Aabahran ruling: finished.

[goldbond]

After examining the facts pertaining to the case, the verdict is quite clear:

This MUD, for all intents and purposes as a legitimate, functioning game for the public, is non-existent.

1) It is non-functioning, in that it has no real IMM staff. For the last 2 years, and for the foreseeable future, it has had/will have about 3 persons. While doubtlessly dedicated in their multiple roles, e.g. Eshaine playing about 3 cabal IMMs alone, this personnel cannot and has not reasonably established a true differentiation of cabal goals or destiny.

2) It is non-functioning, in that it has no new or significant playerbase. What is evidenced by the forum, is that the vast majority of the players here are, and have been for some time, worse than that of AR. The evidence includes long threads only populated by long time veterans, including those who in better times for the MUD were behind the curve for years and now find themselves front of the line in game played by only a handful of people. What is worse, is that the nepotistic remnants of the once proud game lack even a real sense of humor, unlike that of fellow ghost MUD Abandoned Realms.

3) It is non-functioning, in that an aura of proprietary secrecy still prevails at a time when new players are needed to breathe life. This means that as about 9/10 players online are multi-year veterans, even very basic secrets are still kept from the forum. This is reminiscent of the early era where secrets should probably have actually been kept, however, quite comical in the time where the game is essentially not only dead but actually long rotting. The odds of an actual newbie striving for a secret you think is dear is approximately zero.

Sentence:

The MUD 'Aabahran: The Forsaken Lands' is hereby placed on status as a ghost MUD, equivalent or lesser in quality to Abandoned Realms, to be played by friends only for old times sake, until one day if and when the state, in its infinite mercy, relinquishes the ownership of the current code to an owner who is completely open to the public regarding the game's mechanics, availability of races, availability of all rares, and general freedom of play as the player sees fit. May God have mercy on your souls.

Signed,

Barak H. Obama

[Psycho Child]

Harsh.

[-Totenkopf-]

Mmm, okay.

What brought this on? Eshaine plays multiple imms?

[Imoutgoodbye]

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF AABAHRAN!

We stand here today and are told that our playerbase is not "significant". That our gods are not "real". That we are "ghosts" of our former selves. We lack a sense of humor. We are secret mongers and horders. We lure people in with our lies and defame them with our knowledge.

Tsk, tsk. I think the Anti-Christ has come in the form of a satirical GM re-coupe.

*yawn* Not worth a full blown sermon.

[KRins]

goldbond and Valek both have legit points. We are certainly not lacking a sense of humor. Sure some of us get salty from time to time, but we are generally a hilarious bunch. We are lacking in...hmmm...pretty much everything. Players, teaching, learning, IMM interaction, DEPTH!

[Imoutgoodbye]

I'm afraid satire is lost upon me. Sarcasm comes slightly easier.

[Grim_Reefer]

Not gonna jump on the bitch-boat because I love this game as a game, but I do agree with him on some things.

I couldn't tell you exactly what could be done better, but I honestly think there should be an imm specifically for RP purposes, one thats rarely (if ever) seen, but manipulates the surroundings to make a more in depth rp scenario whenever one arises. I see time and time again players try to come up with RP plots, most of them fall through. Notes of the heralds are ignored by many (I have had people in game straight up say they never read notes), and the RP just dies out.

There needs to be more factors added in to make the game a bit more in depth. As it is now, you roll a character, train a character, get equipment, get to 50, and its just a giant ****fest. You may not be aggressive, you may be aggressive, either way, it does get stale quickly.

There isn't enough of a reward for the time put in to this game. The biggest reward you can get is either becoming a cabal leader/elder, getting a cool title, getting a restring, pwning noobs, and being alive for a considerable amount of time. But its like... okay, yay? Thats fun, but I wish there was something else I can do.

"But Grim, roll a different race/class/alignment and play thatlol"

Okay, and what? Do the same thing? There just isn't enough going on in game other than training, killing, and usually piss poor RP. This game is becoming Ramen noodles without the flavor... where the hell is the flavor?

And where the hell is that ad banner I paid 90 dollars for?

I just think we need at least like two damn active and invisible RP imms to raise people's spirits.

What if a character named Bob wants to buy a store called like Bob's Awesome Armor to sell like some decent mid-level equipment. As it stands right now, that is impossible. But why? I thought anything was possible in this game? Why can Bob not raise like 1000000000 coins, pay a property owner (an immortal in disguise) of one of those abandoned buildings in the city and have a damn store installed that sells his items? Why can't he go in and collect money from it every now and then? Hes a business owner, he doesn't care about PK, he isn't in syndicate, he follows the rules, he has a family, he owns a shop. Why isn't this kind of thing possible? I think **** like that would make this game infinitely more fun.

[Iusedtobesomebody]

Grim: Why can't Bob be rolled up, raise the money, and apply for a rename on an empty room? He might not be able to get it automated, like a bank, but he still could go in, do some business and close up shop for the night.

Instead of saying "Why don't we have this?", say "Here I am, here's my RP/idea, can I have this?"

As to the original post: Weak.

[Trick]

Or, instead of having everything spoon fed, work for it and maybe buy Sharper's weapon shop? Or Elana's weapons? Have it still be automated, have the mob work for you, but have it your name?

You could slowly buy all the properties there and become a tycoon. Its not impossible.

-Trick

[KRins]

Yes...hell yes as a matter of fact. RP IMMs would completely make my MUD day. Make them perm-wizinvis if that is where you want to take it, or make new cabals (primarily RP cabals, not like Herald...cause honestly I do not see their purpose other than note writing which quite frankly isn't a basis for a cabal at all). Make new something. Sure alterations and updates are great fun, but people stick with their MMOG of choice because they like their friends, they like the gameplay, and they like that new things are being semi-regularly added. I have been dying for something NEW in game. Yeah I know, RP your face off and it might just happen. Forget that...why isn't there a cabal completely devoted to maintaining the balance? Why isn't there a cabal specifically for communers (it never struck me as right they were Savants...I mean they aren't doing magic. It resembles it, but it isn't magic.)? Why isn't there city militias? There is no way on God's green earth a sovereign city is just going to accept Tribunal rule. Why aren't most of the player suggested classes in existance? Sure, some are just drastically overpowered...but open a forum section for class/race suggestions and we could figure out what is or isn't needed on a new race or class as a community.

RE Trick and IUTBS: Because no one cares about RP, with the exception of a choice few or people who want something. Almost no one cares about anyone else's RP, and I seriously doubt anyone would even notice a weapon shop having your name on it. Trader should have been its own cabal...when that clan died so did the last RP that actually meant something in my eyes.

[Deptore]

I see no reason why we need pure RP IMMs. (I'm NOT assaulting our IMMs with these comments, I know they have lives) Does running a cabal require so much attention that you can't take over a mob and have interraction? I see where everyone's coming from, I remember back when I'd be in a hunting group and an IMM would take over the mob and do something random or take over a citizen in town and try to rob you. It was those random moments that I loved when I came here, and I hope we can bring them back.

Has a player ever tried to open a shop or have they automatically assumed they couldn't and just opened a clan? A new string of code would have to be given so that a player could give an item to the shop owner and set the price but I don't see why not. It's a very interresting idea with branches springing from it like a bush.

Each character could have one type of shop- Armor, Weapons, General, Pet.

Also a player could sell an item for another who had the wrong type of shop, charging a percentage of course.

Give them a command to 'trap' a mob and allow it to be sent back to his shop as a pet for the pet stores.

General would be consumables, staves, wands and such.

I love this idea, while it would open rp more to the public it would also make life easier for new players who are unsure of where to get equipment or need to rearm themselves.

[Zhokril]

And where the hell is that ad banner I paid 90 dollars for?

Received this from the TMS admin a couple days ago.

Zhokril, I apologize sincerely for the massive delay on this and will make it 

right. Death in the family after a month of traveling to the hospital and back, 

incredibly busy making arrangements etc...now just catching up.


Be in touch soon,

Derek.

[Grim_Reefer]

Oh damn, I killed that guys mom because I thought he jipped us.

[Grim_Reefer]

@IUTBS and Trick:

I know it isn't IMPOSSIBLE to do in game right now, but I am just saying the game would be much more enjoyable if it was naturally free-form like that where characters could really grow as opposed to having to apply for everything and have an immortal set you up. Like titles, it would be cool if there were more quests that gave you like a sweet item and maybe hooked you up with an addon to your title or a new title all together. I'm not saying the game is completely boring, I'm just saying maybe its time for 4.0.

[Imoutgoodbye]

All I can say is, you get out what you put in.

Stop slapping it on the IMMs.

You don't like it, leave like you say everyone else does because they don't like us here.

4.0 is practically on the way with the TTPK system...I'm so tired of talking about this....I'm outta this thread.

[Grim_Reefer]

All I can say is, you get out what you put in.

Stop slapping it on the IMMs.

You don't like it, leave like you say everyone else does because they don't like us here.

4.0 is practically on the way with the TTPK system...I'm so tired of talking about this....I'm outta this thread.

Don't get your panties in a twist. That is a very bad attitude to have. Goldbond will leave if he doesn't like it, if he is still here then he must deep down inside still care about FL or he wouldn't bother to post here. The whole "If you don't like it, you can leave" is old. We can't have conversations about issues that are on people's minds because everyone gets all super-defensive of FL like their damn mother just got spit on. Lets all relax and look at it as what it is, it is a game that exists on the internet that ALL of us contribute to and ALL of us make work. In no way should you get elitist about it, we all need to come together and just talk about whats on each others minds regarding the game. This game wouldn't be what it is without the players. I am most certainly not blaming the imms for anything, they do what they do. If anything, WE shape the game, so I don't see why you would ever be like, "No, its this way, its fine, I don't even wanna talk about it.". Its just words, dude, don't be afraid of your own imagination.

You must be an actual reverand.

[Iusedtobesomebody]

Grim, I agree with some points you made. We can't (and I'm guilty of this at times) tell people "If you don't like it, leave." We should be saying, "If you don't like it, do something about it." Whether it be RP, new ideas, complaints, what have you. You want a TRADER cabal? Roll up a char, act like there already is, and literally RP you're way in. I think the new faction implement is geared to do just this. Just because it doesn't have nifty powers or CPs doesn't make any less of a group. We do shape the mud, and the IMMs listen to what we have to say. Some things just aren't feasible to do, but I'm sure the staff will do what they can to satisfy the pbase.

[Dale]

She plays 3 imms?

[KRins]

Grim' date=' I agree with some points you made. We can't (and I'm guilty of this at times) tell people "If you don't like it, leave." We should be saying, "If you don't like it, do something about it." Whether it be RP, new ideas, complaints, what have you. You want a TRADER cabal? Roll up a char, act like there already is, and literally RP you're way in. I think the new faction implement is geared to do just this. Just because it doesn't have nifty powers or CPs doesn't make any less of a group. We do shape the mud, and the IMMs listen to what we have to say. Some things just aren't feasible to do, but I'm sure the staff will do what they can to satisfy the pbase.[/quote']

You have the right attitude. I actually laughed when I read Valek telling someone to leave. How many times that thinking going to work? 10, 15, 20 time tops before there is no one left but you.

While I like your attitude, I just can't believe that outside of being on Korthian RP level (which I can safely say I am not), people don't respect if you don't have a colorful cabal tag in front of your name on the who list.

[Evangelion]

Hiring between 3 and 5 new IMMs who will actually stick around and be active at least 5-10 hours a week would make this place so much more interesting. Even if they're not in charge of cabals or qraces, just having them around for RP and desc checks would make a world of difference. Visibility is so key, I don't know how many different ways I can say it. Perception is reality, and if change isn't visible and here and now, then people perceive that nothing is going on. And that becomes their reality.

I just wish the IMM staff would grow, so that people would get excited and interested again.

[Deptore]

I've got to agree with Evangelion there, an active staff would be the first step towards a very large improvement for the mudd. Who we have now is good, but they're overworked covering for positions that could be filled. Hopefully we'll see some new faces smiting us from above soon.

P.S. Not many people might agree, but I also miss the old Royal cabal. Back when they owned the cities, made the laws and Justice was a police force working within it.

[Hegemon]

Goldbond is entirely correct, on all points.

At this point you should know every time you log on you are flogging a dead horse.

[Grim_Reefer]

Goldbond is entirely correct, on all points.

At this point you should know every time you log on you are flogging a dead horse.

Not dead by any means, its just a river that has been dammed up by beavers which need to be damned up by demons so that the waters may flow into the ocean of mud.

[Mudder]

One thing I don't get. People say they want more Imms. They say they want more Imms for RP.

Why not RP then? Why do you need an Imm for RP? Do it yourself. Pretend you are an Imm and just do something.

[Grim_Reefer]

No, dum-dum, not imms to make us rp, but imms to monitor our rp and get everyone involved on a global scale.

Someone has said it earlier, most people only care about their own RP and could care less about someone elses. If immortals are around to strictly monitor, record, and reward RP and even throw in little tidbits here and there to get everyone into it and excited, then that would make for a hell of a lot more satisfactory RP mudding experience.