Focus on gaining new potential customers and retaining current ones

Where do I begin?

My ship has the 9 years badge now, but it was wiped twice for apparently being "inactive," so except for having a bronze dragon pet and a fancy badge, I come with the perspective of what essentially is a new player. Since I resumed play in this game for nearly 3 months now, I've come up with a couple of unique insights as both a rather old (and yet, new) player that I'd like to share here.

Don't wipe (or delete) veteran accounts
First of all, as a moderate spender in most games I play, I have to say that BigPoint's strategy of wiping my account not once -- but twice -- was enough to dissuade me from ever spending another cent on this game. I understand that their T&C warns players that they reserve the right to do so, but come on...I was a paying customer and of all the web-based games I have ever played (which number in the dozens), no game has ever followed through with account wiping or deletion except this one. After coming back and learning of the second wipe, I was so fed up that I would have quit altogether, had there not have been my sister keeping me here. However, BP permanently lost me as a paying customer and I don't see myself squandering another cent on this game anytime in the future. That's not even counting my first account that was also deleted for inactivity... (It's sad irony, really; they rewarded my account for loyalty with the badge and pet after wiping it...) Hint: Don't burn the bridge that allows old players to come back; they're the most likely to dish out money out of nostalgia. I know I would have.

Make a better first impression in terms of:

1. Game Performance
Since my return, the game typically takes a turn for the worse in terms of game performance at least once every day. Unspeakable lag hits the servers almost like clockwork between the afternoon to evening daily where I'm at. If I were a newbie that had just joined SeaFight, I would certainly be less than inclined to stick around after the first week of this onslaught of lag. Consider investing in a platform off Flash Player, yeah? There's a reason why we say flash is dying a death of a thousand cuts in the developer community.

2. Playability
I'm going to be honest here; the game is nigh impossible to play for the newbie -- at least without spending an exuberant (I'm talking several thousands) amount of money. My first experience after reaching and entering the level 2 maps was being sunk repeatedly by overpowered ships in 3-5 shots. It wasn't a good feeling and again, from a newbie standpoint, would already be enough to cause one to rage quit. After being sunk for the 10th time in a row in less than 10 minutes, I logged off for about a month. I'm aware that "newbie protection" exists; but that alone is not sufficient to balance the game. One should not be prevented from completing ship/monster quests in fear of being sunk by a random bully aggressor at such an early stage of the game.

I've calculated that at 2 competitor's coins a month, it'll take me a little over a year to get full admiral cannons. Even then, that would pale in comparison to any one of those ships that sank me. Yes, the daily login bonuses help, but they don't compare to the much more overpowered cannons available like voodoo, firestorm, and doomhammer. It has simply become impossible to catch up to better ships -- at least, again, without spending exuberant amounts of money.

The game needs balancing, and a lot of it. Better protections should be available for newbie ships.

3. Community
Frankly, I have not been impressed by the sense of the community in the game. It's not exactly cohesive or particularly friendly. I acknowledge that there are some helpful players out there, but even then, just taking a look at Global Chat is enough to convince one (especially a newbie) that the game is full of hostile players. When I first returned in the game, asking a question in Global Chat was like pulling teeth. Most people in the Global Chat were too busy lobbying insults and taunts at each other to answer simple questions. Many pages in the SeaFight Bible are also tragically outdated or unclear/confusing, which makes it extremely difficult to learn the answers to basic and fundamental gaming questions.

To top it all off, most of the complaints I've seen are with regards to botters in the game. Since pattern recognition is so common and easy to program now, I haven't the faintest reason why it's still a problem in this game. It certainly shouldn't be one of the major complaints that a newbie is first exposed to either, as it's enough to deter them from playing legitimately -- or at all.

4. Information Presentation
They say if you have to explain a joke, then it's a terrible joke. Similarly, if you have to explain an interface, then it's a terrible interface. Going back to point #3, there are an awful lot of things that confused me when I returned after my super long hiatus. What are the buttons for? How do I rank? What's ELP? What's BP? What the heck is VP and how do I get it? How do I repair my ship? Oh, I could get Elite ship designs for free? I could buy slots to increase my cannon and expansion capacity? What are jewels and how do I get them? How much does repair ammo heal? Oh, repair ammo doesn't give ELP despite the tip that says it does when going on sea? What are mojo and what do I do with them? What's a safe haven? How much better is a level 1 Voodoo Priest to a level 2, or level 3? Why can't I board other ships? These are only a handful of all of the questions I had to figure out myself; silly ones to the veteran player, but fundamental to the newbie. Much of these would be easy fixes if better and more detailed descriptions were added to these items.

Also, most games that I play have a strong, committed, and loyal community that helps pitch in to develop a Wiki that includes strategies and guides to the game. But not this one. Had it not been for my own perseverance and research from dozens of Google searches, I would have been at a loss on where to allocate my skill points, which ship castle I should strive for, or even what to focus on in the game to develop my ship. There are a lot of reasons behind why SeaFight is lacking such a player base -- for example, I've heard that it's ridiculously easy to get banned from Global Chat (my friend was banned for 2 days for calling a bully out using no explicit language), so most migrate to third party services like TS to chat instead. And the list goes on...

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All in all, with the increasing competition of gaming development, I would be surprised if SeaFight lasts at its current trajectory of frightening new players off and discouraging old, returning players. I only hope (but honestly, doubt) any of this feedback is taken into consideration.

Cheers.

 

Well-written, m8. +1

 

Lack of a community is affected by the greatly increased use of automated bots running the maps which is far more rampant than in 2013 when a large group of us higher level players left the game. Why am I back? I am still trying to figure that out but no money will be spent this time unless the bots are wiped out which is doubtful. Devastator cannons which evidently are fairly new? Doubt the game will be going by the time my boat can earn them somehow. Game life? year left? 2 or 3? Hard to say.

 

Yes, it is very well written and easily understood the frustrations you have about a game that once was a superb and enjoyable pastime. I too have lost a boat due to inactivity due mostly to my work in remote areas where internet was not available. There are a very few players that will help others especially answering questions in chat and yes most of the seafight bible is antique and need constant review for changes and such but everyone should peruse the forums for questions asked and answered and to check daily the pirate tutorials for valuable info. I too find it frustrating that the admins ban peeps for the silliest of reasons and to call out botters in chat and then receive a ban just because it violtes a chat regulation seems to me that they promote botting. The community is made up of players who play daily and communicate with each other and the use of third party commo is highly recommended (TS), but finding a guild to belong to grow a boat are out there.

 

USS Challenger yeah I am coming off a 30 day chat ban on the 7th which I have never ever had in all the years previously that I played this game. Not even close to a ban like that and no accusations were made. I know the rules from when I played years ago but what they did and how it was handled after contacting support demonstrated complicity as far as I am concerned.

 

It was this one

 

Brilliant post! I've wanted to post something similar for a long time but could never bring myself to write what would end up being a worthy of a dissertation! I totally agree with this, and something I would like to add is the price.

BigPoint are in a position right now where they have to make prices high and bring out a lot of payment-only items such as Doomhammers and the likes so that they can keep the business afloat. However, if BigPoint were to drop the prices, I could see a lot of old players coming back to the game. Rather than try to get £100 each from 10 people, try and get £10 each from 100 people. That way there will be a bigger community in the game of similarly levelled players, which would promote the game even more! I get it has to start small, as the uproar from the players if a £3000 set of Lv4 Doomhammers were reduced to £100 would be crazy, but little by little. Drop the price of lower levelled cannons to start with such as 50, 55 and 60Lbs. The main players aren't going top be buying these with pearls or money, only the small players who need the to get up in the game quickly.

 

I agree, Destruction. And the more players that come back and with the newer players buying more. It will have a domino effect on the other stuff that is for sale that would be used in gameplay and fighting/bonus maps. To make it so the average Joe can afford wil make it so the same will have a tendacy to buy more and more often then they would otherwise could afford. Heck, I might even spend some money.

 

But dont hold me to that post.