Considering Target Audiences

[Loki Eliot]

Something that cropped up in the last game i made was target audiences. I had created a game and as soon as it was placed on destination guide my island was filled with mostly new users.

 

This is not a bad thing if all you want is lots of people to arrive at your place, but i wanted them to enjoy the game and most of them were not. ….Why?

 

Well New users act and do things very different from more experienced users. In Fact i was able to see an experienced SL user wade through the crowd of New Users, buy the chainsaw then off they went to play the game, awesome. 

 

This brings up an interesting question, who do you take into consideration when making a game experience? is it for new users, or experienced users and is it possible to cater for both? if so how?

[Chelsea Malibu]

I think a game needs progressive levels of skill.  All would be at new for the begining but would need to be etiher more advanced in SL or the game to move on.

[Sean Martin]

This is something we had to deal with in the Simboarding community.

By it's nature, learning to simboard is like learning to skateboard in real life. You can't just jump on and do 720's all day long.

You have to learn when to time your jump, spin, etc.

When VSN was placed on the destination guide (years ago, it no longer exists), we had the same problem. New users thinking a product is 'broken' because it won't do the job for them. Yet it only took one person to ride around showing others how to use it, then all of a sudden it made sense to them. They could see value in learning to ride it after they realized they can do their own tricks and styles with it. Which happens to be one of the draws to real life skateboarding, snowboarding, etc. So it only worked when others we're around to help.

And tutorials, signs, or intro's had minimal impact. New people would never think of reading such things. They mostly want to jump on, press a button, and have the game do things for them.

So targeting the market is definitely an issue, and having the right introduction process in place.

 

So as great as it is, the destination guide isn't always the best option for developers. Unless there is some way to introduce new SL users to both the product, and second life, at the same time. So even basic SL tutorials are needed at times on top of your products tutorials. It gets to be a bit much and just doesn't work well.

In the end it actually hurt the sport somewhat. Too many new people who don't understand common SL actions, and limited sim space for avatars. That made no room for those who we're part of the community and actually knew how to use the product and wanted to enjoy the sport / game. And when they felt pushed out. There we're less around to show others. It creates a cycle.

This is still an issue even now.

[Aeon Voom]

My sims generally try to attract the gamer. Not the roleplayer.

The latter often faces obstacles in my sims. I mean roleplay is something you do together and generally not against. That means you simply cannot roleplay when the others just want to shoot your butt off. :matte-motes-big-grin-squint:

 

Nontheless they come in in plentyful and expect a roleplay enviroment then stumble and fall and leave all cursing.

I'm really not sure what to do there honestly.

[Loki Eliot]

What i mean though is that not only do new users have to learn your game, they are still learning SL in general. In some cases i totally forget and i assume a new user knows to put a HUD on or to click to sit on something, or to rez an item on the floor.

[Aeon Voom]

Thats actually less a problem.

Here i got a magic keyword there: Community. Have it!

 

With a working and thriving community around your gamefield you have people who love to help new players to get on their way. This is the best and most effective way i know. And still not failsave.

You can put up as much notecard givers, signs and whatnot. It doesnt help it. Thats at least my experience.

[Loki Eliot]

Sometimes when 50 to 60 new users arrive at your spot, it can be very stressful fo those community friends to help them all. Also there is sometimes the issue of New users being a nusance to those who are fully immesed in the game. 

 

For example last year in my steampunk game, i set up the landing spot right where you needed to start the game. Wether you were experienced SL user or a newb, you both started at the same spot. And for many it was off putting having to wade through new users who had not idea how to use SL let alone get immersed in the game. 

I realise i may come off sounding hatefulst towards New Users, im not i love newbs, those crazy newbs and i would love to make games specifically for them to entertain them and help improove their virtual world skills. But i also want to give the experienced users the sort of experience they have earned through spending alot of time in SL. 

What i plan to do this year is have two starting points, one for experiendced users and one for the New Users to hang out.

[Aeon Voom]

Well my traffic is not as high as yours obviously then. Haha.

 

But yes that sounds like a plan. And maybe i grind my brain on how to do something similar in my sims.

[Sean Martin]

That is actually the only solution that I have seen work.

For a time there we're 2 sims for boarding. One for pro's, the other for amateur events.

But the cost just wasn't viable at the time. And there is a big gap between products supporting a sim, let alone 2 sims.

Unless your at the point where other products support secondary products, and so on.

[Loki Eliot]

That traffic only happens during the first day or so of being on front page of destination guide, it drops dramatically after that

[Jen Shikami]

Agreed, it's definitely a different experience for new users! As noted they're still getting used to SL. This is part of why we bury several 7Seas Fishing features in the "Advanced" menu on the fishing rods. Even experienced people could get confused if all of a sudden they're automatically declining their catches.