Why Good User Experience is Important for Everyone?

[Dimi]

Last weekend, after 7 months total, spent in UO, I have finally decided to learn how to do BODs.
And I had a very frustrating first user experience with them. That's why I would like to point out several issues, which could show what little effort is needed for making small adjustments to texts, in order to make the players (especially new ones) happy.
Please, prepare yourselves for a long post and bare with me. Thank you.

1. Let's say you have completed a small BOD and you turned it in, without saving the points, but you closed the reward gump, without claiming any reward. Several days pass and you FORGET which crafter you have turned your BOD to. You decide to complete another BOD, to a different NPC and then the NPC refuses to accept your BOD, because you have to claim your reward from your previous BOD. The problem is I had forgotten this and I started searching the Web, to see if there is a bug with the BOD system and what am I missing. I spent 2 hours in futile googling, until I decided to visit all the NPC crafters ONE BY ONE to see what am I missing, only because I have a professional background in completing QA scenarios and tasks at my work. And because I had 4 free hours of my life to spend...
It was a blacksmithing BOD I had to claim the reward for. But the crafter NPCs didn't tell me that.
So, it would be much more common sense, if the NPC just tells you: "You have unclaimed reward from (insert the crafting profession here). Go claim it and then we can do business." Then you are like: "Ah, crap, I forgot to get my reward from the blacksmith, thank you game, for pointing me in the right direction." And you continue to play, instead of start searching for bugs.

2. When you try to bribe the crafter NPC, the money are withdrawn directly from your bank account. But the NPC doesn't tell you that. Why? So you can go to the bank and withdraw gold to give it to him, like you did with the skill-training NPCs, of course. After half an hour spent in trying to give gold to at least 50 crafter NPCs, I decided to try with the BOD and see what would happen. Again, because I am professionally used to this. Instead, the text from the NPC could be: "It will cost you X gold to better the BOD. The gold will be withdrawn directly from your bank account. Give me the BOD and I will make it better." This way you know how will you pay the bribe and how to upgrade the deed. Pretty common sense, right? And you continue to play.

3. When I received my first large BOD, I was so happy I could complete it immediately. So, I crafted all the stuff in the list and then... the hell started. I spent another half an hour trying to combine all the crafted gear in the backpack with the large BOD and the game kept saying that this is not a correct move. Because I didn't know that a large BOD consists of small BODs, which have to be combined with it, when you get luck to get them from a crafter NPC. Thank God at least this information is written correctly in the UO's player WIKI. But why do I have to spend time searching the web for answers, if I can have everything I need to know in the BOD's gump?
Here is how the gump looks now:

And here it is how I think it would be immensely more informational:

A slight change of texts can give all the necessary context and information you need, in order to understand how the large BOD works. Again, so you can continue playing the game, not start searching the web for answers. I know that many players in this game have used to it and they won't notice these things, but if we want new players in the game and if we want to have a good time in it, we have to agree with the fact that "God is in details."

Thank you for spending your time reading this.

 

[Slayvite]

UO and common sense do not mix.
No, in UO they think of an idea then over complicate it....add 3 more changes, add 1 without telling anybody, re-vamp and add more confusion, then they themselves have no idea how it works anymore so they just tell players "it's working as intended".
Pretty much every system in UO is now far more complicated that it needs to be.......starting with actually setting up an account just to get in the game.

 

[ShriNayne]

There are a lot of illogical and unwieldy systems in the game, if only they could all get some attention! A few weeks ago my husband and I were trying to help a new player with his paladin, after 20 minutes we had still not figured out why he could not tithe any gold. As a last resort we had him place all of his gold from his backpack into his bank, and voila it now worked, pretty sure back when I started my paladin you could tithe gold from your backpack, it makes more sense for new players too, as they will want to tithe smaller amounts from monster loot as they go along. Needless to say we never saw him again, he probably went to play some much less complicated game.

 

[Merion]

I completely agree with the OP. Working with the same system for a long time makes one blind to some problems.

The devs should definitely adopt the suggestions of the OP and be grateful for these hints to make their game better without much work.

 

[MoxZinnia]

Yeah, this game isn't very intuitive. I wish there was more in game information on how to play or where to find things.

But I do have to point out that "combine this deed with contained items" works with large BODs by filling them with small BODs in your pack. I use it all the time. It is very convenient.

 

[Dimi]

I can add some more, based on my bard's experience: You cannot meditate, while having a bard mastery active. But the game only tells you that you cannot concentrate. I forget that fact Every. Single. Time. but if the text is You cannot meditate, while having an active bard mastery. you will immediately know what the problem is. I remember screaming to people in party that I have no mana all the time, before somebody told me I had to switch off the songs...
The examples are millions.
It is very important to have common sense in the game and make the things logical. I realize it is sometimes very hard, especially when you have as much points of view, as people. Or when you are understaffed. But, nevertheless, if you run an online game, you definitely need somebody to point you out where you should apply common sense. It makes new players feel confortable. And it makes old players feel extremely happy, because you are smart enough to make their lives easier.

