Best traffic : Experienced players or newbies?

[Gwink]

Hi,

wondering which is the best traffic in terms of players & money (2 different points perhaps) :

1) The players who've never tried a browser game and discover something unique for them

2) The experienced players who will understand the game faster but play other games too

I bet category 2 will pass through tutorials & learn how to play much easier but could drop the game as fast afterward... Hard math :cursing:

Edit : I need to add : The question is at "banner step" before the player would click on banner... It makes sense an active player (let's say playing since more than one week) will stay on site longer if he/she does not know other games & discover something unique.

[Gucci Mane]

I would say #1.

[Gwink]

I need to add : The question is at "banner step" before the player would click on banner... It makes sense an active player (let's say playing since more than one week) will stay on site longer if he/she does not know other games & discover something unique.

(updating first post)

[Zero-Affect]

I would say new members fresh to the RPG scene, most chance of enchanting them rather than someone who's "seen it all before". A option is to make your game so unique you actually attract both...

[Gwink]

yes attracting both would be great for sure...

A live example :

I've seen a banner (bad I don't remember the website now) with a RPG and the words "Very difficult RPG" : Ithought that was a marketing tip to filter traffic and pay only for clicks from players who know how to play...

Same idea would be use "An easy to play RPG" to attract on the opposite newbies.

2 different ways, wondering which would work best :?:

[Redex]

Hey Gwink, i think I'll vote for option one please. The reason for my opinion, is becuase if you have a good unique game, however have not got all the exciting features becuase it is still new or for any other reason, then the target market you should be aiming at is inexperienced RPG players, this would be ideal becuase they have never seen another game to compare the bad aspects of your game to others and they would be discovering something new and exciting which will keep them attached to the game for longer and they would not get bored of the current default McCode feautures ( if your using that engine ) until you add more new exciting features. One more reason why option one would be good, is becuase for new players is that if they have not played a RPG game before this one, it is unlikely for them to have people on the Messenger or other social networking sites who have played a text based game before so your looking at more referrals as well, and then the cycle will keep repeating for the new players which will join so that would be a good advertising way for your game as well. Finally, the new players will not get bored of the game and are likely to enjoy and stay on the game for longer than other players so you might even be getting a few donations from that view becuase they would want to test out the features you would be getting as a donator becuase they would not have experienced that before.

Hope this helps

Redex

[Gwink]

I see, thanks for your points, newbies won for now :)

So you think it's quite stupid to try to make banners to trigger experienced players to my game in order to have a higher % of pass through for tutorials & more complex parts of the game?

[Gucci Mane]

well..... try atleast

I dont think its stupid

who knows it could work

[a_bertrand]

Being the owner of a unique game (as far as I can see), I can tell you that it's by no mean easy. If you own a text game, fine everyone don't expect anything beside those well known things. Now if you own something unique, people will try to put your game into one of those existing category, and it doesn't matter if it fit or not. So being unique is not enough to really attract players. You need to offer a unique AND good experience, and you must listen to what your customers.

Restricting your target to old timers gamers would be stupid as well as restrict your target to new players. You must look for anyone, as you never know who will actually join. Sure you could do something more for boys or girls, more for older people than younger, but soon you will discover that even that kind of target don't really work. Just try to attract as many people as possible, then convert those visitors in players, and finally try to keep them (which is somewhat the hardest part, as people try, and leave very easily).

[Zero-Affect]

So are you saying a "Text Game" cannot be unique?

I would still go for newbies but i did think about it you do need experienced players also for the simple fact you cannot go around to 500 new members and answer their questions, most games rely on the "big brother" system which is a older member helps a newer member get off their feet. It actually happens alot on Text Based and Flash games (to my knowledge) therefore having a few hundred experienced players in the first few thousand members is a very good idea in my eyes.

I am sure others will take something different from that.

[Gwink]

sure I understand the fact game must fit newbies as experienced players...

My question isn't really about the game itself but more about marketing & efficiency in term of long term players & money.

Another example & question :

If you could buy 1000 experienced players who will click on your site logo from another site or 1000 newbies clicking same logo (for the same overall price) : which ones would you target?

My point is newbies are most likely to like the game as they don't play others ok but they will too often quit because they don't know at all how to play a game and that no matter the tutorial you would offer... At least experienced players will pass through learning curve easely.

[Zero-Affect]

I understand your point there i actually personally dislike tutorials on games (i still have one) but personally don't like the idea of being told how to do something i prefer the adventure as it were. Newbie clickers of your logo obviously you have the risk of maybe what 60% leaving without even registering?

Consider this direct at both but in alternative ways one ad banner for newbie members (specific site ie: forums, blogs and so on) one for experienced players (specific site ie: game related).

Social networks and so on for the newbie members and Games and so forth for the more experienced members, also a kick ass referral system is a good idea.

[a_bertrand]

If I can add my own experience here:

At start my own game didn't had any tutorial, it was directly putting players into the game with the first quest. Now oddly enough people always asked about how to do things, as they was lost due to the fact the game is quiet unique. So how to explain things without forcing players to read documentation (which in the mean time we have too)? Well the best way is to make an interactive tutorial, which means, you actually play with the full game, but in a guided quest to help you understand the concept. Guess what? There is still people which simply skip the tutorial and 2 sec later ask: "how can I play? What do I need to do?" There is also other kind of players which even with a tutorial, have no clue how to go through it, so guess what? I wrote a walk though for it (which could be find here just as info http://wiki.nowhere-else.org/wiki/Step_by_step_guide_to_start)

All that improved the number of player staying, and the overall quality feeling they have from the game, still many fail to find the way to play. Well sorry to say, but I doubt we can do much more than that, I mean, if people don't want to read (but yet accept to read answers in a chat), nor want to follow a tutorial (and read what the NPC say), maybe simply those players are not the right target for the game.

[Gwink]

hehe great posts, exactly same story here : Seems that no matter the tutorial a % want to play right away and skip the learning curve at all : I'm quite sure it's due to all those boiler made games everywhere, "you see a screenshot and you know yet how to play those games"... RPGs are going same way and original games with new ideas will suffer from this :cursing: