bohemian3
04-11-2009, 01:30 PM
Couldn’t get into the game this morning, so decided to put down some thought I’ve had regarding my experience to date, my take on the current zeitgeist of DDO.
1.) Turbine: Communicate.
Very simple to do. Projected Release dates, direction of product, under develop significant UI and game rules changes. It’s understandable you want to keep new content development secretive to surprise your fan base, but you should look to your devoted fanbase on UI and game-play rule changes before you make them to make sure they are in-sync with the way the game is played by the people who love it, many who are experts in both the on-line and paper and pen version.
2.) Turbine: Product Support.
I waited 8 days (after my free 10-day trail) to get my account activated after a small credit card glitch (my zip codes didn’t match up because of a recent move). Remained on hold for over an hour twice to get it resolved. These are unacceptable levels of service. I stuck with it, but became very frustrated to the point of forgetting all about it, which I didn’t. I hope you are keeping quantitative statistical data on how many potential new players you have lost because of such poor levels of customer service. Reading the forums provides countless qualitative case studies demonstrating this is not an isolated incident. You should treat new (paying) players with kid gloves, like any customer-oriented good business would.
3.) Turbine: Don’t Take Your Community for Granted
Turbine asked the community to vote for them which they did, yet countless forum messages remain ignored, asking for basic information regarding the vision of the game. DDO has an incredibly loyal fanbase (almost unheard of anymore, brand equity failing everywhere.) Don’t take that for granted.
4.) DDO Community: Respect.
Anyone who listens to DDOCast Knows that the Devs really love this game and their job. If you are angry or frustrated, have enough self-control to post when you’ve cleared your head and not direct your anger toward the devs. There are very legitimate reasons to take the management practices of Turbine to task, and doing so in a constructive manner is usually the best route.
5.) Everyone: Sense of humor. Zeitgeist of DDO? (Is there a +2 weapon for that?)
6.) User-generated content is the obvious direction.
Solves so many problems: low level repetition, grind of gaining favor and leveling a new character, the insatiability of the fanbase for new content. Obviously there are formidable issues to surmounting the potential abuse of loot, xp, favor, etc., but the fanbase has already generated countless imaginative solutions. The basic technical framework for this already exists “the Turbine engine” http://www.turbine.com/technology.html and needs to be scaled into a user-based tool. Even with basic dungeon building tools, given the ingenuity of this community, I’m sure we will all be blown away in the way the DDO fanbase will manage to create interesting, challenging and enjoyable dungeons given even the most rudimentary tools for doing so.
7.) Alluring new users vs. hard-core legacy players conundrum.
Currently Turbine and the DDO fanbase are at fisticuffs regarding the ongoing conundrum that has plagued Dungeons and Dragons since 1977: “The Two Pronged Strategy” (see Wiki article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_&_Dragons). How to make an in-depth, mythology rich, adventure game challenging enough for long-term players, yet accessible to new players. In other words, how to keep it hard and simple at the same time. Transforming a turn-based board game into an online MMO had many challenges and everyone has their own opinion of how those challenges were met. Nonetheless, DDO has a truly impressive, devoted community, and the game is wonderfully enjoyable on many levels, which suggests for the most part the challenge was met. Which bring us to the vision and future of DDO and that thing called marketing.
8.) Marketing: Older player base familiar with paper and pen version.
I am a unique creature in this game I’ve discovered, having never played on another MMO, with only ‘SimCity’ and ‘Age of Empires’ under my belt of PC games I have actually play. I stumbled on the game quite by accident and have played about two months and love it. To date, I’ve never received a customer survey about my experience as a new player of the game which I find very odd. I know a couple of science fiction / fantasy writers who have played and enjoyed the paper and pen version but, like myself, never heard of the online version but joined when I introduced them to it. From a marketing perspective, I wonder if there is a vast potential market of paper and pen players who still don’t know about the game online.
9.) Marketing: The challenge of making the game palatable to a Newer, younger console player demographic
Most statistics I found on the internet (non-scientific) place the majority of console players as male 11-25 (again non-scientific.) There will be a challenge scaling the game to the demographic of console players where first-person shooter games tend to outnumber role-playing games. Again, if Turbine could communicate what its position and vision is for this (if at all) I as a consumer could make informed decisions on whether I want to invest time and money in its vision.
10.) Legacy
While DDO is obviously not the oldest or largest MMO, the “Dungeons and Dragons” franchise is the granddaddy of almost every role-playing, adventure game out there, MMO or otherwise. There is a cultural responsibility of the copyright holders, management, content, and development teams to remain as true to the spirit of the product as is currently understood. Needless to say, that remains totally up for grabs in terms of what that means. But there is a somewhat ineffable core “spirit” to Dungeons and Dragons (unlike all other games out there) that lures us in (albeit recreationally), whether preparing a spell or picking up a sword, calling us into the dungeons, appealing to an emotional need for the fellowship of the group and an archetypal quest for adventure.
