How to make new players stay

[vldttfy]

Hello,

I'm writing this because I would like to see more players in the server. As someone said in a previous forum post (cant remember which one) we have a lot of new applications that either get approved or not. The players that get approved are joining the game and they don't know what to do. By the time they get a little bit of information about the server and what they need to do and who to play with, most probably they will get robbed (like it happened to me and my friends). After that, obviously being pissed off they will leave the server and never comeback unknowingly about what we have behind the curtain.

 

What I'm suggesting is:

 

Create some sort of Milestone tracker that they really need to accomplish if they want to discover all the perks of this server.

Not only it will make the new players play more on our server but it could also be a guiding map for newbies because let's face it, how much help do you get in-game if you have never played RP ?

To get more specific about the suggestion and how to make players stay:

We keep track of the players through the experience that they have, the milestones could be simply unlocked by reaching a certain amount of experience for example:

Reach 4000XP - You will get a drug lab location as a reward.

Reach 10000XP - You will get all the drug lab locations.

These 2 above are just some examples and I'm not saying you guys should do that. All I'm trying to say is that if we create a Milestone/Achievement system in game for newbies it will be easier to make the stick with us rather than just leaving.

 

Thank You,

[Balastas]

I've noticed aswell that actual new peoples when I've started to rp had small clue how to actually rp. Yes it's easy to understand Powergaming/Metagaming, /me/do/ooc and so more, but how actually to rp them right. Because if your first rp is being robbed by "put your hands up motherfucker" and you get frisked that's it it's just not a good example of rp. So maybe whoever has a good knowledge could actually make such lessons or situations just to show people how it's done (since i don't actually see peolpe rping crashes and stuff like that). (just a suggestion not sure if actually necessary)

[Xypint]

As can be determined, I'm originally a rather old player

 I joined April 2017, under leadership of the original founders. I got in game spawned at the airport ran halfway up the highway and said "fuck it" and quit the server, before reaching even 100xp. Not to come back for a year and a half. This was because I didnt want to run to the city to find civilization. I suggest it should be more clear that there is a rental spot to get a vehicle. Amd maybe not speed limit these vehicles, and keep it up to the driver. Driving miles at 70km/h on a highway isnt pleasing as a new player. Citybees should be limited to 120km/h instead. 

[Sandiego]

The server as of now is very boring for new players,only reason why I stayed was because i had friends playing..milestones would be great,maybe a small cash reward too for some milestones like drive 50miles with ur work vehicle would give you a bonus salary or something like that

[Kaizure]

Going to put some minds at ease.

First, let me start by saying: I'm in the process of writing a script for some instructional videos to help new players learn things they need to know on the server. Things like proper use of /me and /do, what metagaming/powergaming/etc. is, what Deathmatching/VDM/KOS is and when it applies, how to get robbed and how to properly RP FearRP, etc. I'll also be covering things like server commands (F2 to see your cursor, how to check stats, etc.) and in general will be going over things I feel new players need to know when starting on Eclipse, as well as information that will be useful for them down the road as reminders.

I'll be trying to make each video as short as possible (hoping for 1 - 3 minutes tops, but it will depend on the content of each video).

Hopefully with these videos out, we'll see a rise in activity, people properly following rules and (of course) role playing.

 

With that said... I do have an issue with these milestones.

Being granted the location of a drug lab can be considered metagaming, because your character hasn't ICly acquired that knowledge. If they want that information, they need to earn it like everyone else has: by asking for it and/or meeting the right people. I know it was just an example, but I know some folks would take it to heart, so I had to say something.

 

What I suggest as an alternative:

Provide people with an option to set themselves up as 'mentors'. We have admins who can answer questions via /report 1 (question), but admins are usually busy with other, more critical matters and can't immediately answer the questions these new players have. While we have forum materials and the like to assist players, not everyone will read the forums and will just try to jump right into the game to learn it.

The idea is: mentors would receive an indication that a new player has joined the server (ie: someone with less than 1000xp), as well as providing them with an ID. The Mentor can then send the newbie a private message and offer to be a mentor / answer any questions they might have when they're starting out.

The tricky part with this mentor system is: you need to get people in this role who thoroughly understand the rules. Perhaps providing mentor applicants with a quiz similar to what you see when you join the server, but with more complicated questions that are intended to really test the knowledge of those applying. Mentors should be people who prove they can be trusted to teach new players and stop themselves and their students from metagaming (which would be the most immediate concern with reaching out in private messages and trying to instruct a new player).

