Why the big deal?

[Trenidor]

To avoid derailing anything, I've decided to ask my own question:

Why is it such a big deal that we close down some houses?

The poll we had recently said that it's around 50/50 on wanting spread out playerbase, or condensed. Why are you trying to make it such a deal that we get more people inside a city?

[SpyGuy]

Better filled and more backstabbing noble houses.  When politics goes only 2 ways it gets stale really fast.  When you have 4 sides battling it out, thats believed to make the experience far more enriching.  The idea is to cut off the Tuluk noble houses and have the city shut off to make sure it doesnt get stale, this is to allow it to get a frontier atmosphere rather than seeming like some big empty city with nothing to do.

[My 2 sids]

We've a great game that people continue to play for months and years at a time, so I just think this happens to be a time when there is a large percentage of the player base who've played the game for a very long time.  My guess is that (even under the best circumstances, advances, and HRPTs people are a little board with the stagnant game.  

Characters can change, plots can change (slightly), locations can change, etc... but the game itself continues to be the same.  Individual character changes don't have the same impact as if the entire PC part of the world changes.  By closing houses and opening new clans to PCs we've redefined a significant portion of the PC population, thus changing the entire game at the foundation.

[Anonymous]

Because I believe the game, as a whole, was better when the social roleplay was centered in one place.  Familiarity breeds contempt.

[Trenidor]

Why not just build two more major cities? That makes four total devisions that thigns can occur in. We could close down a few of the minor houses in Tuluk, then put up two major houses, one in the two new cities.

That offers change. But it also means broader playing field


I don't see any logic whatsoever in getting rid of a major thing and how it will make things more major by getting rid of this major thing.

I personally think this boils down to you guys not knowing how to have fun. You join clans thinking that they are funner than normal people, but really they are too strict.

Why don't we just kick some PCs out of the houses and make them grander and finer. A maximum PC limit could be set and once reached the house could just hire VNPCs or NPCs. The only problem with that Idea is that they would be too scarce so that when you want to RP training you can't cuz no one will be around.

So that leaves two solutions that we could do to solve this problem:

1. We could all invite a friend to play for a week... (that'd double the playerbase)
2. We could stop crying about it and just forget about it.

[Stroker]

I enjoy the choice of not having to play in the same place over and over again. Especially with long lived characters, when you die, you want to take a break from the old and see the new. Tuluk is NOT a version of 'Nak, nor will it ever be that. They are completely different, and shame on you if you think otherwise. If Tuluk is closed, I will be upset. I may even shed a tear, in fact, I may go as far as buying Lazloth's house from e-bay and rebuilding it.

[My 2 sids]

I wouldn't like to see Tuluk close, but I could see it change drastically.  Tuluk would retain it's buildings, culture, and history, but the PC focus would change.  If we took out PC Houses  Tuluk could be a haven for PC driven clans, could support PC run businesses (like the tavern some are asking about), and independent hunters, merchants, and art folk., and still have the same Tuluk city.

[Trenidor]

I wouldn't like to see Tuluk close, but I could see it change drastically.  Tuluk would retain it's buildings, culture, and history, but the PC focus would change.  If we took out PC Houses  Tuluk could be a haven for PC driven clans, could support PC run businesses (like the tavern some are asking about), and independent hunters, merchants, and art folk., and still have the same Tuluk city.

That's all true, but currently it is posible for than anyway. Even with the clans around.

IMHO, I think all houseship should be lowered to only people with extreemly high standards. That means that the people hireing you into a house, should only accept you if you have an extreemly high value to you. Clans on the other hand, are alright having thieves and stuff in them. Kurac and Byn for example take any kind of people, but other houses should have more strict of values.

If we leave everything how it is though, I think things will turn out perfectly for everything you stated could happen.

[SpyGuy]

But Trenidor, things will happen with a spread out base of PCs pursuing social intrigue (note I believe that this wouldnt shift the player base to a large degree, only specific roles in the player base).  Thats the original problem, closing Tuluk was what I saw as ACs way of making sure a large city w/o nobles & templars didnt seem like a joke.  Turning it into a frontier town eliminates the need for a large Noble base and lets them frolick down South.

But people have their preferences, I would fight to the death to defend keeping 'naks nobles open.  Why?  Because i like what I've seen there.  My exposure to Tuluk's hasnt been enough for me to care either way, but I do see ways to greatly increase the playability and intrigue of southern nobles.

Thats said:  To all those playing Tuluki nobles/templars/guards, this is nothing personal or judging your role and its validity in the game.  In many ways its a thread to try to improve the intrigue of the game and make it more widespread, not condensed.

Furthermore:  I'm only for this idea if it be the focus of a large plot that would make it, to anyone who doesnt read the GDB, to say "Oh shit, Muk Utep just did the logical thing".  I'd also promote a MUD-wide (not GDB) vote, if the Imms are willing to consider such a measure.

[EvilRoeSlade]

Because I believe the game, as a whole, was better when the social roleplay was centered in one place.  Familiarity breeds contempt.

[jhunter]

The only thing I question about it...is how do you know that it would increase the social rp?

Here's what I'm thinking...those that are making pcs up north are there because that's what they want to play...


...closing it down...is my no means a guarantee that it will increase anything for the social rp down south.

Those same people could just end up diffused amongst the non-city clans, and nothing will have changed for those down south.

Just one possibility I think that could happen, making the whole idea fairly pointless if it does.

This only works under the assumption that people like playing city-based, political type characters and not everyone does.

[UnderSeven]

I don't think closing the houses would do much more than give  people nothing to do in fewer places.

[Trenidor]

I think that southerners are sad because all their friends moved north for the HRPT and joined the legions.

If there were some special thing down south I'm sure lots more people would gather there just to experience it.

[Anonymous]

This only works under the assumption that people like playing city-based, political type characters and not everyone does.

That's not my particular point at all.  I don't prefer to play political/social PCs, generally.  I actually prefer outdoorsy rangers.

The idea is to funnel more politically-leaning PCs into one area to increase the level of intrigue and intra-city conflict because inter-city conflict just ain't happening.  And my basis for this is my perception that when there were 13 active nobles in Allanak with an entourage there was a very active political scene.

What's at issue here is that the game's current population, in my estimation, cannot support a similar level of high-intrigue when a finite number of social/political roles are being spread across two locations.  If the average number of players on at a given time was higher, I wouldn't feel this way.

Too many jobs + Not enough PCs to fill = Less interaction as people are spread out more and more.  If in 6 months time there are upwards of 90 people logged in on average during prime time, then I think the current population and the current job market will have reached an equilibrium.  Currently, the job market and PC population are out of balance.