Agenda

[Presentation] Ryzom's marketing plan: increase player loyalty
[Presentation] Silan Refactoring project

Un plan marketing 2021 a été élaboré par l'Équipe Ryzom, qui poursuit trois objectifs :
1. Fidéliser davantage les joueurs
2. Avoir plus de comptes abonnés
3. Attirer de nouveaux joueurs
Aujourd'hui seront détaillées les actions engagées par l'équipe pour la réalisation du premier objectif, et vos suggestions pour les enrichir seront les bienvenues.

Nous perdons trop de joueurs, y compris de haut niveau, par manque de nouveau contenu donnant une motivation à se connecter, parce que les ajouts promis de longue date sont toujours attendus, et parce que le rythme de la maintenance demeure lent.
C’est pourquoi nous avons décidé de nous concentrer sur les projets déjà en cours et sur la maintenance, et plus précisément :
• Terminer les projets en cours et ceux annoncés de longue date : nouveau lanceur/installeur, refonte des Rois, refonte des batailles d'avant-poste, gameplay des Maraudeurs, équilibrage des armes de tir (voir les information données lors des précédentes réunions de Ryzom Forge).
• Ajouter régulièrement de nouveaux events à la Storyline, chacun débouchant sur un nouveau contenu gameplay permanent.
• Ne pas négliger la maintenance : correction des bogues, ajout de nouvelles récompenses, etc.
Le patch en préparation commencera à mettre en jeu une partie de ce contenu, avec l'activation des avant-postes de test du Nexus et l'ajout progressif des nouveaux Rois.
• Encourager le roleplay qui, s’il demeure bien sûr facultatif, est l'une des raisons d’être du MMORPG Ryzom. Ainsi, pour donner envie aux rôlistes de rester, l'équipe travaille sur deux axes :
   • École d'initiation au jeu de rôle (en projet)
   • Events réguliers (hebdomadaires), impactant ou non l’Histoire d'Atys

Avez-vous des questions ou des remarques concernant ces actions ?

Pour fidéliser davantage les joueurs, en plus d'offrir un contenu de jeu plus attractif, nous allons travailler à mieux guider les nouveaux joueurs. Nous perdons en effet beaucoup d'entre eux peu après leur arrivée sur l'île tutorielle de Silan. Après avoir enquêté sur les causes de cet état de fait, nous nous sommes entendus sur une remédiation possible. C’est ainsi qu’est né le projet de refonte de Silan, laquelle ne se traduira pas par un grosse modification mais par divers ajustements et améliorations seulement.
L'objectif poursuivi par cette refonte est double :
• d'une part, donner l'envie aux nouveaux joueurs d'aller plus loin (actuellement fort peu d'entre eux franchissent le pas – i.e. passent sur le continent) ;
• d'autre part essayer de rendre l'expérience globale du jeu plus homogène (actuellement, comme l'a souligné Dorothée – qu'elle en soit remerciée ici – lors de la réunion de la RT préparant la présente, il existe de trop grandes différences entre le jeu sur Silan et celui sur le continent).
Les améliorations et ajustements prévus concernent :
• La carte de l'île de Silan. Pour la rendre plus utile aux débutants elle :
   • sera présentée aux joueurs non plus seule, mais avec la carte générale d'Atys ;
   • permettra au joueur le zoom sur le Campement Ranger (comme il est possible sur les cités du continent) ;
   • affichera des icônes indiquant la position des PNJ utiles au joueur (au stade où il en est de sa progression).
• Les textes décrivant les missions actuellement peu clairs, tels ceux présentant une suggestion de formation d'équipe comme une nécessité à des joueurs qui ne peuvent (ou ne savent pas comment) former une équipe.
• Les dégâts causés par les attaques des créatures proches du Campement Ranger. Ils seront diminués car ils sont actuellement la cause de morts en trop grand nombre. Or, la mort trop fréquente de son personnage laisse à penser au joueur, soit que le jeu n'est pas fait pour lui, soit qu'il en a mal compris les règles, augmentant par là le risque de le voir abandonner Ryzom sans tarder.

