Asunto: Reducing "Complexity" to New Users

I've been thinking for a bit about ways in which we could possibly reduce the amount of signups that disappear through quick inactivity. We've currently got an open door policy in that a lot of us are willing to help people when they ask questions and although that seems to work, we're still losing a large number. I've recently received feedback from user/s that they felt the game was too complex. That asks the question, how many more users are we losing due to them finding the game too difficult to grasp but we never hear of again?

I've decided to throw up this thread to try and get ideas and opinions about how we as a community can reduce the burden new users feel when they enter the game and although we can never eliminate it completely, hopefully keep a few more users long enough for them to ride over the confusion stage and really start enjoying the game.

One possible idea I'm strongly considering is to create a user guide containing various confusing elements and try to make it easier for new users, or even other users who have been battling away. I was considering starting this by writing up a navigation section that explains where everything is and briefly what everything does. That way users who read it might be able to feel less threatened about not knowing where everything is. I'm sure that's one such thing that causes the game to feel complex.

Are there any other ideas, or people willing to assist?

Perhaps something on how best to look at an initial squad, how to train successfully etc.

I'll leave this open for discussion from the community because I highly value others opinions and ideas. I also think it's an important issue for us atm as we seem to be struggling to fight the battle between gaining and keeping users.

On top of the guide we can set up a tutoring scheme where a volunteer help a newbie for a season or two.

I'm happy to help in any way I can, guide or tutoring.

On top of the guide we can set up a tutoring scheme where a volunteer help a newbie for a season or two.

That's a potential idea also. Would require a committed team to work effectively though but I'd be confident we'd be able to get enough of those people anyway.

I'm happy to help in any way I can, guide or tutoring.

Always appreciated :). Will wait and see what others have to say and other ideas come up before we decide the steps we intend to take. This is kind of thread where current newish users will be highly valued for their inputs as well.

I think part of the perceived complexity arises from a newbie question being answered in depth by 3 different people. We have a very experienced user-base, but it would take the most enthusiastic user to plow through some of our explanations.

As well as a guide describing some of the more complex areas of the game, maybe a simple "set A to X and B to Y" type quick start-up guide would help as well. Setting up a team with some basic introductory stuff, just to get them established, could keep their interest. Then they can build on that foundation bit by bit.

We've got the enthusiasm in our user-base, we just need to use it effectively to nurture our new managers.

maybe a simple "set A to X and B to Y" type
you lost me, what is this?
no kidding sadly... :)

Just a simple set of instructions...
- buy head coach with wage $xxxx, pace unearthly for $xxxx on the TL
- do not buy any assistants
- set training to pace (turn all new managers into pace trainers by default)
- do not buy a YS coach
- leave YS places at zero
- sack all players with tech worse than weak
- keep or buy 1 GK with these minimum skills...
- keep or buy 5 DEF . " . . " . . . . . " . . . . "
- keep or buy 6 MID . " . . " . . . . . " . . . . "
- keep or buy 3 ATT . " . . " . . . . . " . . . . "
- etc.

a quick start guide I see...

That would work as the newbie would feel he is doing the basic right or has taken care of the first step to set up his club properly. He can follow these instructions and let the whole thing brew while getting more info from the more in depth guide.

good idea Vivski...

Candy might work too. Do we have any of that to throw at the newbies?

Complexity? I reckon the total rubbish that is called a "squad" for new starters is a bigger reason. If you want to get anything like half decent results you have get rid of everyone. Especially starting in div 3. That takes an awful lot of time and effort to sack 22 players and buy new ones. When I started, I was getting 18 year olds for $1000 that were going straight into my starting team.

I don't think we've got candy at our disposal but the starting guide could work well ;).

Rookie Cup with something on the line?

organization of that could be a little tricky, given how users are eligible to sign up at any stage of the season. Interesting thought though.

It could run alongside the State Cup at the end of the season for teams completing their first full season. So not complete newbies. And maybe some points could contribute to their state's tally?

lol i reckon i got a pretty decent squad. would've been training defenders with villafane and foxe had i not pulled ellem from the YS

I'd say most teams get between 3-5 reasonable players in their starting squad. Yes there is a lot of trimming needed to be done but I dare say most games are like that. Trimming of players is somewhat easier because of the fewer skills in the game. In saying that though it is possible to receive a "I want a redraw" squad in which nothing seems to be reasonable and it's just the luck of the draw in many ways. Best way is to use what you've got and build around it, guess it's really the only way around the issue.

It could run alongside the State Cup at the end of the season for teams completing their first full season. So not complete newbies. And maybe some points could contribute to their state's tally?

Interesting idea. Could run into problems if we didnt attract many new users but it's a possible option for getting interest, but you need to drag them into the forums first before that would work. Afterwards, that could be a solution to getting some exposure against others in similar positions and to reduce the loneliness of being in an inactive league surrounded by bots.