Let's Start With Calypso

This will be the first of many opinion-based blogs I write. Disclaimer: although I have an IT background and I am a “weekend-warrior” of programming, I am by no means an expert. What I suggest here is strictly opinion and I will occasionally disregard how difficult it is to actually perform a task that I suggest. I will, however, do my best to make sense! If my emotions get the best of me I claim no responsibility for the literary apocalypse that will inevitably follow.

That being said, let’s get to what this blog is all about – land development. I know, this seems like a strange topic for the first post on a blog that revolves around building a community, but the reality is that the correlation between land development and community is a much more important topic than it is given credit for.

Why exactly is it so important? Well, the simple answer is that people are impressionable. I am to show here that directing players the right way geologically can have a very serious impact on the economy of The Universe through development of social hubs by relocating key parts of social centers and expanding on existing infrastructure. Therefore, I will be focusing this blog (and likely a small mini-series of blogs to come) on how the planets in The Universe are underutilizing their land.

This blog will be focus on Calypso in particular; I plan to do a blog like this for each planet and so Calypso, being the first planet, seems like a good place to start.

Now that all of that is on the table, let me start off with a broad, accusatory statement: Calypso is currently grotesquely mismanaged.

Yes, I said it. Calypso is being mismanaged. How do I figure, you ask?

Well, let’s start off with some observations.

First: We have a poor “new Player Experience” – not because of a lack of tutorial, but because there’s nobody there when new players come off the Calypso Gateway.

Calypso is the most well-developed and well-established planet in The Universe. It also, from what I can tell, is still pulling in the highest volume of new players. Therefore (as we all know since MindArk is always talking about it) Calypso needs to have a strong “new player experience”; but that’s something we’ve all said, right? MindArk seems to want to constantly redo the Calypso Gtateway and add onto the existing tutorials, which is fine….
…but I have a different theory about why the “new player experience” has been sub-par in recent years.
New players arrive in Port Atlantis right after getting out of the gateway. If you want players to instantly be interested in the game, and hold their interest, this area need to at least feel densely populated. Right off, people need to feel like there are a lot of players in the game and feel as though they instantly have real-life resources at their fingertips.

This used to be the case, back when First Planet Company owned Calypso. Port Atlantis was the “hangout” spot for vets and advisors.

…So what happened?

They banned vehicles.

That might seem like something minor but as soon as that happened, the “marina” spot lost its fun. Now, everyone hangs out at the nearby “camp Icarus”, mainly because vehicles can still be spawned there. The inherent problem with this is that these people are now, suddenly, hard to find. Sure, it’s one of the first places you get sent while on a mission, but what about those people who don’t want to mission?... 
...They’re lost in a city that looks grand on the outside, but it hollow and empty otherwise. The game looks, to the untrained eye, as though it has been abandoned. In some ways, it has been abandoned.

The Solution: Dramatically reimagine Port Atlantis. 

It has so much potential, not only for the further addition of interesting points but as a real revenue driver for Calypso. The whole ordeal is actually a simple fix: undo the vehicle ban, then instead of banning vehicles, move the mall up towards the beach and dock area (hell, make it a boardwalk, I don’t care) but when you move the mall up, make sure you take advantage of the fact that it has a parking lot on the roof. If you just simply add parking space that is within chatting distance and acceptably visible to players on the dock, you will eliminate the “unnecessary vehicle spawn” problem and subsequently see players flocking back to Port Atlantis in droves. If you really still feel the need to control the vehicle spawning, put a limit on it. Make it so that only a certain number of vehicles can spawn in that area per person.
After the mall has been moved to a more profitable area and vehicles have been restored, add some apartments in the high-rises that are currently useless and sell those puppies off. I would buy one.Then, toss in some indoor relaxation areas like a bar, and take your mission-bots and put them in said bars instead of just having them stand on the dock exit… leave some clues for the new players to help them find the mission bots (that’s what the tutorial is for!) but make them go look for it and explore the city a little bit. It’s a beautiful creation that’s being massively under-appreciated.

In all, if these changes have the desired effect, it would drive people to remain on-world, increase cash flow by reinvigorated the Port Atlantis mall (and give new players an incentive to deposit when they browse the mall) which would ultimately lead to a profit.. right?

The reality is that although Port Atlantis is pretty, it’s currently just art, and is useless. Make it useful.

Second: There are a series of exceptionally simple legacy systems that could be re-implemented which would drive traffic to parts of the game that have fallen apart.

One of these is “sitting”. Yes, that’s right. Sitting. How would this help the economy?

Maybe its possible simple, expressive gestures could -Oh, I don’t know - reinvigorate the housing market?
I know that seems like a long shot, but imagine this: Player A loads into the world, and walks to Port Atlantis docks. He heads for a mission, but decides instead to take a seat at the bar, since there are a few of his friends there, who now frequent the in-game bar. Meanwhile, a new player (we’ll call him player B), looking for his first mission, runs into the bar. Leaving, Player A heads out to the parking lot and spawns a quad-wing on his way to Arkadia. Player B sees the fighter, and decides it would be more interesting to tag along (of course, this is now much more likely because Port Atlantis is bustling again thanks to the changes made to the mall and high rises). Player A takes him along for free, making a new friend in the process. However, Player A stops quickly to run into his new apartment in the Port Atlantis High-rise and grab some ammo and his new friend, Player B, tags along. Seeing the apartment, this new player suddenly has a goal and a reason to stick with the game; he has to have an apartment! He sees what player A has accomplished and wants that. Three months later, Port Atlantis is filled for a radio party, and the same player B, who now has an apartment in Port Atlantis, hosts an afterparty and the whole process repeats, perhaps with some player C catching a ride to Arkadia afterwards.

The Solution: ...Alright, I understand that was a long-winded scenario, but what I’m getting at is that by adding simple things into the world, it makes the game feel more immersive. 

Gestures like sitting down, or leaning on a wall, or even smoking and drinking. These things all make you feel like you are connected to your avatar and for the vets this an important thing to feel as it is something that (I believe) older players are really looking for. By re-implementing these simple legacy systems, you will instill hope into the vets of the community. It will give them a reason to press on, and who knows? Maybe it will even bring back some long-lost veterans.

Third: Cater to veterans. This one is harder than it sounds. When I say “cater to veterans” I mean that the more important economic systems should be made to function in a way that is savvy to the way in which veterans play the game. In other words, Calypso: watch the habits of your long time players and make judgments about the future of land development based on their habits. This is ultimately the best practice in determining the level of profitability of a change. Will it take with players who have been on-world longer than one year?

Although there is no clear solution to that last one, I think the point makes itself without a need for a solution. It's one of those "just do it" kind of things.  

So, I will repeat: Calypso is being mismanaged. MindArk has to step up its game on planet management if it wants to continue to grow. Of course, we as players of the community want to see these changes happen as well. It would help the community and our economy in a way that nothing else has. 

We’re fighting to bring back the community after all, and this blog shows that the environment is just as important of a factor as the players themselves.

All in all, If Calypso were to make some real changes to the game in a way that benefits and positively affects the existing players, I think we would see some positive change. It would certainly make the players’ lives easier.

So, MindArk and Calypso AB, here a message for you: 

“Refocus on the management of your land instead of making new land. Before you make another planet, first make these planets (that you already have) profitable. Content is nothing without immersion”.

My next blog (decidedly) will be on the poor communication on behalf of MindArk and Planet Calypso AB. So, look out for that. It’s coming (very) soon, and I will be touching on things such as the ambiguity of who is running some planets, and what we can expect over the next year.

Until then, everyone: Good luck.

-Faucon Ioji VanAlkel