With all of the new games out there that offer an entry level training tutorial, I've often wondered why AH doesn't.
Join the game, entry level plane, learn how to take off and land. Fly through hoops. Shoot a huge big blimp. Learn to roll left and evade a drone behind you. Roll right to do the same. Loop. Follow the leader. Be taken through a series of basic ACM drills, hear a speech about how to integrate into the community. Graduate to the Main Arena.
+1
There are good resources out there created by the community, certainly. With no disrespect to those that created them, the point is that the game creator (the trusted source) needs to pay attention to the impressions it makes (or doesn't make) to the new player or visitor.
1. We are the existing customer base. We all got here through faith in the product, perseverance and MANY ***whippings . Some of us are occasionally very smug about that in our dealings with new players.
2. When I try out a new game nowadays, I am looking for an investment to the customer FROM THE MAKER. Not from the community, who might be full of cheaters and ***hats. Hey, I'm a newb in this instance and I don't trust every veteran as a matter of policy. Any sensible newb operates the same way, I think.
3. If Hitechcreations is serious about the 'customer-to-be' then ROC has described a very safe entry point for them. If the owners' business model is about addressing the issue of turnover, then the customer-to-be needs to be woo'ed and educated on a level playing field. Turnover is a fact and you just can't survive if you lose more than you take in.
As members of squadrons we have to accept that we've forgotten our own terrors and frustrations of the first year. More, we have to continue to do the right thing by the newbs that show up. Not haze them.
The bottom line - the first responsibility to new members belongs squarely to Hitech. First contact, if you will. The customer-to-be nowadays is experiential - younger - and is eager to consume new peripheral technologies, like VR.
I know how much work has been put in to modernize our game, but the lack of a welcoming and educational first experience is a huge miss. I would encourage the next round of Hitech effort be directed there in the coming months. Just a little bit at a time would do the trick. Not an all hands effort like AH3.
All great points and ideas, Roc.
