It struck me today that this game feel very solo-player-like and isolated, to me, and I started to wonder why that is... I have 0 friends in Gwent and on GoG. This is highly unusual for me, and sure, this could be me just not putting in the effort, but even so it adds a lot to the game if it feels alive. Now, how do you do that without too much hassle then? I'm just shooting from the hips here, but some ways to do that could be:
- In-game, real-time, interactable (add player? yes/no) notification when you get a new friend's request:
This one is definitely the biggest culprit for me; if I add a player today the request is extremely easy to miss. If they ever see it and respond, often days have gone by and I/they never remember why we added the other person, so the conversation fizzles fast. If instead there was a notification, not unlike the progress-notifications, with a short but visible note saying e.g. "Hi! Loved the play, but how did you do that thing?", I'd be much more inclined to accept the invitation AND much more inclined to interact since I remember the game we played. The note-idea need to be thought through though, maybe with a set of pre-determined options, otherwise it'll definitely be used by toxic players for griefing purposes.
- Adding optional social resolves to the daily quests:
If you add an optional resolve of daily quests such as turning "Play 40 cards" into "Play 40 cards OR add and play against a recent player". This way the interaction isn't forced and it opens a venue for a more social approach - showing the player that it is easy to do and it becomes less of a mental nuisance to do in the future. The problem lies in that it has to be significantly easier to do than the actual quest and the other player need to be rewarded for participating. When the initial contact is made it's important to not let it fade out; maybe put in an incentive to interact once a month or so, introducing a monthly quest of "Play 500 cards OR play 3 games with players from your friendslist.", or mixing the first daily-idea with a "...OR play a game with a player from your friendslist." - still keeping it optional (super important).
- In-game chat messages:
I'm not sure if this exists already, but new chat messages should definitely pop up and be readable while playing in full-screen mode/on mobile, and in that trail of thought they should also be easy to respond to without taking the player out of the game, combined with a one-button press mute/hide for the rest of the game (also with an option in the settings to permanently suppress messages during an active game).
- Add Twitch streamer's thumbnails:
Adding a thumbnail and some very brief information about available streamers to the main menu that is NOT in the way or overly advertised could help streamers out, add interaction between players and help keep/get new players. You could introduce this through a mouse-over, very small, tab called "See who's playing!" and have the tab pop out and show 5, clickable, currently streaming players with their thumbnails, names and their Twitch-titles. Note: please don't included the actual streamed broadcast because that's very annoying to load in, especially on mobile if you're not on WiFi. I'm grasping for straws with this idea, trying to find things to get the community more engaged and it's not something I actually care about or would use myself.
Jesus, that turned into a novel... sorry, my bad. Still, what do you think about these approaches and do you guys think there are other things that could make the social aspects more attractive in-game than it is today? Is the social aspect a big deal for you?
- In-game, real-time, interactable (add player? yes/no) notification when you get a new friend's request:
This one is definitely the biggest culprit for me; if I add a player today the request is extremely easy to miss. If they ever see it and respond, often days have gone by and I/they never remember why we added the other person, so the conversation fizzles fast. If instead there was a notification, not unlike the progress-notifications, with a short but visible note saying e.g. "Hi! Loved the play, but how did you do that thing?", I'd be much more inclined to accept the invitation AND much more inclined to interact since I remember the game we played. The note-idea need to be thought through though, maybe with a set of pre-determined options, otherwise it'll definitely be used by toxic players for griefing purposes.
- Adding optional social resolves to the daily quests:
If you add an optional resolve of daily quests such as turning "Play 40 cards" into "Play 40 cards OR add and play against a recent player". This way the interaction isn't forced and it opens a venue for a more social approach - showing the player that it is easy to do and it becomes less of a mental nuisance to do in the future. The problem lies in that it has to be significantly easier to do than the actual quest and the other player need to be rewarded for participating. When the initial contact is made it's important to not let it fade out; maybe put in an incentive to interact once a month or so, introducing a monthly quest of "Play 500 cards OR play 3 games with players from your friendslist.", or mixing the first daily-idea with a "...OR play a game with a player from your friendslist." - still keeping it optional (super important).
- In-game chat messages:
I'm not sure if this exists already, but new chat messages should definitely pop up and be readable while playing in full-screen mode/on mobile, and in that trail of thought they should also be easy to respond to without taking the player out of the game, combined with a one-button press mute/hide for the rest of the game (also with an option in the settings to permanently suppress messages during an active game).
- Add Twitch streamer's thumbnails:
Adding a thumbnail and some very brief information about available streamers to the main menu that is NOT in the way or overly advertised could help streamers out, add interaction between players and help keep/get new players. You could introduce this through a mouse-over, very small, tab called "See who's playing!" and have the tab pop out and show 5, clickable, currently streaming players with their thumbnails, names and their Twitch-titles. Note: please don't included the actual streamed broadcast because that's very annoying to load in, especially on mobile if you're not on WiFi. I'm grasping for straws with this idea, trying to find things to get the community more engaged and it's not something I actually care about or would use myself.
Jesus, that turned into a novel... sorry, my bad. Still, what do you think about these approaches and do you guys think there are other things that could make the social aspects more attractive in-game than it is today? Is the social aspect a big deal for you?
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