The Year in Review

[Sanvean]

I'd love to get some feedback on the following.

1.  What were the three best code changes that got implemented in the past year?  Why?
2.  What were the worst three?  Why?
3.  What were the best and worst policy changes of the year?
4.  How do you think the Armageddon community changed?  Was it for better or worse?  What would you like to see happen with it in the coming year?
5.  What do you think the staff should be spending more (or less) time on?
6.  Now that the moratorium on special items has been in effect for a few months - what do you think about it?  Have your roleplaying efforts been damaged or not?  Have you taken advantage of being a mastercrafter if you can?
7.  What is the single most important code change we could make in 2005 - and why is it the most important?
8.  What's one thing we can do in 2005 to make the MUD more welcoming to new players?
9.  What's one thing we can do in 2005 to bring in more players?
10. As always, what question didn't I ask that I should have?  What should the staff be keeping in mind as they plan for the coming year?

[RunningMountain]

1.  I havn't been around the whole year so I'll go with what I've noticed since coming back - sheathing weapons: It's these cool little things that we all love, not the huge code things that are awesome too but the small things we can all agree on.  
2. Sandstorms..God I hate this new addition..and I won't even list why because other people will.
3. The clan thing seems kind of intense. If you're going to limit the players on being able to do things for new ideas then it's just going to hinder a lot of players from having a lot of fun, the one problem I see with clans is that there are simply too many open, and a lot of clans take all the players (Kurac) Not that it matters though..
4. I don't really know about the community, as far as the in game community is concerned I see a lot of new players which just irks the hell out of me because I can't find one person in the game who knows what I am talking about sometimes.
5. More time on the clans really, this is where all of the fun reallycomes into play, I wanna see them fleshed out more and some inactive clans closed down.
6.  Playing my first crafter now and it is surprisingly fun so I think I am going to like it.
7. Combat code! Please revamp the melee combat code! Revamp wounds, make it so you can get hit in the face, revamp unarmed combat. Okay I am done about that.
8. Really I don't know, I try to take new players under my wing sometimes OOCly on aim and such, but it is a hard battle to win.
9. Word of mouth.
10. I just wanna have fun playing the mud, like everyone, and I'd like to see a lot more repercussions going to newer players that have been playing a while, (6 monthes to a year) whether it's with several PCs dying or one consistent PC, I just hate seeing a new player over and over doing stuff wrong and not being corrected by an imm, man back in the day if I did something really obnoxious I got transferred by Nessalin and I was slayed, it was sweet.

-RM

[Marauder Moe]

Any chance there's a nice neat log of code changes somewhere?  I'm sure there may be things that happened 6+ months ago that were so good that I've forgotten about them.  

edit: a list of policy changes would be helpful too.  I honestly can't remember too many.

[Sanvean]

Looks like there were approximately 200 code changes of varying size in the past year.  Here's a list of the more important ones from the past year that would be visible to players:

Ability to add specialized hunt/search messages to rooms.
Watch code.
About a bazillion crash bugs and memory problems fixed.
Slip command added.
Ability to guard "out".
Time passage made more consistent/easier to corrolate with the real world.
Some clan-specific weather messages.
Some new spells added.
Torches blow out in high winds.
Room based skill bonuses (i.e. kitchens add to cooking skill).
Weather code changes.

[cyberpatrol_735]

Being here around 4-5 months.. I don't have much of a say, but what I do have is this.. It isn't much, but heh..

1.  Can't really say...
2.  Again, Can't say.
3.  Didn't Affect Me, in fact, the staff has always replied to every need I had, quickly and accurately.
4.  -sighs- We've lost a lot of our good roleplayers.. When I first started, it was awesome, allanak was huge.. now.. its dwindling..
5.  Recruiting Players
6.  This is my first -partial- crafting char, I can't say.
7.  Crim Code being more realistic.
8.  -shrugs- You can't do much without changing the environment.. and I for one, don't want that.. I was a newb, It was easy for me.
9.  Advertise and Promote like Crazy.
10. Always Remember that this mud is a place that us, as players can come to enjoy ourselves, it is your job as an immortal to see just to that. Keep it up guys, You are all amazing.

