Make Meep More "Appealing" to New Players

Based on the title, you already know what this thread is about, and it's probably been suggested before, but i'll try it anyways. It isn't too hard to see that newer players aren't sticking with the server. As of the moment I type this, there have been a total of 645,856 players join the server at some point. Out of these people, only 4,890 have donated. This shows that about 1 in every 132 players becomes a donator. I'm not sure if this is considered a "good" percentage, but I have a few suggestions that could potentially increase the player count, and the amount of donors as well.

-Make the server more welcoming to players.
Honestly, where you spawn is the most important factor in leaving a good first impression. If you spawn in a boring cobblestone structure, it's not going to appeal to, well, almost anyone. Meep's Architects did a really nice job of building the tutorial rooms, and the tutorial itself is a little plain, not in the sense that it's boring, but rather not as unique as it could be. You could teleport the player around spawn, and have text pop up, revealing rules, tips, secrets, and more for new players. Additionally, this will give a new player a feel for the spawn, as it can be quite intimidating, and you can get easily lost. Having this kind of tutorial would give a minor improvement to a player's first impression, which can be a major factor in having a player stay on the server. You could even add a little achievements section in the guide for minigames, to help players get used to money making and socializing with other players, as well as giving a player a small, but valued, sense of accomplishment. After all, the main reason a player will leave any server is because it's boring. Having little "stepping stones" for a new player can help them through the hardships of being one.

-Have more activities for new players, and make more hype for the current ones.
Yes, Meepcraft has a wide range of activities for players to do, from Skyblock to Towny to Hunger Games to Kitpvp to Boomo. However, other than the occasional "join this game!" message in global chat, there really isn't much for anyone to get excited about. Maybe have an occasional "jackpot" (probably already suggested,) or even something like an earnings multiplier for the minigames that could range from 10-30 minutes. (I know that's been suggested, just restating it for the purpose of making a point.) Basically, make minigames where hype for them will be generated, so more people will play them, allowing more people to interact, increasing the chance of making friends, increasing the chances of a potential donor.

-"Rankism?" (New players being ignored)
This is an entirely different topic that is a suggestion in another thread, which can be found here: http://www.meepcraft.com/threads/way-to-get-rid-of-rankism.49633/
My personal thoughts on this are for there to be a way for new players to be accustomed to the server BEFORE getting into Towny. So many newer players find a town and just think, "alright, now what?" And just end up quitting, thinking that's all the server has to offer. What they don't know is that there is more, they just never found it because they left the entire tutorial, thinking they can manage, then leave the entire server. They get no support from other players, and can't figure out any other way to make money or have fun. Having players even slightly experienced with the server

-NO SKIPPING THE TUTORIAL.
The final thing I wanted to mention, and that's to make the tutorial un-skippable. New players shouldn't have the option directly in front of their face to skip the tutorial, but instead get through it regardless of whether they want to or not. This goes back to my first statement, to make the tutorial more immersive, interesting, and one that will give a good first impression on a player, and instead of the tutorial being something that a player wishes not to go through, it can be something to inspire the player to play more.

 

yes also i hate the current spawn a lot dont kill me please

 

+1
I can 100% imagine what it's like. The tutorial is thorough, but its a bunch of signs. A teleporting around spawn type of thing with title messages popping up telling you the different stuff would be far better. And the skip option should not be allowed to any meeper.

 

I hate it when noobs spam the local chat in spawn with things like "How do I join a faction" and "How do I get that colored chat"

 

+1

 

+1

Giving new players knowledge, even if by force, makes them less likely to leave. If the tutorial is interesting, most people will not simply leave during it. Afterwards, if they have learned enough, why would they leave right after they learned how to play? It'd feel like going through the entire tutorial would've been a waste of time, and they'd might as well do something with what they know before deciding whether or not on leaving.


