Hello everyone,
My name is Grommi. Allow me to present to you my credentials:
I am currently a business / marketing major (dual majoring in Biomedical Sciences) at the University of Central Florida. I've been playing Pokemon World Online recently, and I find it very pleasing; it has a nostalgic, sweet feel to it, and unlike many other games I can play casually at my own pace. That's huge in the gaming world!
But, I've found a couple of glaring flaws that, if left unchecked, will honestly deter & hamper this game's future success. I wanted to point these out, and make a genuine plea for the rectifying of these issues.
Keep in mind -- The game is in an.. okay state. It has a decent online player base, and isn't by any means shrinking. But, I want to remove the shackles preventing this game from massive growth, and help incite new players to join as well as stay in the game. I understand that this is still a BETA, so please don't reply saying "It's merely a beta." This is a post to help steer the game out of BETA into a positive, healthy outlook.
To begin : The biggest issue that I feel needs to be fixed is likely the simplest.
The first impression a customer has from a business (and this analogy is applicable to gaming industries and pretty much anything that serves a customer of some sort) is the atmosphere presented. The biggest and most detrimental thing to PWO is currently the amateur feel to it.
Now, don't misread me -- This is by far the most professional of all the amateur Pokemon Online games; however, being the kingpin of a heap of amateurism isn't what we're aiming for here. If we burden ourselves with allowing an excuse like "Well, we're currently the most professional" to weigh us down, we merely hinder our own progress.
To understand what compromises an amateur feel / approach, we need to take some examples from big websites and professional companies that are doing it right. Big companies with GMs (think World of Warcraft) are master's of customer service. They keep themselves in a strict distant, but governing policy. They are not our friends. They are our GameMasters. This prevents corruption and adds a very refined line of professionalism.
If we take a look at the recent patch notes, we notice near the bottom right:
"Be sure to routinely check the forums for future updates or events!
Thanks for playing PWO
=)"
This is a detrimental sentence for reason of the emoji. A reworking of this would present a much more professional feel to the patch notes. I would suggest:
"Be sure to routinely check the forums for updates and events!
Thanks for playing Pokemon World Online!"
Big companies tend to stay away from emojis because they have an immature / unprofessional connotation to them. And, the reason a lack of professionalism hurts companies so much is that people need to feel like the service they're using is reliable and efficient. To put it into layman's terminology, think back to when you ordered food from a small business that didn't practice professionalism -- Was the person taking your order rude? Did they seem disinterested? Was it a hassle? No matter how good the food is, a bad experience on professionalism side can hamper your decision to order from there again.
Now, obviously that single emoji is not what I'm complaining about here. I'm talking about the feel that makes emojis like those in the patch notes become possible.
A second note for the professionalism tab:
You need to go back through the game and correct the grammatical issues. Hell, have a dedicated player replay the game and get the issues for you. A lack of proper, basic grammar is a resounding detriment. We need to make players feel immersed into the world! If they're detracted because the NPC they just fought says "i'm the best bug trainer.. let's battle!!!" then they're reminded this is an amateur game. Amateur games are volatile; they tend to be easily corruptable, and I can say for one that when I see grammatical mistakes like those, it makes me wonder how much effort is really being placed into the game development, or if I should invest time here because the project is volatile.
A different, but still important, issue:
Pokemon World Online attempts to place a grind factor into the game through both reputation and lock-out timers. These both fail to accomplish their goal, and I would like to explain to you why the removal of these two factors would be beneficial.
Let's begin with reputation:
Reputation seems to be a mechanic that means trainers won't acknowledge you until a certain degree of gameplay grind has been achieved. This is a naive mechanic, as it indicates a poor response on development side. I believe it's being used as a controlled variable to prevent players from progressing places they should not be; however, if you take a look at the real Pokemon games, they use a different type of mechanic to achieve this to great success: HMs. Reputation is an amateur mechanic that, while the intent is good, the execution is not. There is absolutely no reason to prohibit a player from progressing in a game such as Pokemon. Keep in mind, the official Pokemon games allow for unlimited growth & expansion, with a linear route. However, Pokemon World Online attempts a linear route through this constricting reputation mechanic.
Here is a great example ingame:
Players that hit Cerulean City have two choices once they beat Misty. They can head South or East; however, East has a reputation level of 17, whilst the South has a reputation level of 12. Why is it that I cannot fight the trainers in the East if I wanted to? Hell, I'm at 12.9 Reputation, so I can't fight half the trainers in the Southern route.