[Anonymous]

1.  What were the three best code changes that got implemented in the past year?  Why?

The Watch command is the only one that I can recall exactly.  It's great for reducing wear on the fingers typing 'l <direction>' ad nauseum.

2.  What were the worst three?  Why?

The only 'worst' one was the change of time to a longer interval.  It made being in a clan that much less interesting for perspective PCs in that more RL time passed with the same amount of coin being earned.  I hate saying 'worst' though because I am glad that we now have a solid idea of how long a day is.

3.  What were the best and worst policy changes of the year?

Best: No new clans will be opened.   I like clans, but I strongly feel that there were/are too many for our current average playerbase numbers, leading to a feeling that there are a bunch of 2 PC clans out there and more PC dispersion than is healthy.
Worst: Reduction of desc changes to 2 per PC.  I really think this should be two per calendar year to account for PCs that live longer than the norm and who have appearance altering events or just plain old age.

4.  How do you think the Armageddon community changed?  Was it for better or worse?  What would you like to see happen with it in the coming year?

A more proactive stance by the staff in moderating board discussions.  It was for the better.  In the future I would really, really like to see staff chime in with official positions on gray areas.  There are a lot of discussions just begging for an official word that leave players divided.  Like the current 'What is more important when deciding whether to kill a LD PC' discussion.

5.  What do you think the staff should be spending more (or less) time on?

More RPTs, without a doubt, because they are some of my best armageddon memories.  Less time on 'magick' oriented RPTs, though.  They are awesome but having one a year could dilute their impact and lead to greater apathy about magick in general.

6.  Now that the moratorium on special items has been in effect for a few months - what do you think about it?  Have your roleplaying efforts been damaged or not?  Have you taken advantage of being a mastercrafter if you can?

It hasn't effected me, but I think it could, especially with a PC that has been around for a little while, things come up that would make it nice.  I'd love to hear that the moratorium was adjusted to give PCs with so many days of playtime on them some chance to submit a request for a special item.  This will help keep the number of requests down, fulfilling the reason the moratorium was put in place, but also allow for a little uniqueness for a PC whose player has put in a lot of time.

7.  What is the single most important code change we could make in 2005 - and why is it the most important?

Making it so that emotes made by hidden PCs are only seen by PCs that could 'look' at the hidden PC prior to the emote being made.  This is the most important because it can really help with death scenes, allowing for more creativity on the part of the stalker.

As a special extra, I'd say the ability to flee into or out of wagons and buildings that you have to 'enter' or 'leave'.  Dying because you can't flee but you have a wagon right there full of buddies who would help you,  would be very sad.

8.  What's one thing we can do in 2005 to make the MUD more welcoming to new players?

Limit their options to starting in either Allanak or Tuluk.

9.  What's one thing we can do in 2005 to bring in more players?

Reward special items for referrals!

Seriously, I'm not sure.  I think the biggest thing is a revamp of the main webpage with a link to the old one.  I think that if I was a perspective player and I was to see the current main website I would assume that the mud was not active, especially when you compare it to some of the more snazzy webpages out there.

10. As always, what question didn't I ask that I should have?

No answer.

What should the staff be keeping in mind as they plan for the coming year?

Please keep the lines of communication open.  I'm lucky to be playing in a clan where the imms are very responsive and very open to discussing things.  I'd feel more frustrated and 'less in control' if I didn't hear back about something I emailed about and then I was suddenly emailed out of the blue asking what I was doing.  Maybe this isn't the case with any clan and the complaints people have about feeling they have no power are based on older experiences.

Keep talking to us!

[Ghost]

1) Watch command.  Weather code (including the ability to see the next rooms, and the codes blowing us up as well.)  And slip.
2) Dont know.
3) Best: No new clans will be opened. So that the playerbase wont be seperated too much, and there wont be seemingly dead clans (because of the lack of the PCs)
Worst: I dont know.