 

[Dimi]

Yeah, this game isn't very intuitive. I wish there was more in game information on how to play or where to find things.

But I do have to point out that "combine this deed with contained items" works with large BODs by filling them with small BODs in your pack. I use it all the time. It is very convenient.

I agree. I probably didn't get lucky fast enough with the small BODs, so I don't see the point of having this button on the large BOD.

 

[Yadd of Legends]

That banking points thing still doesn't make sense to me, and I resent the fact that I will probably have to take the time to figure it out

 

[OREOGL]

That banking points thing still doesn't make sense to me, and I resent the fact that I will probably have to take the time to figure it out

Mathematically, it's not worth banking points.

If you're doing it anyways just to receive new bods it may be worth considering but outside of that, don't bother.

 

[Mervyn]

Thank you for your service @Dimi
It's small improvements like this that were dicouraged by the old elite in crowd that worked tirelessly to block progress and help this game become more accessible for new players. I can't tell you how long i campaigned against the likes of petra fyde and other ex forum admins to bring issues such as this to the attention of the powers that be, thankfully many of the bad apple forum admins have gone and this thread will not be locked. At one point they even stickied the thread about how to correct the gamecodes format mistake instead of encouraging the paying consumers to complain to EA and actually address the issue. It took me many years to get the devs to put buffs and debuffs in for every spell and special. Follow me and i will make you fishers of men.

Dimi,

Truly i say to you, today you will be with me in paradise

 

[Yadd of Legends]

Mathematically, it's not worth banking points.

If you're doing it anyways just to receive new bods it may be worth considering but outside of that, don't bother.

Oh, good, sounds like I can just leave it unchecked and forget about it

 

[Pawain]

I agree. I probably didn't get lucky fast enough with the small BODs, so I don't see the point of having this button on the large BOD.

You are lucky you got a large that could be bribed up. Only 2 of the 7 Larges in carpentry work as intended.

 

[petemage]

You good intentions appreciated, but you really have to realize we are talking about an team that did an UI revamp and came up with the following mess:

http://i63.***********/1y8lro.png

As for the BODs they just spent an full development cycle on it. And as you already pointed out, the improvements are not rocket science, often only wording. But you need to have at least one person on the team with an eye for it. And I feel that's what the current team lacks of.

 

[Magnus]

Are we just going to ignore the fact that they did make an attempt to fix the UI a lot in UO?

Does everyone forget the standardized UI that KR had? The fact that it made sense and followed modern conventions? But no, that doesn't 'feel like UO' so we get the mess that is the EC. Ugh.

I swear half the problems in UO are due to the userbase being absolutely ridiculously stubborn about every change.

 

[Dot_Warner]

No, @Pinco fixed the default EC UI for them. All while they kept one hand tied behind his back, then went in and sloppily gutted some of the changes they paid for.

The devs haven't given the EC the attention it deserves to finally put some of its inefficiencies and bugs to bed. Nor have they availed themselves of any of the ideas which would help them fix some of the problems.

 

[Dimi]

You good intentions appreciated, but you really have to realize we are talking about an team that did an UI revamp and came up with the following mess:

http://i63.***********/1y8lro.png

As for the BODs they just spent an full development cycle on it. And as you already pointed out, the improvements are not rocket science, often only wording. But you need to have at least one person on the team with an eye for it. And I feel that's what the current team lacks of.

Thank you for this screenshot, which meets every new toon coming into the game. How will you make the new player interested in UO with this screen is beyond me.
The new player experience needs to be revamped, not ASAP, not tomorrow, not after breakfast, NOW, like one amazing actor said in one amazing movie.
And I will say it again - it doesn't require too much efforts or expenses to have a guy with an eye for these things. If BS doesn't have the budget to hire a professional UX Designer, they can crowdsource the matter.

1. As seen from the screenshot author, there are a lot of experienced players in UO at the moment, who can provide a useful feedback, regarding the User Experience.
2. There are a lot of web-sites and companies, who offer cheap services in providing you with people for A/B testing, UX testing, etc. My company uses these services on a regular basis, when we want a total outsider to create a feedback for, let's say, the first 30 minutes of the game. It is invaluable to have a total outsider play your game for the first, for 30 minutes. They see things, which you would totaly miss or not think of.
3. We even have our Community Managers on rotating schedule to make a new account every evening and complete the game's tutorial. You can be sure that when you complete the tutorial 1000 times, it will be damned well polished. It is a matter of organization, really.
Just 3 of the many options you have to fix your UX...

The more concerning fact is the lack of this easy effort by BS. You don't need permission from EA to make this kind of organization and text hotfixes, I think...

 

[Slayvite]

I think your missing the point, it's not that Broadsword "cannot" it's that they "cannot be bothered".
Why pay to have somebody do the work when we are all paying for the crap we have now.
If your consumer base is content to pay for low quality service then by god, that's all any company will provide them.

