Can you think of anything -bad- about arm?..

[ashjpd]

Hey,
I was thinking just a moment ago about what I like and what I dislike about arm, and the like list was growing a lot bigger then the dislike, in fact, the dislike was almost nothing except for a couple things that just bother me.

What I dislike about it is the updating on Saturday.. Because, I don't get to play, but.. there is an upside to that also, there is also a bonus to that one, in fact, a lot of likes to that. And that is just about the only thing, except the fact that we need a bigger player-field.

Vote, and then -please- post what you dislike about arm, I am curious to know, and I bet others would want to know also.

[Tarx04]

I guess the only thing I could dislike is the amount of players, though that is usually more of something that we are responsible for.  Advertising and voting and what not.  I have been around playing RL for about 6 months now and have found nothing that I dislike so far, and I still know so little about the game world that it is just staggering.  Increase the amount of players and things become much more intensive.  That's all I could really hope for to make things better.

[Crazy Hakhim]

The biggest problem I have with Arm is something that more or less inveitably comes along with one of it's best sides -

It's high level of RP and high RP demands sometimes bring along with them an attitude of "RP-Police", and sometimes a quiet intolerance towrds newbies and peopple who are new to RP intensive MUDs.

That being said, It's far less prominent than I thought it would be at first, and most people who do it don't do it out of any bad intention, I'd say, and don't mind standing corrected.

Another, much smaller problem I have, are the maps. I don't know why, but most of the zones just seem rather... dull, or repetative, to me. Disturbed me much more in the past because it was different than MUDs I used to play, but I'm much more comfortable with it now that I'm used to it.

[Crashloft]

Getting knocked out using the way.  Why would ANYONE want to sit there for 30 minutes after being knocked out???  So shoot me.......It's my fault for pushing the envelope, but I'd say that 20-30 minutes is highly excessive.  I know things get better, but regardless......I think it takes away from the game...the RP and peoples play time.

[Agent_137]

mine are the usuals:

Want more people. (I've brought two people into the game so far. Don't look at me!)

Live update. (If there's a time i want to MUD with bleary eyes it's saturday day!)

[Trenidor]

I'd only have to say get more people...

We can fix that by holding an: Invite a friend day...

[SpyGuy]

More people would always be nice, but we do have a very healthy playerbase for an RPI.  We just arent all crammed into one tavern drinking ale and mudsexing all day.

My biggest problem is how it sometimes seems so empty outside and how in some zones you can wander for RL hours without seeing a single NPC.  More variety in the monsters outside the gates, including smaller monsters to flesh out the ecosystem, would be nice.  I can of course always submit them...bah wait till finals are over.

[Trenidor]

More people would always be nice, but we do have a very healthy playerbase for an RPI.  We just arent all crammed into one tavern drinking ale and mudsexing all day.

My biggest problem is how it sometimes seems so empty outside and how in some zones you can wander for RL hours without seeing a single NPC.  More variety in the monsters outside the gates, including smaller monsters to flesh out the ecosystem, would be nice.  I can of course always submit them...bah wait till finals are over.

I disagree...If we had more PCs, there'd be more people wandering outside that you could meet while you are out there. The NPCs we have are alright now, not too much not too little. Maybe they could put out some more Nomadic NPCs in the desert.

[SpyGuy]

I should have clarified.  I meant NPCs in the broadest sense, including monsters, little pink bunnies and talking rocks.  More variety and population in the PC world (as opposed to virtual) is what I meant.  Even small things that are more or less worthless to skin can add to the environment.

[Vettrock]

I would have to agree about the zero stun waiting period, either from using the way, or when you got the wrong way and some NPC saps you.  I think 5-10 minutes is more than enough time to "punish" you for being stupid, and more than enough time for someone to take advantage of you.  Sometimes you don't have 30-40 minutes to wait before you can log off.

Then there is the karma system, which wouldn't bother me as long as I had maxed out Karma   But I understand why it is in place, and I guess I can be thankful for the Karma that I do have, I just would like to not have to special app for all of those elementalists.  I also think players who play during off peak hours tend to get less Karma.  But overall, I think the system is fine, (I just don't like it when it applies to me.)