En effet, peu de joueurs prennent le temps de bien tout lire (c'est naturel : l'excitation de la découverte d'un nouveau jeu pousse à l'action immédiate, non à la réflexion sur ses mécanismes).
Je vais donc vous présenter ce que nous avons prévu pour pallier aux inconvénients de cette précipitation compréhensible.
Nous ne réécrirons pas les textes des missions : ce serait trop long. Mais j'ai pu constater, en accompagnant des joueurs ne connaissant pas Ryzom dans leur première session, que faire afficher sur leur écran une capture adaptée était bien souvent plus efficace que de leur faire un long discours pour leur expliquer tel ou tel mécanisme du gameplay.
C'est pourquoi nous allons introduire le concept d'écoles (ou académies) dont la fonction sera de fournir en jeu un "Savoir Académique" consultable à tout moment par tous les joueurs et délivré sous forme de leçons pratiques qui les guideront, de manière visuelle et ludique, tant dans l'accomplissement des missions que dans leur apprentissage proprement dit. Chaque école regroupera plusieurs informations concernant un thème gameplay (par exemple la maîtrise de la magie ou celle de la bijouterie) ou un thème plus général (comme l'interface du jeu, voire le jeu de rôle comme évoqué plus haut).
Vous trouverez ci-dessous un prototype, pour l'école de « Maîtrise du combat rapproché », d'une fenêtre présentant en jeu les informations mises à disposition par une école.



Elle présente un enseignement comprenant quatre sections (ou leçons), activables (si votre progression le permet) ou non (case grisée) pour que vous ne vous perdiez pas dans une longue liste. Lorsque vous activerez une leçon, une liste d'exercices à effectuer (présentés sous forme de fiches) vous sera proposée. Une fois que vous aurez terminé tous les exercices de cette liste, une récompense vous sera offerte.
Vous trouverez ci-après un prototype, pour « Les mouvements élémentaires », d'une fiche décrivant un tel exercice.



Elle se compose quatre parties affichant respectivement :
• Un titre accompagné d'une courte explication en sous-titre
• Un objectif illustré et facultatif (bouton à cliquer pour acceptation)
• Une petite récompense facultative (bouton à cliquer pour récupération un fois l'objectif atteint)
• Un ensemble d'images permettant de comprendre aisément comment atteindre l'objectif.
Pourquoi, direz-vous, proposer un objectif et une récompense et non seulement l'explication et les illustrations ? Tout simplement car proposer une action contre récompense est plus motivant et ludique, bien plus qu'un long texte d'explication.

Avez-vous des questions ?

Damages from creature attacks near the Ranger Camp. They will be reduced as it currently causes too many deaths. Character dying too frequently suggests to players that the game is not for them, or that they have misunderstood the rules, increasing the risk that they will abandon Ryzom without delay.

Silan is in my opinion a pretty complete tutorial as it is now. So, if adding icons to better indicate this or that point seems useful to me, the rest of the refactoring is not, I think, a good idea. Because giving everything to new players as soon as Silan will deprive them of the surprise of discovering Atys. Simplify Silan, why not? But from there to make it a mini-Atys… we might as well remove it and make new players be born directly on Atys.
[i]Ulukyn recalls that it is not a question of turning Silan into a mini-Atys, but only of making sure that Silan gives new players the means to be autonomous, to know what and how to look for on Atys as soon as they set foot there. Because currently, arriving on the mainland is a surprise, yes: to discover almost another game. So the refactoring is not about remaking Atys on Silan, but about providing tantalizing glimpses of Atys on Silan.

• Many players I know have actually left Ryzom thinking that the playing field was limited to Silan. For the same reason, some have played Ryzom for only two months… time to exhaust the pleasures of Silan.
This Ulukyn confirms by saying that one of the first questions he is asked when he has the game tested is: "Is this the map of the entire game area?".

