Howdy, Folks, its been a minute.
I joined back in September of 2014, where I made my first character, Keyrena. in Tuluk, and it was a little less than a week ago that I learned Tuluk Reopened. My first character, is still my most long-lived and most hours played character. I had a blast with her, and it was a shame to see Tuluk close, but in playing Keyrena, I made friends - out of character. Naturally, people speak of the game out of character, and they shared many of their past experiences with the game, and in those experiences, many of those things were from long ago, with exciting lore, and many things that aren't possible back in 2014/2015, but not now.
There was never a clear answer on why, and I'll get back to that in a moment.
I played Keyrena for almost eight months, and it was amazing, a great learning experience, but now - seven years later, I still feel like I've only scratched the surface of this game.
So, I'll make it flat out: I love arm as a setting, as a game. Always will, even if I am inactive for a long period of time. I've returned, because I heard Tuluk had reopened.
So, lets get to it.
What are some of the causes that have made you play less or not at all?Primarily Real life - its a main factor, but also a lack of an ability to stick to a single character concept after Keyrena.
A major part of this is from the fact there's a lot of Lore I want to explore, especially with magickers, but there's been a constant culture of being told, no, you won't be able to do that, staff will say no, and so on and so forth. The 'No' situation many have already mentioned. This goes back to the stories I mention I had been told. I, as (in my opinion) an inexperienced of armageddon, feel like I'm missing out on something amazing that is part of armageddon mud.
I truly, truly think the game would be much better off if staff were willing to let players more often -be the exception-, to -break- that glass ceiling and trust them, to enable player agency, and see where it goes.
I as a player like sinking my teeth into deep Lore, and I admit - due to the above of a nay-saying I got from players, and generally watching the conversations (sometimes even on the GDB) in the past, It kinda created the stigma that made me uncertain on if I should try, or not.
What are some changes you think would benefit the game and draw more people - new and returning?I am of the side that thinks the new classes are a good thing, they open up much more diversity and feel like actual characters that build wide experiences, having high caps in specialty skills while other skills that help them do their specialty better, with subguilds adding plenty of flavor to said characters.
I love the magick subguilds, but I love the magick of armageddon MUD in general and often want to experience more of it, it enables characters to feel like genuine characters rather than a representation of magicker and nothing else.
But, I do think full guild elementalists should have remained an option. I mirror the comments of people who say there's been too much 'taken away' from the game. Reaches, etc, all of that stuff, some might say 'less is more', but when you take things that were already there, for veteran players, that means seeing less and less of what they remember, and when they share their stories with new players, they wonder why that can't be a thing anymore. (Like me)
This is more of a personal gripe, and one I imagine many won't disagree with. On Keyrena, she was a pickpocket, but her story had her join a combat clan, and she had abysmal strength and endurance, and all the RP, training, and the like of trying to grow stronger to make up for the limitations of the character. (Dont get me wrong, it was great playing out keyrena's shortcomings)
You, could not, for example, make an application to see if that character progression and change in their story could represent something mechanically. I've always been of the mind that a character changes and grows with a story, and while I wouldn't expect someone with poor strength to go up to good, or even above average strength, showings of a character's growth, in many ways should be supported.
One could say that's done in a characters skills, but if mechanics represent a character's progression, attributes matter too, as does a growing, learning character. From what I understand, this sort of thing is only really done if a characters stat is so crippling low its inhibiting their ability to play the game.
Essentially:
Acknowledgement of a character's growth more than just in their defined, locked in main/subguild choices and attributes.Transparency has been helping a lot, but I also Mirror a lot of other players suggestions of advertising, and reaching out to people, I mean, I bet there's a lot of creative players you could reach out to to even help with that.
What sort of things should do we more of?I think I've already said what could be done, giving more player agency, more player trust, enable players to at least try to do something bigger, with staff oversight. Loose, if not shatter that glass ceiling, and enable players to become the exceptions with their characters.
The plots I've been involved in were tons of fun, and I will say I'm biased here, but I want to see more magick plots, some with stuff out in the open that even non-magickers can get involved in, and leave a mark on that character to create more plots. One of the best things I've seen done in open RP games with players is characters who are put in a situation and are given something to work with by the DMs/admins/staff then take that to create way more roleplay for others. The little push to kick something off.
What sort of things should we do less of?
"Find out IC"
Get rid of that. Completely.
Compromise? Make documents and lore accessible via a karma point, or a half karma point.
This, in the sense that its not helpful to anyone, nor gives them in hints or advise on how to find something out - sure, certain things require IC digging, and IC experience, but encouraging people and pushing them along to what they might need to do to learn something if its lore, or giving them clues, and something to Rp about just seems like the healthier option. This isn't only a staff thing though - even players fall into the trap of saying this, and boy have i said it lots. Its the blanket term for "I know, but I don't want to share, or don't think I should share."
-----------
Over all, that's what i got to say, apologies if its long winded, but I'm glad to be back.
Recent Posts