I don't like how NPCs can see you in the middle of a sandstorm and shoot arrows at you, when you can't see, and it give you the message that it is too windy to use your bow,  (but not too windy for the NPC)

oh one more thing, I don't like dying... :evil:

Vote, and then -please- post what you dislike about arm, I am curious to know, and I bet others would want to know also.

I wonder if anyone will post what they really hate or if it'll be all subjects most of us agree with such as we need more players, and we want to play on saturday. :roll:

[naatok]

We -can- play on Saturday.  Just not until after 7pm CST.   :wink:

That said, my main beefs are as follows:

1.  Players who don't seem to be able to see beyond the code.
Thankfully this is not a huge deal, but I've seen alot of discussion here that leads me to believe many players simply don't understand how powerful decent roleplay is at opening up their PC's horizons....regardless of hard-coded benefits or restrictions.

A PC in Arm can literally be or become anything the Player could imagine, so long as the progression is handled with dedication and brilliance...and attention to IC detail.  It is really that simple.  Actually doing this...may seem rather difficult, but it can be done.  I know from personal experience.

2.  Older, more experienced players who don't seem willing to help out the new folks by actually interacting with them on a regular basis.

I don't know about you other folks, but for me, it was the examples of great roleplay that I had as a newb that helped me to 'get' ArmageddonMud and become a better player.  If great roleplayers had refused to have much to do with my characters because I was a 'clueless newbie', I probably would not have improved....or if I had, I may not have stayed loyal to the mud all these years.

So for better or worse, thanks to interaction with many of Arm's excellent roleplayers, I remain addicted to this virtual crack-rock and undoubtedly will remain so until the Dragon returns and destroys Zalanthas in wrath and flame.   :twisted:

3.  And lastly, I have a problem with people who aren't willing to take responsibility for their lives.  This goes WAY beyond ArmageddonMud.  This seems to be an epidemic in Western culture...that people want the freedom to do as they will, but don't wanna pay the tab when it comes due.  In Arm, that boils down to people who follow the code of good roleplay only so long as it is beneficial to their whims and the good fortune of their characters.  It also involves those players who cry 'abuse!' when the actions of another PC, or staff, run contrary to what's 'good' for their own whim and their own PC's life, or their own individual sense of what is 'fair' gets violated.  I'm sorry, but I've seen WAY too many people cry foul when things go against their PC and their desires, then turn around and do the EXACT SAME SHIT to someone else...or reverse in order of events...fuck someone over (perfectly ICly in the gameworld), then cry 'Abuse!' when it happens to their own pc.  That shit just pisses me the hell off!   :evil:   And please don't think I'm singling out players here.  I think these rules and situations apply to anyone involved with ArmageddonMud.  :twisted:

I guess that's it for me.

[ashjpd]

I meant to add another option to the poll, but I accidently forgot to push the add the option thing, anyways, we can play on Saturday's yes, but I think for most people, like myself, Saturday is a day that we would like to play the WHOLE entire day, I think it would be to much to ask, but maybe switching the day the staff members do the weekly update? Has it always been on Saturday? I think that Saturday is also the day that most gamers play, since it is the weekend and all, so, to my beliefs, it would bring more players to play. Then again, it is the best day of the week to do it, so never mind.

[Trenidor]

And the ledgend has spoken


I agree intirely with Naatok, and I'd like to confess that I was one of those people that didn't ever interact with n00bs because they didn't know what they were doing, but now I've changed, I take what RP I can get hoping to eventually come across the best RPer ever in the game. Boy that would be fun to RP with one of them.

[Trenidor]

I meant to add another option to the poll, but I accidently forgot to push the add the option thing, anyways, we can play on Saturday's yes, but I think for most people, like myself, Saturday is a day that we would like to play the WHOLE entire day, I think it would be to much to ask, but maybe switching the day the staff members do the weekly update? Has it always been on Saturday? I think that Saturday is also the day that most gamers play, since it is the weekend and all, so, to my beliefs, it would bring more players to play. Then again, it is the best day of the week to do it, so never mind.

Think of it this way: There are other games you can play on saturday, there's this GDB, and, you can write/think up ideas that would improve arm.

When there's something I don't like, I'lll put it down in my notes. then, come saturday, I can start improving on it.

I tend to belive that a lot of people do around the house work on saturdays as well. I know I do.

