This month's blog banter is about the new player experience, for better or for worse.
Some new players get lucky. They have been referred by an experienced player and as such have someone to ask all those silly questions we all ask when we first get started. I know I'd still be pulling my hairs out a year later were it not for my friend Asander and the rest of BSC Legion.
The rest of the newbies, well, they get to try their luck in Rookie Help and pray there is an ISD or an experienced player training a new account to answer their questions (and prey they aren't being trolled). Tie this in with the general feel of being in something completely new and it's pretty obvious why most don't finish the trial. There is little/no easily accessible data and those organizations that promote helping new players aren't able to be on the forefront since Rookie Help disappears after 30 days.
I've had a hand at helping out in Rookie Help recently while starting my fifth account and I keep telling myself "There must be a better way to explain this to people." So, in response to the cliff still posed by the new player experience I've decided to start making Youtube videos with in-game footage and commentary.
The channel such as it is (no videos, yet) is established here.
Feel free to leave suggestions regarding topics you'd like covered there by sending an email to Urziel99 (at) gmail (dot) com. or by contacting my Twitter account: @Urziel99
I intend to do the very basics first, maybe even cover some of the tutorial missions in detail. Anyone with an idea feel free to let me know.
1 comment:
To be honest, I feel like the biggest issue with the NPE is the lack of a condensed and streamlined sort of introduction guide that explains all the topics and controls in the game. While the ingame tutorials have come a long way, unfortunately, many new players get overwhelmed with all the possibility the first time they log in and decide to dive head first into EVE.
When I first started playing EVE in 2009, I did all the tutorials and it took me 2 months to discover that you could warp to gates and stations directly without having to use autopilot..it took me another 2 weeks to discover that to make your ship go in a certain direction you have to doubleclick in space. The fact is new players suffer from information overload and being taught by mediocre players that aren't much better than they are. The truth is, most n00b corps and groups that teach new players how to play don't really understand the game well enough to perform as instructors...yet they are the only ones willing to dedicate themselves to teaching. Its an odd sort of catch 22.
Also, I started my own blog that you should check out sometime. :)
http://cry-moar.blogspot.com/
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