the achaean website

Aepas

I tried showing a buddy at work achaea. I told him a bit about it and he seemed a bit interested. I told him to look it up sometime.
He tells me later: "Hey I tried to look at that game but it only says play now, I'm not going to play it at work, I just wanted to read about the classes and stuff."
How many other people do we think have avoided getting into the main website because the first thing we have to really see is a big PLAY NOW button

He seemed pretty Meh about the video as well. I can understand that and I personally never watch it. He actually did a google image search to see what the game looked like and oddly enough seemed to enjoy looking at a few of the random mudlet GUI's that popped up rather than watching the video. I believe he looked at me about 20 seconds in and said "The fuck is this?"

I saw someone else post a very similar argument in another thread about how we are drawing in, or alienating players by the website build. But today I actually had the chance to see it first hand, what a complete Non-achaean thought about the website. No good.

Am I the only one that feels like the old website was better? It was easy and clean to look at, didn't have any random sound, and instantly let you know what's up. It didn't give you a "play now" ultimatum, it just let you read what everything was about. When I was at school I looked over all of it rather fondly, eagerly waiting to see the new skills in action.

So fellow Achaeans, am I just being nostologic? Was this person's reaction an outlier? How do we see the game's site as it currently is?

Alaskar

I think that's a pretty reasonable reaction to it, really, but the way the website is set up may be targeted more to a different type of person (i.e. more impulsive, younger etc.). I think there could be an argument for either case, so the question is what type of player do we want checking out the game and sticking around to play. But personally I think embedding the video in the main page with optional sound would be a good idea. Then big flashy buttons leading to the more interesting information about the game. Skills, relics, role play etc.

Shirszae

While the old site was a little too simplistic and a bit on the uninspiring side, I do feel it was easier to navigate, find out about the world of Achaea, its classes and its lore, and did not plant the false expectations that the new one seems to cause now and then.  

Kayeil

As many times as I've seen it, the new main page still throws me off sometimes, especially since the link to the full site is relatively smaller than some of the other links on that page. Also, I think Achaea is one of those games where it's important to get some of the background information on the site before creating a character so you can at least make somewhat of an educated choice in character type instead of blindly going in with all of these character options and just choosing because it sounds good without really knowing what you might be getting into or whether you'll even maybe like it. Before I started playing Achaea (or my past attempts at Lusternia and Aetolia) I read the websites and got some information before deciding on what type of character I might want to try.

Skye

That video drives me mad. I wish it'd stop autoplaying and stuff

Aepas

I honestly can't really think of any way that a Video or Sound is going to entice people to play a text game.

Our blind players would sure be confused if the way they had to learn about the game was through a video.

Jukilian

A video tutorial through the intro of the game would perhaps be much more interesting and enticing for people curious about text-based games.

Blujixapug

Autoplay anything is the fastest way to get me to ctrl+w a tab.

Aepas

Jukilian said:

A video tutorial through the intro of the game would perhaps be much more interesting and enticing for people curious about text-based games.

Yeah, but people are typically not interested in text based games in this day and age. It's something you have to just let them experience because in most ways it just sounds too strange elsewhere

Jiki requested otherwise!

But that's pretty much just watching a video of somebody reading. There is literally nothing to watch in achaea, it makes no sense.

Jukilian

If you're at Achaea's website, something drew you there. Either a friend referring you, or curiosity. There will likely be an element of curiosity. They may be thinking, 'How do you even play this text game? Is it like that ancient game Zork?' and may not have the time just yet or the interest in just jumping into a game they're completely unfamiliar with. They may want to see how it is played first, and a video would be helpful for that. Mayhaps not for people who are blind, but I'm sure something could be done with text and screen-readers to provide an 'intro' for visually impaired people.

By the way, I'm pretty sure you completely misinterpreted what I'm saying. I can only guess, though. My idea was to change the current video or supplement it with another video, where someone actually plays through the intro for the game. Talking about each step and what they're doing and why. Not some video that plays alongside.

Also, your story there would be better kept to yourself. Come up with better (y'know, appropriate?) examples next time.

Tesha

The autoplay and the video being the center of attention is the problem I have with the site. Especially at places like school or work where I don't want random videos blaring.

Riashain

There is no excuse for autoplay videos.

Jules

This needs to be featured, pretty much always:  http://www.achaea.com/game/news/Achaea/Events/418  I missed it all, but lured someone back to Achaea with it, and I think potential new players would be duly impressed. 

Aepas

Hearing about the things that happen in game are normally the best way to get someone interested in playing.
I remember I started playing because of a random advert on VGcats when I was a bit younger because the add made fun of games like WoW and other generic RPG's, so I thought I'd give something with a little more depth a try.

