Tuluk Closing to PC play -- discussion thread

[Dakota]

For what it's worth, Dakota, a lot of people thought the kank plague plot was really stupid and contrived. Because it wasn't a "real plot" and it impacted some clans much harder than others and it "only happened to solve an OOC issue."

Ditto with... a lot of other plots (my edit)

It's one of those situations where there just isn't a perfect solution, imo.

You're right. Their would be no perfect solution. But as it's an RPI mud with a loooong history I suppose my disappointment stems expecting something more than just... Well... The first post of this thread.

And this isn't a clan or a House. It's the other end of the scale to the conflict that drives Arm's ever evolving tale of corruption, betrayal and murder. That's the other (most important) issue here. Suddenly one side of the War and Conflict becomes a NPC / vNPC populated mirage of Roleplay Docs and locked down Areas.

edit: Again, I do think it opens up the chance for the staff that closed Tuluk to come up with sometihng interesting and dynamic to carry the Torch for the Antagonist to Allanak (gith would be the easiest and probably the most accepted solution... Lets not derail though).

I'm off to bed.

[DustMight]

Thank you. About time.

Interested to see what the future holds.

Note to Tuluki Players and those who put hard work into building that society: I'm not hating on you. I just never felt that post-dragon-smash Tuluk really fit well into the world and that for a long time (prior than 2006) we would do better with one city to focus PC play. FWIW: Not much of a fan of ISO clans for the same reason. Now if we can just infuse some of that art and culture into Allanak (Allanaki-style, of course) so that it's not just a shadow of what it could be, that would be awesome!  

[Tuannon]

At least you won't be playing a bard, Talia

[Semper]

All the effort that went into Tuluk being directed to Allanak, on top of Allanak's current staff already... I'm expecting great things. Maybe we can finally fix those things that have plagued Allanak in the past, like an actually working blackmarket/economy/House guards/House politics, and the list continues. I'm pumped!

As an aside, how should our characters act about the impending closure of Tuluk? Is it alright as players to allow our characters to visit Tuluk as a 'last walk down memory lane', or do staff expect us to play everything off (for our characters) as if the Tuluk closure was never going to happen?

[whitt]

Should builder apps be revised given this change? 

[seidhr]

All the effort that went into Tuluk being directed to Allanak, on top of Allanak's current staff already... I'm expecting great things. Maybe we can finally fix those things that have plagued Allanak in the past, like an actually working blackmarket/economy/House guards/House politics, and the list continues. I'm pumped!

As an aside, how should our characters act about the impending closure of Tuluk? Is it alright as players to allow our characters to visit Tuluk as a 'last walk down memory lane', or do staff expect us to play everything off (for our characters) as if the Tuluk closure was never going to happen?

Your PC knows nothing about Tuluk "closing" so roleplaying a last trip down memory lane doesn't make much sense.  Tuluk will still exist, you just won't be able to codedly go inside, and the Tuluk-only clans will be completely virtual, just like House Nenyuk or House Sath.

In the coming days, things will happen that your PC may or may not hear about - probably will hear about if they live in Tuluk.  Your PC may choose to react to those events.

EDIT:  Maybe I misunderstood your question.  If you want to invent a reason to go into Tuluk, I think that's probably fine, as long as it makes sense for your PC to be there.  Ergo, if you are playing in the AoD or a noble in Fale, maybe not so much.  ;-)

[Saellyn]

I've been super-busy at work and so haven't had a chance to reply here--but as mentioned, sponsored roles within Allanak will be increased in number at some point. Clan caps will be revisited. I can't answer about noble house guard role position stuff because, to be honest, we still need to make sure that job roles in clans are not boring and pointless. It's something I'm thinking about and will look at with my team, but don't expect an answer on that immediately. (There is so much other stuff that is higher-priority right now.)

Who cares if it's boring and pointless? Open it up. If players want to do it, players will do it.

[Jihelu]

So is this encouraging or discouraging operation grand theft sunking: Kill the sunking?

[Talia]

Who cares if it's boring and pointless? Open it up. If players want to do it, players will do it.

I'm not interested in providing roles to the playerbase which are boring and pointless. That's just not something I see myself ever signing off on.

Should builder apps be revised given this change? 

No?

[Inks]

I do think this was a hard decision for staff but the right one.

[Bast]

I think Staff has the games better interests at heart here. I am sure when the city is reopened it will be a fun new place and until then we can fill up more of the tribes and other interesting places.

