Considering a large portion of Kongregate's David P Chiu's talk at Game Connection Europe in Paris focused on analysing free-to-play statistics, it was interesting that he also warned against developers focusing too much on numbers.

"It's not just about the numbers," offered Chiu when referring to F2P best practices on the firm's browser-based games platform.

"It's also important that the game retains it's soul. You want the community to remain vibrant, and you do that by listening to their feedback."

The force of feedback

Indeed, it was Chiu's view that often the player knows better than the developer does.

Citing an example where one user took to Kongregate's forums to ask why an unnamed game didn't have a store, Chiu revealed that the game in question did actually have a marketplace – the game simply didn't make it easy for players to find it.

So, how do you keep players enthused and engaged, beyond making changes when they point out mistakes?

"Daily play bonuses are good to get players coming back regularly," he continued, "but don't punish people for taking a break.

"Psychologically speaking, the threat of punishment may deter some players from staying away too long, but it can be a double-edged sword. Sometimes players need a break – they get ill, they have exams, etc – and punishing them might drive them away."

Instead, games should look to reward players who make a return trip, regardless of the length of downtime.

"They shouldn't feel like they're losing everything just because they take a break. Limit the amount of resources that can be looted from their base like in Clash of Clans, for example, or the amount of resources people can steal. Enable a shield if they lose a significant amount."

Busy bodies

Chiu also stressed the need for games to keep players busy – simply giving players things to do, as quite logically, "the more things they have to do, the more they end up playing."

He continued, "Without progress, you have nothing. Providing a sense of progress is surprisingly more important than having multiplayer features in your game."

In short, "the foundations of a strong F2P game are strong RPG elements and a sense of progress over time", he summarised.

But who exactly is getting all this wrong? Kongregate's numbers suggest 3D games have a far harder time both retaining and monetising players than 2D titles. According to Chiu, however, that's not because players don't like 3D games – rather, it's the type of developers that make them.

"2D games turn players into payers at a better rate than 3D games and 3D games also tend to have poorer longer term retention," he concluded.

"This is because developers of 3D games tend to be console developers with very little or no experience of F2P at all. They have no idea about games as a service etc, and they may not even understand the importance of long term retention.

"They still design games as a shippable product, even though everyone else has moved on to games-as-a-service."