16 reasons why players leave your game

Players leave the game. According to one source, on average, less than 40% of players return to the free game after the first time. The most important task for a game designer is to create an exciting product. We make games to make them fun to play. If they quit our games too often and quickly, we are not up to the task.

When thinking about why players leave your game, you put yourself in their place. Your financial success depends on the size of the audience - especially if your monetization occurs through in-game purchases. The two main reasons a player leaves are disappointment and boredom. They are the main enemies of the " stream". Stream is a state of consciousness characterized by a feeling of active concentration and preoccupation with current activities. It is in this state that we strive to introduce players - regardless of the genre of the game.

Our task, as game designers, is to approach development from the side of positive psychology. Retention of players comes down to developing a product that creates a stream state. Do not confuse this with casual games or games built on the repetition of simple tasks. In the article I collected material for a checklist - the reasons why players can give the game are listed in descending order of importance. Make sure that you have checked all the list items.

1. Your game has a bad intro

From the very start of the game you need to give users reasons to stay with the game. The title screen, loading screen and the first level will make the first impression of the game - and it will remain with them, even if they do not immediately delete your game.

2. The game takes too much time

Residents of modern society feel a constant lack of time. Most likely, your players are already overloaded with notifications and other applications that are trying to attract their attention. If you are developing a game for adults, they probably already have a job and a family that take the most time. They cannot play for hours.

Passing a certain stage of the game should not take an entire hour. Of course, it is not necessary to follow the fashion and reduce the time per stage to 2-5 minutes. If you rely on experienced players, half-hour sessions may work. But in the mobile market, you need to make sure that users can play for only 3 minutes in a row - if you want to capture a large part of the audience.

The correct length of the game for desktops depends on the type of game. But even in MMORPGs like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV, you can clear the dungeon in 15-30 minutes. Online multiplayer games are becoming more and more friendly to different types of users, and not just to one particular type.

3. You have incorrectly defined the target audience

It would be inefficient to expect that the audience of the Beat Them All game will be those over 60. And although this is one of the basic moments of game development, recalling it will not be superfluous. You can’t please everyone - you need to choose the target audience. You need to study it, find several of its representatives, give them a try on your product and get feedback in the early stages of development.

By choosing the wrong audience, you also ruin the marketing budget. Trying to please the wrong people will cost you time and money.

4. You are trying to enter a saturated market

Imagine that we have chosen an audience: women in their 40s, inexperienced, have some free time. And they made a new game for them from the “collect three” series. The original name, polished, gets good reviews from the press.

But - does not work. Why? Perhaps because there are already a lot of such games. Big companies like King already have a big nourished audience. People will not switch to similar games, regardless of their quality.

We work in the entertainment industry. Games are not only our creations, but also a product for sale on the market. The product must meet the needs. There is no need for “collect three” games now.

5. You did not run enough tests

Nowadays, mistakes in games and other programs are, unfortunately, the norm. If a game of the highest class is released without bugs - this is even surprising. But mistakes are a plague that impedes the promotion of your game. Mistakes annoy players, even if they come out funny.

An independent developer is not able to track all the errors in his game, for this it is necessary to attract interested players in the early stages of development. Even if you become a beta tester, you will have comprehensive information in your head about how the game works, which will prevent you from finding its defects.

6. Your tutorial slows the player down

The Dark Soul tutorial is fast, accessible to everyone, and optionally The

tutorial should not force experienced players to go through long and boring stages. A tutorial is a first look at the game, and they need to be dealt with especially. If you are doing JRPG or FPS, a decent portion of your players will not need a tutorial at all - no need to force them to go through it. Dark Souls 2 is a great example of a tutorial that takes place on a well-developed location, and which allows you to finish it ahead of time.

For a detailed review, read the article by Ernest Adams " 8 ways to make a bad tutorial ."

7. Your game is too complicated

An independent developer tests the game himself and determines the balance. But complexity should be tuned to the experience of the target audience, and not to our own. Consistent beta testing and game analytics are essential for creating an objective game balance.