 

[Alex"Drake Iron Heart"CS]

There are a lot of illogical and unwieldy systems in the game, if only they could all get some attention! A few weeks ago my husband and I were trying to help a new player with his paladin, after 20 minutes we had still not figured out why he could not tithe any gold. As a last resort we had him place all of his gold from his backpack into his bank, and voila it now worked, pretty sure back when I started my paladin you could tithe gold from your backpack, it makes more sense for new players too, as they will want to tithe smaller amounts from monster loot as they go along. Needless to say we never saw him again, he probably went to play some much less complicated game.

Used to be like that, you had to take small amounts of gold to the shrine to Tithe it.
Since they got rid of all bank cheques and made the money account wise, theres no need to take the money to the shrine anymore, just click the shrine thing and select Tithe gold, and select the amount, if you got several milllions, just go max and dont have to worry for a while of running out of points.

 

[petemage]

I think your missing the point, it's not that Broadsword "cannot" it's that they "cannot be bothered".
Why pay to have somebody do the work when we are all paying for the crap we have now.
If your consumer base is content to pay for low quality service then by god, that's all any company will provide them.

Yep, why bother testing new stuff when your customer base is addicted enough to suck any crap up you throw at them. We could easily point out more "bad user experiences", but what's the point? Maybe BS will come forward and ask one day Until then we all wasting our time here, because they can't be bothered less.

Better start a thread how awesome they are and how you was totally looking forward to this 20 bucks wedding package.

 

[Dimi]

Yep, why bother testing new stuff when your customer base is addicted enough to suck any crap up you throw at them. We could easily point out more "bad user experiences", but what's the point? Maybe BS will come forward and ask one day Until then we all wasting our time here, because they can't be bothered less.

Better start a thread how awesome they are and how you was totally looking forward to this 20 bucks wedding package.

No one wants to perform regression, code review and QA tasks. It's horrible, mind-bogling and boring.
Also, new stuff is always good, you cannot neglect it for too long, because many power-players, who have already been through your entire content and know it by heart, will get bored and will start whining in forum as well. It's only logical to assume that suits upstairs prioritize new content, which could be done fast and easy and would bring in some cash. You cannot blame them for trying to make money.
I don't believe BS are content with the game's current state. I'd rather assume they are under strict policies by EA about what must they do. But that doesn't mean they should stop trying to convince the owners to allow them to make hotfixes.
It's the same situation in every studio - you have to keep trying to poke the bosses to move your project forward, to be aggressive. Even to annoy them. They call that "self-initiative"...
It is our job as well - we have to continue discussing issues, ask questions, demand answers and complain and not stop, until we have results.
We have no other choice, if we spend half our lives in a game...

 

[petemage]

No one wants to perform regression, code review and QA tasks. It's horrible, mind-bogling and boring.
Also, new stuff is always good, you cannot neglect it for too long, because many power-players, who have already been through your entire content and know it by heart, will get bored and will start whining in forum as well. It's only logical to assume that suits upstairs prioritize new content, which could be done fast and easy and would bring in some cash. You cannot blame them for trying to make money.
I don't believe BS are content with the game's current state. I'd rather assume they are under strict policies by EA about what must they do. But that doesn't mean they should stop trying to convince the owners to allow them to make hotfixes.
It's the same situation in every studio - you have to keep trying to poke the bosses to move your project forward, to be aggressive. Even to annoy them. They call that "self-initiative"...

Yea I generally agree on all of that.

But we talk of QA tasks as simple as "Test if you can actually recall from the new runic atlas" (plot twist: didn't work on release, apparently no one ever tried it prior to publish) and many more simple things like this. It's not like we expect them to find every error, but c'mon, testing the recall functionality of an item used to store runes and recall from? It's not witchcraft QA.

And I could go on and on with other blatant obvious cases...

It is our job as well - we have to continue discussing issues, ask questions, demand answers and complain and not stop, until we have results.
We have no other choice, if we spend half our lives in a game...

Been there, done that. Pointless in general.

The other choice we have though is to move on and pay the money to someone else. Like many many did already

 

[MalagAste]

Yea I generally agree on all of that.

But we talk of QA tasks as simple as "Test if you can actually recall from the new runic atlas" (plot twist: didn't work on release, apparently no one ever tried it prior to publish) and many more simple things like this. It's not like we expect them to find every error, but c'mon, testing the recall functionality of an item used to store runes and recall from? It's not witchcraft QA.

And I could go on and on with other blatant obvious cases...



Been there, done that. Pointless in general.

The other choice we have though is to move on and pay the money to someone else. Like many many did already

This... exactly... heck the runic atlas couldn't even be read by anyone in the EC... think they tested that???

Supposedly we have a QA Tester on the team... Not sure exactly what he tests... but I'm fairly positive he doesn't do it in the EC at all.