[Suggestions] Channels improvements & Demo experience

[null8fuenf10]

Hi NADEO and hi @ll others,

i'm up with some suggestions to improve the channel system.
As i think Channels in their actual state are very good to bring people together and advertise the game, i think they should be improved, too.
Also, a few little changes to the actual Demo System, would improve, also, the experience!

So here are my Suggestions:


Channels Suggestions:


- A Channelowner, should be forced to rotate the maps on the channel, every week = more varied

- Create Mappacks, and let the paid users, vote for the maps comes into the rotation, a week later = more interactivity
(Make a downloadlink in the Channel description or something)

- Some Ingame Votingsystem for maps! Let people at the end of a map, vote if it was a good one or not! = more interactivity

- Ingame VotingSystem for the Channel! Let People vote if they like a channel or not! = more interactivity

- Dedimania in Channels = more competition

- Channel Owners should be able to change their maps on a daily basis, if they wish = more flexibility

- Give Channel Owners the possibility to add, own Soundtrack on Channels or add more official soundtracks to choose from!
= more flexibility, more varied

- More Advertising for buying the Game = more paying players
(In case of TMTLagoon, maybe "When you buy the Envi Lagoon, you are able to play this titlepack as long as you want in offline record hunting mode or in competitive online challenges")

- Evtl. bring Servers in the Channelsystem, daily rotation of different servers from each Envi!
= more Advertising, more varied and more players on the servers

- Or make a second channel, for both TM and SM, with a Server rotation! Admins can apply, for their servers comes in this channel rotation.
= more Advertising, more varied and more players on the servers




Demo System Suggestions:


- Give Demo Players Acess to Servers, for 30min. at each Envi or do the Channel Server Rotation
= more Advertising, more varied and more players on the Servers

- Open up the WhiteFlags, for Demo Users = more Advertising, more varied

- Give Demo Users access to the Editors, but with strong limitations or with no possibility to save their works. = more Advertising

Cause they should see, what they get, when they buy the Game!


What do you all think about this?


Greetings
null8fuenf10

[adamkooo2]

+1
Agree with almost everything

[HaagseSmurf]

In all honesty, i do not agree with most suggestions you make.
Channels should be a showcase of what Trackmania/Shootmania can be, but its not like real dedicated servers hosted by the community.
In fact, it should lead to more people buying the game, because then you get the full capacity of the game, and what is possible.

I think more players who also play on normal servers should be in the channels and tell people what TM/SM is all about and inform new players and make them enthusiastic instead of making the channels just like normal servers.
If you create channels that are just like servers, normals servers will be more empty and it makes it less attractive for new players to actually buy the game!.

- A channelowner: people who created the channel should visit it often to help people, give them answers to questions and encourage them to buy the game, instead of making real channelowners.

- create mappacks: if you can create a channel, you can create mappacks, its there already. Voting for maps is an option thats only in real servers!

- Ingame votingsystem: people who created the channel are responsible for the mappack, and have more knowledge which maps should be played then new players. If those creators visit the channel themselves they see what suits the channel and what not. Voting should not be on channels

- Dedimania in Channels: thats what people can get when they play on real servers, new players wont have to have dedi's anyway!

- Soundtracks on channels?: Nice for your own private server, channels are to attract new players, not to distract them by music which is not their style, its about TM/SM, not the music!

- More advertising for buying the game: A good channel is already an advertising, however i agree on good tutorials for new players, where to find all the info they need. For example, what can they expect when they buy the game!

- Servers in the Channelsystem: NO GO! Creators of channels should be aware that their maps are for new people, if you create a channel with impossible maps you loose new players, and that is also the case for servers. So please no serverrotation with real servers on channels!

TLDR

Just visit the channels more and more and instead of playing yourself, show new players whats possible, tell them what they can expect in the game, just make them enthusiastic, not only on the game, but also on this great community. I visited my channel regurly and its just fun to tell new people what it is all about, and believe me, they will buy the game and make our community bigger!

Greetz

[Miss]

I agree with Haagse. The channels are pretty good right now just the way they are.

Perhaps some quality control could be nice though, eg: look at which programs are enjoyed the least (not sure how you'd judge this though, probably not solely by player count), and rotate those out with programs that are enjoyed more.

Reminding program creators to update their map rotation every once in a while would also be good for keeping it "fresh".

But yes, don't make it "too fancy", that's completely unnecessary. Lots of people already hate the massive amounts of (useless) widgets *aseco throws at you.

[TMarc]

What could be more interesting?

I think small gameplay or tutorial channels, which don't eat up the whole hour, but rather 15 mins or half an hour only.

Short channels could be done with small specialzed titles which don't need a GB large download.
Like the title contains only a very reduced set of blocks and textures, the absolutely necessary minimum.
This could also be the base for community development of new titles.

Ideally there would be a guided tour for the new players.
Of course, if the people cannot even start a channel, this needs to be somewhere else and relatively prominent, perhaps at the launcher (Help -> link to a video tutorial).

[745]

I'd like to see something "new" from time to time, like the comeback of Stunts and Speedtrap modes.

Map rotation is also good. And 50s easy maps are much better than repeating 20s tracks for 5 minutes.

Longer and more interesting stuff that keep people around are better than "short" title showcasing, imo

[HaagseSmurf]

I'd like to see something "new" from time to time, like the comeback of Stunts and Speedtrap modes.

Map rotation is also good. And 50s easy maps are much better than repeating 20s tracks for 5 minutes.

Longer and more interesting stuff that keep people around are better than "short" title showcasing, imo

All those things are possible already, create your own channel!
Show all the things you like and show them to new players in your own channel.
Here you can find a good tutorial so you can see what is possible!



Greetz,

[w1lla]

Addition to maniaplanet.com website:

See a live players view who is online with Echelon Rank, LP Rank etc.

Not so much of a buff for stats but it can help others to advance or see what the skills are.

For ShootMania, i eventually hope (Stats of H/K, Laser/Rocket/Nucleus/etc hit/kill/distance ratio but it might be a dream.....)

For TrackMania(dedimania records, MX uid, SP rank/score MP rank/score)

Its dreams and not being pushy but the system has potential but for new players or eventually even 'old' players its a total loss as you need to be ingame and connect to see who is online.

[Dmark]

My suggestions for channels:

1. There should be an option to upload Loadscreens. Within this screens, rules and tips can be given. Example here

2. Mappacks on playerpage - easy to handle Maps; like the current Server config, but only for Maps.

3. Only a second server for the mode, if the first is completely full. In Shootmania for example often there are on Server #1 around 10 Players, on Server #2 around 8 Players; maximal Players are 32 for this mode. Why not only one Server?

4. Votes arent possible for demo Players - Many players wants to skip maps directly and vote no for set a next map (they dont even know the map). This should maybe be an option in Server config

5. If the program ends there should be an option to leave the channel (and go back to main menu) or to play the next program.

5.1 Maybe add an option to buy the game directly (base game for the current gamemode)

6. Which program is set at which time? Maybe analyse the top modes - and rotate them at prime time. If new programs were created (new gamemodes) try them at prime time for around a week and lets see how it goes

7. Especially for SM: Every gamemode should have an automatic force spec if AFK option

8. Global-Country-Ranklists should exist again - for demo players only possible to get X LP (for example X = 10000). So demo players wants to buy the game to get more LP)