A Better Idea for Increasing the Playerbase

[Ergorion]

My last idea for increasing the playerbase was fairly retarded because no one wants to call random pay phones and the probability that we're going to attract players that way isn't high. I have, however, thought of a better way to attract players to AR.

Idea: write www.abandonedrealms.com on pieces of paper and leave them around the fantasy sections of your local library/bookstore, maybe even add some catchy phrase to attract players.

With this method of advertising, we'll be reaching our target audience much more frequently than calling random pay phones and this method of advertising is extremely inexpensive, all you need is paper and a pen.

[zifnab]

Interesting. I know a few good places (ithaca, NY anyone?) that I could leave some leaflets. It sounds desperate and ubsurd but it could work. Hey...im on board.

[Groq]

You live in Ithaca? I'm right down in Binghamton.. weird.

[Davairus]

I think AR's problem with playerbase now stems from being below the critical mass necessary to hold onto most casual players. I would say the marketing has something to do with it, but also I feel it is necessary to take a look at the game itself for issues with it.

Lets take surges for instance. Surges provide a boost in playerbase 4 times a week, 2 of which are inaccessible to any given player. Instead of playing on and off to find a group (which would work well with guild points), there's been people still trying to just play surges, and leaving the mud empty as church off-sunday..

What about the non-surge time? Not a whole lot to do there besides lament the missing double exp. We need some accessible group quests in my opinion. Things that you'd want but you wouldn't want to waste the surge time on. Just some things that raise the baseline in those long boring periods between 2*exp. Possibly seasonal things that make the experience seem more unique and special.

What about pk'ing? What are we doing to encourage that? I can infer from the pk stats that only people in cabals are bothering anymore. That's AR's strongest point code-wise, the balance of the game and much of its fun rests in the activity of pk'ing fellow players for gold and loot. Some of us aren't playing the same game IMO.

These submitted ideas were dumb but they highlight the need to do something.

[Erlwith]

Post intelligent and positive reviews. Mudconnector features reviews on their main page. That means until 12 more reviews are posted and approved Abandoned Realms will be advertised to the many people who browse the site. Sell it as an advanced PK MUD with avid and superb roleplayers. If for every one suggestion posted on the previous suggestion thread for increasing the pbase, there was an advert also posted on Mudconnectpr and other similar sites, we'd be in better shape.

Admin. Banners on sites like topmudsites and mudconnector would also help. If financial issues prevent it why not take temporary anonymous donations?

[Mummy]

[Davairus]

You see, you're defending the surges there, and I don't blame you, but you've missed my point.

[MrCarb]

Ok, I promised myself I wouldn't mention this, as it will seem petty and pedantic to even the most forgiving reader, but I cannot contain myself anymore.

"You have a unique chance to make a character to play within the world."

Please, for the love of all that is good, change this to

"You have a chance to make a unique character to play within the world."

It will make me sleep better at night.

[Mummy]

[Addreodyn]

[Mahkan]

Hmm... mummy
Though I understand your point about these guys racking up a lot of hours and possibly (hopefully in some distant universe) being the future of AR, I have to disagree with you on some front. I definitely agree that AR is about to get a few very good pinnacles, Worzle, Borduh, Xherqueror (unless he suffers from lds), and Peridoc just to name a few. But I have to totally disagree with those other people that are currently filling the 30's range out. Scarbos and Izotz should not be the ideal new players. For one, they are more stage 3 than anyone ive ever seen, and 2 they dont fight, ever. Though they rack up a ton of hours, theyre just tools, and Ar does not need more tools (m1co anyone?.)

Though, I must confess, I myself am a new player,and I must say, I, like most, can be toolish at times (in fact im sure anyone ive fought would call my current character a tool since he attacks everyone in his range at all times). Not to come off as arrogant, but I think Ar should try to fill up with people that arent tools, like myself, that are constantly trying to evolve from the natural toolish newbie state. And, though I cant really offer any solution to reaching out to the non-tool demographic, I would hope that Ar as a community tries to turn tools into good players as they are the future of the game.

(PS will some imm please tell Scar__ to stop using Scar in his names?)

[Davairus]

I'm now used to more modern MMOs where I can log on anytime and have something to do, even if none of my friends are on
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The thing about MMO is they also put people into private little bubbles, where people are doing stuff separately. There's your friends around but they need to farm eggs for some "awsome" crafting system, or solo quest content that you are too low level/high level, or already in a 5-man-only group or something. So on the other hand, when AR has people to socialize with, you can always join in. My experience with MMO was even less social contact than on low pbase AR (i.e. nearly none). Plus the pk is lamer - mainly loot-based, without looting setbacks, so you will end up getting to a point where there's no way forward anymore. Those games rely a lot on dangling a carrot in front of your nose. Its basically novelty all the way, til you finally run out of new content (which can take easily a year but still.. its eventually just a baseball card, and before that is 99% grinding to get there after learning the game's basics for 1 month maybe). The point is, without the looting setbacks to reinvent your way forward, every character has a shelf-life, and if youve played D2 you will know the sick feeling waiting when that time finally expires. So yeah, you "have" something to do in the present, but the past is forgettable. Whereas AR, fond memories fighting red dragon in sewers first time etc..

