Brainstorm: How Do We Retain Citizens?

Day 778, 17:20 • Published in USA USA • by Woxan

Complementing ligtreb's Brainstorm: How Do We Get a Baby boom

Total votes in USA, January 5, 2010: 4068
Total votes in USA, December 5, 2009: 4460

Our active population is shrinking, not growing. That's a 9% drop.

Getting citizens to join is half the battle. Keeping them around is another. The first 5 days are incredibly boring. All you can do is 2-click (work/train), before you can fight. After level 6, the game takes off in terms of what you can actually do: write in papers, vote, run for office, buy orgs, etc.)

1. First Contact Approach

This is arguably one of the more effective but the most time consuming of any methods. Go into the USA online list, jump to the back ~3 pages, and PM and friend request every newer player you see. Send them a gift, some food, or a moving ticket if they seem to be promising. If every American took 5 minutes out to contact 5 newer guys, we'd see more retention. This makes newer players aware and automatically builds a mentor connection, as they'll likely come to you for more information.

2. A Unifying National Goal

Why did Poland jump 4,500 new voting citizens? Many were recruited because they saw the German war occurring and saw the purpose sticking aroun😛 conquering Germany. When we were being invaded people stuck around because they saw battles occurring every day, and waited to level up and fight off the countries invading us. Giving the new players an evident national objective is one way they'll stick around without being contacted or reaching out themselves.

3. Forum + IRC

Most of the game takes place out of game. Directing new players to our forums and onto our IRC on rizon is a great way to get them to stick around and mentor. I've started a channel for our newer players: #eus-newbs, on rizon, to see how many players we can get on and educate through IRC. Getting players onto IRC and the forums allows them to do something while they're in the position of being unable to do anything.

4. Your Idea Here

We need to retain our 300 citizens/day. If we retained 25% of them, that's 75 new players sticking around per day. 525 new, active accounts in a week. We must shoot for higher citizen retention.