I was seduced by my partner's voice the first time it blessed my ears. Smitten by their appearance when my eyes saw such beauty. Together ever since. EQ fell away within the week.
Ooohhhh... I get you.
A week, 2 max. I have too much to do, plenty of other things to spend my precious spare time on. And only MMOs get that kind of treatment; for other genres I give them 2 tries before shelving.
These days a game needs to grab me with their gameplay videos. Artsy trailers are cool and I'll watch them all day, but I won't even consider touching a game if there's not extensive gameplay footage out there. If the gameplay looks interesting to me, that's when I'll actually become interested in a game.
I even picked up Cyberpunk 2077 shortly after launch, fully knowing it was a broken mess, because the gameplay that I saw (my friend had the game) genuinely looked fun. And it was! I played all the way through the game and mostly enjoyed the experience, despite many, many issues.
Which brings me to the second half of a first impression. The gameplay is what gets me interested, it's the bait, but what's the hook? A game needs a good hook to keep me playing. As a man with a terrible hat once sang "The hook brings you back." For single player games it's often the story, but simply being a fun, well crafted game is enough of a hook as well. For MMOs if the gameplay is fun, I usually need there to be some social aspect. Why am I playing this multiplayer game if there's nothing actually multiplayer about it? Nothing is more lonely than being alone in a crowd. And yeah, you can sometimes force social interaction. Join a guild. etc. But what are you going to do together if most of the game is meant to be played without a group? It's a bit silly.
Having said that, I'll usually give an MMO (that has garnered my interest) until I reach max level before I give up on it. I'll see what there is to do at "end game" and then decide from there.
Josh Strife Hayes made a video about this a few months ago that I think is excelent for the discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtdaby3q6NI
Byproducts said:... For MMOs if the gameplay is fun, I usually need there to be some social aspect. Why am I playing this multiplayer game if there's nothing actually multiplayer about it? ...
IMO:
This is a good summary of my opinion as well. If I don't see required grouping, I'm out. I prefer to play single player/solo games offline.
It's not like there aren't dozens of online single player/solo games. There are. And I have played some of them, but they're not as fun as consuming grouping-required content in a group, to me.
There seems to be little point in consuming solo content while requiring an Internet connection, when I can do that without any latency, downtime, or similar online problems on my own computer.
I will give a MMO a bit of time but my focus is on character creation, interface, and mechanics. If I cannot set things up so that camera angle is reasonable to me, the fonts let me read the text and I can use the number keys on the right of my keyboard rather than wasd to move I am unlikely to stay long.
How good the story is and whether the game has more grouping than solo play simply doesn't matter to me if the camera angle hurts my neck and cannot be adjusted, I can't make the font large enough to read without putting my face against the monitor or I am forced to use WASD after decades of getting used to the number keys. Or various other things I suppose - customizable keybinds and interfaces are absolutely critical.
Kilsin said:Community Debate - First Impressions - How important are they to you and how long do you give an MMORPG until you decide to move on? #MMORPG #CommunityMatters
Extremely important, because if a developer cannot get the newbie experience right (arguably the simplest of experiences you'll come across in the game) what would make me think they got the more complex gameplay right?; If, by level 10, I do not have a representation of the core abilities of my class, those things that set it apart from others, I'll quit. Oh, and given how many hours I give to games, level 10 is about 1 full day for me, so you do not have a lot of time to keep my attention. And I've dropped more games because of their terrible launch than I have actually played games, so you'd better get this one right though if history is any indicator, you won't sooo..yeahhhh...
For me, it's weird. It depends on the inbetween time and the gradual move from capable to dependency to reliability. How gradual the move from capable to dependency to reliability determines- I would say- the initial 3-4 years of MMO play. How fluid the move between capable, dependency, reliability determines the 5+ years of MMO play. The inbetween time, or the third, fourth wall, what to do when you dont know what to do and then- magic, whim, projects/plans, humble quiet alone time all present themselves as possibilities this accounts for 10+ years of MMO play.
