I think for the continued growth of VO a player survey should be done.
I mean if a new player doesnt sub, then ask them why? maybe even have a form that they can fill out stating the reasons they didnt sub. I know we can all say the price or they didnt know they had to sub or they just didnt like it, but again I think the Devs would love a answer or why they didnt sub.

Then at least we and the devs can look at things from a business point of view and think about what can and cant be changed or ways to attract new players, because we all know that no matter how much we love the game, that at the end of the day its a business and the devs have to make money or this game ends for all of us.

Most games ask people why they arent subbing or why they are quiting so i just tink this would help the Devs and the players also.

let the flames begin :-)

Actually, despite the fact that you ulterior motives are as transparent as clean glass... it would be a good idea to have a NEUTRAL survey. You ask them...

"Why did you quit?" or "Why aren't you subbing?"

You start off with the negative, which will steer people towards the negative. You do a neutral survey, with no direct positive or negative questions and people are more likely to answer honestly ad without dramatization of negative or positive.

Ryan?? where did I state anything about a negitive survey?? I just reread it and still am scratching my head at your answer

"I mean if a new player doesnt sub, then ask them why? maybe even have a form that they can fill out stating the reasons they didnt sub"

that is negitive??? wow can i get some drugs like yours??

it's not uncommon for MMOGs to ask why a person is canceling their subscription. In my experience this has typically been as simple as a dropdown list with a few options followed by a text box for comments. I've never bothered to cancel my subscription here, so I don't know what's already in place or not.

Yes Minen, it is. Asking somebody "Why did you stop subbing" puts them on the defensive - they interpret it as "I spent all this time and effort. Why aren't you playing it? Justify yourself!" Even if it isn't a conscious interpretation, it is a subconscious interpretation.

Just because the number -0.2 has a small magnitude doesn't mean it is not negative. And nuances of language do have real effects on people's attitude and behavior.

Thank you Pizza, for taking the time to answer for me and for explaining it in a succinct and astute fashion.

Minen, language speaks volumes about people... if you look at your own reply, you'll likely understand how.

Minen, if you were in a German shiza video, you'd tell me... right?

The other problem is Some players stop and start thier subs and a survey might tend to imply they are leaving for good. There is also no way to know when a player really quits playing VO other then thier lack of attendance for a long time.

Some players only play during the vets play free days and so on...

So, on that drop down menu mentioned, put some options like "I ran out of money" or "I'll sub later, life is busy." Also make it once per email.

Those are typically some of the options I've seen, tarenty, or something close enough to it. The times i've canceled games and they had these types of surveys, they usually haven't been really intrusive. They want to know why you're leaving so that even if you don't come back, they can try to fix anything that might have contributed to your departure. It doesn't have to be seen as a negative, and I've never felt like it was a negative.

"Fri 02:48PM Dr. Lecter
Minen, if you were in a German shiza video, you'd tell me... right?"

Scheisse actually Councillor, but B- for effort. Back to the bridge!

What if at the end of the 8hr trial time they are prompted to take a survey, still in-game but in limbo-time? That way you can ask from a neutral point: Do you intend to sub? why or why not? etc.. At survey completion give them 2 or 4 more hours trial, and if they sub give a modest package of credits and gear to the character slot of their choosing. Nothing worth farming trial accounts for, but enough to lure the true new players with the gesture.

I think an exit survey (and/or trial-expiration survey) is a good idea, it's something we've wanted for some years but we haven't built yet. Continuing suggestions on this are welcome.

Scheisse actually Councillor, but B- for effort.

Please do not confuse South Park quotes with actual German words. Thx.

A survey after the 8 hour trial would be better and you could offer 8 extra hours of playtime for those that respond. This way you would end up with data from all viewpoints

There's good evidence that surveys which offer incentives get best results, so I concur with offering additional time. Professional survey companies typically include $2 bills in their mailed surveys, studies showed that an amount between $1-5 was an ideal amount, though incentives closer to $5 actually come close approximating actual value of the time spent by the subject completing the survey, which makes it more like an economic exchange -and the results are, interestingly enough, more surveys being discarded.

Clearly VO cannot compensate with a $2 bill, but 8hrs might actually be too much. I'd recommend an additional 3 or 4 hrs for completing a survey following a trial period and an additional week for completing a survey following a 1 mo subscription. I'm assuming that 1 month subscriptions are the most common and that most players that leave the game do so after their 1 mo sub expires.

I'd guess that players who sign up for 3+ months at a time are more likely to continue, but a survey for this demographic might also be interesting since it would likely produce some different results.

O shut up NooB

I'm reading this because I am also business orientied and this caught my attention

I'm having trouble understanding why someone would micro analize the subconscious interpretation of what a customer / player might be thinking when questioned about their experience of the game and why they may or may not subscribe.

Having said this, it's not negative to ask a person if they had a bad experience with the game or why they didn't subscribe.

Most sales teams understand this going in and state things like"We want to help improve the overall game experience and hope to encourage you to return to try things out again as we are always improving things to better the experience for everyone" etc and so on.

Sales professionals who provide products and services of any type are aware of this already.

Having said all this sales teams can't be concerned with a very small micro percentage of people being on the defensive. It's not the questioning that caused this but the persons situation or experiences that would have caused that already.
Some have already expressed that they would never subscribe to a game no matter what and that is negative on it's own to that particular person.

For those small percentage of people being defensive will occur no matter what the questioning due to the nature of that person not of the questioning

So regardless of this mirco analysis I still think the sale team should include a short survey optional and stated on the survey to specifically identify that the survey helps to improve the game experience with hopes that perhaps you may come back and check things out again sometime; and we sincerely appreciate your input and answers etc.
Thanks for trying our game

Or some such sales jargon like that. And this information is very valuable to the sales team.
However, I'm sure they are already aware of most of it anyhow.

Typical questions like:

What was the first thing that attracted you to try this game ? (this could explain a lot)
Were you able to enjoy your full 8 hour trial ?(yes,no, -comment box)
What did you like best about the game play ?(comment box) not that important
What did you like worst about the game play ?(comment box) not that important
What was your overall experience with the game (good,fair,bad) important
Did the game install easily and run good on your system (yes, no) important
Have you ever played a subscription based game before (yes, no) important
Did you know this was a subscription based game (yes,no) partially important
Did you know that your character and stats will be saved even if you come back to subcribe some time in the future(yes,no)
Did you know that some players in the game could give you a friend key for 14 more trial days(yes,no)
Would you continue to play this game if it were free (yes,no) (important you don't need to analize any further this tells you everything about this potential customer and all other data here can be disregarded above as this was the most important thing to this particular customer)

Anyhow just a sample but you get the point
Hope this helps, happy blogging

The point isn't that you can't ask questions. You just have to have a care about how they are worded.

Surveys should also be given to the people who do continue playing, not just the ones who leave. It is important to know what people like, not just what they dislike. Also, that would help to show the percentages of people that a given aspect appeals to. Maybe a lot of people who don't sub dislike an element that most of the people who do sub love, and changing it might alienate those users.