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为何第一印象对F2P游戏尤其重要?

发布时间:2014-04-11 10:17:48 Tags:,,,

作者:Adam Smith

易用性对初次印象的影响

人们往往投入大量时间(大约50毫秒)确定自己是否喜欢某物。他们通常是根据潜意识的考虑来做出反应。我们通常在见到某人第一面就知道自己是否喜欢对方,但可能却并不知道为何如此。这有可能是因为他们的肢体语言,行为方式或者声音或其他特点让我们对其反感。网站和游戏亦是如此。设计和风格等层面可能会导致我们对一款游戏产生积极或消极印象。有些人可能喜欢蒸汽朋克风格的游戏,有些人则不然。这并非开发者所能控制的方向。但易用性问题却是可以控制的,并且会影响玩家对游戏的印象。

对所有类型的媒体来说,初次印象都甚为关键,对于那些采用免费模式的游戏来说更是如此。潜在玩家注册并开始玩游戏时,根本就不会全身心投入游戏。如果他们只玩了5分钟就离开,根本就不会有任何损失。如果注册流程过于繁,他们甚至可能就直接放弃了,根本就不会等到试玩游戏的那一刻。而对于玩家花钱购买的游戏,他们就会有玩游戏的动机,这样才不会觉得自己白花钱。而免费游戏则不存在这种动机。流失的玩家对开发者来说不但是一种损失,而且还是一种亏本。流失的玩家具有基础设施、宽带和获取成本。这意味着流失率是需要开发者注意的一个关键环节。

first-impressions(from prestadesigner.com)

first-impressions(from prestadesigner.com)

以下几种情况会让你对某位初次见面者产生不良印象:

*对方没有同你四目接触

*对方根本就不笑

*对方站得离你太近

而新游戏如果具有以下特点也会招人反感:

*你没法融入游戏,或者无法产生兴趣(没有眼缘)

*不受欢迎(微笑)

*强迫玩家执行自己并不乐意的操作,或者出现让你不舒服的行为(个人空间)

这些症状可能导致玩家放弃游戏。这还只是刚开始,在玩家还没有深入接触游戏时,他们很容易走开并尝试其他内容。这也是我们在一段关系刚开始的时候处于最挑剔的阶段。挑剔的玩家会决定游戏是否值得自己花时间,而离开游戏却不会让他们有任何损失。

正是这个关键的时间点,他们选择成为玩家或者一走了之的流失顾客。在免费游戏中,那些免费用户也同样是顾客。他们可能不会直接为游戏内置商店带来任何收益,但他们会创造催生付费玩家的市场和玩家基础。他们会通过好友、博客讨论游戏,或者创造玩法视频等。

与免费游戏相比,常规游戏刚开始时的易用性较差,因为它们的玩家已经有了玩游戏的理由——他们为游戏掏了钱。游戏的某一功能可能会令新玩家不快,但对于铁杆玩家来说却可能是一个值得珍惜的缺点。而免费游戏则无法享受到这种待遇了。玩家并不会在其中逗留直至适应并最终喜欢上那些最初令自己不快的东西。

尽可能制作流畅的玩法可以提高玩家粘性的机率。玩家越是投入,就越不容易在碰到问题或不快时离开游戏。没有一款游戏是完美的。玩法和盈利机制会创造玩家必须应对的棘手问题。他们坚守在游戏中并克服这些问题的意愿,正是保持玩家愉快心情和粘性的核心所在。

初次印象

玩家与游戏初次打交道应该始于他们注册的网站:

*网站的一般访客通常只会花不到1分钟的时间寻找信息。这意味着新玩家会在不到1分钟的时间内开始注册流程。这个时间始于页面载入,结束于他们点击注册按钮。游戏在这个时间内就要招徕玩家。

*用户通常会在10-20秒内离开网页。以上的1分钟规则仍然适用于此。那些并非意在寻找特定信息的用户只会玩10-20秒时间寻找有趣的内容,之后就会放弃。用户会浏览网页,但不会阅读所有文本——他们通常只会阅读一个页面中四分之一的文本内容。这意味着首页和打开游戏的瞬间必须清楚而富有吸引力。用户逗留得越久,离开的机率就越低。

*网站或游戏的初次印象发生于20分之一秒的瞬间。玩家不会考虑游戏在之后20分钟是否表现出色。如果它在头几秒看起来就很糟糕了,玩家可能就已下定决心离开游戏。这其中可能涉及第一眼所见的配色方案等美术环节,以及布局等易用性环节。人们对自己认识的事物感觉舒适。如果网站布局与他们所知的其他网站相似,他们可能就会知道它具有可用性。游戏看起来可以有所区别,但其交互结构要与其他类似的游戏相近。

