Staff AMA or Staff/Player Discussions

[LucildaHunta]

Don't forget a lot of those games encourage bots and multi playing. I really don't put stock in player count when that's going on. I'd rather play a game with 30 active players than one with 100 players and no one is actually playing.

[Grapes]

Yeah, people hanging out in apartments and secured clan halls definitely cuts down on interaction - as Brokkr said.

I can see two glaring reasons why people do this, they're on the run from someone much more powerful than themselves, or because it's just such a slog to get to and from clan compounds and places people meet up. They may spend so much time in the clan hall because they don't want their clannies who don't leave often to feel bored or left out.

EDIT: What I mean to say is such behavior is not the problem. The causes could use some looking at in my opinion. And if they just want to play house, no harm in letting them. They're not hurting anyone.

[chrisdcoulombe]

East side bar in Allanak!!

[Grapes]

East side bar in Allanak!!

*snaps his fingers* THERE WE GO. Call it the Merchant's Grotto or something. Put it off just to the east of Merchant's Cross.

[Delirium]

Forcing people to interact won't do any good if they don't have something fun to talk about. What we need are more additives: things to do, explore, talk about, public plots and good old monster stomping rpts. That will get people active and engaged and playing. Stuffing everyone in the bar won't help otherwise, there will just be 10 people at the bar, 8 of which are idling and 2 of which are desperately trying to carry on an interesting conversation.

[Riev]

Admittedly, I do miss the capability of a dungeon stomp. For a MUD based on some great fantasy tropes and heavily influenced by DnD, there's relatively few dungeoneering capabilities in lieu of "but we have sorcerer kings"

[mansa]

In my experience:

World of Warcraft introduced "player housing" with access to social items (trade chat, auction house, etc) when they launched the warlords of draenor expansion.

It didn't turn out well, as everybody stayed in their own little house and didn't really go out and interact with the world.  It seems quiet and stale, and I believe it's a mistake to do the 'garrison'.
( https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/15537123880
https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/2c1fo4/are_garrison_s_going_to_me_the_game_lonely/
https://eu.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/15161826825 )

Usually, WoW has people going to a central city where these social items are, but also where the players go to meet up and walk around and goof off and flex and dance.  The expansion after "warlords of draenor" did not have player housing in it.

Next,
World of Warcraft also introduced "Random Group of Strangers go in a Dungeon" with the wrath of the lich king expansion, which helped new players randomly group up with other players and experience the -content- of the game.  What people noticed is that even though you experienced content of the game, it still felt lonely because your group of adventures disbanded immediately once the adventure was complete.

In the expansions after WotLK, they introduced harder difficulties (more rewards) versions of the dungeons, and forced players to find other players themselves in order to complete them, rather than randomly putting together a group.   Because the incentive was there, it forced players to interact with other players and decide as a group what to do.



There is great resources to find out 'why do you play games', and I suggest to use them on yourself.  Watch this if you have 7 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxpW2ltDNow and see if you want to dig deeper.

[Armaddict]

Forcing people to interact won't do any good if they don't have something fun to talk about. What we need are more additives: things to do, explore, talk about, public plots and good old monster stomping rpts. That will get people active and engaged and playing. Stuffing everyone in the bar won't help otherwise, there will just be 10 people at the bar, 8 of which are idling and 2 of which are desperately trying to carry on an interesting conversation.

This is in line with my constant push for content over features, whether intrinsically built between factions/clans, or scripted 'things to do' that may or may not necessarily have a huge impact, but is worthwhile as far as establishing reputation.

I'm sorry, but making very neat and orderly divisions between player-services (i.e. NO, YOU CAN'T COMPETE WITH THE BYN or NO, ONLY MERCHANT HOUSE X CAN SELL THAT) took away far more than it gave.

[chrisdcoulombe]

Forcing people to interact won't do any good if they don't have something fun to talk about. What we need are more additives: things to do, explore, talk about, public plots and good old monster stomping rpts. That will get people active and engaged and playing. Stuffing everyone in the bar won't help otherwise, there will just be 10 people at the bar, 8 of which are idling and 2 of which are desperately trying to carry on an interesting conversation.

This is in line with my constant push for content over features, whether intrinsically built between factions/clans, or scripted 'things to do' that may or may not necessarily have a huge impact, but is worthwhile as far as establishing reputation.

I'm sorry, but making very neat and orderly divisions between player-services (i.e. NO, YOU CAN'T COMPETE WITH THE BYN or NO, ONLY MERCHANT HOUSE X CAN SELL THAT) took away far more than it gave.

I agree.

[lostinspace]

Yeah, people hanging out in apartments and secured clan halls definitely cuts down on interaction - as Brokkr said.

I can see two glaring reasons why people do this, they're on the run from someone much more powerful than themselves, or because it's just such a slog to get to and from clan compounds and places people meet up. They may spend so much time in the clan hall because they don't want their clannies who don't leave often to feel bored or left out.

Criminal characters can also be pretty prone to avoiding interaction, due to not wanting everyone online coming after them.

[Grapes]

Yeah, people hanging out in apartments and secured clan halls definitely cuts down on interaction - as Brokkr said.

I can see two glaring reasons why people do this, they're on the run from someone much more powerful than themselves, or because it's just such a slog to get to and from clan compounds and places people meet up. They may spend so much time in the clan hall because they don't want their clannies who don't leave often to feel bored or left out.

Criminal characters can also be pretty prone to avoiding interaction, due to not wanting everyone online coming after them.

Very true, but what good criminal doesn't have IC contacts? They have to make those contacts somehow, and keep an eye on other criminals to make sure they aren't getting set-up, framed, as well as to get the low-down on things going on. Plenty of excuses not to live in a bubble.

[lostinspace]

Yeah, people hanging out in apartments and secured clan halls definitely cuts down on interaction - as Brokkr said.

I can see two glaring reasons why people do this, they're on the run from someone much more powerful than themselves, or because it's just such a slog to get to and from clan compounds and places people meet up. They may spend so much time in the clan hall because they don't want their clannies who don't leave often to feel bored or left out.

Criminal characters can also be pretty prone to avoiding interaction, due to not wanting everyone online coming after them.

Very true, but what good criminal doesn't have IC contacts? They have to make those contacts somehow, and keep an eye on other criminals to make sure they aren't getting set-up, framed, as well as to get the low-down on things going on. Plenty of excuses not to live in a bubble.

There are of course the criminals who work with other criminals for larger hauls or security, but there are also solo criminals who operate on the concept that you can't be caught if you're never noticed. You ever find an climbing claw or two missing from that pack you left in your apartment and just assume you misplaced them? That's the kind of criminal I'm talking about, the kind you don't even realize exists.

But mostly I was just pointing out a third type of character that actively avoids interactions as a data point for consideration.

[Delirium]

The thing is, storage is important for PCs. Whether it's an apartment or a clan compound or some other solution, players need a place to put stuff for a variety of reasons. Its different in WoW where we can have 100s of things in our inventory and bank storage, etc.

[Brokkr]

After having contributed to this thread going off topic, going to ask that we try to stay on topic.

If these are issues you would like to discuss during a Staff/Player Discussion, fine to bring that up, but actual discussion of the issue should probably happen somewhere else so as to not derail the thread from ideas.