If the game immediately turns out to be very difficult, the player will leave - especially the inexperienced. The same will happen if the control in the game is slow or inaccurate. Poor management makes the game unpleasant and difficult.

Removing Late Games

First of all, it is necessary to ensure that the players do not leave immediately. Otherwise they will not play. But we need to delay them in the later stages of the game. Usually a very small part of the players comes to the end. And that's why.

8. Unexpected increase in difficulty

Unexpectedly difficult stages violate the pleasant impression of the game. This does not mean that the game should not be hard - but it should be justified. The Souls series is a good example of a non-forgiving game with a smooth difficulty curve. The player himself chooses the complexity of the game , not knowing about it. Also, the Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac games are very complex and very popular.

9. Excessive complexity or lightness

In the game, Mario can be great to feel invulnerable - because this condition does not last long. Do not forget that the tasks in the game must correspond to the level of the player so that he remains in a state of flow for as long as possible. And this is quite a challenge!

Somehow in Skyrim I got to the point where dragons turned into a formality. My skinny thief could kill them with one motion of a knife. It killed all the immersion in the universe. And I stopped playing.

10. The game is focused on routine and does not give interesting tasks.

The routine gives the player a sense of goal achievement and offers the basis for consistent rewards. But this is not enough for a good game.

Blizzard, a routine specialist, has been polishing the mechanics, visuals and background of games for a very long time. Diablo 3 is not just hack and slash. This is a beautiful and dynamic action. There are dozens of unique locations and caves in WoW. And although routine is the main component of these two games, it is only needed to enhance their basic qualities and gameplay.

11. To enjoy the game you need to spend too much time

Previously, MMOs suffered from this: The 4th Prophecy and Dark Age of Camelot required a lot of time to get to enjoying the depths of the gameplay. Not everyone is willing to spend a lot of time on the game. And most modern MMOs are adapting to new users.

Final Fantasy XIII is an example of a single in which the tutorial lasts 30 hours. The functions of the game are shown one by one, gradually, on a linear path. And only after that the game offers a large open level. She was criticized for this.

Your game should offer entertaining content almost immediately.

The specifics of social and free games

The last paragraphs do not apply to all games, but only to social games and games of the class free to play. Player retention in such games is constantly being analyzed. Most of the reasons why the player does not stay in them are quite simple and their lists are easy to find on the Internet . I will focus on less obvious things.

12. Bad community

Social games. Usually they are not very social, but are called so because they are built on working with social networks. But in multiplayer games, there is often a way to interact with other players. You need to track the growth and development of your community, if any, in the game. A newbie-aggressive community will scare away new users. Social games should have a community management system.

13. scarce resources

One of the diseases is Free to Play. What people call Pay to Win, and I like to call Free to Pay. If those who do not pay receive too few resources for progress, they will be upset - this will happen earlier in the game, or later.

Monetization strategies that make players pay don't work. If you bombard them with advertising, they will leave. As Seth Godin explains in Trusted Marketing, the user has many options. If you are building a relationship with him, then the design of the game forms this relationship.

14. Game sessions feel empty

Continuing the previous topic, players in social games want to become involved in various activities. Each game session should be lively and rewarding. For example, the game Zombie Catchers retains its novelty, alternating fun hunting with the management of a simple store. In a few minutes you can get acquainted with the various phases of the game.

15. The game punishes inactive players

On the one hand, if you force a player to go back, he can turn the game into a habit. On the other hand, people need respite. At any time, the player must be able to interrupt the game due to the need. Take an exam, give birth to a child, go to the store, go on vacation. Having lost all progress after returning to the game, they will lose interest in it. Instead, you can reward returning users after a long break.

16. Updates come out too slowly

Social and multiplayer games need to be supported. If you want to retain users, they must be occupied with something or give a reason to return. Regular serious updates, once every 1-3 months, are the key to staying in users' memory.

If your updates are rare, then users will delete the game or forget to log in later.