Why are Orcs a dying race?

[Xerihsob 33]

I feel like the title explains it all pretty well but let me go a bit more in depth. I am a member of the Orcs and for a long time now our playerbase has been faltering and we have been trying to fix it but have mostly came up with nothing for most if not all of the changes we have made. We have made the RP a bit more "easier" by making Blah less strict, we have humanized a lot of our ways in hopes of reaching more users but as I mentioned before, none have caused a change in our so-called "demise".

 

So here I am today, asking anyone who wishes to respond. Whether that be people who use to be Orcs, who are currently Orcs, or are a different race altogether; all opinions are welcomed and needed. A few questions I could use answers too are something like the following.

 

1. Why did you not make an Orc and what would persuade you to make one?

2. For people who have stopped playing an Orc, why?

3. For those who are just an outsider, what are your views on our current situation and what can we do to remedy the fact that we are losing players?

 

[_pok_ 1768]

While I agree that the Orcs were not going in the right direction for awhile, I believe that we are experiencing a resurgence in players and the RP centered around the Goi right now has not been better than it is right now. I know you're relatively new, so it's hard to see just how far we've come for you. You must understand that prior to my Rexdom, Orcish activity consisted of 2-3 players online at a time, we were lucky to have 5. Now we're capable of rallying 10-15 for most impromptu events and I've never been MORE confident in the RPers that we do have. I'd appreciate anything you'd like to do to help, however a thread like this does not do much other than to harm our reputation and status. 

[Pieman 1134]

Join the orcs , join Krugmar !

 

 

Pok's got it all ;) 

[Kvasir 1121]

Just now, _pok_ said:

While I agree that the Orcs were not going in the right direction for awhile, I believe that we are experiencing a resurgence in players and the RP centered around the Goi right now has not been better than it is right now. I know you're relatively new, so it's hard to see just how far we've come for you. You must understand that prior to my Rexdom, Orcish activity consisted of 2-3 players online at a time, we were lucky to have 5. Now we're capable of rallying 10-15 for most impromptu events and I've never been MORE confident in the RPers that we do have. I'd appreciate anything you'd like to do to help, however a thread like this does not do much other than to harm our reputation and status. 

*knock on wood*

[chaotikal 2392]

1. Why did you not make an Orc and what would persuade you to make one?

I've had several orcs throughout the years, from Thoruk'Gorkil, one of Thore'Gorkil's cubs, to Vogosh'Dom, the son of Urolem'Dom and some randos inbetween. Orcs have an interesting culture, which is unexploited, and when it is, it is changed drastically to fit whatever is trendy, like when Draenor came out so lots of orc culture was changed to accomodate the newest WOW expansion.

 

2. For people who have stopped playing an Orc, why?

Usually the nation is lead through OOC, it is similar to the reason why I've stopped playing Dwarves, I've grown tired of having to go around my interactions through OOC first, IC later. While this problem may not be inherent to orcs, it has been a problem of many races for a while, wood Elves being a prime example if you would require one.

 

3. For those who are just an outsider, what are your views on our current situation and what can we do to remedy the fact that we are losing players?

Has happened before, will continue to happen. Orcs will never obtain a playerbase that is stable due to their very nature of being unstable and ever-changing. These sort of threads help nothing but to sate a curious mind, and no solution will come of it.

[Xerihsob 33]

14 minutes ago, _pok_ said:

-snip-

Asking for help does not harm reputation; we are not Orcs IRL. Whilst it is true we have experienced a boom in players recently I have seen the activity and MANY of the new Orcs have already quit playing. Something is clearly wrong and we need answers.

 

12 minutes ago, Chaotikal said:

-snip-

Thanks for your opinions, very nicely put and insightful. I agree with everything you have listed essentially. This nation is semi-run OOC as are many other races, but there is nothing that can be done to remedy that. OOC feelings will ALWAYS be mixed in with IC feelings, there is no solution to it and never will be; no one human can completley turn off their emotions when making decisions in a seperate persona or online alias. It is also the reason Admins and Mods have a hard time making decisions and doing a good job.