光环效应

另一个有趣的现象就是光环效应。这意味着如果某物的初始印象是好的,我们就会将这种感觉延伸到其他领域。反之亦然。这对免费游戏来说很重要。如果你游戏的初始印象很糟糕,那么它的某一部分优于竞争对手也无济于事。玩家很可能因为对竞争对手的游戏初始印象更好,所以就能容忍它的“不足之处”。精心创造初始印象的免费游戏典型包括:《Blacklight》、《军团要塞2》以及《Clash of Clans》。

blacklight(from videogamesdaily)

blacklight(from videogamesdaily)

易用性如何影响初次印象

创造良好的印象意味着移除或优化那些造就糟糕印象的环节,例如,让注册流程的导航更清晰并易于理解。用户不会坐在那里想“哇,这真是一个很棒的注册表格”。用户并不会注意到良好的易用性,因为其运行效果与他们的预期一样。免费游戏不应该因为注册表格难以使用而令用户不快。如果用户在看到游戏之前就已经心生厌倦了,那么他们对游戏的第一印象也势必大打折扣。

基本的易用性理念包括:让导航明确而简单,提供有意义和有用的链接字体,一致性的导航等。它们可以移除用户从感兴趣的个人成为注册玩家这一旅途中的不良障碍。

当玩家注册完毕时,就要让他们产生积极的初始玩法体验。在此积极性并不意味着“简单”,而是确保玩法体验的每一个环节都清晰易懂或不令人讨厌。应该让玩家快速获知游戏的整体情况,其运行方式,这样他们才能确定自己是否喜欢游戏。初始体验应该令人印象深刻,富有趣味。《军团要塞2》以其视频吸引玩家,《Blacklight》则令玩家觉得他们在做富有意义的事情。最好是淡化新手教程的引导感。有些游戏会让整款游戏看起来像个伪教程,例如《植物大战僵尸》和《传送门2》。

专注于初次印象的测试可以鉴别出需要优化从而减少玩家不快的区域。让游戏获得更多产生积极初次印象的机会。免费游戏本身可能很棒,但如果它初次体验很差,就很难吸引更多玩家。玩家不会在游戏中长久逗留从而发现游戏的出众之处。

在查看游戏并试图找到或发现玩家存在问题的地方时,最重要的是要理解玩家并不会“错误”地玩游戏。他们玩游戏的方式是因环境而形成的。如果他们做出意料之外的举动,或者游戏体验并不“良好”,那就说明是游戏设计导致他们产生这些行为。用户体验和用户测试整个概念的宗旨就是发现这些问题,以便开发者做出有利于玩家体验的调整。

游戏会随着时间而变化,玩家初次体验也会随之变化。如果一款游戏问世5年了,那么它的初始体验仍然需要定期检查和测试。如果说等待游戏下载是玩家必须承受之痛,那么等待下载7个不同的补丁,只是因为游戏问世已经有些年头了,那就是一个非常令人难以忍受的初始体验了。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Why first impressions matter for Free-to-play (F2P) games especially

by Adam Smith

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community.

The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

How usability affects first impressions.

People spend a short amount of time deciding if they like or dislike something (around 50 milliseconds [1]). This gut reaction is often based on subconscious considerations. We often know if we like or dislike someone soon after meeting them but may not be sure why. It may be their body language, mannerisms or inflection of the voice but something just puts us off them. The same is true for websites and games. Areas such as design and styling can lead to some people having positive or negative feelings towards a game. Some may like steam punk style games; others may not. This is out of the developer’s control. Usability issues can be controlled and affect a players perception of a game.

First impressions are important for all types of media. It is particularly important for games that follow the free-to-play model. The potential player has no commitment at all to the game when they sign up and start playing. If they walk away after 5 minutes then they have not lost anything. If the sign up process is too onerous then they may not even get to the point of trying the game before giving up. With standard games the player already bought the title, so have an incentive to get their money’s worth from the game. With a free-to-play game this incentive does not exist. A lost player is not just a loss but also a cost to the developer. The lost player has infrastructure, bandwidth and acquisition costs. This means that the churn rate (players who give up soon after starting) is a critical area for developer attention.

Upon meeting a new person you would be put off if they:

Don’t make eye contact.

Did not smile at all.

Stood too close to you.

With a new game it is annoying if:

You are not engaged and shown to be of interest (eye contact).

Not welcomed and shown there is nothing threatening (smiling).

You are pushed and prodded to do things you don’t want to do or that make you feel uncomfortable (personal space).

These annoyances can all lead to a player giving up. It is at the beginning, when the player has no history with a game, that it is easiest to walk away and try something else. It is also at the beginning of a relationship that we are most picky. This picky player is deciding if the game is worth their time. Leaving costs them nothing.

