Whenever I try to give out friend keys newbs get really wary when I say "I need your game account email". Could this be changed somehow to a way that doesn't make newbs think I'm some sort of scammer or email harvester?

I have a few email accounts.

One of them is primarily for the annoying online forms demanding a valid email address that I have to submit if I want something, so I don't need to deal with all of the spammy newsletters when I check my real personal email.

Perhaps you could suggest your nooby friends to do the same, if they're paranoid about spam?

That's all besides the point...

I definitely agree with this. In my experience, generally, when a newb asks me for a friend key and I tell them that I need their e-mail, they literally stop talking to me. Most of the ones that stop talking at all probably quit the game as well.

We could make it only use their email address of record in their account. But, then it would force them to have a "converted" account with a confirmed address. Many newbies will not have done this yet, when you're talking to them. So that may add another rung to the conversation, where you have to explain to them that they need to do the email-confirmation.

But that would completely eliminate any need to actually see any of their personal information.

Obviously we could also just do a simple in-game privilege change though, if both people are on at the same time.

I think an in-game method would be best. But wasn't a big part of the intent of this to give players the ability to email their rl buddies a key to encourage them to try the game? I don't think this is a high enough priority to sink significant dev time into though.

I think this is very important. I have 5 friend keys that are very hard to give away due to the fact that the email thing turns people off. I basically need a few other people assuring the newb in question that this is indeed not a hoax and I really want to help them. An ingame player to player transfer thing would be awesome and do a lot for the game.

I think providing an additional option to give them the key somehow in game, only if the two individuals are on at the same time, would hold much benefit.

I just spent half an hour trying to give away a key and didn't manage due to the email thing.

+1 Darth Nihilus

Yeah, I'm not suggesting replacing the existing email option with an in-game only thing. The in-game option would simply augment it.

But, while it might seem trivial, it may be a bit involved to implement. It has to be completely robust to a number of edge cases, and we would have to thoroughly test it (against connection failures, other situations), which is time consuming. We have robust mechanisms for data like this, but this use-case is "different" enough that we'd need to take extra care.

you should be suggesting that you should do that, all other ways are bad and giving out keys is a critical nicety for us to do to encourage people to stay, something I don't do because the current friend key system is in fact bad.

and that's not saucy taunt inc bad like the last few weeks of everyone on the forums. this is "it's actually bad, stop doing it that way" bad

Of course, if creating a VO account simultaneously created a VO email account, that would be kinda neat. Players would have a way of messaging each other outside the game without having to give personal information. Or may have the option of responding privately from the forums.

I'm also a fan of better communications channels, but that's a whole 'nother thread of worms.

so, another newb scared off by the email thing, can we please get this changed?

Guys, stop trying to be nice to the newbies! Just stick to shooting them so they don't get scared away. Gosh!

so, another newb scared off by the email thing, can we please get this changed?

I can't, right now. But I'll try to raise the priority in the near future.

I really appreciate what you're trying to do, and help bring in new players, but we're very overloaded by a project that's more important at the moment.

Guys, stop trying to be nice to the newbies! Just stick to shooting them so they don't get scared away. Gosh!

I totally have it covered.

If implemented, the registered email requirement and related communication need to get shifted to the recipient's UI in game. To do anything otherwise would be a halfway implementation. But I recommend moving away from email as the sole unique identifier.

If mobile users are our new thing, you need to start considering other unique identifiers such as twitter, Facebook, and Google authentication as other services do. Alternatively, using the mobile device's phone # would be another option.

"Hey Newbie, what's your cell phone number?"

Yea...riiiiiiight

You misunderstand Darth.

You should send a friend key to a pilot. That pilot should get the key notification and everything should happen through their game interface or website.

I am saying the requirement of a registered email needs to change if we want a better user experience and adoption rate. I am giving examples of common mobile-friendly things GS can use that would never be visible to people providing friend keys.