Chapter 344: It's Just Not Fun
After thinking it over, Lin Chaoxu decided he couldn't make changes.
In the gaming industry, the first lesson every game designer learns is not to alter their design philosophy just because a portion of players are dissatisfied.
(Of course, this principle can also apply to all creative activities.)
Because for most games, players who don't enjoy them will indeed complain—that's normal—but there are many more players who are having a fine time and won't say a word.
If you only pay attention to the complaining players, you'll fall into a "survivorship bias." Making changes to the game based on that not only disrupts the established design philosophy and game characteristics but also dissatisfies players who had no issues in the first place, potentially causing even greater losses.
Lin Chaoxu was well aware of this. As things stood, "Ancient Cataclysm" was far from needing drastic measures. It was still growing, just at a slower pace.
Moreover, catering to high-end players went against the development philosophy of "Ancient Cataclysm." It was designed from the start to harvest mid- and low-tier players. If high-end players didn't enjoy it, there was no helping that.
Besides, "Ancient Cataclysm" had been praised precisely because it was different from "League of Legends." If they changed it to mimic "League of Legends," where would its core competitiveness lie?
After pondering for a long time, Lin Chaoxu said, "For now, don't change the gameplay. Roll out a few more operational events to boost the data and popularity first. Also, keep monitoring this situation and report any developments to me immediately."
Jin Jieguang nodded. Lin Chaoxu's thoughts aligned with his own, and this was indeed the safest approach for now.
...
At the end of June, the various metrics for "Ancient Cataclysm" suddenly began to plummet off a cliff.
This happened abruptly. Within just over ten days, data like daily active users and player playtime for "Ancient Cataclysm" started dropping sharply. Even the players themselves could clearly sense this exodus.
On the official forums of "Ancient Cataclysm," many players were posting discussions.
"It feels like fewer people are playing lately. Matchmaking used to be fast, but now sometimes it takes over a minute, and I even get matched with pros who have way higher power levels than average."
"I feel the same. The number of online friends on my list seems to be shrinking. A few of my regular buddies haven't logged in for days."
"Same here. My friend's last online was 5 days ago."
"Our 'Ancient Cataclysm' player group hasn't been talking about the game much lately. A lot of discussions are about mobile games and 'League of Legends.'"
"Is it because it's still in testing and hasn't officially launched yet? It'll blow up when it goes live. The game quality is so good—Emperor Dynasty needs to promote it quickly! No more delays!"
"Yeah, I think it's because it hasn't officially launched, right?"
"This game is so fun, why don't people like it? Everyone go recruit some newbies! It's such an easy game to pick up!"
"Don't overreact, okay? Fluctuations in player numbers are totally normal. When has Emperor Dynasty ever had a game with few players? Once it launches with a big push, it'll definitely be a hit!"
...
What the players didn't know was that the designers of "Ancient Cataclysm" and Jin Jieguang were far more panicked than the players. The players couldn't see the backend data, but they could, and it was crystal clear.
A drop in activity of this magnitude could no longer be ignored. It was threatening the lifespan of "Ancient Cataclysm" itself.
If they couldn't keep these veteran players in the game, no amount of promotion or attracting new users would help.
Everyone had learned in elementary school about the algorithm and result of one valve letting water in and another letting it out.
Everyone was baffled. What was going on?
Wasn't it fine when the closed beta first started? Player retention was good, satisfaction was decent, it met the needs of low-tier players well, and it differentiated itself from "League of Legends."
Everyone seemed perfectly satisfied, right?
How, in just one month, before the closed beta had even ended, did it feel like the game was dying?
This kind of cliff-like decline had never occurred in any of the many games Emperor Dynasty Interactive had operated, unless there had been some serious operational mishap.
But "Ancient Cataclysm" was still in the testing phase. They hadn't dared to launch many operational events, let alone cause any operational accidents.
What had happened?
Emperor Dynasty Interactive sent out a large number of surveys to players who had quit, and the most common response was: "The game is good in every way, but it's just not fun."
Jin Jieguang was dumbfounded. Where exactly was the "not fun" issue coming from?
The scope of this problem was way too broad. There was no way to pinpoint it!
The designers and operations staff of "Ancient Cataclysm" were also racking their brains to create events and tweak gameplay to get the game back on track, but it was useless.
The popularity of "Ancient Cataclysm" continued to cool down day by day.
...
"Good in every way, but just not fun."
This phrase should be the greatest insult to a designer.
Because its implied meaning is that the game's graphics, quality, and feel are all fine—the problem is purely with the gameplay.
That was the crux of the issue with "Ancient Cataclysm." The key to its lack of fun was that its gameplay was flawed.
Of course, strictly speaking, Jin Jieguang and Emperor Dynasty had been set up by Chen Mo. But the trap was very subtle and didn't look like a trap at all, so Jin Jieguang stepped right into it without hesitation.
When "Ancient Cataclysm" first started testing, player feedback was quite positive. By lowering the barrier to entry and clarifying game objectives, the game did cater to new players' feelings, achieving some initial success upon launch.
But the most critical problem was that new players wouldn't stay new forever.
When the first batch of new players grew into veterans, this game model was essentially a blatant way of driving them away.
So, there needed to be a delicate balance among the three player groups: newbies, veterans, and experts. COG focused too much on the expert experience, while "Ancient Cataclysm" focused too much on the newbie experience. Both caused an imbalance.
Comparatively, COG's overemphasis on the expert experience was actually a bit better. At worst, it turned the game into a hardcore niche title that could survive steadily.
But "Ancient Cataclysm's" overemphasis on the newbie experience caused a loss of hardcore players, which was fatal. Because it's the hardcore players who truly support a game; newbies are just appendages.
Newbies slowly become hardcore players, while hardcore players leave at an accelerating rate. Eventually, newbies stop coming to the game altogether.
When a newbie grows into a hardcore player and looks back at the gameplay mechanics of "Ancient Cataclysm" that once attracted them, they all become things that disgust them.
Genius remembers this site's address in one second: