General Player-base "Feelings"

[Liadon Xiloscient]

So this is a general "stock" pole to get a feel for HOW the playerbase is feeling. Feel free to post your comments, comment on other comments, or just spring up related topics to how everyone feels about this MUD.

House rule for this thread:

Do NOT break any of the Immortals Rules while in this thread or so help me I'll summon divine wrath upon your very soul. First starting with every soldier at Erana's disposal pinning you in place, then followed up by Anume's wrath ripping flesh from your very bones, then enslaving your soul forever.

Please have a nice stay.

[Liadon Xiloscient]

Thanks for voting!

^__^

[Imoutgoodbye]

I always vote.

[Streetfighter]

This place controls me. I have no idea why I left for graphics, and repetitive

game play.

BTW, wouldn't this fit better in the polls section?

[Liadon Xiloscient]

Yeah maybe, but I'm drunk right now and feeling ambitious to help out the playerbase. The "first" stage is getting a hold of what all of you are thinking.

[Imoutgoodbye]

I'm drunk right now and feeling ambitious

The Spirit of Brother Deykari moves us all now and again.

[Aulian]

I just would like to know where everyone went.

[KRins]

I just would like to know where everyone went.

Well... I've dated all the girls willing to take their clothes off for me without having a job... and I've decided none of them are for me, so I've been slinging life insurance 16+ hours a day.

[Liadon Xiloscient]

Yeah, I've been struggling along a little RPly wise. Going PKing lately has distracted me from RP and I've noticed a lot less RP among the main PB. am I the only one that's noticed this???

[Demiterracotta]

It's summer, I get one day off a week.

Between my Win of the Day on LoL and dinner and forum wandering I have no time to log in and DO anything, can't start RP, can't Hunt, can't PK with only half hour or so of playtime, I realize it CAN be done, but I just don't have the energy.

[jibber]

Roleplay level is fine for the most part, as is PK level.

However, whine level is at an increased level lately.

[Elfrosto]

However, whine level is at an increased level lately.

Just because it's vague doesn't mean it's not flaming.

[jibber]

Not sure how that's flaming, but it is what it is.

[Pali]

Roleplay level is fine for the most part, as is PK level.

However, whine level is at an increased level lately.

Agreed.

[Oni]

Imms are at the best I've ever seen them here

RP has gone through the roof here since the last time I played, it's a little intimidating to be honest

PK seems more set piece and ritualized anymore, I miss the chaos:(

We need more f'ing players

[Deykari]

I'm suffering post-condeath indifference, where I condeath a char I was heavily invested in and struggle to find the motivation to play after that. Typically this period can last anywhere from a couple weeks to a few months (it has no sign of letting up yet), and for that reason, my vote goes to the fourth option.

Dey

[Croyvern]

But we miss you sooo much.

[Liadon Xiloscient]

Well this helps me a lot actually. At first I figured everyone was pushing themselves even less but now I see it's more complicated than that. It's a good thing I've made this thread if only for my own use.

The less chaos is making those that effectively use chaos look like badguys. I admit I spoke some crap about a couple characters that I've encountered and now I feel really silly for doing so. Silly silly me, in any case it just seems like their isn't enough of the PB to have a living breathing world.

Everyone in the world (for the most part) lives to fulfill a certain dream or desire, and when you only have a house full of people, it just looks like a few self centered individuals. If we had say... even 15 more players on a day the world would start to have a pulse of it's own again.

I'll do some research to see what can be done, actually put my advertising college degree to use.

[Pali]

The size of the playerbase has been FL's consistent #1 problem for a few years now (my personal estimation is that over 3/4 of complaints that I've been aware of stem either directly or indirectly from this one issue). If you can solve it... we will love you long time.

[Liadon Xiloscient]

Well the problem is not your community. We have a forum, a web-site (though it could use help) and a mud which can be accessed through a couple different sources without downloading a client. Out of every MUD our own Java Client is the best. I've gone to a few other MUD to see what they where like and I quickly became bored and left.

This is just a suggestion, but why not have a way to make a temporary character at a temporary level, only allowing them to gain a couple levels at most and only train to a certain level on their skills. Maybe place them within moderate so their still further limited but can feel the fraction of power of a race/class. Not to mention putting the tutorials of how to play a MUD into a brighter light.

Not meaning anything by it, but I came to Aabahran, and am still playing here from NEVER playing a single MUD ever in my life. Though I struggled through most of my time here the playerbase AND immortal staff are always onboard to help. I actually believe an immortal rolled a character simply to help me out for a little bit. Teaching me how to use the emotes, says, tells, smotes, and gave me a general idea how to move from one room to another without getting killed. My first adventure ever in this mud was traveling from Miro to Rheydin through the forsaken lands all by myself. That whole adventure was what made me go, "damn... this place is fricken cool because right now? I'm scared!" I was actually trembling as the screams of things dying around me and just barely escaping a sand golem (I've only did it that once) back to the path and getting safely to Rheydin.

Gosh... I miss Liadon.

Anyways, we have everything needed to get players to play, but the problem is getting the word out of the MUD community and into the gamer community. I've asked a few people that I know if they knew anything about MUD and most of them said they kinda know, or they had no idea. All of which where gamers, playing things from Magic the Gathering card game, D&D, and video games.

[Pali]

My experiences mirror yours regarding the wider gamer community's experiences with MUDs - it's very much a small niche of gamers, with most either unaware of MUDs and a few fairly turned off by them (some by the idea, some because they understand all too well how addictive they can be ).

I, however, am not an advertising genius, and have no real idea how to fix this. I shall leave that to you, miss.

[Liadon Xiloscient]

No no, I simply said I had a degree in business advertising (Graphic Design is a business degree) but still, most of the time I have no clue either and am shooting in the dark. I'm sure if we put our heads together something good can happen.

[Pali]

Hey, that's one more degree than I have.

As for a MUD like FL... the two things it has over nearly every other game out there are the quality of RP and PK, and those need to be emphasized (it being free is also a draw, given how tight with money people are these days). They are what makes up for it being (currently) small, for the lack of graphics or sound, etc.

Extremely few MMOs (I'm not aware of any entire games, only a few servers) and even very few MUDs actually demand that someone remain in character at all times. This enhances the immersion here immensely, and is a huge draw for RP junkies and to a somewhat lesser degree more casual players who enjoy something like D&D because of that aspect to it. We are fairly unique in this aspect, and we tend to aspire to fairly high standards - maybe we should place some of our best RP logs, or snippets of them, in more attention-grabbing places? (To be honest, I've long thought that we need to just place a link to the Orealt vs Miscreant log somewhere on the main page or even on our TMS page... I never get tired of reading that )

Likewise, the PK system we've got here is complicated enough that I tend to compare it to chess - it depends on who makes how many mistakes at what times, and how well the opponent manages to capitalize on them (with just the right amount of luck factored in). There's a small degree of rock-paper-scissors balancing, but nowhere near what is normally found in class-based multiplayer games. This complexity, the strategy involved here, is again a big draw for players once they discover it - but even moreso than, say, snippets of RP logs, it's hard to convey something like this in a short reading, and that's where I'm hitting a wall.

[Oni]

I've never understood why MUDs are viewed as obsolete or given the general trend in increased gaming have a dwindling playerbase.

MMOs - The graphics are nice but they're also their greatest limiting factor on RP, mechanics and because of mechanics the PK. You just never really feel there when your sitting looking at the pixels of the other guy and he looks damn near like everyone else. Also if they can't make it, make it look good and make it fairly easily they just don't put it into the game. Which means the possibilities of what you can do in a MMO always suck compared to graphics based and in the end that kills the more rewarding dynamics of PK.

Overall, I'd say graphics based still has some real value from an objective view point. Though, I imagine we miss out on alot of the newer gamers who've become addicts in more recent years due to being viewed as a geeky niche compared to their ohh so wonderful WoW and a lack of visibility in the overall community. Also, as a smaller community we get far less of the "socializers" and because of the particular mechanics of FL, the "achievers". - refer to this if you have no clue what I'm talking about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartle_Test

What we're strong in is also exactly what MUDs are good at in general.

The RP here in recent years has become outstanding, it is some of the best I've seen around at a consistently high level.

The PK has always been some of the best and most rewarding, though the lack of players does it hurt it's score a little in that department.

You have the ability to affect the world in a real way with strong RP and immersion in your character.

Lack of endless level grinding/training.

Free to play and no pay for perks.

What we don't have.

PvE

Endless level grinding/training

- I don't care for either of those but some people really get off on the sense of accomplishment they get from reaching lvl ???+1

I think when looking for new players it should also be taken into mind who exactly tends to play here. Younger players, in the end you waste alot of time playing. Many of us I think became addicts in our teens-early 20's. What personality types? I saw Valek make a comment that most here are INTJ. It's true for me but does that hold for most of the rest or even just NTs in general? Game tastes or gamer personality type? I've tried going on the Forums for some indie games and abandonia.com, unfortunately it didn't seem to get much interest despite the fact they seemed a fair match. That's not to say though that banner space on a WoW player page/forum might not be a good idea.

What we can do? Nothing great I can think of.

Sadly, keeping pumping the votes at TMS and CMT

I wouldn't be completely opposed to throwing in $10 a month or so either to get a side banner at TMS. It seems to be the best value for the $. Or even a cheap side banner of some player page for a larger MMO.

Link FL signatures at other forums.

Get FL on some of the other MUD listing, even though none of them are great. With maybe a forum stickie or page with links to vote for each. I know I'd likely vote more consistently with one.

We could have a bring a friend to play "group". Where the objective woud be to bring at least one person to play a month. How long they stay, if they stay or where you get them would be irrelevant just so long as you can lasso one person into getting a client and logging on a month.

[Liadon Xiloscient]

I would honestly pay to play this.

No fake.