4) I dont know.  I have not been with too much of the new staff.  But, there has been too many of staff retirements, and I am not sure if they are replaced, but some of the imms, looks like have way too much burden.

5)

More RPTs, without a doubt, because they are some of my best armageddon memories. Less time on 'magick' oriented RPTs, though. They are awesome but having one a year could dilute their impact and lead to greater apathy about magick in general.

6) It has not affected me.  But I think it was a nice addition.  Because, now staff could focus on RPTs, or their clans or some other projects, other than adding new items to the database.

7) Crimcode.  It bothers, especially when playing a criminal PC.  Now, people have such a relaxing time, they have no fear in the taverns, or streets of city-states.  I think they should not be able to walk freely at nights, without watching their backs.  Or they should not be able to leave the soldier crowded places, if they have badmouthed some nasty and powerful people around the locals.


8 ) Limiting their starting locations to Allanak or Tuluk is a good one.

9) DOnt have an idea at that.

10) No answer.

[Maybe42or54]

1. Watch, Storms are more lethal, Xygax's more stable ginka. Why? Because they add to the whole "I am going to die, but atleast I can watch."

2.  2 desc changes per character, Time change. 2 desc changes a year? My pc is getting old.

3. Best- Tlaloc taking up the byn again. Worst- Him quitting in the first place.

4. Better. I want to see more RPT's. Or more Clans dependance on the Byn to get things done instead of the 1 clan.

5. Combat.

6. I think it is awesome. Now what needs to be done, all those items that can't ever be used again should be put up in Salarr's specialty store.

7.  Code changes.. Policy change to include the Byn in more houses' goals.

8. add another couple rooms to the hall of kings.

10. What can Brown do for you?

[da mitey warrior]

1. What were the three best code changes that got implemented in the past year? Why?

-Assorted crashfixes. More stability is always better, and these fixes don't get enough glory.
-Watch command.  I don't know how we survived without it all these years.
-Seasonings.  Just because they're neat.

2. What were the worst three? Why?
-Shops closing at night.  I don't know if that is from this year or not.  I still hate them because they waste my time, and making shopping more realistic isn't worth it.
-I can't really think of anything else that's bad.

3. What were the best and worst policy changes of the year?
The policy changes were all ok, imo.

4. How do you think the Armageddon community changed?
It hasn't changed much.  It's a bit more civil, I think.  Twiting a certain player helped.

5. What do you think the staff should be spending more (or less) time on?
Less 'paperwork' and and more rpts.

6. Moratorium on special items.
I've never asked for a special item for my character, so it hasn't hurt me much.  I don't think it's hurt the game at all.  

7. What is the single most important code change we could make in 2005 - and why is it the most important?
Something to make mass combat (ie anything more than 2 vs 2) more realistic and less spammy.  Even if it means imposing something cheesy and artificial like a group code.

8. What's one thing we can do in 2005 to make the MUD more welcoming to new players?
Colors.  Players from other muds are used to colors, and a crude color system shouldn't be very hard to impliment.

9. What's one thing we can do in 2005 to bring in more players?
Advertising in non-mud websites.

10. What else?
What can we do to retain old players longer?  That's probably just as important as getting more newbies.

[Fnord]

1. Watch, because it's the sort of thing that you'd think you should be able to do, but couldn't before. Fixing the over all chrono functions, because it removed those weird time jumps after a crash. All the various in/out/directional commands, because they made the world more consistant, i.e. in/out are just as important as NESW.

2. Really can't think of anything. I appreciate all the effort put into the many nice additions, adjustments, etc.

3. The whole stance that nobles are pussies that would never lift a weapon bothers me. Personally, I'd see nobility in a dangerous world like Zalanthas as more Dune-like.