 

In response to "this does nothing but sate a curious mind", that is true but there is no harm in trying. I will try and try until something changes, as there is no point in simply wallowing in pity and giving up.

[Travista 1361]

Wud left

[WuHanXianShi14 0]

1 minute ago, Chaotikal said:

it has been a problem of many races for a while, wood Elves being a prime example if you would require one.

[citation needed]

 

I think orcs have never had as much players as say humans or elves because they're objectively the least approachable race for new players. That's not a dig, I think its just factual, orcs are the bloodthirsty beast-like brutes (that may not be true, but tell me a new player who has just read the wiki and is going off his preconceived assumptions of orcs from other mediums like LOTR or D&D won't think that), whereas humans are better at being anything.

 

In terms of approachability I would rank it at Humans - Elves - Dwarves - Orcs

 

Humans are obviously the easiest race to jump into as a new applicant for obvious reasons. No speech expectations, they're the easiest character to play as a 'blank slate' and there are a ton of human settlements to choose from. Not to mention we're human IRL.

 

Elves are next because frankly you can just play them as a human. If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's just a human with pointed ears. In my experience, most elven characters just start out as "basically humans who dont want to age", then become acculturated to the wood elves, high elves, etc as they learn in RP.

 

Dwarves are generally a more niche preference for new RPers since they're short, not generally attractive, and have the accent thing going on. More people want to be the Aragorn or the Legolas than the Gimli, to simplify it. The dwarves still have enough going for them that they've carved out a niche for new players, particularly hobbit/thorin oakenshield enthusiasts.

 

Orcs finally are generally the least "Desirable" of the races for new players. Think of the mentality of someone completely new to RP, generally they'll want to play your standard adventurer/hero/good-guy type blank slate character, and an elf or human generally fits that bill much better than a lumbering orc, who speaks in blah. I'm not saying there's no merit in orc RP, its just that as a race which cannot help but be stereotyped as the bloodthirsty beast-like bad guy you're naturally going to have a more niche appeal than the humans, who can literally be anything, which is why less people apply as orcs.

 

tl;dr:

Orcs have a strong unshakable "bad guy" image associated with them, as opposed to humans which are perceived as much more flexible and can be anything, thus generally making them more approachable to new players.

[Gridlock 1033]

1. Why did you not make an Orc and what would persuade you to make one?
    I didn't think i'd be able to master the language, I don't like the orcs we have on LOTC, I prefer LOTR-esque orcs. Making them Lotr-ish would get me on board within a minute.

2. For people who have stopped playing an Orc, why?

N/A

3. For those who are just an outsider, what are your views on our current situation and what can we do to remedy the fact that we are losing players?

N/A

[OzYmandi 647]

25 minutes ago, Xerihsob said:

 

 

1. Why did you not make an Orc and what would persuade you to make one? I made an Orc because the experience is fun.

2. For people who have stopped playing an Orc, why? After you play for a while, it doesn't get boring, but its... Not full of much action, since we rarely have any events (DivineJustice is changing that now) and hardly anyone likes us, making social life hard.

3. For those who are just an outsider, what are your views on our current situation and what can we do to remedy the fact that we are losing players?

 

 

[Demotheus 651]

15 minutes ago, 吳憾戰士14 said:

[citation needed]

 

 

[Citation: Leowarrior]

 

heheheh.

 

Good points though. Preeeetty much what he said.

[_pok_ 1768]

22 minutes ago, Xerihsob said:

Asking for help does not harm reputation; we are not Orcs IRL. Whilst it is true we have experienced a boom in players recently I have seen the activity and MANY of the new Orcs have already quit playing. Something is clearly wrong and we need answers.

 

Thanks for your opinions, very nicely put and insightful. I agree with everything you have listed essentially. This nation is semi-run OOC as are many other races, but there is nothing that can be done to remedy that. OOC feelings will ALWAYS be mixed in with IC feelings, there is no solution to it and never will be; no one human can completley turn off their emotions when making decisions in a seperate persona or online alias. It is also the reason Admins and Mods have a hard time making decisions and doing a good job.

 

In response to "this does nothing but sate a curious mind", that is true but there is no harm in trying. I will try and try until something changes, as there is no point in simply wallowing in pity and giving up.

