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免费游戏引进玩家需克服10%下载进度这道坎

发布时间:2011-08-19 11:33:52 Tags:,,,

作者:Robert Levitan

让一名玩家死心踏地地追随你的游戏,需要多长时间?游戏的引入部分是重点。对设计师来说,挑战之处在于,最先向玩家展示游戏的核心内容和乐趣,同时保留足够的惊喜以刺激玩家继续玩下去。这个过程需要的时间取决于游戏的类型,可能是十分钟,二十分钟,甚至一小时。

game_icons(from toucharcade.com)

game_icons(from toucharcade.com)

让玩家坚持完成游戏的下载,存在着相似的原则。在玩家迷上你的免费游戏和让你赢利之前,他们首先需要下载和安装游戏。谢天谢地,你大约只需要五分钟就可以让新玩家决定下载你的游戏,让我来告诉你怎么做吧。我曾在过去的文章中提醒读者注意一个有趣的现象。在我的公司Pando Networks组织的一次延伸性研究中,我们分析了由加速传输服务支持的过2千7百万次下载量。我们发现以下现象:提前终止下载的玩家,其中五分之四是在下载完成不到10%的时候取消的。也就是说,一旦下载量达到10%,玩家非常可能坚持下载完所有内容。

什么时候达到10%的下载量,取决于游戏本身的大小和玩家的下载速度,但这两个条件显然是各不相同。我们假设,一般的免费游戏大小是1G,普通美国用户的下载速度是5.5 Mbps(游戏邦注;或接近688 KBps)。在共计半小时的下载时间内,要达到10%的下载量,你只有5分钟时间可以抓住玩家注意力。

为了通过最关键的头几分钟,以增加用户完成下载的可能性,你要怎么让用户一开始就被你的游戏牢牢吸引?答案可能比你想得还简单,你只需付出一点点努力。你可能已经想到新玩家填写注册表需要耗时5分钟以上的时间,或者链接他们的新帐号至游戏论坛。为什么不颠倒一下顺序或者结合下载和注册过程?如果你让玩家先启动下载,再完成注册的“文书工作”,那么,也许在用户看到下载的进度条以前,下载量就已经达到好几MB了。

大部分在线游戏时常需要玩家下载补丁、更新或扩展版,所以,在线游戏经常遇到下载和玩家急躁的问题。因此,你必须保证新玩家完成最初的10%的下载。花时间设计实用的游戏下载传输器——你是打算让玩家盯着意义不明的进度条发呆,还是向玩家传达一种可控的信息(游戏邦注:例如“你的下载速度是X,完成时长是Y)?

DLC Progress Bar(from gamingdaily.co.uk)

DLC Progress Bar(from gamingdaily.co.uk)

此外,你可以利用传输器为玩家提供等待完成下载时可消遣的内容,如交互式菜单,把玩家链接到最新要闻、游戏事件预告或改进、论坛活动,可以帮助你的游戏顺利跳过10%这道坎。同时,这些诱人的游戏相关信息还可以防止玩家失去耐心,那样玩家就不会被那个小小的“取消”(下载)键转移了注意力了。

以上方法不算新鲜,也没有突破性,但玩家最终能不能下载完游戏,往往就靠这点努力。记住,对于免费游戏,既然新玩家还没有在游戏上投入任何时间和金钱,那么取消下载时也不会有任何损失,他们随时有可能离开。

另外,这种游戏前的“开胃菜”还可以进一步拓展,即允许玩家正式进入游戏前就先体验游戏。并非所有人都喜欢浏览论坛或阅读事件日程表,但所有新玩家都需要经过角色创建,大部分新玩家希望先在游戏指南(如果有的话)的指导下玩游戏。随着数据流传输不断加速和简化,我们有理由相信,玩家可以先体验并融入游戏,同时游戏下载还在后台运行。

只有当你能把游戏放在玩家面前,玩家才会投入到你的游戏当中。所幸大多数玩家能克服10%的恐惧。但10%仍然是你必须清除的第一道障碍,这样才能尽可能地把好奇的下载用户转化为终身玩家。你确实应该在游戏的引入部分多做文章,好好利用下载过程。不要浪费了玩家对游戏的第一印像。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

The 10% Rule

by Robert Levitan

How long does it take to engage a gamer with your game to such a point that they decide to stick with it? The introductory portion of a game is critical. It challenges designers to present a title’s key concepts and “fun” up front, while holding enough surprises in reserve to motivate gamers towards extended play. Depending on the game’s genre, this may require you to engage a gamer for ten minutes, twenty minutes, maybe an hour.

