Casual Play

[Miradus]

Not really off topic, I'd like to mention here that in my experience, different leaders can do the same sorts of events in a much tighter time frame than others. I've had escorts and hunting/gathering expeditions that last anywhere from 2 hours (rl) to 5 hours (rl). I'm a big fan of 'git-r-done' so if I wanna go sleep I can.
I really like the shorter ones. For a ride or even an expedition into the desert, 5-6 hours is really long.

You tend to learn through exposure which leaders are fast movers who want to get things done, and which ones will draw out every scene into an hours long excruciating reality show with them as the star.

There's a big "awww shitttt" moment sometimes when you join a group IC and then get access to the clan forum and see who the leadership is in the role call. You often know right away whether or not you're going to have a great time, or a painful one.

There's several clans right now I'm "waiting out", watching the rumor boards in the taverns for signs of a murder or mysterious death so I can return to them and hopefully have a compatible playstyle with whomever their new leadership turns out to be.

[Brytta Léofa]

Some of my favorite players have been slow emoters, for what it's worth. It's just rough when you in a hurry.

[Veselka]

Not really off topic, I'd like to mention here that in my experience, different leaders can do the same sorts of events in a much tighter time frame than others. I've had escorts and hunting/gathering expeditions that last anywhere from 2 hours (rl) to 5 hours (rl). I'm a big fan of 'git-r-done' so if I wanna go sleep I can.
I really like the shorter ones. For a ride or even an expedition into the desert, 5-6 hours is really long.

You tend to learn through exposure which leaders are fast movers who want to get things done, and which ones will draw out every scene into an hours long excruciating reality show with them as the star.

There's a big "awww shitttt" moment sometimes when you join a group IC and then get access to the clan forum and see who the leadership is in the role call. You often know right away whether or not you're going to have a great time, or a painful one.

There's several clans right now I'm "waiting out", watching the rumor boards in the taverns for signs of a murder or mysterious death so I can return to them and hopefully have a compatible playstyle with whomever their new leadership turns out to be.

As one of those Leaders, I gleefully await both death and lardfully occupying the position.

[Veselka]

For my 666th post, I can contribute a bit.

As a casual player in a Leadership role, I try to check in with Staff often to make sure I'm fulfilling their expectations. I also delegate as much ICly makes sense. I tend to play stupid people who think they are guarding their secrets but probably not as well due to this delegation. They also tend to not act on rumor alone, preferring to take reports into advisement but not as verified truth until they come to that conclusion themselves. Rumors tend to turn simple things into overblown drama, particularly when it comes to intimate relationships, bleeding into the social zeitgeist of an area. I tend to avoid those plots like the plague, so in a leadership position, I tend to not reward rumor mongers attempting to push these plots to the foreground.

I tend to brush off questions of "where have you been" and "I thought you were dead". Leaders are busy people, and I don't think they should be available 24/7.

I play 6-8 hours a week, which I think is plenty.

[Miradus]

I don't know which clan you're in a leadership role of, so I can't speak to you specifically ...

HOWEVER, incompatible leadership is not the same as "bad" leadership. It simply means two playstyles are not compatible.

Same reason I tend to avoid particularly long-lived characters. I'm a risk taker. Let's go in this valley and see what's in there. What happens if I annoy this guy? What happens if I climb up this cliff? Long-lived characters usually don't like that sort of person around them and it's an OOC conflict which isn't great. (Sometimes it's great, not usually though.)

My favorite leaders are the ones who just sort of run around pulling at their hair at all the shenanigans their henchmen get into. "You told WHAT to Lord Templar??" "Why in the hell are you wearing a Borsail cloak in our compound when we're not Borsail?? Where did you get the cloak?"

Not a lot of leaders who let you get away with that sort of stuff for long. While I didn't work for either of these two directly, I interacted with them a lot ... and I'd say Lady Templar Bramalea Oash and Lord Jordyel Borsail both took the prize for letting events spiral way out of control before they'd step in.

I love things when they spiral way out of control.

[John]

Off-peak has become the new peak, and peak-time is bereft of leadership roles.

So forgive me if I don't add my name to the people demanding for more stuff to do off peak. Find your leaders - who ARE logged in, and get them to lead.

I can confirm this is accurate. I've seen (what looks to me) like a sudden influx of offpeakers in leadership (go aussies!). So indeed, find your fun. People are about.

[Eyeball]

This. INCLUDE EVERYONE. Even that clueless noob. Take risks. Do shit. Go out on adventures.

Risks for what? Where is the IC motivation?

There has to be something out there first. And even if you miraculously find some fabulous riches, there's nothing to spend it on. Money is useless past a certain point.

Dying to random NPC #4913308 or an arrow from a desert elf you never see gets old fast.

[Hauwke]

As does sitting away hidden interacting with the same 3 people every single day for an entire RL year.

There needs to be a happy medium between risk and not-risk.

[Harmless]

The new classes, with the greater variety and capability of skillsets, or the fact that classes will allow a pre-built blend of utility and combat skills, will definitely be enhance the capability to manage risk. The clearly delineated skill caps and branching info provided with the new classes will help people to predict when their character is "done" with the bulk of their training and be "ready" for risk.. as has already been said.

In other words, there are a lot of good changes already here that should encourage risk.

As for the REASON to take risks... this is a sandbox RPI mud. The players always had to be inventive for this, because yes, out in the wastes there is really nothing but death, death, and more death, and very little reward, seemingly. But, desert elves patrol their ranges to "protect territory," as does Kurac or His Arm, the most basic reason to get involved in some conflict at a low, steady level. Of course we kind of know as players that the patrol is unlikely to make much of a difference, but by braving them we gain status for our character, which leads to perks within our character's group. Other risks like exploration or treasure hunting are also hard to justify the risk for, but that is why Highborn exist, to impress with the unusual or rare.

I don't have anything new to provide but I think we do have lots of new changes in classes that are meant to encourage risk and we should now give these a whirl and see if people are more willing to take some risks with their new skillsets. I know I would be.. training a ranger or assassin was a painful process (primarily to branch parry, UGH) and those two guilds were the only ones with survival skills and combat skills at a decent cap. Now I have at least four good options for such roles, if not twenty or so different combinations I want to try with the subclasses I still have scratched the surface of.. RPI sandbox with new sandbox tools.

[triste]

Casting 'mon un necro thread' here because I like how this thread opens by citing all the similar threads before, and this thread seems to be the most recent on the topic.

I agree the new subguilds were something that improved the game for casual players, but I find it interesting that the features casual players have asked for for years, like offline/async messaging, have never seen the light of day. And I just wanted to speak up again in favor of this and other ideas as I sit in low play time casual player hell.

Edited to be 20% as long and less whiney.

[gotdamnmiracle]

Casting 'mon un necro thread' here because I like how this thread opens by citing all the similar threads before, and this thread seems to be the most recent on the topic.

I agree the new subguilds were something that improved the game for casual players, but I find it interesting that the features casual players have asked for for years, like offline/async messaging, have never seen the light of day. And I just wanted to speak up again in favor of this and other ideas as I sit in low play time casual player hell.

Edited to be 20% as long and less whiney.

Play a crafter character with some combat specialty in an iso-clan. They very likely have chests full of raw materials, they'll love you for the little gifts you leave them, You can communicate big important things via the clan forum, and You are strong enough to get the ingredients you don't have without too much hassle. I lived in Okinawa for two years and Iso roles were my jam.

Literally no one will fight you for expanding the clan crafts as well. Even if it's something dumb, like a t-shirt painted up in Oashi colors.