So this has been on my mind for awhile. I’ve been back to the game now after four months and there is no doubt about it. Numbers have dropped and they’ve dropped drastically. I can’t and won’t speculate as to why that’s happened over the past five years I’ve been gone. I know around the time I left I certainly had my reasons which are irrelevant now. But we are a community, and I think we need to calibrate sometimes.
Ultimately, I’ve been considering player retention in general and I have a lot of ideas on that - bringing old players back, fostering new ones and keeping current players. However, as I was considering all of that one note in particular held a lot of weight and I realized it could be a topic of it’s own. I believe we need to talk about PK. I’m going to start by discussing why I think this is a problem, in particular regarding the current state of the game as it stands.
The sandbox has clearly shrunk. As of Friday at one point during peak hours there were 13 players on. Now, as I said. If we want to talk player numbers let’s keep that to a different thread but I do feel like the frivolous amount of PK occuring in the game is contributing to the dwindling numbers. Honestly, I’m at a point where I’m struggling even not to drop off again. If this pattern continues the game will stagnate further and ultimately die off. Not to panic, there are still plenty of peak times where the game is getting up to the high forties. However, back five years ago mid to high sixties were standard and I would argue went on a bit longer. There are several factors that could be adding to this but let’s talk about PK in particular.
The SandboxPK doesn’t just have IC effects it has OOC effects as well. It can create player burn out and not just for the player of the PK’d player but also for other players that might have invested in the character PK’d emotionally and or financially. This shrinks the sandbox either temporarily or permanently, depending on if the player rolls another character. It can also potentially shrink the sandbox in the area that you are playing if someone goes elsewhere because PK is occurring frivolously and with too much frequency.
I feel like this is also where Tuluk being closed creates an issue. There were many times I felt one city or the other had RP going on that I wasn’t interest in or one side of the world was too PK happy. I would then go to the other side of the world. There is still Luir’s but the Outposts do not offer much playability for support based or city based characters.
As players get more cavalier on PK even over the past few months I am watching it effect the numbers - shrinking that sandbox. I have not been the victim of PK anytime recently but I have observed the level of PK going on and some of the reasons for which it occurs and I think it’s something to take a look at.
Story Incubation and RP quality in a Shrinking SandboxWhen story ties get cut as the peak or before they really get the chance to solidify while the sandbox continues to shrink due to PK the quality of RP becomes watered down and suffers. So you’re playing in a smaller box, with the same few players that have managed to survive and you’re trying to scrounge for RP. This makes the RP itself convoluted and increasingly petty as players grasp for literally anything to start interest between the limited players now left that are established to interact with.
It's also worth noting that some of those characters that stick around, are going to have made it by not sticking their neck out for PK. Meaning, what's left in the sandbox might not be very lively RP wise. I'm not saying that's the case. I'm saying it's something to consider when on average you've got 13 - 25 people or less on during the one or two hours we consider peak.
I don’t know about you guys but I have plenty of opportunities for petty interactions IRL. I come to this game for story, broad, sweeping and beautiful plots and a sort of escapist virtual reality experience. That’s what I would like to see instead of an endless exchange of PKills for the most minor reasons possible.
I’m not saying PK doesn’t have it’s place. I’m saying sometimes the game needs to be able to breath and so that backdrop can get painted for a story that will be engaging and immersive. I'm also saying that we need consider what PKs place in the game is, and how it's currently effecting our numbers and quality of plot. Please read till the end and hear me out.
Coded IssuesOne thing I think we have to ask ourselves is have we made PK too easy? With the new guilds a lot of people now have stealth and murder based skills that allow them to evade the crimcode day or night. Often times, there are no soldiers stationed in any tavern in Allanak at night. Not even the ones where nobles hang out. There are almost no guarded zones in the city. With the right skills you can easily kill someone in the city without even standing in the same square and by using the hide skill can you scoot away with ease. Codedly, things have changed. Assassin used to be a hard one to level up - and for good reason. Likewise, those sneaky skills can be incredibly powerful. Stealth skills can take down even magickers or powerful warriors with ease. Something to consider. In many ways, sneak and hide is less risky and more powerful than magickal stealth abilities. That seems a bit wrong. I don't know how many times I've been in a closed off tiny room with a sneaky who instantly Batman disappears.
Are there some tweaks that need to be made either with the crim code or with character guilds? Something again to consider. I for one think at least a couple of taverns should be secure at night. The taverns in particular are where plots come together. But if you think something as simple as tavern sitting and waiting for players to show could make you an easy target for some random murderer why do it?
I don’t mind the streets at night being dangerous but sitting in a tavern frequented by nobles, or the Red’s likely shouldn’t be one of those places. Soldiers should be stationed there, or at least chilling in their off hours. It shouldn’t be super easy to attack someone and scoot out in places like those without the crim code providing some real risk to those that want to try.
Alternative to PKIf you want to you can be that person just looking for any perceived slight to PK but I would strongly urge against it. The reality, is we are playing a game. We have a limited amount of players to pool from. The virtual world we play in doesn’t have an unlimited amount of PCs. When you’re considering ending a PC I would strongly consider alternative methods. Even if it frustrates you, even if it puts your character at risk. Why? Because the end goal is to create a fun game with deep plots that engulf you and suck you in. That’s less likely to happen if the restart button keeps getting pressed. I'm not saying there isn't a time and place to kill a person, there certainly is. But if you find yourself pulling those reasons from thin air or PKing more than one person a week instead of when you're actually at risk? Maybe you might want to stop and consider the effects you're having on the game.