[WarriorPoet]

Spending a fistful of coins on a mug of ale, taking one drink, and then being forced to shell out another fistfull of coins for a mug of ale, only to take one drink and then have to shell out another fistful of coins for ONE FUCKING DRINK OF ALE.

I can buy a forty oz at the store downt he street for 2$, a mug of beer at the bar or a six pack from the grocer AND I can drink the shit all day long.

[SailorMars]

The things I don't like I'd classify as annoyances, and they are few compared to the things I really admire about Arm, its immortals, and its players.

[sacac]

What I hate above everything and everyone:
Attempting to come up with ideas and send them in to the right person

[jstorrie]

Alcohol hits a character immediately, which can be annoying when trying to play out a scene.

I'd prefer if alcohol took one or a couple of RL minutes to 'get through the character's system', along with maybe an echo beforehand (Your last drink really didn't settle well, and you're starting to feel ill, etc.).

A super-minor point, but I really can't come up with many major complaints.

[jhunter]

My only dislikes are:

1) As Naatok said, there are some people who cry abuse every time something happens that isn't -good- for their character.

2) People who are striving to make changes to Arm (rp and documentation) that are intended for realism...there is a such thing as too much realism, that's when it ceases to be fantasy, which is part of the reason I don't like some of the other RPIs. So much realism they aren't fun to play anymore.

3) The severe lack of criminal groups in the game, such as raiders and the like...I'd much rather have fear of getting jumped by pc raiders while outside the walls than NPC beasts. I think the biggest contributer to the lack of these is the fact that one is not allowed to build them OOC with others first.
In real life, any famous group of criminals had a history together before they were labelled as criminals or turned against the law. I understand that there shouldn't be perfect loyalty with all of them and that is the reasoning for not allowing it...but who's to say everyone is going to be?

By that same token one could say that no families should be recruited for ooc either, because whose to say there is for certain perfect loyalty amongst the members of the family either?

I think that people should be allowed to build criminal groups OOCly, most of them just end up getting hunted down and wiped out by...pretty much every other clan in the game anway, why not give them a better chance at lasting longer than a couple of encounters before they are wiped off the face of Zalanthas?


Those are my only real dislikes about Arm, I -love- everything else about it for the most part.

[Callisto]

My list:

Random stat rolls - I hate that I can invest time into writing up a character and covering every detail, just to find out my ranger can't use a bow because of random stat rolls.

NPC player protectors - I don't like that special application characters are offered god-like NPC guards that are immune to corruption of any kind and set with scripts that provide them with reaction times above and beyond anything a PC could ever have. They want a guard? Make them hire a PC like the rest of us.

All or nothing skinning - It kind of bugs me when someone can't get a few scraps of hide, a chunk of bone or a handful of raw meat when skinning a creature. There should be at least a random bare minimal you can get.

Short description limit - Why not make it 38 or 40? I hate having the perfect short description, only to find its one letter over the limit.

Unarmed code - I just don't like the massive negatives that come with it, or the superior to bludgeoning weapons stun damage it does.

Mounted combat - Should happen more often but doesn't, because its more or less suicidal unless you severely out class the other guy in combat skills.

Clans - Most of the clans in-game cater to people who want to play politics or be on the upper crust. What about those of us who want to play some gritty commoner with commoner issues?

Greater access to the games item database - Much of the games items aren't available unless someone kills an NPC to get them in-game, because NPC merchants have set stock items and PC merchants peddle the same stuff over and over again. Let's see NPCs spawning some random items in shops after weekly down time - doesn't have to be expensive and generic bad-ass stuff, just some more beat up leathers and common clothes, obsidian knives and bone maces, let people dress more unique.

The Way - it has far too much power in-game in an OOC and IC context. We would have a lot more action if people had to give reports in person, rather then over the way, or if you had to hire a messenger to pass information along to someone in another town. Imagine the spy vs spy stuff that could happen? It'd be great.

The lack of crime - it is incredibly difficult to play a long-term and successful criminal in Armageddon. I want to see more spice smugglers, more raiders, more black markets, more extortion, more mafia-style groups forming and warring with each other. Right now there are severe coded road blocks to this. The criminal code could do to be more lax to represent the severe corruption among the centers of civilization, as well as foster more criminal elements then pickpockets and chair-stealing burglars.