4. I think there's been an emphasis on reducing flaming on the GDB, and making it more accesable -- a good thing.

5. More effort to be consistant. The players -really- take notice when the staff presents their view on something. If there are contradictory views from other imms or the docs it can be frustrating. In short, try to be on the same page. (This isn't a huge problem or anything, but I've noticed it a few times.)

Less pre-scripted imm-run events, and more open-ended, potentially player-driven, imm-run plots and events. Less "this is happening to you", and more "this is happening with you, and you might be able to affect its outcome".

6. Haven't noticed one way or another.

7. Making "no save" more elaborate, at least with a "no resist" option to automatically submit to justice. Losing characters to justice sucks.

8. Make coded clans more appealing, accesable, with clear goals and objectives. One of the greatest challenges new players face is also one of Arm's most wonderful features: Depth. It can be overwhelming. If new players can just get into a coded clan at first, have structure to their lives for at least one character, the rest sort of takes care of itself.

9. Restructure the website slightly to make some crucial information persistant: a button to fire up telnet and login, the website homepage, the search, and maybe the helper list. These should especially be on that page that new players hit from the top mudding websites.

10. It seems to me like clanned roles, especially nobility have a huge impact on the game. They are the movers and shakers, they make work for so many other players. Why does nobility have such a huge turnover rate? I ran a poll a while back asking what experienced players like to play most. I believe the answer was independant. Why? Imm-run, active clans should be the most appealing, especially to the Mud's veterens, because with the veterens in crucial clanned roles, they can be high-profile models for everyone else.

Thanks to Sanvean and the staff for everything you've contributed to the Mud thus far, and I'm excited to see what 2005 brings :!:

[SanityAssassin]

8.  What's one thing we can do in 2005 to make the MUD more welcoming to new players?

Frankly, most gamers have bad taste; it will be difficult to retain more newbies without compromising some of the values that make Armageddon so distinctive in the first place.  There's no simple answer to this although insisting that newbies start in Allanak or Tuluk sounds like a start.  It will likely be a combination of small changes like this that increase the newbie retention rate.

Helpers keep newbies coming back.  That angle may be worth developing.

9.  What's one thing we can do in 2005 to bring in more players?
as they plan for the coming year?

Word of mouth was what drew me to Armageddon.  It's not exactly a mass-appeal game.  In fact, it's somewhat elitist.  Advertising is fine and all but I don't see hordes of newbies sticking with the game because of effective banners.  I can see people being attracted by the advertising and leaving soon after because it is too harsh, too complex, or the lack of names drives them crazy (I've heard all three from people I've suggested Arm to).  Your typical MUD gamer wants to log on, whack some mobs, and level while staying in character.  Continue to make this a quality game and the right kind of people will trickle in.  

I agree with CRW that rewarding people for referrals is a good way to encourage growth.

Colors.  Players from other muds are used to colors, and a crude color system shouldn't be very hard to impliment.

Sorry Mitey Warrior, I have to disagree with you on this one.  I hope Armageddon stays black and white.  At best color MUDs are tacky, at worst they are difficult to read.  It wouldn't be that bad if colors were used sparingly for dramatic effect but that is never the case.

[Lazloth]

1.  What were the three best code changes that got implemented in the past year?  Why?

Fractionabable weight for small items.
Simdesert.
Automated apartments. Yee haw!

7.  What is the single most important code change we could make in 2005 - and why is it the most important?

Here is a couple:
Semote.
Listenify reworked as an active skill.
NPCs inheritin' wait-states, by golly. .

[Rhyden]

NPCs inheritin' wait-states, by golly.

That's probably what needs the most attention, in my opinion.

[sarahjc]

1. What were the three best code changes that got implemented in the past year? Why?

Watch command
Room based skill bonuses
Time Change

2. What were the worst three? Why?

I think some people will Argue the weather change was bad, but I cannot comment as to why since I don't have many PC's playing outside these days.

3. What were the best and worst policy changes of the year?

Best was the staff spending more time interacting with the playerbase. I have had a lot of  fun my clan due to more Imm interaction.  

I don't have a worst.

