50. It takes you 6 months of
concentrated playing. You start a couple twinks and play them to upper 20's
and a new game comes out somewhere else that is more fun than then next 10
levels killing aviaks. So you semi-retire your 50 and maybe do occasional
dragons. But then you get sick of all the guild email about stuff you don't
care for and you quit.
EQ-Z: fun to play. Still quite a challenge but acceptable to the people who
want to play 2 or 3 hours at a session and still do pretty good. So they
make level 50 in 5 months. And then start a new char of a different class
or try a char on a Race War team or PvP server. Things are challenging but
still fun - not frustration. So they get this next char to 50 in 3 months.
And then they decide to start another char and see if they can do it without
twinking and do some role playing. Now they are good for another couple
months.
Retention rate of your customer base is gonna depend on the fun factor - and
that will be the 'absolute' of all absolutes. This is after all the
entertainment business. When it's no longer entertaining, you are out of
business.
-----Original Message-----
From:
kim@... [mailto:
kim@...]
Sent: Monday, December 13, 1999 1:07 PM
To: '
eqbards@onelist.com'
Subject: RE: [eqbards] Re:Re: Guise of the Deceiver
(Longish)
From: <
kim@...>
The problem with adding/removing things purely on the basis
of
"fun" is that for the most part, it looks at only the
relative
side of things (will the players be happier after the change
than before?). Unfortunately, the prisoner's dilemma and
tragedy of the commons are very real, and thus create
situations where stuff that makes the players unhappy can be
better for the game.