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General: Webb: The Adventures of Jeannie
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
In order to highlight the importance of a new player experience, MMORPG.com columnist Justin Webb asks a friend with no MMO experience to play through sixty minutes of WoW, bringing us the results.
With the Star Trek beta coming to its conclusion, there have been lots of articles written recently about its starter area. The general concensus seems to be that it's not very good. I've played it for about six hours or so and there are still parts of the game that have me baffled.
Starter areas are really hard to do because, firstly they have to introduce the player to the game smoothly, and secondly, they need to teach the player how to play an MMO. Many games don't even bother with the second point, and make all kinds of erroneous assumptions about what the player already knows. The second point is especially important if your game is IP based, as hopefully you are trying to attract fans of the IP itself, not just MMO enthusiasts.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
Being new at MMOs can be new and exciting instead of aggrivating and confusing. It all depends on the person. Some people like a helping hand as others do not ( figuring the game out). Then there are people like me that like a little of both.
I can remember fond memmories of EQ ( my first MMO ever played) And getting lost in North Karanas. Of course back then there was no minimap and you had to do alot of clicking to get your compus skill up. In the year 2000 I guess people were a bit more friendly and helpful, since they themselves were figuring out what MMO's were all about.
Good article, I enjoyed it.
Work hard Play Harder
This was a great article. I'd love to see a series on this where you sit down with a new person/game every once in a while. That would be really interesting.
remember me my first mmo, starter area? hah don't existed that thing back then :P,
well some tutorial and start area is good so you can start to learn how you should go and do in game, nowasdays for me I just take a look to see IF they put some new unique feature other then that I can pass that, I normally can pretty much do things alone and learn during my gameplay, mind you this is how I learned to do back then and since i'm a vet in games as in MMO's its dificult I see some new feature.
too bad normally the ones who would really learn something from tutorials just run pass then or don't even care to read(well almost all the problems people have is because they don't read, but is another topic)
also why we got freerealms now....teach the young MMO newcomers the basics. would love a test like this. see how well they have done
I must be so far into "MMO expert" that I can't see straight, because I'm pretty sure when I was going through the first hour of STO Open Beta, I spent the whole time endlessly closing windows about how to play an MMO. In fact, I recall thinking that it must have been a lot more fun for people without expectations.
now make her play STO :P
lol, I was actually thinking the same thing.
Good article. Want to see more "Adventures of jeannie".
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Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
This was fascinating! I would also like to see what happens to Jeannie in the coming hours of game play. Unless she got seriously hooked in the game, I would expect that she would quit in frustration at a level in the game where not using the keyboard and skills/abilities will make it difficult to progress.
I'm guessing there is not a lot of usability testing going on in MMO development with the exception of alpha testers and I would guess these people have a vested interest in the title or in gaming in general.
So how do game companies make it better? I already see that there is someone in this that wouldn't want the "new MMO player" experience. As part of character creation, do they ask the user? Could they build a context sensitive or otherwise "intelligent" help system that users could get to with an on-screen button? Can current PC systems handle a background "watcher" thread that would recognize where the player is not being efficient (like Jeannie's keyboard use or skill/ability usage) and then make recommendations based on actual game play?
With all the money on the line for a successful property, I would think this would be something a company planning to stay in the MMO market long-term would find funding for.
On that note, one of the best UI mechanics I have ever seen was the Star Wars Galaxies radial menu. Clicking and holding the mouse button on an on-screen object brought up the menu and showed you what you could do with it. I have never seen it re-used in an MMO but conceptually, it made the whole process of understanding the game much easier and reduced the need for immediate keyboard usage necessary.
What are everyone else's thoughts?
-=[ Gaidin ]=-
Good article. Yes STO lacked any kind of tutorial. It was like you go at it and learn what you need. Heck I played for 3 days straight and did not realize there were drop down maps that gave you a better idea of how to get around. That game was just down right agrivating.
EQ2 was great they had starter island areas, you leared about combat, stats and you class abilities before leaving noob area to start your adventures, that is if you bothered reading the tutorials. Lotro also did kind of the same with a starting area that was a seperate instance from the real world that gave you easy mode to learn you first 5 levels in.
I don't know many other games that do that. It sure would be nice of them to give you starting areas that give you the basics of the crafting system, stats and how the world works.
However I have to add this, most players hit MMO-X off and running and they dont pay attention to the tutorials anyway, ready to unleash the bloodlust and hit 20 piglets over the head and get x number of pig parts for a quest.
LMFAO! I laughed so hard at the comments, but I disagree with making her play STO. Make her play Darkfall. xD
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I suppose some basic instruction is good, but I think most everyone's first MMO experience was the result of a friend inviting them to play it, who then teaches them the ropes. The community plays the biggest role in that learning process, and even with a really in depth tutorial for complete noobs, if the community sucks and is not helpful, they probably won't continue playing.
My first MMO was EQ1 in 2000, and I did ok. That game was insanely more difficult than any thing like WoW for a new player, but the people playing were great and helped noobs figure the game out.
Really interesting article, now we have to have Blizzard create a Jeannie NPC in WoW
It reminded me SWG and how much time I spent teaching the game to, totally lost, new comers.
I would be interested to hear the thoughts of an absolutely new player after the first hour of play.