While we're on the Citizen rights topic, I personally think the [Citizen] tag should be added back. It helped make the gap between donors and non-donors just a bit closer, and makes the new players feel more welcomed into the community.

 

I've known 30+ players QUIT. Because they had to take the tutorial

 

+1

 

What if you just joined to play minigames? Having a forced tutorial drives some players away.

 

Meep is so much more welcoming than 90% of all other servers already
Also, huge tutorials are not going to welcome players, they need the basics, and we have what we need in the tutorial.

-1

 

+1, being a citizen sucks on the server tbh.

 

I'm going to be honest, if you search up "minigame servers," you're most likely going to stop browsing websites before you ever see Meepcraft. As many people say, Meep is a Towny-based server. even if someone joins Meepcraft for minigames, a forced tutorial isn't going to make them quit, it's the fact that there are larger servers entirely based off of minigames for them to play.

I agree, Meep does do a good job of welcoming people with people saying "Welcome!" in shout, but the way the tutorial is set up, to me, isn't that way at all. You're clustered with tons of signs giving basic overviews of the different portions of the server, simply telling you your basic goals, rules, commands, and options for minigames. A player, from this tutorial, will learn virtually NOTHING about Towny commands, despite that being the main portion of the server. There isn't a lot to know about wild, but every other server needs it's own in-depth tutorial for commands, fundamentals, and rules applying to that specific server. And what's the motivation already for doing the tutorial? 3000 "meebles." A new player wouldn't know that a meeble is a currency, why would they need to know that? If this tutorial is supposed to be an "overview" of the server, and they're supposed to figure out everything else on their own, I see in no way how this can be welcoming. Additionally, I never said anything about a "huge" tutorial, I simply said the basic "overview" tutorial should show the player around spawn, in any method.

Now, if this was a tl;dr for you, or didn't really understand where I was going with all of that, I'll sum it up really easily.

The tutorial itself isn't very helpful, you get a basic overview of the different servers that is stated literally everywhere you go in spawn. There should be an "overview" tutorial that shows players around the spawn while giving them the info they get from the tutorial already. Then, for every different aspect of the server, there should be more in-depth tutorials for players that want to learn how to play, not wander aimlessly. Tell me, if you lost all knowledge of Meepcraft, and only had what the tutorial said, would you be able to start and run a town? Make deals with players, knowing the "no refund" rule? Would you be able to navigate spawn, knowing where everything is? Would you even know the basic commands for claiming plots, or managing them? No.

How can you "know" a player when they quit because they see a tutorial? That doesn't make any sense.

 

When I first joined, and I found I couldn't easily bypass the tutorial, I logged out. It was about three weeks later after I tried other servers to no satisfaction before I tried MeepCraft again, and begrudgingly did the tutorial. The fact is, you will lose players, you can look at almost any game, how many people here have quit other games when forced to do a tutorial before the actual game?

Also, evident by my time as staff, and dealing with modreqs, a large sum of players do actually join and go straight to the mini-games, and they outright leave when certain ones are not online.

 

Again, this is why I said to make the tutorial more interactive and enjoyable, so a new player would be able to learn valuable information about the server WHILE enjoying it, and could make someone more eager to get into Meep. As i've been saying, the way the tutorial is set up is almost intimidating to players, and doesn't actually give very useful information. Additionally, Towny servers are more command-intensive, making a tutorial of this even more necessary, similar to the one you have in Lakewood, /pwarp tutorial. As for people quitting because of a tutorial, I'm not saying have a 3-hour multi-section course on every little bit on the server, but for there to be a basic overview tutorial to get someone into Meepcraft, then other tutorials on other aspects of the server, if a player wants to learn more, and do more things. Like I said in my original post, it's about stepping stones, not flooding a player with everything at once.

That's what I did as well when I started playing Meep, straight to the Minigames. The issue, again, isn't the tutorial or the minigames, there are just better servers out there for these needs.

 

Most of this will be fixed soon! Im excited!