This same principle – the critical nature of initial engagement – also holds true for getting gamers to stick with the download of your game. With a free-to-play game, the gamer needs to download and install your game before you can dazzle him with your fantastic product and generate any revenue. Thankfully, to reach that point, you probably only have to engage a new player for five minutes, and I’ll tell you how. In my last blog, I called attention to an intriguing behavior demonstrated by gamers. During an extensive study undertaken by my company, Pando Networks, we analyzed over 27 million downloads powered by our accelerated delivery services, and noted the following pattern: of the gamers who opted to cancel their downloads before completion, 4 out of 5 chose to cancel before the download was 10% complete. Once that critical 10% point was reached, gamers became extremely likely to allow a download to finish.

The time obviously varies for games of different sizes and users with different download speeds (as noted in my last blog), but let’s say the average free-to-play MMO game download is one gigabyte in size, and the average US gamer has a speed of 5.5 Mbps (or approximately 688 KBps) . To get 10% of the way through that half-hour download, you’ve only got to hold their attention for roughly five minutes.

How can you keep a gamer engaged right from the start of the download in order to get past those first few crucial minutes and thus increase the likelihood he  will complete the full download? The answer may be simpler than you think, requiring very little effort on your part. Chances are, you’ve already claimed five minutes or more of a new players’ time by asking them to fill out a registration form or link their new account to the game’s forums. Why not reverse the order or combine the tasks in such a way that helps you and your users? If you give your players a chance to start the download first and then complete the “paperwork,” that’s several megabytes’ worth of download time you’ve just completed before the user even looks at the progress bar.

Most online games will face the issues of downloads and impatience over and over again, as patches, updates and expansions are disseminated to users. So, you’ll need to maintain this engagement beyond your first-time players. Take the time to design a useful game launcher: is the user presented with just a progress bar of indeterminate meaning, or does it communicate an easily manageable feat (i.e. “Your download will take X minutes at a speed of Y”)?

Better still, use the launcher to provide content that your players can consume while they wait. Interactive menus with links to recent news, upcoming in-game events or promotions, and forum activity can all be used to clear the 10% hurdle. This can also protect players from the temptations of impatience, where a prominent collection of inviting game related information can draw one’s eye away from a small, subtle “cancel” button.

These concepts aren’t necessarily new or revolutionary, but they can spell the difference between a game whose downloads are smooth and inconsequential, and one that loses players to annoyance and frustration. Remember, in free-to-play gaming, a new player has yet to invest any time or money in your product, and has nothing to lose by cancelling a download if they don’t feel like waiting.

What’s more, this kind of pre-game content can be expanded upon, paving the way for gamers to interact with your titles before they ever set foot inside your game world. Not everyone may wish to look through your forums or read an event calendar, but every new player needs to go through character creation, and most people will want to play through a tutorial, if one is available. As data streaming continues to get faster and easier, it’s not hard to envision players getting this initial content instantly, and engaging with it while the rest of the game downloads subtly in the background.

A gamer can only commit to your game once you’ve got it in front of them. It’s fortunate that most gamers can get over their fear of commitment at only 10% of a download, but it’s still the first obstacle you’ll have to clear in order to turn a casual, curious downloader into a lifelong player. You’ve undoubtedly put tremendous effort into the introductory portion of your game, put some effort into the download process that precedes it. Don’t waste your first impression by stumbling on your way through the door. (source:gamasutra


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