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Improving the UI: best way to retain new players?

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Red Maiden
Aliastra
Gallente Federation
#1 - 2012-04-12 20:16:33 UTC  |  Edited by: Red Maiden
At fanfest, one of the most interesting changes that I saw were the potential changes to the UI. The new pic-in-pic, tactical overlay, and overview were quite cool. That got me thinking. Of all the complaints that I've heard from new players, one of the most common denominators is the difficulty of the Overview and the general "spreadsheet-like" appearance of most elements in the spaceflight HUD.

Granted, EVE is a complex game, with loads of information to sift through, so many of us have grown quite comfortable, if not fond of, the current flight UI.

But I imagine that sexing up the UI, even with the few changes shown at fanfest, might be one of the best things that CCP can do to grab new players within the first hours of play. It seems like that would be better than the UI having the opposite effect in player retention, which seems to be the case now. After all, EVE is a beautiful game, but if new players can't see past the HUD, what good is having that beauty?

Has there been a dev blog or update on when the UI changes from fanfest, and other UI improvements, might make it to TQ?
masternerdguy
Doomheim
#2 - 2012-04-12 20:17:02 UTC
How about an ncurses version of EVE that can be played on low performance hardware?

Things are only impossible until they are not.
ivar R'dhak
Deus est Mechanicus
#3 - 2012-04-12 20:28:05 UTC  |  Edited by: ivar R'dhak
Not yet, just a thread or two where Punkturis is managing to simultaneously be cute and heartlessly teasing. Cry

Hope we´ll get a proper DevBlog soon.
The only other real info can be found in one of the Fanfest vids on youtube.
Though the tl;dr of that hour could be: Now we now.

To the title: YES
CCP Punkturis
C C P
C C P Alliance
#4 - 2012-04-12 22:42:15 UTC
ivar R'dhak wrote:
Not yet, just a thread or two where Punkturis is managing to simultaneously be cute and heartlessly teasing. Cry

Hope we´ll get a proper DevBlog soon.
The only other real info can be found in one of the Fanfest vids on youtube.
Though the tl;dr of that hour could be: Now we now.

To the title: YES


you'll get dev blogs from soon about what we're working on for the Escalation to Inferno and Inferno itself Blink

I know karkur has written two dev blogs and I'm also working on one. I suspect we'll get something from Optimal as well Big smile

♥ EVE Brogrammer ♥ Team Five 0 ♥ @CCP_Punkturis ♥
Kalestra Cable
School of Applied Knowledge
Caldari State
#5 - 2012-04-12 22:45:50 UTC
Ah looking forward to those blogs.

No idea if it's on your (CCP's) radar or even how much work it would be but if you could at some future point allow all UI settings to be exported much like the overview is so I can setup the same UI across all my characters and computer s it would be much apprieciated.
Virgil Travis
Non Constructive Self Management
#6 - 2012-04-12 22:48:38 UTC
Kalestra Cable wrote:
Ah looking forward to those blogs.

No idea if it's on your (CCP's) radar or even how much work it would be but if you could at some future point allow all UI settings to be exported much like the overview is so I can setup the same UI across all my characters and computer s it would be much apprieciated.


This is something I would find very useful, I'm sure plenty of other players would too. There would be mucho love for CCP Lol

Unified Church of the Unobligated - madness in the method Mamma didn't raise no victims.
Ammzi
Dreddit
Test Alliance Please Ignore
#7 - 2012-04-12 22:55:34 UTC
Kalestra Cable wrote:
Ah looking forward to those blogs.

No idea if it's on your (CCP's) radar or even how much work it would be but if you could at some future point allow all UI settings to be exported much like the overview is so I can setup the same UI across all my characters and computer s it would be much apprieciated.


Yes please!
SiLenTkNlghT
Nullsec Pimps Associated
#8 - 2012-04-12 23:12:51 UTC
Here's my experience from when I first started.
1. The game grabbed my attention with graphics. But the AI tourtorial was unclear due to her voice and accent, and was useless and slow paced. ( make A complete interactive intro to guide new players to start missions, explain some stuff to them that other player had to find out on their own through sheer time spend in game)
2. New players seeks immediate rewards at the start of the game. Give them Something they want more and more instea of making them sit in a belt minning tritanium for 2 hours while stareing blindly at the graphic.Perhaps five them more than 5k isk at start do they can buy a ship they like and see how it works first hand if they want PVP). Or send them updates on what other players are doing in the universe like mintchip do on her video blog. The more new players feels involved in the community they more likely they will stay.
3 regarding the ui. Have a Pop up box show up when ever the player is clicking somewhere new, so they know what it is for and how to use it. The right click show info on a module are ****, I had to go to another website to figure out how to do planetary mining at first even after playing for over a year.
Ai Shun
#9 - 2012-04-12 23:49:35 UTC
Red Maiden wrote:
But I imagine that sexing up the UI, even with the few changes shown at fanfest, might be one of the best things that CCP can do to grab new players within the first hours of play. It seems like that would be better than the UI having the opposite effect in player retention, which seems to be the case now. After all, EVE is a beautiful game, but if new players can't see past the HUD, what good is having that beauty?


I agree, a fluffier User Interface with a few of the irksome corners smoothed over would be a grand thing. I'm not sure if that is one of the best things CCP can do retain new players though. It needs to be comfortable enough to use that they don't need to struggle; but things like ensuring new players get a fair feeling for what EVE really is about would rank higher for me.