The observations were interesting, and I think a followup article with the new player's thoughts on the game is warranted.
true many mmos dont teach players how to play mmos and that really is sad
LOVED her comments. Reminds you that once upon a time games played differently from each other and thus required a manual, and you assumed you had to read it. Nowadays gameplay is... standardized, so to speak. As a result, everyone assumes a game plays a certain way and gets thrown where it doesn't. And still others that have never heard the terms, "hit points", "WASD", and "action bar" get majorly confused.
STO's controls... wow... I never even THOUGHT about how hard the ship system would be to a total MMO noob. I'd bet she'd probably be ok for a while once she started spamming the spacebar, and would probably be able to see the sheild levels on her ship and change direction. But once you get to about 15th lvl, aquiring targets quickly and special abilities are essential to survival. When a set of BoP's all fling 5-6 heavy quantum torpedo's at you, you better at least blow half of them...
/facepalm
Did you explain to the poor woman how much of a noob she was when you finished your little experiment? J/K 8)
That was actually very interesting. It always surprises me whenever I have to explain simple concepts of using PCs to people in this day and age. A lot of the time I assume that by now people just know what they are supposed to be doing. I find it hard to identify with people that are that generally clueless about things that I take as second nature. Then I remember that I've been using computers and kept up with that sort of technology since 1980... I think that might be the same mindset some developers are in when they make the "tutorial" portion of their game.
This should probably serve as a stark reminder to developers, if poor Jeannie can't even play through the WoW starting area and be effectively taught the game, then you really need to pay close attention to how you craft your tutorials. I am sure that some MMOGs are losing tons of potential customers that way, including WoW.
Anyhow, great article... I agree it would be interesting to see how Jeannie handles other MMOG tutorial areas.
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"Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places..." ~ H.P.Lovecraft, "From Beyond"
Member Since March 2004
Theres a few games that have 'keyboard instructions' as part of the lowbie quests
Wierdly it's the F2P games that seem to coach the playerbase more than AAA games
My first MMO was AO, and i wen't to it from a background of Single Player RPG/Stategy games & counter strike
so multiple chat channels confused the hell out of me for several days
If there's anything any industry needs to have hammered home (repeatedly, endlessly, for it's entire existence), it's how far removed the specialists who can create a product are from the customers they want to buy it. Nice job!
Regarding your comment about WoW's tutorial and the game's popularity, imho WoW's success is really because of viral factors. One kid sees another kid playing and gets the game themselves as a way to hook up with their friend(s), not necessarily because they really want to play WoW. And then of course, the tutorialling is handled by the in-game friends as they play together, and that's how WoW got so popular without having to do a really good tutorial.
I think this goes to show that MMOs are catered to a group of people who is experienced in this field.
Rarely is a MMO truely newb-friendly in the beginning. So it goes to show that most companies are actually trying to get each other's customers instead of generating new ones.
MMOs Played: I can no longer list them all in the 500 character limit.
Hopefully we will see another adventure. I must tell Jeannine to stay away from Fallen earth and eve atm.
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I don't know, man. At least in EvE she can survive without the keyboard! xDD
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It's very easy to take knowledge for granted. Even basic controls and game conventions are not universally known.
One of the main problems is how do you address the new user without annoying the seasoned vet? It's not an easy balance, as most established players would be annoyed with dozens of "worthless nag screens", the very same sort of stuff a completely new player might need. The only other options include either an "interview" (game asking questions about your gaming past) or an AI that monitors your play for "problems".
Both of these have major drawbacks too. The interview would be seen as just another barrier between players and playing by most. The AI would be fairly difficult and time consuming to set up well.
I've seen a lot of comments on how can the game makers make it easier to help new players. How about the players helping themselves.
Have Jennie read the manual that came with the game. Nobody reads anymore.
Wasn't new to MMO's.. .they sounded as if they were new to Games, RPGs and PC games in general.
i remember my first hour of WoW, ooh just a few weeks into European launch... (SoC bug for paladins was strong back then young ones, which wouldn't be fixed until well after 1.9)..
i guess it was pretty easy, and back then the bandana's were 12 needed, and they weren't instant droppable as they are now.. nor did we have fancy tutorials (have you seen the new ones)
plus 40 yards from the quest giver i can pretty much see the kobolds or someone spamming fireballs into them...
http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/6384/wowscrnshot012610235917.jpg
As Marshall Mcbride CLEARLY says in the quest text they've infested to the NORTH, so why go south, unless they don't know their directions.
nah.. sounded like a "non gamer", most RPGs, Games and any other MMO would eat her up and chew her back out. Throwing in a non gamer into an MMO .... that's just cruel dude.
She'd even be confused at Free Realms..... someone get her a DS.
"nothing actually matters, we're just slightly evolved monkeys clinging to a dying piece of rock hurtling through space waiting for our eventual death." - Frankie Boyle, Mock The Week
Nice read, but really how much responsibility does 1 game in a genre to teach all players who encounter it about what may lead them to it's competitors? This article reminds me of my wife. When she first started playing WoW, she had a fury warrior she got to about lvl 30 or so. She just stayed at Tarren Mill for about a month killing the turtles behind the inn in the river....A MONTH. I was telling her to go quest and enjoy the world, at that point i had to bring and alt down to help her move around and explore. That started a whole different issue with 'Hey I'm lost....can you have your warlock port me back to Org.'