"Getting Started" flow -> first bot game

[datapolitical]

Webdip currently lacks an easy, dead simple process for registering and playing your first game.

This barrier to entry made sense when the game was played entirely against other people (new players without commitment were far more likely to CD) but now that webdip features bots, there's no downside to giving people a simple path to start a new 7 player game.

What this looks like in practice:

-Change to index.php to include a "Play Now" button just below the main map icon (and perhaps make the map itself clickable)
-change to register.php with very direct language "Register and Start Playing" and explains that after signing up players will be directed into a new 7 player game on a classic map against 6 computer players.
-Updated language on registration page: "The computers will move as fast as you do, so the game won't take very long but will give you a good feeling for how WebDiplomacy works. For reference, visit our quick Introduction page which covers the units, how they move, and how to win. For most new players, a draw is a good outcome; it can take time before you earn your first solo victory."
-Update to registration page flow such that, after finalizing registration, the player goes directly to the newly created bot game.
-Update to game page with a link to the "intro" information (this would ideally show up for the first couple games someone plays)
-A congratulations screen on completing your first game, and instructions on how to play another game against bots or humans (which links to the find games page)
-"Share with your friends" button on both the homepage and game page to make sharing the website to Facebook easy and obvious.

I don't know what the current funnel looks like but I'm guessing there's a sizable drop-off between the number of new visitors to the site and the number of people who finish their first game. These changes are designed to improve that, and to increase new visitors through additional social sharing.

[datapolitical]

I'm happy to build most of these changes myself, (the auto-creation of the game might be more complex than I'm assuming) but It'll be helpful to know from the team (@jmo1121109 and others) if this is a direction you'd be interested in going in before I dig too far into the code.

[Squigs44]

I talked with you over discord a little about this, and I've thought a bit more about this.
I like the idea of a new user flow to help retention of new users. However, after thinking about it, I think forcing people into a bot game upon registration is a bad idea. The whole idea of diplomacy that hooked me and I'm sure most people is the diplomacy. A bot game with no press is not ideal for some users. I think a better option might be to present the new user with two options right after registration. 1st option is to play the bot game. 2nd option is to click a "Play with humans" button, which takes users to a refined search of joinable games. Basically having the "tutorial" be skippable is probably best.
Also, the congratulations screen with instructions could get tricky to code up and Im not sure is necessary. We do have the notifications system that could potentially be used, but I'll let you figure out what you think is best/feasible as you experiment.

[datapolitical]

That makes a ton of sense to me. We could present it as "Play a practice game against the computer" vs "Find a spot in a game with other people"

For congratulations I think it could also be done as an email to the registered address (depending on how the backend emails are set up) congratulating them for playing their first game and sending some pointers with things they can read next and a link to play again that goes to the open games page. Just something to hook people back in and point them in the direction of what they're supposed to do next.

[jmo1121109]

This is actually something that myself and @shdant113 have been considering doing for a bit now. @shdant113 is working on redoing game creation to better allow for easy game creation. If you tag me in the discord channel we can go over what we're considering in more detail.