4. How do you think the Armageddon community changed? Was it for better or worse? What would you like to see happen with it in the coming year?

Our Player Base seems to be more mature, I'd like to see more people familiar with Rp than Hack and slash in the community.

5. What do you think the staff should be spending more (or less) time on?

Player interaction (more)

6. Now that the moratorium on special items has been in effect for a few months - what do you think about it? Have your roleplaying efforts been damaged or not? Have you taken advantage of being a mastercrafter if you can?

This has effected me and an event I was planning, not in a terrible way, but I would like to see a bit more lenience in the policy when the situation works for the greater good. My even worked out anyway and I was offered a good substitue but it would have been a help.

7. What is the single most important code change we could make in 2005 - and why is it the most important?

The changeable secondary line on  a PC's long description.  It is important because it will help compensate for only being allowed two Main Description changes and is also a great way to show the progression of wounds, temporary change in PC's appearance and a host of other things.  

8. What's one thing we can do in 2005 to make the MUD more welcoming to new players?

       Focus on offering  Mentorship via helpers to new players.

9. What's one thing we can do in 2005 to bring in more players?

Advertise in more trade show type venues, things like Dragon Con are excellent because you have the chance to bring in more Rp oriented Players. Ie: Players of Table top games and such.

10. As always, what question didn't I ask that I should have? What should the staff be keeping in mind as they plan for the coming year?

Keep a professional outlook and avoid getting caught up in gossip. Also keep up the clan involvement, it makes a world of difference to the players.

[flurry]

1.  What were the three best code changes that got implemented in the past year?  Why?

Time change.   I love the fact that it's stable and predictable now, and doesn't do funky things when the game is rebooted.   I think the pace is better now too - I thought years passed too quickly before.

Weather change.   I think this may be imperfect, but it's a significant step in the right direction.  

Watch command.   Just makes a lot of sense and changed the way people play for the better.   Only thing missing is being able to see emote echos with it.  

2.  What were the worst three?  Why?

I can't think of any that are bad or disappointing.  Although I did include the weather change as one of the best changes, I think it should continue to be examined and open to some tweaking.  How does it affect the way people are playing?  How does it affect the types of roles people are choosing to play?   Should rangers be totally immune, or just less likely to be affected by severe sandstorms?   I have some mixed feelings about the change as it stands now.  I think it will take a while to sink in, though, before I can articulate any real specific feedback.   Also, there are players who haven't experiened the changes yet (either because they have only had rangers since, or haven't played outdoors enough).  Anyway, I'm being longwinded, but I am just trying to say I hope that player feedback on this change will continue to be considered with an open mind.  

3.  What were the best and worst policy changes of the year?

I think the Imms have found a good balance in the way they deal with GDB discussions that devolve into off-topic joking around or flames, or include IC info.  Maybe that's not a "new policy", but it seems like lately that happy medium has been found.

I don't like the limit on the number of desc changes per character - only because, like CRW, I think it's more fitting for it to be limited to a number of changes per RL year.

4.  How do you think the Armageddon community changed?  Was it for better or worse?  What would you like to see happen with it in the coming year?

Maybe it's just me, but I think the GDB discussions have gotten more pleasant and I think people are more welcoming of new players.  I can remember a few cases early in the year (with new players who are still around thankfully) where people were really openly hostile toward specific new players for really silly reasons.   It seems like there's a lot less of that, and I'm glad.  I think people are also more aware of wanting to promote the MUD and increase the player base.  

Also I think the Staff Blogs had a positive effect on the community, by giving players a little peek into the worlds of staff members.

As for changes I would like to see, I would love to see the playerbase become even more international than it is now.  I don't know if there's some specific strategy that would help promote the mud to European players, for example, but I think something like that would be great.

5.  What do you think the staff should be spending more (or less) time on?

Player interaction and plot development and fascilitation.

6.  Now that the moratorium on special items has been in effect for a few months - what do you think about it?  Have your roleplaying efforts been damaged or not?  Have you taken advantage of being a mastercrafter if you can?