Let’s keep that alive.
1.) Turbine: Communicate.
Very simple to do. Projected Release dates, direction of product, under develop significant UI and game rules changes. It’s understandable you want to keep new content development secretive to surprise your fan base, but you should look to your devoted fanbase on UI and game-play rule changes before you make them to make sure they are in-sync with the way the game is played by the people who love it, many who are experts in both the on-line and paper and pen version.
2.) Turbine: Product Support.
I waited 8 days (after my free 10-day trail) to get my account activated after a small credit card glitch (my zip codes didn’t match up because of a recent move). Remained on hold for over an hour twice to get it resolved. These are unacceptable levels of service. I stuck with it, but became very frustrated to the point of forgetting all about it, which I didn’t. I hope you are keeping quantitative statistical data on how many potential new players you have lost because of such poor levels of customer service. Reading the forums provides countless qualitative case studies demonstrating this is not an isolated incident. You should treat new (paying) players with kid gloves, like any customer-oriented good business would.
3.) Turbine: Don’t Take Your Community for Granted
Turbine asked the community to vote for them which they did, yet countless forum messages remain ignored, asking for basic information regarding the vision of the game. DDO has an incredibly loyal fanbase (almost unheard of anymore, brand equity failing everywhere.) Don’t take that for granted.
4.) DDO Community: Respect.
Anyone who listens to DDOCast Knows that the Devs really love this game and their job. If you are angry or frustrated, have enough self-control to post when you’ve cleared your head and not direct your anger toward the devs. There are very legitimate reasons to take the management practices of Turbine to task, and doing so in a constructive manner is usually the best route.
5.) Everyone: Sense of humor. Zeitgeist of DDO? (Is there a +2 weapon for that?)
6.) User-generated content is the obvious direction.
Solves so many problems: low level repetition, grind of gaining favor and leveling a new character, the insatiability of the fanbase for new content. Obviously there are formidable issues to surmounting the potential abuse of loot, xp, favor, etc., but the fanbase has already generated countless imaginative solutions. The basic technical framework for this already exists “the Turbine engine” http://www.turbine.com/technology.html and needs to be scaled into a user-based tool. Even with basic dungeon building tools, given the ingenuity of this community, I’m sure we will all be blown away in the way the DDO fanbase will manage to create interesting, challenging and enjoyable dungeons given even the most rudimentary tools for doing so.
7.) Alluring new users vs. hard-core legacy players conundrum.
Currently Turbine and the DDO fanbase are at fisticuffs regarding the ongoing conundrum that has plagued Dungeons and Dragons since 1977: “The Two Pronged Strategy” (see Wiki article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_&_Dragons). How to make an in-depth, mythology rich, adventure game challenging enough for long-term players, yet accessible to new players. In other words, how to keep it hard and simple at the same time. Transforming a turn-based board game into an online MMO had many challenges and everyone has their own opinion of how those challenges were met. Nonetheless, DDO has a truly impressive, devoted community, and the game is wonderfully enjoyable on many levels, which suggests for the most part the challenge was met. Which bring us to the vision and future of DDO and that thing called marketing.
8.) Marketing: Older player base familiar with paper and pen version.
I am a unique creature in this game I’ve discovered, having never played on another MMO, with only ‘SimCity’ and ‘Age of Empires’ under my belt of PC games I have actually play. I stumbled on the game quite by accident and have played about two months and love it. To date, I’ve never received a customer survey about my experience as a new player of the game which I find very odd. I know a couple of science fiction / fantasy writers who have played and enjoyed the paper and pen version but, like myself, never heard of the online version but joined when I introduced them to it. From a marketing perspective, I wonder if there is a vast potential market of paper and pen players who still don’t know about the game online.
9.) Marketing: The challenge of making the game palatable to a Newer, younger console player demographic
Most statistics I found on the internet (non-scientific) place the majority of console players as male 11-25 (again non-scientific.) There will be a challenge scaling the game to the demographic of console players where first-person shooter games tend to outnumber role-playing games. Again, if Turbine could communicate what its position and vision is for this (if at all) I as a consumer could make informed decisions on whether I want to invest time and money in its vision.
10.) Legacy
While DDO is obviously not the oldest or largest MMO, the “Dungeons and Dragons” franchise is the granddaddy of almost every role-playing, adventure game out there, MMO or otherwise. There is a cultural responsibility of the copyright holders, management, content, and development teams to remain as true to the spirit of the product as is currently understood. Needless to say, that remains totally up for grabs in terms of what that means. But there is a somewhat ineffable core “spirit” to Dungeons and Dragons (unlike all other games out there) that lures us in (albeit recreationally), whether preparing a spell or picking up a sword, calling us into the dungeons, appealing to an emotional need for the fellowship of the group and an archetypal quest for adventure.
Let’s keep that alive.