It is at this crucial point that they either start becoming a player or they leave and become a lost customer. In free-to-play games the ones who just play for free are also customers. They may not put any money into the games cash shop but they do generate the market and player base that drives the paying players. They talk to their friends, blog, create gameplay videos etc.

Standard games can have slightly more leeway with poor usability at the start compared to free-to-play because the player already has a reason to play – they spent money on the game. A feature of a game can be annoying to a new player but a cherished foible to a veteran. This is not so with free-to-play games. The player does not stay around long enough for the annoyance to become something they get used to and then like.

Making the initial gameplay as smooth and slick as possible increases the chances of attachment. The player is more invested in it and is less likely to leave when they encounter a problem or annoyance. No game can be perfect. Gameplay and monetisation mechanics will create opposing problems the player has to deal with. Their willingness to stick with it and overcome these issues is at the core of keeping players happy and engaged.

First Impressions:

The player’s first interaction with a game will be the website where they sign up:

•  An average visitor to a website will spend less than 1 minute trying to find information [2].This means it should take a new player under one minute to start the signup process. The minute starts on page load and ends when they click signup. The game needs to be sold in this time.

•  Users often leave web pages in 10 – 20 seconds. The one minute rule stated above still applies. Users who are not looking for a specific piece of information will only spend around 10 – 20 seconds to find something interesting before giving up. Users scan through web pages. They will not read all the text – they will often only read around a quarter of the text on a page. This means that the first pages and opening few moments of a game must be clear and engaging. The likelihood of people dropping out decreases the longer they stay [3].

•  The first impression of a site or game happen within around a 20th of a second. It does not matter if the game looks great after 20 minutes. If it looks bad in the first few seconds the player may already have decided it is not for them and give up. This can range from the more aesthetic areas such as a colour scheme to more usability focused areas such as the layout making sense at first glance. People feel comfortable with things they recognise. If the site layout is like others they have used then they know they can use it. Games can look different but have an interaction architecture that is like other similar games [4].

Halo effect:

Another interesting phenomenon is the halo effect. This means that if an initial impression of something is good we carry this feeling through to other areas. The opposite is also true. If the initial impression is bad then users will view the rest of the offering through a lens that is looking for problems. People like to be right. They will continue to be tainted by their initial impression.

If they thought a game was good then they’ll look for positive feedback to strengthen their opinion. If they think a game is bad they’ll look for things that they don’t like to back up their initial impression. This once again is important for free-to-play games. It does not matter if part of your game is better than the competition if the initial experience is worse. Players are likely to prefer the competitors ‘lesser’ offering because the first impression of their game was better. Some free-to-play games that craft this initial experience well are: Blacklight, TF2 and Clash of Clans.

How usability can affect first impressions:

Making a good impression often means removing or smoothing out the things that make a bad impression. i.e. making the navigation of the signup process clear and easy to understand. Users will not sit there and think “wow, that was a great signup form”. Good usability is not noticed by the user because it worked as they expected. A free-to-play game does not want users getting annoyed because the sign up form is hard to use. If a user is annoyed before they even see the game then their first impression is likely to suffer.

Basic usability concepts such as: making the navigation clear and simple, giving meaningful and useful titles to links, consistent navigation etc. all help. They remove the bumps in the road that a user may hit as they take the journey from being an interested individual to a signed up player.

Once the player is signed up then it is once again important that the initial gameplay experience is positive. Positive in this connotation does not mean ‘easy’ it means ensuring that no parts of the gameplay experience are confusing or annoying. The player should quickly be able to get a sense of what the game is about, roughly how it works, and from this they can then decide if they think they will like it. The initial experience should be memorable, engaging and fun. TF2 charms the player with their videos, Blacklight makes the player feel like they are doing something useful. The less a tutorial feels like a tutorial the better. Some games manage to make the whole game a pseudo tutorial such as Plants Vs Zombies or Portal 2.

Focusing and testing around the first impressions can identify areas that could be improved to reduce player annoyance. Giving the game a greater chance of getting that all important positive first impression. A free-to-play game can be great but will struggle to gain as many players as it could if the initial experience is weak. The players never stay around long enough to discover how good the game is.

When looking at a game and trying to see or track where players are having problems the first thing that must be understood is that players do not play the game ‘wrong’. They play the game. How they play is moulded by the environment created for them. If they are doing something unexpected or not ‘good’ for their experience there is something in the game design making them do this. The whole concept of user experience and user testing is aimed at finding these issues so that developers can make changes that benefit the player’s experience.

Games change over time and the player’s initial experience also changes with this. If a game has been out for 5 years then the initial experience still needs to be periodically looked at and tested. Waiting for a game to download is a necessary evil. Waiting for 7 individual patches to be downloaded and applied because the game has been out for a while is a very annoying initial experience.(source:gamasutra


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