Edited December 14, 2018 by Kaizure

[Westy]

To be honest, instead of all these "additions" or "perks" put into the script, my idea is to actually go out of your own way to teach people from right and wrong. Majority of the people that stay and play are the ones that had interactions with our existing players aiding them what they can possibly do in our server. Don't shy away from a person because he/she doesn't know what they're doing. You helping that person that one time could decipher if they'll stay here or not, and who knows that person might be a great contributing member of this community in the future. So yeah my idea is just to be informative, tell them about the community discord, our forums, there's so much out there but isn't being used. It's going to need effort from the existing members of our community to make it better, cheers!

Edited December 15, 2018 by MarlboroRed

[gohena]

there is just is not enough things to spend money on/do on the server in my opinion and its very grindy to get money to then not even have barely anything to spend it on...

[Xoza]

When I joined during my time frame there were 40 people on the server and it was my first GTA RP server... I had no idea what I was doing and how to do commands or what was even possible. I thought when using commands I had to use the whole Stranger ###_### to accept a frisk and got killed for being 'too slow'. I figured out the CityBee. I got my licenses and stayed because I called PD for a vehicle in the path of the Trucking course. The officer gave me 10k and suggested I drive the trucking job (when it paid well) and took me to it.

[Tylergo20]

what would be nice is having some sort of timer. I was robbed 4 times my 4 different people, because im new they shot me. im told them in /ooc hold on a sec im trying to do the accept search. im new just give me a little more time. I find it not fun that your doing a trucking job and you half to pull over every 2 miles to get robbed. then get killed because your tring to do the RP but they just what the cash right a way and not really care. MY buddy trying to go though the testing and I know it was not that hard when I done it. everyone just speeds and blows RED lights crashes and drives off no one cares. the lights should be changed a bit more to little longer times for green also. and if your car is damaged by accident it should stay damaged even if you leave the car in a parking spot and come back. forcing you to go repair the car. 

[Denni]

People just need to know how to roleplay. Lots come in thinking it is similar to gta online or a fivem server without whitelisting. 

We shouldn't show people locations etc. Of things. They need to find them themselves. I have over 80k experience and still don't know everything. 

Edited December 22, 2018 by Denni

[Xoza]

I agree people should discover things on their own, but with the city feeling so empty, there should be some kind of direction. They're new citizens without homes and friends and even if the server has 180 people on it, it feels dead and empty when you first come in.

Edited December 23, 2018 by Xoza

[Xoza]

I love the idea of adding incentives or milestones to keep players playing. Could even be "missions", that grant bonus money.

• Get your license.
• Do three different city jobs for an hour.
• Use an ATM.
• Visit a list of locations.

[Xypint]

14 hours ago, Xoza said:

I love the idea of adding incentives or milestones to keep players playing. Could even be "missions", that grant bonus money.

• Get your license.
• Do three different city jobs for an hour.
• Use an ATM.
• Visit a list of locations.

This is a roleplay server

[Denni]

22 minutes ago, Xypint said:

This is a roleplay server

That said, lots can't roleplay.

[Tylergo20]

to me its sad to watch people speeding down a road then they crash into someone i watched it then they drive off... like umm your in a super car hitting some pice of crap car. and you shrug it off and drive off. no changing of words no photos no nothing. they need to make it so when you damage your car even though you leave the game or leave car behind the car stays damaged. and forces your to fix it

[Denni]

3 minutes ago, Tylergo20 said:

to me its sad to watch people speeding down a road then they crash into someone i watched it then they drive off... like umm your in a super car hitting some pice of crap car. and you shrug it off and drive off. no changing of words no photos no nothing. they need to make it so when you damage your car even though you leave the game or leave car behind the car stays damaged. and forces your to fix it

Report for Fail RP.

[Tylergo20]

ya I should of. but it was late and just heading to bed. I do find they need to change the street lights a bit also. i find they change to fast. they should slow them down so it stays red or green a bit longer so it can make more sence to pull people over for running reds. 

[alexalex303]

9 minutes ago, Tylergo20 said:

ya I should of. but it was late and just heading to bed. I do find they need to change the street lights a bit also. i find they change to fast. they should slow them down so it stays red or green a bit longer so it can make more sence to pull people over for running reds. 

As far as I know, that's part of GTA and can not be changed by the server in the current RAGE implementation.

[Xoza]

2 hours ago, Xypint said:

This is a roleplay server

That's true, should be able to discover things yourself, but this would be more of a "this is how to do things here." guide. They weren't born yesterday and we don't have someone manning an information booth for the city at the Airport. Essentially it would  be some form of that.

Something or someone providing information.

Hmm, what about a scripted job to man an information booth or be a guide at the Airport that can answer questions about the city? They hang out in the spawn area and answer questions and greet newcomers.

Edited December 26, 2018 by Xoza

[Tomaxas6]

8 hours ago, Xypint said:

This is a roleplay server

When you said Roleplay server you havent mentioned what kind it is. From my point of view, this is very light rp server, cause people dont care about driving, dont care where they shoot or what they rob. Only factions like PD and MD are based on heavy rp.