Agenda

• [Feedback] Last patch
• [Information] CoC update project

Below are the links to the latest patch applied:
    • Patch 868 of April 17, 2021
    • Patch 873 of April 20, 2021 (fix of patch 868)
Pour information, le contenu de ce patch est désormais complétement actif sur Atys.
Thus, we have added, among others :
   – lessons and rewards for the entire Storyline;
   – allegories that produce effects and Storyline missions to improve those effects;
   – activation of Nexus Minor outposts.
Please note that the form of the lessons (illustrated guides to the missions) from the Storyline will be used for the projects:
   – Silan refactoring (tutorial lessons)
   – New Encyclopedia (guide to the Rites lessons)

Are there any questions, remarks or feedback?

Regarding multiboxing as well as sanctions, we would like to update the Code of Conduct in the near future. So I'm going to tell you what we're planning to change.
As a reminder, the current Code of Conduct can be found here.

1 - Multiboxing and PvP

We currently have a problem of inaccuracy and even contradiction within the Code of Conduct (CoC):

• In PvP zone, players not wanting to be attacked are asked to leave the zone. ==> Attacking a player in Nexus with 4 simultaneous accounts is therefore allowed.
• Multiboxing is limited to 2 simultaneous accounts in Storyline events. ==> Attacking a player doing a Storyline mission in Nexus with more than 2 simultaneous accounts is therefore forbidden.

This, in addition to not taking into account the case of Super Nodes, also causes tricky tickets to be solved in Nexus.
So, to clarify the Code of Conduct, we will extend the 2 simultaneous accounts limit to all PvP, so to PvP on outposts, in PvP region (Super Nodes and Nexus included), and everywhere on Atys.

2 - Multiboxing during off-peak hours

The limitation of multiboxing in the CoC has had a positive impact on gaming during European game hours, but also a strong negative impact on the number of players during extra-european game hours (peak hours of play in countries like the USA, but during which the number of players connected to Ryzom is very low).
This last point poses an intractable problem for Ryzom in terms of marketing, which has financial repercussions.
In concrete terms, while the limitation causes no problem of play during European hours, the low number of players and the numerous time zones make it impossible, during off-peak hours, for you to access the high level game (Bosses, Marauder Bosses) unless you use more than 2 simultaneous accounts.
This makes us enter the vicious circle: Lack of players during off-peak hours ==> Not enough people to access the high level game ==> Unsubscription and leaving of the game ==> No one to welcome the new ones ==> Departure of the new ones ==> Lack of players during off-peak hours.
So, to give off-peak hours players access to high-level play again and to give us a chance to repopulate the server during these hours, we will be testing, during 1 month, the tolerance of 4 simultaneous accounts for everything but PvP during off-peak hours, from 22:00 UTC (0:00 CEST) to 05:00 UTC (07:00 CEST), the time when this tolerance is needed to be able to play at high level. If the community reception and impact on the number of connections/subscriptions on off-peak hours of this provision is positive, it will be added to the CoC after the test month, which will run from June 15th to July 15th.

3 - Addition of a penalty scale

Currently, the CoC does not provide for any intermediate sanction between 1 month suspension and lifetime ban: we will remedy this by adding a one-year suspension sanction (more details to come later).

I'll let you react on the three points: first on the first one (multiboxing and PvP), then we'll go on with the other two.

As the off-peak period ends in the early afternoon for players in Australia and New Zealand, and that some European players might want to use their alts as well, I was wondering : if the test goes well and the community largely wants it, would you consider in the future the possibility of extending this increased tolerance to more time zones?

We chose these hours to test because they are off-peak hours in terms of connections. If the test is positive, we may adjust the time slot by one hour if needed. The goal is to allow players connected at off-peak times to also enjoy the high level game. This is not related to nationalities, so any player who is connected during these hours will benefit from the lifting of the limitation.

Nilstilar

[b]As the off-peak period ends in the early afternoon for players in Australia and New Zealand, and that some European players might want to use their alts as well, I was wondering : if the test goes well and the community largely wants it, would you consider in the future the possibility of extending this increased tolerance to more time zones?

I have the impression that you understand it the wrong way: the general limit is 2 accounts: In European night time (22 UT - 5 UT) four accounts are allowed. So why would it impact the multi accounts outside Europe more than in Europe? Also: reducing this the the very intention...That said, basically everything can be done with 2 accounts other than killing certain bosses - where you then need 2 or 3 actual players.

