Hey all,
I've been playing Evony for about a week and I thought I would share my experience so far. I think it's a great game and certainly at the top of its genre, which I guess should be called a browser-based MMORTS. There's obviously a lot of development that has gone into it and I think it has resulted in a technically superior game.
Now, I'm a fairly experienced gamer, and during the week I've been playing I've been ranked in the top 200 on the server. I've found that the quest mechanism teaches the game very well and I've been able to learn quickly. I expanded to two cities and got my Captain and Knight promotions after several days. Then, I began attacking valleys.
Before I get into that, let me explain a bit about the trust relationship that is so important to keeping a game fun and compelling. As a gamer plays through a game and learns about that game, an implicit trust develops between the gamer and the game mechanics. If I do Action A ten times, and each time Result B occurs, then I have an expectation that this will continue, and this is how one develops a playing style, strategies, etc. This happens with every game, and in most cases (and the best games) it's a subconscious thing which doesn't even require much thought. Most people just think of it as learning how to play.
When this system of trust breaks down, then the game can very rapidly become boring or frustrating. To use Pacman as an example - imagine that, at a randomly chosen time between 2 - 10 minutes, a ghost would teleport directly in front of you and eat you, and you would have no control over this. Would that make Pacman fun? Would anyone play anymore, or would they throw controllers across the room in frustration?
Sadly, I find myself at that same point with Evony. I have followed the quest instructions and completed somewhere around 50 quests. Therefore, I have an expectation that, by continuing to follow the quest instructions, I will successfully complete more quests. And now we're back to the valleys, and the medals.
The quest instructions clearly state that one most conquer valleys to get medals. And so, I have conquered valleys. I have maxed out my valleys, abandoned valleys, and conquered them all over again. Repeatedly. And I have exactly zero medals. This feature, in my opinion, is broken. It is a broken design in just the same way the Pacman example is broken. I no longer have that trust which I once had. If I follow the quest instructions to the best of my ability, but yet receive nothing, what is the point of continuing to play? How do I know I am even performing the right actions? Should I keep abandoning and attacking valleys ad infinitum? Or is my strategy itself wrong? A game must provide both positive and negative feedback to let the player know whether their actions are the correct ones.
My frustration in this brought me to the forums, where there is at least some clarity to be had on this issue. The consensus seems to be that this design feature is intentional, with the pursuit of more paying customers and more money being the main driving factor. Evony completely deserves to make a ton of money as it's a great game. I'll even propose a better way to do it, but let me say this: the current medal implementation is wrong. It breaks the spirit of the game. It frustrates and alienates players. It breaks the critical trust relationship and it removes the fun from the game. Using a hidden game mechanic in this way is, at its core, dishonest.
That being said, here's one way to address the issue. Personally I think it's a win for everyone. Implement something called a "server key" (or "world key", or whatever.) Add the server key to the list of promotion requirements for Major and Baronet. There is one and only one way to get a server key, which is to purchase it using real money. Set the price point somewhere around $4.99 - $9.99. Once a person buys the server key, they are unlocked for that single server for all time and can get all promotions. If they don't buy it, the highest they can go is Captain and Knight. Finally, keep the medal system, but restore the drop rate to something sane. You need a higher drop rate for lower level medals (40-50%) so that there's positive reinforcement and players see that they're doing the right thing to get medals. It can taper off at higher levels but I wouldn't go much below 20%.
So, what does all that accomplish? First, it fixes the game itself by restoring the medal drop rate. No one wants to play a broken game and get frustrated. So, we keep the game fun. Second, now we're clearly communicating what has to be purchased, when you need to purchase it, and what that gets you. People appreciate honesty. Third, there's a strong hook or incentive to purchase the server key. With the drop rate restored, let's think about what happens. Everyone starts for free, eventually works up to two cities, and starts looking at those promotion quests. If I'm a typical free player, I see that I need 10 Rose Medals, and a Server Key, so I go out and conquer valleys first and get my 10 Rose Medals. And now the last thing I need to progress further is that Key. By now I'm hooked on the game and I'm willing to pay five bucks to unlock the server and keep going. Easy money. Fourth, now that I've entered the pay-to-play portion at a low cost, I'm now that much more likely to pay for some in-game cents. I've made the initial investment of my Server Key, and I want to continue to have my cities do well and keep moving up.
Anyway, I wanted to write that up in the hope that it would be useful to someone. Evony has been a very unusual experience for me, in that such an excellent and well-designed game has come to such an abrupt wall of frustration. The game has quite a bit of potential, and it's a shame (and a surprise) to see such a poor decision with the medals when everything else has obviously been done so well. Good luck, I wish the designers and developers all the best.



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