Community Feedback

[Molyneux481]

So many of you guys may have noticed that the server seems very dead at the moment. I'm just curious on the communities opinion on what can be done to resolve the issue.

I have made a poll on certain areas, as to where you think the problem may be. 

I know this thread comes up a lot but what the heck. I'm sure the staff will appreciate any feedback given.

[TheSiphon]

Personally I just see low player count and wait until it gets to 30 before I join. Dunno if other people do that as well, but I find low player count really boring since there isn't a proper government for police RP. That's just about the only thing I do on the server besides Estleback, passive RP has become boring for me and I don't have a crew to pull off RP stuff.

[Spartan_KCT]

I believe the poll does not cover the issues FL has. A new map is being worked on, updates happen more frequently than before, there are more events than ever and I'm not too sure what you mean with not moving forward.

A lot of points that were raised in previous threads are still relevant to this day. Even though they are being worked on, I believe some issues were ignored for a bit too long. 

Overall I must say people lose interest in the gamemode which could be because of the lack of rewards or progression, and the economy that's completely busted, but to be fair who knows. 
Personally, I can summarize it in 1 sentence: there is no reason for me to come back. If you want I can elaborate on it in a discord call, as I prefer to have a conversation about it rather than to write it down.

[Falc]

V4b1 is laggy and poorly optimised, it puts people off playing

[Ratatoskrr]

I feel like no one cares about passive anymore and if there's below like 10 people on, they're all most likely contrabasing, putting more passive players off of playing. Like siphon, PoliceRP is the main thing I do nowadays but it's no fun without any people on the server to interact with.

[JONATHANPOO]

FL is mostly going well at the minute, there's an excellent staff team, a large (but kind of inactive) development team, and many good events. I still think FL should be focusing on its content rather than on its map, as any attempt to make a custom map or branch out from an EvoCity map always ends in failure. We should be focusing on content instead of trying to change the map from an EvoCity variant.

I can assure the dev team are not inactive. I think changing the map is key though because the current evocity ones have been in the loop for years, and are super boring now. There's updates coming but I think we need more teasers to keep us in the loop, knowing that something is coming. Plus the roadmaps gone and im upset

[Haarek]

Stop for a moment and reflect; what do you think a new player that just joined the server wants to do when he joins? He has been waiting a long time for the loading screen and his expectations are most likely high. What does FL do to the new player? He spawns in as unemployed and has around 5 options in the F1 menu. He can become a gundealer, Paramedic, Doctor, Mechanic or security guard.

It is THESE jobs that needs attention, it is THESE jobs that needs to be improved.
They need proper structuring based on the inventory system, the merchant jobs are getting 1/10 of the traffic they could be getting and it IS a problem that needs to be properly addressed and discussed by people who have the power to make change. You cannot simply make up your mind on these matters in a few hours, they need to be looked at more in-depth and figure out what changes can be made.

[Link]

I think the 'big' problem is the cost of getting started on the server.

And, by cost, I'm not talking monetary - but time and effort.

Especially since we're now in the DarkRP category (though I think generally in gaming this is a trend), people have come to expect an easy ride.

When they join a new gamemode, the player may have no idea what they're doing, won't have fun, won't bother putting in the effort to learn the ropes of the gamemode (that only a handful of people are playing), and go play something else with a lower opportunity cost like Fortnite, or some other server.

Add to that the fact that they might not have the textures, or the server may be lagging, or there may be no one on the server, and it's not hard to see why people don't want to play here.

This is not me saying that we should become closer to other gamemodes, or simplify our gamemode - it's the acute complexities within ours that make it stand out.

But I think Fearless needs to focus on making it easy for players who want what we offer to get started.

One way this could be done is to explain how the gamemode works to new players through videos.

For example, when you spawn in for the first time, a professionally made video plays that explains to you the ropes of the gamemode, how to make money, how to traverse the menus, and what there is to actually be done.

Though it's not the solution to all of FL's problems, I think a concrete, clear and engaging explanation would be a good start with increasing the player conversion rate from a 'newly joined' player to a potential 'player'.

It would make players who are actually looking for a cityRP experience excited to play, and actually put a step in place to capture the player, and prevent them from logging off and never coming back.

Once the actual game mode has been explained properly and you've captured the player's interest, you move them from the 'newly joined'  to 'potential player' category.

There's no way of making a player stick around for months or years if you can't get them to stick around for a couple of hours or days.

From this point improvements regarding making the gamemode work better, making sure the player stays, are the most important.

For example, updates, events, fps fixes, gamemode change, promoting clans, new map etc.

These things provide long-term enjoyment to move them from a 'potential player' to a 'player'.

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As a case in point, a few weeks ago a new player came up to me and started asking me questions about how to do x and y.

What would he have done if I wasn't there? Probably log off and never come back again.

But my explanation only likely kept him around for a few hours or days, as the other problems with the gamemode probably killed off any long term potential for him to play.

But there wouldn't have been potential for him to stay (which is what we want) if I didn't explain to him how to play.

My explanation moved him from 'newly joined' to 'potential player', but the problems with the gamemode likely stopped him from moving from 'potential player' to 'player'.

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So, in summary, I believe focus has to be put on moving players from 'newly joined' to 'potential player' through proper explanations.

You've captured their interest.

Then, to robustly move them from 'potential player' to 'player', work has to be put into refining the gamemode, and providing long term engagement with events and organisations.

Until it is clear to new players what the heck you're supposed to do, strategies to keep longer term players engaged won't work to the fullest effect.

[L Y N C H Y]

For me i have stopped playing due to completing everything there is to do what made FL for me is the grind having to work for every car, every clothing, and so much more now that i have owned everything and worked with everything there is nothing for me to do, nothing for me to work for so i come on kill people then go off really now i dont find FL enjoyable anymore, and i get not hype from playing it which is why i have moved on

[Grizzly]

-snip-

I don't think I could agree with this post more if I tried. Many very long term players have extremely large ideas about the gamemode that yes would most likely solve issues however I major problem that has a very easy solution is how inaccessible fearless is for newer players. Apart from maybe one or two players the past week on FL I have not seen a single person with under 24 hours on the server. This is clear showing the newly joined players aren't sticking around as much as they should be.

I think making the server more newbie friendly could be massive, things such as having videos that walk them threw the very basics and set them up for their personal future on the server is a big step forward. You can role as many major updates out as you want but if more than 80% of the concurrent player base has over 100 hours clearly not enough new folk want to join.