There is no POINT to reputation. It doesn't even function as an effective limiting mechanic, because you can simply WALK PAST the trainers that you cannot duel. Thus, it doesn't even accomplish it's job as a linear storyline development tool. It is then merely a tool for grinding and irritation, which obviously should never be in a game that's highest playerbase is casual (Pokemon).
Remove reputation from the game, and let players progress as they normally would. Utilize effective means for story clamping and linear development. The guard preventing access to Saffron City, for example, is an effective tool. My not being able to level because some NPC won't accept my reputation requirement, isn't. Let levels and experience determine where a trainer can and cannot handle. Not an amateur reputation mechanic.
Lock - Out Timers:
Yesterday, I had a full day to play Pokemon World Online. I was fighting Misty, and things were going spectacular. I had almost defeated her... Then the servers crashed (Or I lagged out, or something similar that isn't important). Therefore, according to this game's lockout system, I had four hours to wait before I could fight Misty again.
I sat here, looking around for things to do. Well, I couldn't go to the South, because the guard won't let me pass without Misty's gym badge (another nonsensical implementation, by the way. But I suppose it's an okay alternative to HMs.) I can't go to the East, because of reputation requirements [See above paragraph(s)]. I had already beaten the trainers above, and done the quest to present Escape Ropes to the children. Therefore, I was literally pidgeonholed into either logging out, or pointless grinding due to this mechanic.
You should NEVER pidgeonhole players. You're trying too forcefully to add a grind requirement and it doesn't accomplish its purpose whatsoever! The only people that need the grind mechanic to prevent them from progressing are the players that are beating the Gym Leaders rapidly (Which this does not address) and the only people that DO NOT need the grind mechanic are the ones LOSING to the gym leaders. They need to fight the leaders again and again to keep trying, level their Pokemon, and eventually win.
Do you see how counter-intuitive this system is? Who thought it was a good idea to limit players with timer lockouts in the first place? Pokemon isn't a game where someone else's progression hurts anyone elses. If this were World of Warcraft, I can understand lockouts. If a guild is allowed to beat bosses repeatedly, and they are one of the only guilds that knows how, they will dramatically outscale everyone else with gear and create an unbias siezure of power. In Pokemon, however, that guy having a level 100 Mewtwo does NOTHING to hinder or hamper my gameplay. So why are you trying to add grind mechanics?!
To recap for summarization :
Fix the grammatical issues in the game.
--- Grammatical issues present an amateur feel to the game, and we need to avoid an amateur appeal for reasons disclosed above.
Have a blanket degree of professionalism.
--- Emojis should not be used in patch notes; Staff needs to follow a blanket rule of distance governing. You're not our friend(s), you're our staff. Becoming too close to the game and befriending players only leads to possible corruption, or connotation development (i.e I see the GM arguing with someone, or joking with a friend over all chat. I develop an opinion of the GM, because he is a person with power on the server. This opinion has a negative connotation, effects reputation)
Remove Reputation from the game.
--- Reputation may have had a good thought behind it, but it turns out to accomplish very little and be nothing more than a frustrating, grind inducing mechanic. It doesn't even effectively cause anyone to grind, it's more frustrating than anything, and seems to be a very poor linear plot development tool.
Remove lock-out timers from the game.
--- I don't know the logic behind this one. If you're trying to add an epic feel to the game, you're in the wrong genre. Pokemon needs to cater to its fanbase of very casual players that are looking to unwind and have fun. The minority is the competitive scene. There is no reason to add this feature to Gym Battles (especially if your servers are unstable and could possibly induce false lockouts on players.)
Now, I've covered the basics of what PWO does wrong - I want to mention though what PWO does correctly.
--- Animations & Battle Transitions
A lot of Pokemon games lack this transitional phase. This phase actually adds a tremendous amount to the atmosphere of the game, and really helps immerse players. Nice job, keep improving this!
--- Quests
The quests in PWO are really poorly designed and often extremely inefficent. But you're TRYING a different, unique feature -- That's really cool! Keep this up, it has the potential to be incredible if you design them more efficiently!
--- Real-time trainer to trainer interaction
This is the best feature PWO has to offer. The ability to see other trainers going about in the world, reminding you that you are not alone is this game's shining feature. It's incredible. Everyone has always wanted a Pokemon Adventure with other players, and it's finally here! Keep this and never let it go!
--- A brilliant, sleek UI / HUD
The game client for PWO looks professional. And that's amazing. That's what drew myself, and my friends to this game. Nice job!
Sorry for the long post, but I hope you took the time to read it. Please let me know if you have any questions, or why you feel like I'm incorrect on some points here. I'd love to see feedback. Let's improve PWO to the next level.