I did like someones suggestion about speeding up 1-20 solo exp, and umm, thats what all the quests are there for...so what are you talking about? We can keep adding more I guess. But you have to appreciate that the process of levelling helps set up confrontations between players of similar skill in pk, it gives them an activity to do while waiting, and experience with their skills and commands. Levelling is only tedious for people who belong at higher level than they are. Its a flaw in this type of game shared by all games in the genre, including MMO. AR's got the advantage of it also serving as a way to police the pk skill level though. Also AR's quests are the kind that you can blow through quick and easily if you know them (i.e. vet) whereas an MMO bogs every player down more or less the same with or without guides.





I would hope that Ar as a community tries to turn tools into good players as they are the future of the game.
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Actually this is a better way of looking at it, learn to deal with the tools at level 10/20/30 before fighting the one's at 50. Some players will always be tools - they just get better at pk.

[Erlwith]

I really don't think leveling needs to be made easier. It is one of the few things to do when there's not someone in your PK range. Otherwise, most people just log off. Look at how long 50s stay logged in when there are no others in their PK range and no one to gather rares with. I understand the grind can be boring at times but that doesn't warrant removing it, just making it more interesting.

PK may be the centerpiece and prime focus of this game but it's foolish to beieve that it is enough to highly populate any MUD. I think that very belief is a good reason why there are so few players now. Look at just about any MUD with a regular pbase of 25+ and you'll see what I mean.

AR is catering to such a select audience, hardcore PK MUDers. That's like marketing to tall, transexual, brown asians. If our focus is going to be purely on PK and everything else just being a means to that end we have to realize and accept that we are going to suffer a limited pbase and lose most other MUDers, leaving us with the population we have now, more or less.

These awkard "fixes" don't help keep players either. "Open PK" areas being a prime example of a fix that just doesn't make any sense in AR. The point of henchmen were to make things more balanced when players were out of range. I can say at 42 I safely beat back several 50s that invaded various cabals I was a member of and I don't really see why there needs to be this backdoor to PK unless the PK system changes completely and there are no more ranges, but area specific PK rules. Another example is the fly/murder lag and change wield lag, which helped the classes it needed to help but also shifted PK and gimped a whole slew of other race/class combos. Of course these types of changes are in my opinion AR's least worry because the game is all about working within the system.

[Davairus]

First of all, why don't you debate that on the right thread, I don't care to take this thread off-topic.

But I will address the point about pkers driving people away. At AR, its the opposite in my opinion. I see players driving away pk'ers by calling them trash and stuff. You pk a level 15 and youre instantly a trash fire giant berserker. Heck, you're trash if you stop and get in some pks at level 40 nowadays. PK'ing below 30 is practically unthinkable. So basically all those levels are boring to replay because you aren't supposed to attack anyone there. So you go take your "trash" elsewhere. Right.

[Bones V2.0]

[Xerties]

Seconded FFA day. Again. That seems to be one of the most desired things among players, but for some reason there's been a great deal of resistance to the idea from the Imms. I think that having one once every 4-6 months would be plenty and it would give people a chance to try out new combos, and just get a taste for the game at 50 in gerneral, like Bones said.

[Davairus]

So for nobody has come up with a better reason for a grand day of zero RP OOC pointless gangbanging, other than, "its fun", and other than that, if you think it won't just be me, Res, or Pip whooping your ass til we get bored and you cry for the old mud back because all you are doing is sleeping up over and over, think again. Besides that, I don't believe its appropriate to suspend the roleplaying environment for anything other than a pwipe. If there was to be a brawl then you can be sure that you are not getting your character back afterward. Brawl = AR is closing down or some such. And besides THAT, simply play AR without being a puss for your whole life, and its more fun than any of those boring days. Thats why they always end up so gimmicky, with like, stone giant invokers, or "cabalme" command. You learn nothing about the level 50 experience. All you learn is that you take it in the pooper from beautiful silver berserkers in ooc groups. Big surprise?

[Vertas]

i tried the whole insta fifty and cabalme thing on a different mud that was actually probably ars stolen script, yes i brought this up like a year ago or whatever. It was dumb, once I killed someone, fairly or unfairly they would just disconnect and reroll and kill me at half health...and we definately don't want douchebags playing...so as long as we are putting cards in the fantasy section of libraries we're doing that anywhere close to where i live...But yeah, mudconnector is definately our best bet, or if you know anyone who used to play ar you can recruit them, i can probably think of about five or six people off the top of my head who i could talk to

[Bones V2.0]

[Slade]