Capable to dependency to reliability is what I see as the progression of a player from char select to high level in game play and social interaction. social interaction is key. inbetween time also plays a factor here because while the player is becoming capable (dying to crag chicks 3 Feet from the guard!! wtf!) being able to see and hear other player chatter, eavesdropping, using emotes to unoffensively get attention maybe *looks curiously at sonadso using forge* gradually brings the player out from an introspective to a socioperspective interaction. This naturally leads to Dependency. The inbetween time has discovered quests and rewards and then there is something that cannot be done alone and needs help for which the player is already aware so they reach out. This starts the social integration and its many complex nuances, jerks, cliques, great players, where you see how less of a player you are compared to great players, how you see how better a player you are than others, trains, accidental trains, reputation. So dependency takes on two layers: player/game dependency (You play well) and social dependency (I like you). A simple 4 box "friends" choice matrix results : 1. You play well and I like you 2. You play well and I dont like you but I need you. 3. You don't play well, but I like you. 4. I dont like you and I dont need you no matter how well or poorly you play. From all the available people in the MMO, these dependency choices can take some time- think of guilds.
That brings to reliability. You know what you can do, you have resources to accomplish what you want to when you want to and if not you can easily find other choices of things to do. All of this is inbetween time. what comes out of inbetween time is the social effort put in previously, "magic" you are asked to come help, spointaneous invites come your way to do cool stuff with people you know (I like you, I need you box) when you didnt know what to do this is encouraging to self esteem. Or you can reach out if you want to do something and there will be those that can come to help and you know you will suceed or the mind set if you fail. if not now, then later during which time you can do somehting else or whatever on a whim or, just be "busy" knowing that social network will not go away but you can come back to, anytime and get the same results- in game.
Extremely important. If the promo material is enough to get me in the door the game has maybe 4-8 hours to hook me with gameplay and provide me a decent look at the systems & game flavor I can expect to expand as I progress.
For Pantheon I really hope players can see the "Pantheon Difference" in the first levels, enough to get the brain going about how different aspects might expand with more levels so they can really see how different the gameplay (especially combat) is from every other modern MMO.
I think that first impressions are pretty important. I tend to have two first impressions though, gameplay and lasting enjoyment.
For gameplay, a game has 2-3 hours to make a good impression. If I'm not enjoying the gameplay in those first couple of hours, then I'm pretty much moving on.
For lasting enjoyment, the game has about a month to make that impression. That is usually the time it takes me to reach the max level and experience the endgame structure. If the endgame is void, superficial, and repetitive, then it's time for me to move on.
Kilsin said:Community Debate - First Impressions - How important are they to you and how long do you give an MMORPG until you decide to move on? #MMORPG #CommunityMatters
First impressions "of a fully established/released game" are of very high importance to me, and I will be very critical if it is a game I know nothing about. In a "newly" released game I can ignore the new game jitters, like minor capacity issues causign latency on day 1, or maybe typos in an item description, or even a game crash IF the "core" game mechanics and overall gameplay is acceptable.
With that said, before I even bother playing a game, I check for online gameplay video to determine if I would like the gameplay (not to listen to other people's opinions). If it looks good and I choose to play it, I probably give a new game 1-2 hours to determine if I like its core mechanics and gameplay. If I like the core mechanics, then I'll give it a few days to feel out the community/game economy/crafting/adventuring/RP... but at that point, none of thoes things are included in my "first impression". So my first impression (after appearance) is primarily based on core mechnics/gameplay.
What I consider core mechanics/gameplay:
-Interaction with hotkeys - (latency aside) do the abilities "feel" like they trigger to my keypress or is my avatar just a placeholder to dumbfire abilities in a queued fashion
-Interface customization/optimization
-PC and NPC animations matching sounds, damage input (latency aside)
-Character mobility/relativity to targets (Line of sight, AoE clipping, i.e. getting punched by something that appears to be too far to touch you)
-How cooldowns work
-and most importantly do the character's abilities appeal to my sense of the character I want to play - and am I able to know what those abilities are (i.e. don't give me healing abilities if my character isn't supposed to be a healer.. unless it is a game where you have "access" to all of the abilities, but choose a specialization or something at a certain level... but I need to know that within a few hours of gameplay to feel that the time I'm putting into playing (or roleplaying) my character a certain way isn't going to be wasted at later levels ---- reason I originally quit EQ: playing a "tank role" (SHD) that turned out "OOOPS", the warrior is the viable tank class, you can go pull **** for 5 years while the Paladin rezes clerics and offtanks until the warrior is ready to do the PAL's job too).