There are so many creative alternatives to PK. Having someone roughed up. Have someone stolen from. Publicly humiliate them. Torture. Slavery. Rivaling. Arguing. Rumor mongering. If you can think of a reason to kill someone IG you can just as creatively think of a reason not to kill them. Show some creativity and I promise you it will foster a story that keeps people coming back along but this takes collective effort from players, and a staff willing to step in when PK is getting too frequent for flimsy reasons. I don’t want the staff to be able to overly police PK but I do think they should be highly aware of it and have the ability to step in when it gets to be too much.
Alternative to Tuluk’s Closer - An Antagonist and PVEI believe that part of the reason for the state of things is that people are too congested and there is no escape. I for one like to play city based characters but Luirs is not really a great place for city based characters and after PK there is no other city-state to escape too. This can expedite burn out and keep old rivalries alive from character to character. People are too squished in without an alternative city state to catch fresh air. Perhaps the answer to this is to create more PVE situations but that requires more work from staff and honestly, I would be very sad for Arm to take on a more PVE instead of PVP environment.
We need our antagonist back so that petty feuds (and many of them are petty) aren’t what’s driving the game and PK.
If I was going to talk about player retention I would point out that Tuluk was a long time fixture to our game that some people played exclusively in. A good game would not just suddenly cut out that option and isolate those players from our culture. But player retention is a different thread I don't have time or energy to start.
What is too much PK?There is no real answer to that. But let’s think about the fact that right now at peak times we’re seeing about 35 people on during a couple of peak hours. If even 2 PKs are occurring a week? That’s 8 a month. That means a FOURTH of the regular amount of players we’re seeing are resetting every RL month. And definitely more than that amount of PK is happening right now. When we had double the players on on a regular basis that would have been an eighth. Not nearly as bad. Now, this frequency of PK is a huge chunk of the base that could either fall off, get burnt out or just have to reset.
I believe we should be trying to drag people collectively into a story and build it. PK is a means to an end, it shouldn't be the end all be all. At least that's what I came up believing in this game. It is not a hack and slash with a plot line. This is an RP game with permadeath to add to the story and grit. Not vice versa.
I think we need to face the reality that player numbers ARE slow and down and with that PK should be slowed. Perhaps we’ll even see an uptick if plots are allowed to actually seed and grow.
SummaryIn short I am imploring you all as a community to consider finding alternatives to PK for the good of the game WHEN you can. I am NOT saying there is no place for PK. I’m saying I want to see PK be better roleplayed, less frequent and for more solid reasons due to playability and player retention.
There is no point in being the king of the hill if that hill is a teeny tiny sandbox lump. I feel the game desperately needs to consider the code and how it has been far too relaxed in order to allow PK without any crim code repercussions. I also think collectively, as a community we need to strive to create a strong tapestry that will ensnare players with a story and the depth of our interactions.
I don’t know all of you or what your place is in this story we all enjoy but I hope this will seed something in the mind of players and staff or start a dialogue at the very least. I do believe this is a valid concern giving the state and size of this game.
My Final Thoughts (from a post later in this thread)It may be an OOC consideration, but the reality is there is an OOC element to this game because it is a virtual world.
The OOC consideration is why we have karma for powerful roles, and why people with total PK privileges like Templars are vetted before they get the role and continually followed up on. It's the same reason it's in poor taste to attack someone who is obviously new. Sometimes we find IG reasons to not do something because of OOC reasons to make the game better. These types of standards aren't relegated to PC leaders. We all have a responsibility to realize we are part of a community and a game. If we did not have OOC considerations this is not a game you would want to play, nor would we have made it this far. And this is what I'm trying to point out.
We are drawing from a limited pool of people. Maybe getting PK'd doesn't dissuade you. But it could dissuade the person you PK and the people around them. Granted, that's not your responsibility. I'm using your in general to whoever is reading this. But if you don't feel like you have at least a smidgen of obligation to make the game playable and to lend yourself to plots that are fun? We have a problem.
We're all going to have different opinions. Ultimately, I'm addressing the player base collectively here. You have an IC obligation to play your character, but you also have an OOC obligation to try to make the game interesting, fun and enjoyable IF you want it to stick around.
This sort of insular idea, that you just have to focus on yourself, your characters and your preferences isn't going to work. The reality is the game is dwindling and I know on my part, and clearly on the parts of others here, a big part of the deterrent is because it's a struggle to get a good, deep story going. I'm not stating this as a knee jerk reaction, I'm stating it as someone who has played for a decade off and on and am seeing a clear devolution and a player base that's drying up.
So either we can have a real conversation on how to make the game better, or we can hug PK for any reason we can pull out of the air tight and cling to an insular mindset. But if there's no one else to play with and players can't be retained you can have all of the opinions you want --- but you won't have anyone left to play with.
I'm not trying to speak out of personal preference, (although obviously I'm going to have my own bias) I'm saying - hey, do we want Arm to stick around and what do we want it to look like? In it's current state I think codedly it's tilted towards PK instead of plot for several reasons I listed here and that's what I want the PB to consider.
