Queen_Herpes wrote: One of the great things about this site is that the players get a chance to help out the site. Here in this discussion thread we are helping out those players that haven't yet reached the site. Doubtful that we will be able to recover the players who left, for whatever reason.
Its also nice that we're all working on trying to get players to continue using the site, which is what my suggestion is attempting to accomplish. The number of players who have inactive accounts is staggering.
I for one respect the work you have put into this. Unfortunately, it is this point that I simply cant understand. How does limiting the maps make the site better for players. For players that left especially. They left and had access to all of the maps and options. I simply cant see how not having offered all of them in the first place would have encouraged them to stay. Or, put another way, would sending a message to a player that did leave, that they now had only a few maps at their disposal, and had to play even more games to get them, would in any way encourage them to come back.
In an effort to entice players to stay, you are suggesting limiting their game choices, and somewhat arbitrarily at that. You are summarily suggesting that because they have not played say 40 games, that they are for some reason unqualified to play those other maps, and that a player who can only play 4 games at a time, must play 10 sets of games, before getting to try them out...and the first suggestion was to make them play 8 sets of games to try some maps.
The entire point of the trial process, is to let players see the game, the options, and the maps. It is the massive amount of maps, and their uniqueness that is a major attraction of the site. Hooking new players early, and getting them interested is the NUMBER ONE KEY to keeping them. Giving them only 5 maps, or worse, limiting their options, will not hook them, in those first most important games that they play. It will show only a small percentage of what CC has to offer, and in an effort to increase membership, I am quite certain that this suggestion if implemented would reduce membership in the short term and long term. Without a doubt earning medals, and awards is an attraction, and Im all for increasing those and perhaps making more of them, especially for new players. But to limit the game options, would more than anything be a marketing mistake if nothing else, and possibly even unfair to new players, who in my opinion deserve to see the entire site, before making their decision whether to stay.
This suggestion is supposed to be about making CC better for new players, and I cant see how does anything but make it less enjoyable, more limited, and possibly even condescending, with the only people benefiting being people already at the site, who have decided to stay. I believe many simply are not looking at this issue from the point of view of the actual new player. The real input would need to be from them, and while it would be difficult to run a real survey, Im confident that if a survey was sent out, that most if not all new players if asked: Would you prefer to have all the options to test out CC before deciding to stay, or just some, would answer all.
Without a doubt there is a psychological benefit to unlocking options, getting new medals, and awards, but the people striving to do these, already like the game, and continue to unlock those things. But by limiting it so much, the new player simply wont have enough to see at first to possibly even have the desire to unlock any further maps. If a player has played 30 games on CC, and decides to leave, it simply doesnt make sense that the fact that there were maps they never saw would have made them stay. It more makes sense that they didnt like some other aspect of the game, which as others have said, is more likely its limitations on real time games. Certainly the over abundance of maps and gaming options is not turning away players. And I dont think even a student in Marketing 101 would suggest that an Add.....Join Conquer Club....we have even less options now, would ever work on any level.
If you really want to improve CC, and really want to increase membership, imagine having 4 games to play, that can take days to make turns, and then imagine needing to play 60 games before even seeing some maps. Its impossible to see this as a reason to want to stay. It diminishes the options, makes the game less fun and less interesting.
However, grouping the maps by difficulty level WILL help CC. 4 or 5 groups, labeled by difficulty WILL help new players. Instead of the simple alphabetical option, simply group them at basic, easy, medium, difficult, very difficult, and objective maps Perhaps. Now, if a new player is looking for a nice easy map, it is very clear which one to play, or if he/she wants to see what CC has to offer regardless of difficulty, they are still able to do so, or, if they simply are up for a challenge, and want to see if they can figure out a map and have some fun with it, they are still free to do so.
I think the major problem you are trying to solve is that new players dont realize the difficulty of the map at times. Labeling them into these groups would solve that issue, without reducing the game options one iota. Adjust the suggestion so that it doesnt limit the new players, but informs them instead. Perhaps even group the games on the join a game page by difficulty instead of just time of creation....Now a new player and all players will have a better idea of what they are getting into when they join, and it doesnt require blocking them from one aspect of the game at all. The groups will be subjective, but since the players are free to choose, it wont matter. I hope this will help in your goal to protect new players from tough settings, but not limit them unilaterally, to players that in my opinion HAVE to see all the options that CC has to offer, so that they are most likely to become hooked and stay, which is the ultimate goal.
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