If it is monthly pay, I will give it a month. If it is free to play then a week maybe. It really depends on the gameplay. I went through all the motions of downloading BDO after watching the flashy graphics and interesting gameplay. I uninstalled after a week because I don't like action combat in my MMO. I couldn't get past the combat so the game could not hold my interest.
Kaynrath said:Josh Strife Hayes made a video about this a few months ago that I think is excelent for the discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtdaby3q6NI
I think the core of this argument goes far outside of the first impression aspect of the game though. If your MMO really "starts at max level" just remove levels. This feeling is also compounded by my deep hatered of grey zones and NPCs. Out leveling content is the worst mechanic we see in MMOs. I am fine with needing trillions of xp to progress, knowing the goblins in this area only give me 3. I still think those goblins should kill me if I am AFK. The levels tell players you don't belong here any more. Once enough time has passed the levels become alienating to the MMO the game really does start at max level.
Levels can still exist without players leveling up. The world would be built with the knowledge that every single PC is always lvl 10 and every rat is lvl 0, giant rats lvl 1, wolves lvl 2, etc placing every NPC type in various level ranges. New players can progress safely in the weaker safer areas or try jumping into the most dangerous places with only their default skills and the high end armor their friend gave them. Players could still have progress by having things like weapon skills. Learning and improving your abilities by traveling around the world for various quests and drops would mean everyone can still go everywhere. Long term expansions may eventually go from fighting lvl 16s to lvl 17s, but the players never go from 10 to 11.
In DND 5e there are tons of games where the players simply stop leveling. It is fun, but also eventually feels empty for many classes after the campaign goes on long enough. There are only so many tradeskills and languages someone can learn. Unlike most classes, wizards require tons of gold and time to slowly pick up every single spell option. These games that stop your player leveling still feel proper progression by continuing to gain new spells and rituals as time goes on but only for the wizard. I think it shows the model works well to still have progression outside of gear and common skills, but still without levels.
Jobeson said: What do you all mean by grabbing you within the first few hours? /snip
Good well thought out mechanics that are not just button mashing in a sequence, and encourage inteligent and co-oprative play. Normally can tell in a couple of hours if it will be a good fit long term - might play on for a bit if other elements are fun e.g. PvP or visuals.
One thing to note though is that most people (including myself) have a quality gate on production values. If the visuals , sound or especially UI / Stability are poor it won't matter how good the game is , I will give it a hard pass.
First impressions are vital. Vital. That's...Right away. I will check and see if the game makes sense, you're gonna give me points to spend upon character creation, do I know what each point can do? Do those points really make a difference in my character, are the graphics good, can I keybind how I want to, is character creation interesting, is it a social game? My first time check is by the end of the first 2-3 hour test session? How are the spells, the abilities. If I have one spell to spam...nope. Is there enough variety to keep me interested. I want slow progression, except those first few/five(?) levels. I need something to grab my interest. Can I meet people. Do I get any loot? Am I still naked? That's the biggest challenge. New World failed right away. I won't have to relog to see if it's for me. EQ was a hit from the first step. I want a social game. ESO is a smooth & polished game and utterly without my interest.
It depend really on the group I come in with and the people I meet. If the group I come in with are gone in a month and I do not find people to replace them then I probably do not stay long. If the group I come in with stays and I find people to fill gaps when they are not on then I will stay for a long time. If the group I come in with leaves but I find new people to play with then I tend to stay around as well. Friends in a game both new and old make any game more fun, but running around alone most of the time makes the MMO boring.
Fluidity of gameplay and interface use. A clunky UI is so annoying as well as getting stuck walking over a pebble but my toon can shoot fireballs out of a staff.
Then the music. A little off topic but the my buddy and I were talking the other day about the three new Star Wars movies and what was wrong with them....When I told him the music just wasn't there he was like "ohhhh I didn't even realize it but you're right". Most of my favorite MMOs had GREAT music when roaming cities.
Well, depends on whether you are talking about first impressions being the first time I watch a video about it, or the first time I play it.
In the first instance - not very. If it's an MMO, I'll probably try it out, regardless of what the video looks like (unless it looks just absolutely horrible).
When it comes to the first time I play it - everything.
The game either grabs me, and stands out as something worthwhile, in the first couple days, or it doesn't. This modern idea that "the game starts at end game" is crap, and won't keep me. I typically know within the first day whether I will be playing something long term.