Red Storm - I like Red Storm and its theme, but I don't like the situation it seems to be in. It needs more stuff, something to draw at least a small but consistent player base. Crafting supplies and a decent chance for criminals (not raiders, but thieves and the like) would go a long way in making it more attractive to players.

Global politics - I want to see more strife between global factions, such as Tuluk and Allanak. There isn't a lot of that happening that everyone can appreciate, like trade wars and sabotage and generally offensive terrorism, like you would expect between two opposing city-states. The fact Allanak didn't engage in some revenge of biblical proportions for the Academy incident and the general humiliation of defeat doesn't strike me as making a whole lot of sense. Shouldn't these nobles be spending LESS time meddling in commoners lives and MORE time opening various cans of whup-ass and whup-ass substitutes on their kings enemies?

That's it for now.

[Anonymous]

Red Storm - I like Red Storm and its theme, but I don't like the situation it seems to be in. It needs more stuff, something to draw at least a small but consistent player base. Crafting supplies and a decent chance for criminals (not raiders, but thieves and the like) would go a long way in making it more attractive to players.

Global politics - I want to see more strife between global factions, such as Tuluk and Allanak. There isn't a lot of that happening that everyone can appreciate, like trade wars and sabotage and generally offensive terrorism, like you would expect between two opposing city-states. The fact Allanak didn't engage in some revenge of biblical proportions for the Academy incident and the general humiliation of defeat doesn't strike me as making a whole lot of sense. Shouldn't these nobles be spending LESS time meddling in commoners lives and MORE time opening various cans of whup-ass and whup-ass substitutes on their kings enemies?

The words out of my mouth you took.

The only things I'll add is that I do not like having nobility spread out between the two city states.  I'd rather have one city-state's nobility be closed and the other's expanded to 4 open houses.  When I played my longest-lived noble Tuluk was a hole in the ground (great for hunters) and Allanak had Fale, Oash, Tor and Borsail all open and very active.  Now, instead, those clans are semi-active with little to no intrigue going on between them from where I sit.

I'd like to see the role of Nenyuk automated and not reliant on some poor PC.

The jobs situation is pretty sad with most clans either having to go with low PC numbers or hire anyone they can due to the number of clans with perpetually open positions.  I don't mean to sound like a broken record but the proliferation of paid positions has not been proportionate with the increase in the playerbase.  The supply of jobs should not far outweigh the demand, which it does.

[da mitey warrior]

ARM is great.  There are things that could be improved here and there but overall eveything works, and the game is very playable.  

If there is one thing I really hate it's this: Shops closing at night.  Grr!

I really don't see the point.  Simulating the inconvenience of real life?  How does making me wait 30 min to buy a backpack enhance the game to any extent?  It's just wasting my time.

And don't tell me it's more realistic.  It would be realistic if the shopkeeper npc went home or something, but they just sit there.  The wandering merchant npcs still wander.  He's standing there, in the bazzar, nothing better to do apparently, I got money, he's got the backpack, I want to buy the backpack, he presumably wants to sell the backpack, what's stopping him from giving me my damn backpack?  

"Sorry, I'm closed, come back at dawn".  

Bah!

[SpyGuy]

My list:


Red Storm - I like Red Storm and its theme, but I don't like the situation it seems to be in. It needs more stuff, something to draw at least a small but consistent player base. Crafting supplies and a decent chance for criminals (not raiders, but thieves and the like) would go a long way in making it more attractive to players.

Global politics - I want to see more strife between global factions, such as Tuluk and Allanak. There isn't a lot of that happening that everyone can appreciate, like trade wars and sabotage and generally offensive terrorism, like you would expect between two opposing city-states. The fact Allanak didn't engage in some revenge of biblical proportions for the Academy incident and the general humiliation of defeat doesn't strike me as making a whole lot of sense. Shouldn't these nobles be spending LESS time meddling in commoners lives and MORE time opening various cans of whup-ass and whup-ass substitutes on their kings enemies?

Making spice grubbing a more profitable venture (something to compare with 'naks stone carving/'sid mining and Tuluk's wood industry) might go a long way to making Storm more feasible for independents.

Global politics...I'm new so haven't seen much of this.  But now that you bring it to my attention, seems like a really good idea for certain roles to be involved with.

Some good points.

[Malken]

I pretty much agree with everything that Callisto just wrote.. Especially the random stats and the short description limit..