Sarapis

Aepas said:

I tried showing a buddy at work achaea. I told him a bit about it and he seemed a bit interested. I told him to look it up sometime.
He tells me later: "Hey I tried to look at that game but it only says play now, I'm not going to play it at work, I just wanted to read about the classes and stuff."
How many other people do we think have avoided getting into the main website because the first thing we have to really see is a big PLAY NOW button

He seemed pretty Meh about the video as well. I can understand that and I personally never watch it. He actually did a google image search to see what the game looked like and oddly enough seemed to enjoy looking at a few of the random mudlet GUI's that popped up rather than watching the video. I believe he looked at me about 20 seconds in and said "The fuck is this?"

I saw someone else post a very similar argument in another thread about how we are drawing in, or alienating players by the website build. But today I actually had the chance to see it first hand, what a complete Non-achaean thought about the website. No good.

Am I the only one that feels like the old website was better? It was easy and clean to look at, didn't have any random sound, and instantly let you know what's up. It didn't give you a "play now" ultimatum, it just let you read what everything was about. When I was at school I looked over all of it rather fondly, eagerly waiting to see the new skills in action.

So fellow Achaeans, am I just being nostologic? Was this person's reaction an outlier? How do we see the game's site as it currently is?

One person's anecdotal experience is, with respect, of minimal value. We can and do measure these things in aggregate. The video is there, for instance, because the website converts people better than without. The Play Now button is there for the same reason. It's not even debatable really.

The video increased conversions some (though not a ton), and the Play Now button is absolutely required as it makes a big difference. That's all stuff we've a/b tested. If I recall, we even a/b tested the color of the play now button.

I do agree that we could probably turn off the autoplay though - it annoys me too.

I'd also like to have more info on the site generally (but, you know, time and resources, etc) and we'll be doing gameplay videos when the next version of the client is done. It involves a major graphical rework to it and didn't want to spend the time producing videos only to have to redo them when the client's graphical overhaul is done-ish.

Sarapis

(Auto-play is turned off now btw.)

Tael

Sarapis said:

when the next version of the client is done. It involves a major graphical rework to it

Well, now I'm excited. The HTML5 client is already pretty great.

Sarapis

Going to be a lot prettier and easier to use. I hate the way you have to deal with moving windows around now, for instance. So awkward.

Sarapis

(Oh, and I should add that we didn't test OTHER videos against the video that's there now, cause we didn't have other ones, but it's quite possible another video would perform better. Once we do gameplay videos, we'll be giving it a try.)

Sarapis

Little teaser of the new client's look at login.

Tael

I don't think I knew I wanted this before, but suddenly I understand how much I want a script that displays a location on the big, illustrated map, maybe using a darkened big map (like that one) as the client background.

Masaryk

Sarapis said:

Little teaser of the new client's look at login.

Can I have your password @Sarapis

Masaryk

Also, do you have any of the older websites archived? I remember back in the early 2000s there was a nice one that featured a tree on the left side of the screen (I think?). Just asking for curiosity's sake.

Sarapis

My password consists of ancient runes that would simultaneously destroy a keyboard and your mind were you to attempt to type them. 

And no, don't have the older websites archived, but you can always use the waybackmachine to see what they looked like at various times in history.

https://web.archive.org/web/19990501000000*/http://achaea.com

Tecton

Try this: http://web.archive.org/web/*/www.achaea.com

Sarapis

You may call me ninja.

Masaryk

Oh man, that really brings back some serious memories of killing rats with Eternus after school every day...hahah

Valaria

i think history section from 1999 look interesting. Who knew Lady Lorielan lied (and possibly is a secret ally of Lord Twilight? )

Lorielan had lied, as is her nature, and upon the arrival of Lysithea, the Offspring was forced to give up the pieces of the Rod to Lorielan, and, being stranded on a foreign plane with no way to return, was forced to serve Lorielan forever.

It is interesting and the writing of this level is different from today one would see on the history section. Interesting.

Trey

Sarapis said:

You may call me ninja.

A punkass peasant who couldn't toe to toe in a real fight? Sure thing, boss.

Jonathin

Holy dear god I spent waaaaaay too much time on that 2002ish website. Reminds me of sbeing level 27 having just lost a freeforall while stupify by disturbed played in the background on a hot summer day while my mom was at work.

Trey

Me too, if it came off as snark. Completely understandable given my usual penchant for posts, but I try to keep the intentional remarks within forum rules.

(Sarapis note: I thought he was being purposefully insulting, so warned him, then realized he wasn't and apologized, and deleted the intervening posts.)