Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Hi everyone,

some tme ago we were talking in Corp about EVE's tutorials and how far removed they are from the rest of the game. I was happy to see that CCP has picked up the topic, when CCP Ghost held his introduction speech and told us that they want to rework their approach to tutorials and the new player experience.

I am sure they are having a lot of interesting talks about that during the Fanfest roundtables and I want to add my own two cents in this post.

Please add your own ideas to this topic as well and let's see if CCP maybe picks some of these up.

Stay safe, fly dangerous and beware the True Empress!

1.)
Spoken Tutorials / TLDR
New players will learn the most basic controls and ideas behind the game with PvE content (missions). This part of the game has always been very text intensive and today's players are no longer used to that. Even games from the days of yore, which relied heavily on text (I am looking at you here Planescape) had one big advantage: The text mattered!

If you play a roleplaying game and there is lots of text, you can be sure you will get an important introduction to your character's background and the storyline.

As for EVE? EVE text does not matter. Not in the tutorial missions, because these are not connected to a greater storyline and won't describe your character or the situation he will find himself in. Players pick up on stuff like that very quickly nowadays.

Even worse, written mission completition notifications are not working the brain's pleasure receptors as much as an audible sensation. Ever notice that you somehow enjoyed that ping and voice from "Skill completed"? We need that for missions as well.

Imagine a new player greeted with a voice message: "The Amarr Empire/Cladari State/... welcomes you, capsuleer. We know your training was hard and many who started their journey with you have not achieved, what you have. Today will be your first step into a greater universe. Welcome to New Eden." Pause - On-Screen-Text AND voice "I am AURA, your ship's pilot-computer interface. Now that you will actually fly a real spaceship and no longer a simulation, I will take you through the basic controls once more. But first Click on the 'Launch Ship' button on your right, to leave the station."

Player does that and - BING - the spoken text "Missions Success"/"Task completed" can be heard.

It might become repetitive later, but at the beginning it is these bings that keep the new player going.


2.)
Transition the player from tutorials to the real game

The game should phase out the spoken tutorials in favor of text a few hours later, but the beginning should be all voiced. If you want to go totally overoard... show a custom 'The Scope' video dealing with the outcome of one of the tutorial missions.

Mission NPC, spoken:
"Can you believe that, pilot? We actually made the news! i always try to stay away from that, but you might want to keep an oye on what is going on around New Eden."
Pop-Up: text only:
"The Scope will inform you about the happenings in and around New Eden. You can find the videos on [youtube link]. Who knows, maybe your actions in the game will one day make the news, too."

This will pique the interest of the new player in the greater universe and help him come to the necessary realization of "oh my, I AM a part of this!"

Another mission could require the new player to ask for a certain password in local or a specific channel.

Example:
Mission NPC, spoken:
"Damn, they have hidden the goods inside that station force field. You can enter the password to pass the ray shield in your flight menu, but first we have to find out what it is. But don't worry, I have an idea. There is a certain frequency used by hackers in the Cartel. Try to see if they know the code."
Pop-Up, text only:
"Add the Chat channel "Hakz_Moarsters" by clicking the Speech Bubble in your chat window and ask for the password."
You just need to be sure that there is always someone in chat or that there is an automated message every two minutes, which repeats the password and that looks like a player.


3.)
Add a mission about scams

Example:
Mission NPC, spoken:
"Well, look at that. You know, my first captain has always said that some offers are too good to be true. Let's see what is wrong about these."
Pop-Up, text only:
"One of the contracts that have been issued to you is different from the others. Pick that one and deliever it to CONCORd for inspection."

New players will thank you in the long run. ;-)


4.)
Make sure the mission NPCs follow the player throughout their career and make them recognizable

EVE already has a few recognizable faces (old grumpy Caldari guy from the trailers f.e.) but most players have no connection to them.

It might be interesting for the player to have a small set of 'iconic characters' and follow their exploits through out the game and missions.

Say about Warcraft what you like, but you had good NPCs and you were glad to see them time and time again.

The NPE is a big deal. Alot of us fully support CCP investing time in getting the NPE where it needs to be, as without new people the game dies. I don't want to stifle conversation, but I'd lean toward waiting a day or two to see if Ghost puts a thread/blog up. CCP tends to follow keynotes with Blogs and threads, albeit a few days late as they're busy.