Still, I want that UI from Fanfest P
ivar R'dhak
Deus est Mechanicus
#10 - 2012-04-13 01:23:37 UTC
CCP Punkturis wrote:
you'll get dev blogs ..

Big smile
Super!
We know now.. Lol
Red Maiden
Aliastra
Gallente Federation
#11 - 2012-04-13 03:38:56 UTC
CCP Punkturis wrote:
[you'll get dev blogs from soon about what we're working on for the Escalation to Inferno and Inferno itself Blink

I know karkur has written two dev blogs and I'm also working on one. I suspect we'll get something from Optimal as well Big smile


Great news! Looking forward to reading about what changes to the UI we can expect to see. Big smile
Lord Helghast
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#12 - 2012-04-13 04:02:32 UTC
dev blogs have been awfully slow lately lol, need more purty pictures and graphs!!!!! lol
Serene Repose
#13 - 2012-04-13 07:40:45 UTC
For a game that's supposed to be centered on combat, the combat UI is sort of ... wanting, eh? But, hey. The code won't support this and that and the other thing...it's helpless to stop botting...we ask too much. Think of it as your grandmom's decor. You wouldn't let THAT stop you from visiting, would you?

We must accommodate the idiocracy.
T-B0NE
Doomheim
#14 - 2012-04-13 07:53:21 UTC
Serene Repose wrote:
Think of it as your grandmom's decor. You wouldn't let THAT stop you from visiting, would you?
My grandma decorated with a howitzer, and that never stopped me from visiting.

“Death and destruction are necessary to the health of the world, and therefore as natural, and lovable, as birth and life. Only priests and born cowards moan and weep over dying. Brave men face it with approving nonchalance." - Ragnar Redbeard
Joran Dravius
Doomheim
#15 - 2012-04-13 08:09:40 UTC
SiLenTkNlghT wrote:
New players seeks immediate rewards at the start of the game. Give them Something they want more and more instea of making them sit in a belt minning tritanium for 2 hours while stareing blindly at the graphic.

New players currently get a big pile of skill books, a big pile of items and several new ships from the tutorial agents. What do you want them to get, a titan?

SiLenTkNlghT wrote:
regarding the ui. Have a Pop up box show up when ever the player is clicking somewhere new, so they know what it is for and how to use it. The right click show info on a module are ****, I had to go to another website to figure out how to do planetary mining at first even after playing for over a year.

They already have that and it's annoying.
Jed Mosley
U Got To Sin
#16 - 2012-04-13 09:00:21 UTC
SiLenTkNlghT wrote:
Here's my experience from when I first started.
1. The game grabbed my attention with graphics. But the AI tourtorial was unclear due to her voice and accent, and was useless and slow paced. ( make A complete interactive intro to guide new players to start missions, explain some stuff to them that other player had to find out on their own through sheer time spend in game)
2. New players seeks immediate rewards at the start of the game. Give them Something they want more and more instea of making them sit in a belt minning tritanium for 2 hours while stareing blindly at the graphic.Perhaps five them more than 5k isk at start do they can buy a ship they like and see how it works first hand if they want PVP). Or send them updates on what other players are doing in the universe like mintchip do on her video blog. The more new players feels involved in the community they more likely they will stay.
3 regarding the ui. Have a Pop up box show up when ever the player is clicking somewhere new, so they know what it is for and how to use it. The right click show info on a module are ****, I had to go to another website to figure out how to do planetary mining at first even after playing for over a year.

I played through the tutorial again not so long ago (less than a week)

1. The new tutorial has a new voice actor with a nice british accent and I could hear her very clearly + all she was saying was written in the tutorial box. Also an arrow points to what she is talking about making it very easy for everyone to find what she is talking about.

2. The new missions hand out nice chunks of isk, skills, modules and new shiny ships, I mean the first mission you do is to undock in your pod and fetch a noob ship, I can just see it now how people cream their pants as they step into what they believe is the most awesome ship in eve history.

3. see "1."
XavierVE
No Corporation for Old Spacemen
#17 - 2012-04-13 09:09:36 UTC
I run a corp that primarily recruits new people and I've never seen anyone quit over the UI.
Rek Seven
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#18 - 2012-04-13 10:47:03 UTC
XavierVE wrote:
I run a corp that primarily recruits new people and I've never seen anyone quit over the UI.


I think those that would quit over the UI would do so at the trial stage, which was the case with one of my friends.

The wishlist is pretty much complete...
Ai Shun
#19 - 2012-04-13 10:49:28 UTC
Rek Seven wrote:
I think those that would quit over the UI would do so at the trial stage, which was the case with one of my friends.


If somebody quits over a UI are they really suited to EVE?
Kilbers
#20 - 2012-04-13 10:51:09 UTC
Rek Seven wrote:
XavierVE wrote:
I run a corp that primarily recruits new people and I've never seen anyone quit over the UI.


I think those that would quit over the UI would do so at the trial stage, which was the case with one of my friends.



Same, one of my mates couldn't get their head round how in-depth the game looked from the very start and put them off, if the UI is more sleek / looks cooler and streamlined then this may be enough to encourage players to stick at it and gain a better understanding... that's my thoughts... focker out o7
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