My name is Grommi. Allow me to present to you my credentials:
I am currently a business / marketing major (dual majoring in Biomedical Sciences) at the University of Central Florida. I've been playing Pokemon World Online recently, and I find it very pleasing; it has a nostalgic, sweet feel to it, and unlike many other games I can play casually at my own pace. That's huge in the gaming world!
But, I've found a couple of glaring flaws that, if left unchecked, will honestly deter & hamper this game's future success. I wanted to point these out, and make a genuine plea for the rectifying of these issues.
Keep in mind -- The game is in an.. okay state. It has a decent online player base, and isn't by any means shrinking. But, I want to remove the shackles preventing this game from massive growth, and help incite new players to join as well as stay in the game. I understand that this is still a BETA, so please don't reply saying "It's merely a beta." This is a post to help steer the game out of BETA into a positive, healthy outlook.
To begin : The biggest issue that I feel needs to be fixed is likely the simplest.
The first impression a customer has from a business (and this analogy is applicable to gaming industries and pretty much anything that serves a customer of some sort) is the atmosphere presented. The biggest and most detrimental thing to PWO is currently the amateur feel to it.
Now, don't misread me -- This is by far the most professional of all the amateur Pokemon Online games; however, being the kingpin of a heap of amateurism isn't what we're aiming for here. If we burden ourselves with allowing an excuse like "Well, we're currently the most professional" to weigh us down, we merely hinder our own progress.
To understand what compromises an amateur feel / approach, we need to take some examples from big websites and professional companies that are doing it right. Big companies with GMs (think World of Warcraft) are master's of customer service. They keep themselves in a strict distant, but governing policy. They are not our friends. They are our GameMasters. This prevents corruption and adds a very refined line of professionalism.
If we take a look at the recent patch notes, we notice near the bottom right:
"Be sure to routinely check the forums for future updates or events!
Thanks for playing PWO
=)"
This is a detrimental sentence for reason of the emoji. A reworking of this would present a much more professional feel to the patch notes. I would suggest:
"Be sure to routinely check the forums for updates and events!
Thanks for playing Pokemon World Online!"
Big companies tend to stay away from emojis because they have an immature / unprofessional connotation to them. And, the reason a lack of professionalism hurts companies so much is that people need to feel like the service they're using is reliable and efficient. To put it into layman's terminology, think back to when you ordered food from a small business that didn't practice professionalism -- Was the person taking your order rude? Did they seem disinterested? Was it a hassle? No matter how good the food is, a bad experience on professionalism side can hamper your decision to order from there again.
Now, obviously that single emoji is not what I'm complaining about here. I'm talking about the feel that makes emojis like those in the patch notes become possible.
A second note for the professionalism tab:
You need to go back through the game and correct the grammatical issues. Hell, have a dedicated player replay the game and get the issues for you. A lack of proper, basic grammar is a resounding detriment. We need to make players feel immersed into the world! If they're detracted because the NPC they just fought says "i'm the best bug trainer.. let's battle!!!" then they're reminded this is an amateur game. Amateur games are volatile; they tend to be easily corruptable, and I can say for one that when I see grammatical mistakes like those, it makes me wonder how much effort is really being placed into the game development, or if I should invest time here because the project is volatile.
A different, but still important, issue:
Pokemon World Online attempts to place a grind factor into the game through both reputation and lock-out timers. These both fail to accomplish their goal, and I would like to explain to you why the removal of these two factors would be beneficial.
Let's begin with reputation:
Reputation seems to be a mechanic that means trainers won't acknowledge you until a certain degree of gameplay grind has been achieved. This is a naive mechanic, as it indicates a poor response on development side. I believe it's being used as a controlled variable to prevent players from progressing places they should not be; however, if you take a look at the real Pokemon games, they use a different type of mechanic to achieve this to great success: HMs. Reputation is an amateur mechanic that, while the intent is good, the execution is not. There is absolutely no reason to prohibit a player from progressing in a game such as Pokemon. Keep in mind, the official Pokemon games allow for unlimited growth & expansion, with a linear route. However, Pokemon World Online attempts a linear route through this constricting reputation mechanic.
Here is a great example ingame:
Players that hit Cerulean City have two choices once they beat Misty. They can head South or East; however, East has a reputation level of 17, whilst the South has a reputation level of 12. Why is it that I cannot fight the trainers in the East if I wanted to? Hell, I'm at 12.9 Reputation, so I can't fight half the trainers in the Southern route.