My initial reaction to this was that it is positive (having played a PC that took special orders for a merchant house and remembering the abuse that other PCs would heap on my PC because their custom-made gurth-shell push-up bra wasn't ready yet).   I still see it as a positive change.  My roleplaying efforts haven't been impacted at all (except possibly that I've been fortunate to see more animated npcs because immortals have more time for that).  I haven't inquired about the mastercrafter thing.

7.  What is the single most important code change we could make in 2005 - and why is it the most important?

I would love to see changes made in the way PCs get injured.  Specific injuries to specific areas of the body would be fantastic, but probably quite a lot of work.  At least, I would love to see the "bleeding" message on the ldesc be changed.   As it stands now, if I come across someone who is "bleeding heavily", I have no idea how to roleplay that.   Are they really bleeding?  Are they poisoned?  Are they bruised and battered?  It's awkward, and I think everyone has had an experience where they see people complaining about someone bleeding all over a tavern, when they may well not be bleeding at all.   I consider it important because I think it is a commonly-encountered issue, and I think it would just look better if that ldesc message was altered to fit the situation.  

I also think there's enough discussion and interest about stat ordering and rerolls that I would love to see something happen with that as well.  

8.  What's one thing we can do in 2005 to make the MUD more welcoming to new players?

Continued work on organizing introductory information.  

9.  What's one thing we can do in 2005 to bring in more players?

I don't have any new ideas here.
 
10. As always, what question didn't I ask that I should have?  What should the staff be keeping in mind as they plan for the coming year?

Here's a question:  What have been the best (or worst) changes to the documentation or the website in 2004?

My answers:  The google search tool.  Just really helpful.

Also I think that Wiki character history thing is a great idea.  I don't know how much (or what) is documented there, and I don't know if it's lived up to the staff hopes, but I just think it's a cool idea to have that kind of thing documented and organized that way.

[Linedel]

I only played a few months this year (May-Sept, approx), so I don't feel informed enough to answer most questions, except this one, since I can speak as a partial outsider:

8. What's one thing we can do in 2005 to make the MUD more welcoming to new players?

More roleplaying seminars/hints/etc aimed towards existing players.

Far too many players "roleplay" as an excuse to take a coded action.  Too many players view the game as a PKing game where they have to type an emote or two before typing "kill newbie".

The staff is aware of this.. see the "Kinda Uncool" thread.  The board has posts about this topic weekly.

If I hadn't played Armageddon back in the day, and were looking for an online RP game, I'd read the boards a couple times, chuckle at what kids call RP these days, and pass on the game.  The boards suggest a less mature playerbase than an immersive roleplaying environment would have, because of the constant poor RP threads.

Note: I've never been PKed on Armageddon, it's simply the most frequently voiced example.

I don't think PKing is the problem - its the poor RP that appears to surround far too much of it, and surround many other coded actions that result in a gain (skill, property, social.) to characters.


I'm not suggesting most players do this.  Most are fine... but it only takes a few to significantly impact players who are playing "correctly," and to cause a fairly large impact on the board.  There are far too many suggestion threads that require caveat after caveat because players aren't to be trusted.  (And I'm guilty of that...  Possibly because I once ran a game where you could count on every player to cheat if possible; I see exploits everywhere.)

Have you ever played a paper and pencil RP game where the players weren't trusted, or at least given benefit of the doubt?

To "fix" this requires improving the playerbase.  Implementing that fix is... I don't have an answer for that.

I'd suggest that, via either carrot or stick methods, that staff and players address the players who don't quite get it.  Most likely, this means players should have a quicker email staff trigger if they witness this sort of action, and staff probably contact the player earlier about the in-character consistancy of their actions.


As far as documentation and a new player's experience beyond this, I think most things are fine; lots of newbie testimonials show up saying the documentation was good etc.  Definately redo the "snoop newbie" thing occasionally...  best results/time method for detecting new player issues.