Agenda

-Test of Ryztart, the new Ryzom installer/launcher
-Upcoming update of the Code of Conduct
-Events in july and august
-Recrutement: Event team

I inform you that Ryztart has reached a rather satisfactory stage (even if there are still some small things to be polished and translations that could be missing).
It is now stable enough to propose it in beta version on the Ryzom website, at least the Linux and Windows versions (the Mac version has not been finalized). We will also make a post on the forum to get your feedback. In the meantime I give you here the links for the downloads:
• for Linux >>> https://me.ryzom.com/ryztart_installer_x86_64.tgz
• for Windows >>>  https://me.ryzom.com/ryztart_installer_amd64.exe  (this is only 64b version, for those who are still in 32b, be patient).
It is not necessary to uninstall ryzom_installer, nor even Ryzom, but it is strongly advised to save the folders 0/ 1/ 2/ 3/... which contain your backups and which are located in :
• under Windows >>> C:/Users/<USERNAME>/AppData/Roaming/Ryzom
• under Linux >>> ~/.local/share/Ryzom
You can find more information on the wiki.
That's it for Ryztart. Any questions or comments?

We will soon update the Code of Conduct with regard to multiboxing, courtesy rules and sanctions. I will present to you what we will change.
As a reminder, the current Code of Conduct is available here (click on the language flag to change it).
Addition of a penalty scale
Adding (in B. Warnings and sanctions) a penalty scale for ''Major Offence'': 1 week of suspension / 1 month of suspension / 1 year of suspension (NEW) / Permanent ban.
Precision in the Courtesy Rules
Adding (in I.7. Bad behavior on a chat channel of the game (Game server, IRC, forums and Rocket chat included)) homophobic ones to the list of prohibited comments.
[b]Modifications about Multiboxing and PvP & Multiboxing during off-peak hours[b]
Three additions in III.4 Multiboxing, namely:
a) Adding all PvP situations to the list of those subject to limitations: to clarify the code of conduct, we will extend the limit of 2 simultaneous accounts to all PvP, i.e. PvP on outposts, in PvP regions (i.e. including super nodes and the Nexus), and everywhere on Atys.
b) Adding a new paragraph ruling multiboxing during off-peak hours: to allow US players to access the high-level game again and to give us a chance to repopulate the server during US hours, we are currently (until July 15) testing the tolerance of 4 simultaneous accounts for everything but PvP during off-peak hours, from 10pm UTC to 5am UTC (0-7am CEST), so during the hours when it is necessary for proper gameplay. As the community response and the impact on the number of US connections/subscriptions is positive, this rule will be added to the CoC in a few days, as follows.
III.4.4 Multiboxing during off-peak hours
Multiboxing is tolerated for up to four simultaneous accounts for all activities except PvP during the hours when it is a gameplay necessity due to low game server traffic (22h-10h UTC, i.e. 0h-12 CEST).
c) Adding a summary of the multiboxing rules, as follows.
At times when the game server is busy enough - 10:00 UTC-22:00 UTC (12:00 CEST-00:00 CEST)
Multiboxing limited to 2 simultaneous accounts during:
  • PvP
  • Bosses Hunts
  • Marauders bosses assaults
  • Storyline scripted events
Multiboxing tolerated at 4 simultaneous accounts for all other activities.
At times of low game server traffic - 22:00 UTC-10:00 UTC (00:00 CEST-12:00 CEST)
Multiboxing tolerated at 4 simultaneous accounts for all activities except PvP.
Do you have any comments or questions?

As many people are absent in July and August, both among the players and the animators, the Storyline events as well as those of nations and factions usually proposed by the Event Team (one per week) are put on pause until September.
The summer leaves room for player events, mini-bosses, kitin invasions, atmosphere events… Atys Games should be back during the whole month of August.
Any questions?

We are looking for volunteers who want to help write event scripts, or wish to become actors by playing a character during the events we play.
Training is provided, and entry into acting is accomplished very progressively to allow time for the recruit to bed in.
Join us to benefit from this unique experience!
To apply, contact Tamarea exclusively at [i]tamarea@ryzom.com[i].