[JasonG]

day 1 - i got tased through a windshield by pd. - I'll just let that speak for itself.

As for the rest, the administration on this server is not the best. It takes me hours to get a report accepted for something as simple as TP after falling through the world. And /amembers shows a few administrators online and on duty, and I feel like reports are heavily neglected. It makes me wonder what would happen should I be getting DM'd and I reported. It probably wouldn't be accepted on time for anyone to do anything about it. Also, there's a few other issues I won't mention here but I feel like the administration isn't as active as it should be. That's just my opinion however. I see at least one adminsitrator say over OOC 'If you no longer require assistance, /cancelreport'. What they don't understand is that we've been waiting for hours for someone to accept that report and subsequently forgot that it was still pending. I've had reports accepted that I completely forgot what they were about. 

Also, I ran into an ammunition yesterday. Bought a gun, and immediately got told to put my hands up and robbed. The RP sense in the "robbery community" is absolutely fucking trash and anyone who does this kind of "roleplay" should be ashamed. It's not necessarily against the rules but it's just a terrible roleplay experience. New-ish players often face challenges like this. Not just on this server. However there is an application process for a reason, and if we're accepting people that RP like this then we need to overhaul that system.

Also, there is a lack of guides for such a confusing script. I'm sometimes baffled by how things work and there's little documentation on the forums about it. I get that most of the guides are player-based but there is no documentation for certain development aspects and I get that there can't be a thread for everything but at the same time it's lacking for big features as well. Sure you can do /helpme in game or /report, but these also take a bit of time to get accepted.

 

In conclusion, better RP standards and better administration assistance will always lead to a healthier community.

 

 

As for the topic at hand, which I have much less to say about, I wouldn't be completely against a milestone system. MT-G on SA:MP had a 'player ranking' system that bumped you ranks based on hours played. NGG obviously had the godfather's leveling system where you had to buy your levels (which is aids and I wouldn't want) but something similar like that I would be down for.

Edited December 28, 2018 by JasonG

[Tylergo20]

On 12/26/2018 at 9:19 PM, Tomaxas6 said:

When you said Roleplay server you havent mentioned what kind it is. From my point of view, this is very light rp server, cause people dont care about driving, dont care where they shoot or what they rob. Only factions like PD and MD are based on heavy rp.

extremely true i was with a player in my Washington driving around 1 car 2 bikes one guy in car says pull over in text chat. well honestly im not going to for one he did not roll down window using /me. and we are driving 100 kph. how the fuck are you going to here someone talking to you. then he began to chase us. witch i have shitty car so im ok with jumping curbs but he was all over the place. then one point a bike did a pit maneuver to the car.. like come one you guys whated to stop me that bad that a bike had to pit me, passenger said in /o that is bull and we kept the chase going. and then the payers followed down a dirt road and the player ramped my car fell off. you would think that the 2 others would make sure he ok or some shit but no left him behind and kept following. we escaped but people got to get a life. you see someone driving a shitty car or on a job leave them alone. robbing people is what you get no cash you may get a pair of pants or whats inside there inventory witch i never have anything becasue of robberies every 3 miles. its getting to be not fun. people say ohh you get robbed in real life. umm no. I have bin robbed 1 time in 28 years and it was my xgf taking my stuff. and all they do is come out with gun already drown from the car. there should be more roleplay like /me talking to driver and pull out pistal slowly. or dont expect a car doing 100 to stop. wait till he parks for gas or something. also dont shoot at a tanker full of fuel that just dumb.

[MusketDeezNuts]

Stuff for new players are currently in development. 

[Tylergo20]

can we add panic buttons in the vehicles like armed truck and the transport. like they have in real life. that way when we getting robbed we can press it or not depending on the RP situation to notify cobs that a worker is getting robbed? its bin 5 min now and 2 attempt robberies. its getting out of hand. i feel i should just buy a AK and kill them so then they leave me alone and be a criminal that kills people that robs me

[Vasquez]

I recently joined the server, luckily for me, I had a friend to guide me through the early hours and my many questions.
Things like starting a car, locking it and parking it, wouldn't have been possible for me had it not been for my friend for guiding me through.
Being a new player is tough, most players you meet are robbers, and their roleplay is always bare minimum ( /handsup -> /do yes you can frisk me -> /do no I don't stop you -> /stopanim  = The robbery experience )

Maybe adding in a newbie help chat, that can be toggled would be nice.
(  /H(elper)  ) people could ask questions, and 'helpers' could answer them.
Making it toggle would allow other players to see the Q/A and maybe answer some of their questions as well?

Allow average players who are ready to go above and beyond to become helpers, unloading some of the work from the admin team.