There is no POINT to reputation. It doesn't even function as an effective limiting mechanic, because you can simply WALK PAST the trainers that you cannot duel. Thus, it doesn't even accomplish it's job as a linear storyline development tool. It is then merely a tool for grinding and irritation, which obviously should never be in a game that's highest playerbase is casual (Pokemon).
Remove reputation from the game, and let players progress as they normally would. Utilize effective means for story clamping and linear development. The guard preventing access to Saffron City, for example, is an effective tool. My not being able to level because some NPC won't accept my reputation requirement, isn't. Let levels and experience determine where a trainer can and cannot handle. Not an amateur reputation mechanic.
Lock - Out Timers:
Yesterday, I had a full day to play Pokemon World Online. I was fighting Misty, and things were going spectacular. I had almost defeated her... Then the servers crashed (Or I lagged out, or something similar that isn't important). Therefore, according to this game's lockout system, I had four hours to wait before I could fight Misty again.
I sat here, looking around for things to do. Well, I couldn't go to the South, because the guard won't let me pass without Misty's gym badge (another nonsensical implementation, by the way. But I suppose it's an okay alternative to HMs.) I can't go to the East, because of reputation requirements [See above paragraph(s)]. I had already beaten the trainers above, and done the quest to present Escape Ropes to the children. Therefore, I was literally pidgeonholed into either logging out, or pointless grinding due to this mechanic.
You should NEVER pidgeonhole players. You're trying too forcefully to add a grind requirement and it doesn't accomplish its purpose whatsoever! The only people that need the grind mechanic to prevent them from progressing are the players that are beating the Gym Leaders rapidly (Which this does not address) and the only people that DO NOT need the grind mechanic are the ones LOSING to the gym leaders. They need to fight the leaders again and again to keep trying, level their Pokemon, and eventually win.
Do you see how counter-intuitive this system is? Who thought it was a good idea to limit players with timer lockouts in the first place? Pokemon isn't a game where someone else's progression hurts anyone elses. If this were World of Warcraft, I can understand lockouts. If a guild is allowed to beat bosses repeatedly, and they are one of the only guilds that knows how, they will dramatically outscale everyone else with gear and create an unbias siezure of power. In Pokemon, however, that guy having a level 100 Mewtwo does NOTHING to hinder or hamper my gameplay. So why are you trying to add grind mechanics?!
To recap for summarization :
Fix the grammatical issues in the game.
--- Grammatical issues present an amateur feel to the game, and we need to avoid an amateur appeal for reasons disclosed above.
Have a blanket degree of professionalism.
--- Emojis should not be used in patch notes; Staff needs to follow a blanket rule of distance governing. You're not our friend(s), you're our staff. Becoming too close to the game and befriending players only leads to possible corruption, or connotation development (i.e I see the GM arguing with someone, or joking with a friend over all chat. I develop an opinion of the GM, because he is a person with power on the server. This opinion has a negative connotation, effects reputation)
Remove Reputation from the game.
--- Reputation may have had a good thought behind it, but it turns out to accomplish very little and be nothing more than a frustrating, grind inducing mechanic. It doesn't even effectively cause anyone to grind, it's more frustrating than anything, and seems to be a very poor linear plot development tool.
Remove lock-out timers from the game.
--- I don't know the logic behind this one. If you're trying to add an epic feel to the game, you're in the wrong genre. Pokemon needs to cater to its fanbase of very casual players that are looking to unwind and have fun. The minority is the competitive scene. There is no reason to add this feature to Gym Battles (especially if your servers are unstable and could possibly induce false lockouts on players.)
Now, I've covered the basics of what PWO does wrong - I want to mention though what PWO does correctly.
--- Animations & Battle Transitions
A lot of Pokemon games lack this transitional phase. This phase actually adds a tremendous amount to the atmosphere of the game, and really helps immerse players. Nice job, keep improving this!
--- Quests
The quests in PWO are really poorly designed and often extremely inefficent. But you're TRYING a different, unique feature -- That's really cool! Keep this up, it has the potential to be incredible if you design them more efficiently!
--- Real-time trainer to trainer interaction
This is the best feature PWO has to offer. The ability to see other trainers going about in the world, reminding you that you are not alone is this game's shining feature. It's incredible. Everyone has always wanted a Pokemon Adventure with other players, and it's finally here! Keep this and never let it go!
--- A brilliant, sleek UI / HUD
The game client for PWO looks professional. And that's amazing. That's what drew myself, and my friends to this game. Nice job!
Sorry for the long post, but I hope you took the time to read it. Please let me know if you have any questions, or why you feel like I'm incorrect on some points here. I'd love to see feedback. Let's improve PWO to the next level.
