Flashing the goods

Suggestions
#1

Background:
I go around showing off and demoing vr a lot as my job, basicly giving people a 5 min try out of a game. And those that manage to launch it usually find it quite dull, quickly asking me to switch game.

Orbus is not a game you can try out in 5min obviously.

Idea:
Make a verry limited orbus demo version where you just get to taste some fun stuff.

Something like:

One smal room

A few different enemies and a boss just posing passively untill you attack, with a chest-pop up if killed

A single Dragon race to start with a pre- equipt candie

A single quest giver telling you what to do.

Basicly a preview seller of the game, that you can try out with just the good-stuff, and toss people completely new to VR into to get them sold on orbus.

8 Likes
#2

Yeah this is something we are struggling with in general. The way that Steam and Oculus refund policies work, people who buy the game have 2 hours (usually less to be on the safe side) to decide if they like it or not, and then refund it.

This leads to a situation where people rush into the game, skip all the tutorials, don’t pay attention to the menus at all, and just try and run around frantically, then deciding they don’t get the game and don’t like it.

I think in most MMO games, you are going to have a hard time figuring out if you like the game in an hour. The depth of stuff to do in that kind of game also leads to a situation where the mechanics are complex out of necessity. We can’t have a simple inventory system where you stick stuff in 6 slots on a fun backpack if there are 200 items to manage, for example.

One potential solution is to try and create a demo room like you are talking about. I think that would likely help with quick demos like you describe (e.g. if someone just wants to show off the game for 5 minutes).

For the typical Steam/Oculus purchaser, we are also considering coming out with some way to play the game for free for as long as you’d like, up to e.g. Level 10 on your first class or something like that. I think that might be better than the demo room because one of the main draws of the game is the social aspect, and I feel like people might not be as drawn in just being by themselves in a room playing with the mechanics.

Of course my main concern with that is policing it. I don’t really want a bunch of people running around trolling the community and after we ban them, just coming back on another free account to start the process all over again. We had thought about putting them in a separate shard (along with all of the usual restrictions MMOs put on “demo accounts” like no trading, using AH, etc.). But of course that goes right back to the issue of you’re putting all the people trying out the game in an instance with the worst trolls and none of the best veteran players.

So, yeah, totally open to feedback on this, because this is definitely an issue we need to overcome as a game if we have any hope of starting to get a larger playerbase.

5 Likes
#3

Yep I think that people are the best way. You would almost need a welcome person. Like an in game guide. Thats not feasible obviously.
What about a short video? Something that you watch before you even buy the game that can answer some of the most asked questions?

#4

A vr possibilety could be playing the demo room in the real orbus world, but removing door’s out, trading, pvp, quewing and so on.

You want it to be a teaser. Show the Good stuff, but drasticly limit the access.

#5

Maybe you could create a demo town (full of all the good stuff that was already mentioned). It could be kind of like a dungeon new/demo players are sent to, and veteran players could then que for this “dungeon” to help out new players in exchange for dram or loot. This would help new players, who don’t like to read, to understand the game, while also rewarding the people who already like to stick around Highsteppe to help those who need it.

Or/and, you could make a help que where a player can request someone to help them. The system could then send out notifications to certain players who have selected to help (possibly a setting that veteran players could toggle). The first person to accept the request could then be teleported to the player who needs help. Then after the player has decided that they understand what they needed help with, the helper could be compensated by how long they spent helping the new player (or you could send a survey to the new player asking how the helper did and then compensate the helper based on how well they did in the survey).

Anyway, just a couple thoughts. Good luck on figuring this out.

1 Like
#6

Obligatory reminder of the “ask me for help title”

3 Likes
#7

This reason is exactly why Rec Room was always full of trolls and ruined the game due to it being free. Once they made the game not need VR the VR side died because anyone could just make an account and mess with you.

It definitely needs a lot of care if this kind of system is applied. It really is a difficult answer to find.

