Also intentional, yes, it may be contradictionary but there's a point. The key is in the definition of the word some.Wuzzy wrote:LOL. So first you created a purposefully complex tutorial designed to lock some players out of the game, and now you released tutorial videos for the turorial?
Tutorialception! xD
One of the things we want to avoid is lots of tablet players and players that are looking for online social engagements. I've done some online server surveying and it appears that high quality content and those types of players are not a good mix. I'm simply not interested in running a server so that 10 year olds can perfect their social interactions with peers while they should be doing their homework.
By requiring the players to spend 60-120 minutes by themselves (it took me 15 minutes myself to complete it for the tutorial videos, but I think most players will take somewhere between 1-2hrs), isolated from others, to understand what the server is about and why social interaction is secondary, we see most tablet players drop out within 3-4 minutes. I've been watching user agent strings and we can see that the drop off after the first puzzle is very, very large for tablet players. After that, most players actually have no issue going on, and that means...
Second, once people finish the tutorial, they've seen enough of the mechanics and concept that they're way better off equipped to go play with the box creation tools, but also are far more appreciative of the time and effort it takes, and are having a better time with the more difficult puzzles.
So, the tutorial will remain required. Now, while we've started I've already three times made adjustments to tutorial puzzles to increase the amount of players getting through each level. I have to redo the statistics but I don't aim to make the tutorial a hurdle for most of the players, just a tool to eliminate unwanted player audience classes and take some time to educate them.
I'm also very intentionally making it so that completing the tutorial is an achievement for the player, with the lobby reveal and all. The server is an experience and this is my view for it.