When I say harm our reputation, I mean that it makes us look as though we're desperate like we were in the past for players. We're not nearly as desperate or starving as before, and I believe we are very capable. 

 

As for running a nation OOCly, a nation has to be at least in-part be run OOCly. Organizing and managing events is an OOC activity, constructing new cities are an OOC activity. Vetting leadership, for the most part, is honestly an OOC activity. You can't bring in people to lead who aren't competent, and one needs to be a competent leader OOCly in order to be successful on this server. 

And yes, I have noticed some of the new Orcs up and quitting as well, and I believe that has something to do with a lack of organization both on my end and a general disinterest in the server as a whole. I had an opportunity to talk to a new player who after a few days said "It's not the Orcs, it's just that the server is pretty boring." Said player is now gone. We need to do more for player retention, and I have ideas about that, but it's hard for me personally to do anything about it as I have a lot more responsibilities than that to deal with.  
 

10 minutes ago, 吳憾戰士14 said:

[citation needed]

 

I think orcs have never had as much players as say humans or elves because they're objectively the least approachable race for new players. That's not a dig, I think its just factual, orcs are the bloodthirsty beast-like brutes (that may not be true, but tell me a new player who has just read the wiki and is going off his preconceived assumptions of orcs from other mediums like LOTR or D&D won't think that), whereas humans are better at being anything.

 

I agree pretty much completely with that and it's definitely the reason we don't bring in as many players, and despite my best efforts never will have a population truly equal to the humans. That's not necessarily my goal though, my goal is to have a fairly dedicated and active group which I believe in the past month or so we've managed to do.
 

[6xdestroyer 1610]

36 minutes ago, Travista said:

Wud left

Answers all questions

[Birdnerdy 1539]

I think orcs are getting better tbh

[MangoArt 399]

30 minutes ago, 吳憾戰士14 said:

[citation needed]

 

I think orcs have never had as much players as say humans or elves because they're objectively the least approachable race for new players. That's not a dig, I think its just factual, orcs are the bloodthirsty beast-like brutes (that may not be true, but tell me a new player who has just read the wiki and is going off his preconceived assumptions of orcs from other mediums like LOTR or D&D won't think that), whereas humans are better at being anything.

 

In terms of approachability I would rank it at Humans - Elves - Dwarves - Orcs

 

Humans are obviously the easiest race to jump into as a new applicant for obvious reasons. No speech expectations, they're the easiest character to play as a 'blank slate' and there are a ton of human settlements to choose from. Not to mention we're human IRL.

 

Elves are next because frankly you can just play them as a human. If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's just a human with pointed ears. In my experience, most elven characters just start out as "basically humans who dont want to age", then become acculturated to the wood elves, high elves, etc as they learn in RP.

 

Dwarves are generally a more niche preference for new RPers since they're short, not generally attractive, and have the accent thing going on. More people want to be the Aragorn or the Legolas than the Gimli, to simplify it. The dwarves still have enough going for them that they've carved out a niche for new players, particularly hobbit/thorin oakenshield enthusiasts.

 

Orcs finally are generally the least "Desirable" of the races for new players. Think of the mentality of someone completely new to RP, generally they'll want to play your standard adventurer/hero/good-guy type blank slate character, and an elf or human generally fits that bill much better than a lumbering orc, who speaks in blah. I'm not saying there's no merit in orc RP, its just that as a race which cannot help but be stereotyped as the bloodthirsty beast-like bad guy you're naturally going to have a more niche appeal than the humans, who can literally be anything, which is why less people apply as orcs.

 

tl;dr:

Orcs have a strong unshakable "bad guy" image associated with them, as opposed to humans which are perceived as much more flexible and can be anything, thus generally making them more approachable to new players.

I think the bottom line with this though, is we need to show the good side of orcs on the wiki, so that newbies aren't afraid of us. We seem less desirable because the wiki and basic lore portray us that way. We need to show our green-smoking hippie side, we need to show our honorable side, and best of all we need to show that orcs do not lack emotion or empathy, in fact they can possess to much, giving them a rather angry or intense disposition that can be gotten past.