[Saellyn]

Roles are boring and pointless if players make them boring and pointless.

[FantasyWriter]

Should builder apps be revised given this change? 

Don't cry just because you will never be able to see a noble smoking the pipe you wrote.

[Talia]

Should builder apps be revised given this change? 

Don't cry just because you will never be able to see a noble smoking the pipe you wrote.

Oh. No, the application questions were not supposed to be for real items, they were to give us an idea of whether you can write in the style of various places. Cultural understanding and so forth.

[Wolfsong]

I wasn't aware ARM's playerbase was declining so rapidly to warrant something like this, but... I guess it explains why all the d-elves and gypsies are coming back.

[Jihelu]

I wasn't aware ARM's playerbase was declining so rapidly to warrant something like this, but... I guess it explains why all the d-elves and gypsies are coming back.

Gypsies are coming back?
Til.

[Wolfsong]

I wasn't aware ARM's playerbase was declining so rapidly to warrant something like this, but... I guess it explains why all the d-elves and gypsies are coming back.

Gypsies are coming back?
Til.

[Talia]

I wasn't aware ARM's playerbase was declining so rapidly to warrant something like this, but... I guess it explains why all the d-elves and gypsies are coming back.

It's not declining. It dropped significantly after the ARM 2.0 announcement in 2006, and recovered somewhat by 2008-2009. We've been at a very steady number since then, it's just not as high as it was in 2006. Since Allanak generally remains at a certain number of players, the effect of having fewer players overall is that Tuluk has big swings up and down. However, it requires just as much staff (perhaps more staff) as Allanak does.

[Desertman]

I dnt thnk u guyz undurstahnd how exsitid I am fur ths.

[Vwest]

So long, Tuluk. I won't miss you even a little bit.

[Asche]

Man, just came back, and some serious shit went down. I only played in Tuluk a bit, but I understand its closing. Even support it. Shadow Artists were a cool concept into you realized how little sense the lore made (in a totalitarian society of plotting nobles and templars, I'm expected to simply accept that templars are the perfect facilitators of organized crime, even against themselves?). I'm looking forward to making a character in an in-game faction now. Hopefully it won't be dead.

[Flying Erdlu]

While I've always been more of a Naki than a Tuluki sort of player, this is still hard to take. I've played this game since 1993 and Tuluk has always been there in some form or another to play in. I will indeed miss it.

But I have faith in the staff. I get that not everyone agrees with their decisions, but having been on staff for a fair number of years I KNOW that they all have the best interest of the game at heart. All the staff started as players and joined staff because they LOVE the game.  I am sure all of them would say that they wish the player & staff numbers were high enough to continue to support Tuluk and even all the outposts, but alas...it just simply isn't possible anymore.

So let's see how this experiment goes. I see some fun times ahead, and undoubtably some trying ones as things are tweaked to support this new design of playability. I like the idea of a compressed staff presence. Big brother will more than likely be watching you more, folks.

My biggest concern is how will this effect PC economy. There will be more people competing for the same resources in Allanak. There is already a post reboot mad-dash for the bazaar to sell off those high value items that everyone seems to have 50 of in their apartment. Merchants used to be able to travel to Tuluk and sell off ivory or obsidian for a decent profit to cover the risk of the trip. How will that be affected? Also, with players more compact, it will make remaining a low-key character much harder. Allanaki merchants are often very low on coin with the current player base. This could make it even worse.

I think the issue of northern objects being unavailable could easily be tackled by a new Builder role going through the northern items and turning them into craftables. Then if you get the northern materials, you could still get the items made ICly by PC crafters. I'm all for that! I would much rather order from a PC!

And staff, one thing that slipped through the cracks back when Tuluk was re-written a number of years ago was special traveling abilities of certain types of magickers, which made them able to suddenly appear in a deserted unlinked city. Don't forget to address those.

As always, thanks for the hard work you all do while we get to sit back and play.

[Zoan]

I came here for the impotent tears of furious rage.

I leave disappointed.

[Large Hero]

Very excited by this decision, enough to start playing again.

Kudos to staff for making a difficult call. I think it's the right one.

Regardless of whether you feel Allanak or Tuluk is the more interesting city, I think any city with 2x the players will be more fun than having the pbase split in half.

Seconding the notion of this being a potential start to a golden age of Armageddon.

[Jherlen]

This change is fascinating. I'm sure it was a hard choice to make, but I applaud the staff for making it. Nice job, guys.