This might be because unlike in old Orbus when the game started you in a position to see the tutorial NPC and decently far away. But the NPC did look important and it was very clear you were in a single area. Bart told you about a fair few mechanics (Not enough really but it was okay) and you had to do the tutorial to unlock the next part of main story (don’t know if this is wrong but I think that is how it works).

In Reborn you still have multiple exits, however it does not look like a real training area. You can go through the door and just walk out to the sapling starfrushers, you won’t get far because you don’t know how to play. You then go through the door. Same formula as old Orbus but I think its a much less straightforward or obvious tutorial. Yes in both versions a player could skip both tutorials but I feel less did in old orbus.

Maybe you can add a “Do you want to watch a quick tutorial about the game?” button, explain that since it is an mmo you should watch the video and do the in game tutorial to get the hang on how to play the experience that is OrbusVR Reborn

Or perhaps add a barrier system like the shield in old Necropolar until you finish the tutorial. As in you cannot leave the dummy training area through walking, teleporting, or opening a door. You do the first quest for the tutorial person and it then unlocks the door to Highsteppe which has a path you must follow to the NPC you need for the quest or to create the potion or whatever. Once the tutorial is finally complete have the barrier either shatter or dissolve, telling the player they are now free to explore.

Though make sure you put this barrier as a dome around everything. Some players might be so determined to not do the tutorial that they glitch out of the barrier, probably with teleport to just not do it by walking around that barrier.

Also make sure that the tutorial parts of the game are one player instanced until the tutorial is completed. Tutorial also must tell the player what the runemage teleport spell is and looks like in game to prevent accidental teleports. As it stands right now any mage can sit there and open up constant teleports and say to players that it is quicker to do the tutorial by going through the portal or something similar. Then if the new players buy it they could get stranded in Wastelands next to unscaled enemies and the exit would be far away. They cannot use home teleport as they likely don’t know what it is, they cant use the pillar to teleport to Highsteppe due to lack of resources and pillars to teleport to. They would have to sneak their way with knowing almost nothing about the game all the way to Highsteppe without even knowing where they are going. Likely they would just quit and refund the game, or create another character but it would leave a bad impression about the game and community.

#8

This conversation all stems back to trying to get people to stay sticky in the game and keep playing. The biggest gate keeper i noticed in the app building world was only offering a paid version of the game… Maybe making the game free for all until they want to level past 10 and then they need to buy the full version to level higher… Combine that with a much clearer and cleaner step by step tutorial section (highlighting places they need to go and people they need to talk to with shininess etc) and then you have a frictionless start for new players I think.

Regarding trolls/farmers/bots; Innocent until proven guilty. If you do not see troll behaviour around the world with free users then it isn’t a problem. Once trolls start appearing I think it would be best to look at how they are trolling and address the problems one by one.

1 Like
#9

Surely there’s also an IP-ban if you really have a problem with a player.

But I do think having a ftp for a short amount of time would be good. Maybe allow people to hit 7-10 on each class as a maximum and any additional experience they obtain ‘pools’ so they get that extra xp when they pay for the game.

Give a maximum amount of dram (10-12k?) and a reduced storage space in the player house (maybe 1-2 pages in the main chest, half the space in the crafting boxes), etc.

#10

what about just making them limited to the highstep and surrounding zone and then let players opt in to see them.

I dont think there will be as much of an issue with trolls as there is in other mmos because at the very least there is a 400$ buy in for vr. Sure, someone who has vr could then troll this game, but it isnt as open to the mass trolls as a game without vr.

#11

I do wonder if there’s some identifying info/fingerprinting related to VR equipment to further restrict opportunity for account scumming.

Edit: depending on the VR API available to Orbus’s executable, you could keep track of serial numbers, as one example. Easy to spoof, but it would be a big hurdle for the average troll.

1 Like
#12

club penguin had guides

1 Like
#13

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