Day 4 - RGL New Player Experience

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Happy Holidays!

We are making a new website!

But wait, it’s not what you’d initially think. It won’t outright replace the current website. Instead, it will offer opportunities to grow and improve the competitive scene in significant ways. For sake of clarity, it will be called the New Player Experience.

Development Team
Technical Project Manager: Arcadia
Designer: RaosCometh
Developer: Mori (from More.tf)
Resources: Flare and WildRumpus

So, before I dive in, let me set the scene:

Problem Statements

1. TF2’s Millenium Puzzle: the chasm between casual and competitive TF2 is too wide

• No clear funnel or in-game integration that leads players to competitive TF2
• RGL’s frontpage UI is confusing and unique visitor retention isn’t strong enough

2. RGL’s Developmental Roadblock: the current website’s stack is great for what we already have, but it prevents us from adding features we’d love to have in the community

• Demo hosting
• Centralized resources
• Season stats

Solutions

1. New website

• A more modern stack
• A landing page that is geared towards new players and “replaces” RGL’s current homepage
• A gamified path that motivates the new player to dive deeper
• Centralized resources: interactive class and map guides, optimization, customization, community Discords, projects, etc.

2. Funnel

• Improve the Discord onboarding experience
• Guide them to Newbie Mixes and TF2 Coaching Central where they can start playing immediately as well as meet friends and coaches
• Guide them to RGL PUGs and other PUG platforms

3. RGL Ambassadors

• This new role will fill the spaces in between where the funnel might fail
• The label will serve to help newcomers identify trustworthy people to bring them into the community
• It is meant for experienced players who want to build/maintain the scene through:

• Recruiting casual players
• Identifying team leaders that will learn the RGL website
• Encouraging those leaders to create a team with their friends and become recruiters themselves
• Supporting the efforts of other organizations who work to build the community (Newbie Mixes and TF2 Coaching Central)

• Anecdotal evidence #1: My path to competitive was convoluted. Luckily, my friend was an early leader. He took it upon himself to learn the RGL website, create a Discord server, and find other new players for our team.
• Anecdotal evidence #2: In season 3, I experimented with and recruited a team that played in Amateur. It started from a casual conversation with a Skial pub player. I helped him create a Discord, and he brought in multiple friends.

4. Marketing

• RGL has plans to leverage marketing outreach and target the best demographics through multiple channels as well

For Experienced Players
The current website will continue to exist. Though the new website will be targeted toward guiding new players, there will be features to come that experienced players can enjoy. For those interested in becoming an RGL Ambassador when the role opens up, consider volunteering as a coach in the Newbie Mixes Team Drive.

Conclusion
We aim to have a full release by April 2023. In the meantime, we will continuously post updates and pictures of our progress. This question has undoubtedly been in every passionate TF2 player’s mind at one time or another, so we’d love to hear your ideas below.

TL;DR We’re developing a new website to create solutions to onboard and recruit new players, accelerate their learning, and improve the future population of TF2.