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Player Retention Report


Treshure
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There's no ruins anymore, there's no exploration, event sites as most event sites are jumped on by a nation or restricted to certain groups. Its literally warp to hub, go to city then tavern rp for the rest of your days, nothing really happens. There are no quests or something that would get people having fun as you seem to need constant staff approval to do even the littlest of things. Though I doubt this thread will do much but have them offer promises of change which ultimately will never be delivered upon.

 

Also to add into the ct warps to hubs, it is confusing for new players to decide where they want to go. They don't know what each name or flag means, what they really want to know is what place is the human place, where do the dwarves live and stuff like that.

Edited by Basil Moroul
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Server lost a lot of its dynamicism with the implementation of Activity Checks in Arcas. More has changed on the server due to the flow of players getting areas axed or added onto nation status than has changed with the many grandiose player wars of Arcas. Of course, we also haven't had any wars in a very long time regardless, so that doesn't help. Even with wars, it's not what it used to be. I miss Atlas.

 

It's a story told by NLs and staff. Might as well have the rest of us be NPCs that do grinding loops and sit in taverns.

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I'm sure some get invariably filtered out when they realize the server might not be as "video-gamey" as they expected. They might've expected a slight RPG-esque twist on a traditional Minecraft experience, and when they realize they a lot actually goes into character development, storytelling, and quality roleplay, they might just say "wow this lame bye lol" and never come back.

 

Maybe it would be beneficial to have a small, really relaxed settlement just outside of cloud temple for new players to get their bearings/interact with people more? I remember the Cloud Temple village being more of a prominent thing on some worlds, and the Monks were often around to interact with people. Maybe something along those lines could be done?

 

3 hours ago, Basil Moroul said:

There's no ruins anymore, there's no exploration, event sites as most event sites are jumped on by a nation or restricted to certain groups. Its literally warp to hub, go to city then tavern rp for the rest of your days, nothing really happens. There are no quests or something that would get people having fun as you seem to need constant staff approval to do even the littlest of things. Though I doubt this thread will do much but have them offer promises of change which ultimately will never be delivered upon.

Also this.

Edited by Shorsand
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When I rejoined last year from a four or five year hiatus, there was certainly a degree of the magic being "lost" for me. What I most significantly felt however, was a certain feeling of gate-keeping. When you first join the server, you expect yourself to be the hero and the protagonist if you've not played on a role-play server before. The server in its current state feels more so the opposite where it expects you to immediately know your place in the pecking order.

 

 The various restrictions over time from measuring player activity, striving for working economies and the aim for centralized states in general (especially now as a result to Vortex) has lead to the eventual forcing of players to become absorbed into cities where all they can realistically do is sit in the tavern, or join as a cog in the machine. This I feel gives the impression the server is a job. This is certainly appealing to some and is surely effective for nation leaders though it removes the individuality from a new players experience in my opinion. If you want to change the system, you get bogged down in it and new issues that seem more pressing come to the forefront as you forget about your experience as a new player as if you survived, why can't they?

 

It appears to me that nation leaders sometimes more so search for the ability to offer stability (likely due to the various regulations that weigh them down) than to offer the experiences that they first enjoyed and kept them on the server originally. People seem only too happy with the status quo which is only strengthened by the various systems that uphold said status quo.

 

My suggestion is ultimately de-centralization. 

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I may have a different perspective, given that I have only been around for about a year and a half. That means, while I'm definitely one of the success stories, I did join in Arcas and therefore have only experienced the heavy rules and plugins and activity checks. The reason my story is a success is a fluke. By all right, it should have failed and I should have quit. Here is my story:

 

I joined as a halfling. In my time researching my character, I had a lot of trouble. Brandybrook, the then-current town of the halflings, literally did not exist on the wiki. It was almost impossible to determine which events listed on the wiki were that current as there was no way to find the current date. Still, I worked hard and put together a proper application with two pieces of lore in it. I was, then, placed into pending because I didn't have two pieces of lore (I did). I was flabbergasted. I'm sure that some would have thrown up their hands there and left. But I chose not to, and I found a third piece of lore to add and was eventually accepted.

 

Now, to log in. Boom! I'm logged in! And.......I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go. I don't know anything. I don't even remember having a stack of bread. Nothing in the new player guide told me about the land plugin that restricts your ability to affect the world. I asked out in OOC, "Um, where do haflings go?" Thankfully, someone (in the muck of memes and trolls) told me to go to Brandybrook. Okay, I start following the road. And I get to the signs. "There's no Brandybrook on the signs." They said to head towards Aegrothond. "There's no Aegrothond on the sign." They said head towards Sutica and it's past that. Man, that was...more difficult than it should have been. Another player would have quit right there.

 

I head that direction and leave the Cloud Temple area. Almost immediately outside of Cloud Temple, I get halted by a group of bandits. Yes, I know now that they were breaking rules by banditing the roads leading to CT, but I didn't then. Another player would have quit right there. Luckily, this bandit, despite the rule breaking, quickly recognized me as a literal new player, handed me bread, and told me to get out of here. I got lucky.

 

I work my way to Aeg and get almost completely lost and frustrated and log out. Here's another point where a player could quit. We probably lose a bunch this way. But, I'm stubborn. I asked for help on the discord which...took a while because I had to figure out freja. I might have just quit. Again. Luckily, someone gave me the halfling discord and a halfling came out and found me and took me to Brandybrook.

 

For the next two weeks, I found it difficult to find something to do in game. I didn't know anyone. I didn't know how to find events. I didn't even know how to get perms (I still didn't know what perms were). But I had heard about the Wildlands. There, I could actually do things while I figured out the rest. So, that's what saved me. The Wildlands. The ability to Freebuild while waiting to learn how the rest of it worked. For the most part, I was out there, occasionally popping back into Sutica or Brandybrook when I heard there may be some activity. And I think that's the key. It takes TIME to figure out how to do LOTC. A couple weeks. If they don't have something to keep them interested in that time, they'll fall off. For me, it was Freebuild (and building Hillsborough). It won't be the same for others, but those first few weeks are key.

 

Two weeks after I started, a member of the CT messaged me for the first time ever. "Hey, how are you settling in?" I was honest. I told him that those two weeks absolutely sucked, but I had figured out everything slowly, painstakingly, with difficulty. No thanks to CT. By the time they asked if I needed help, I didn't anymore. And it was lucky I was still there.

 

I don't know if I have solutions, but perhaps that example can help glean some of the problems with the system.

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I think play retention is determined by a sense of player investment. 

 

I used to play on a server that was an absolute nightmare hellscape of toxic players, power mad staff, a greedy owner who forced Pay 2 Win mechanics and lootboxes onto RP -- just no limit to the sheer awfulness.

 

Why did I stay? Simple. I was deeply invested in my character and her relationship to other players and the world. 

 

Player investment is built through roleplay. I think we need to institute mechanics that encourage players to interact with each other. I get so bored in the cities sometimes because everyone is either AFK, sprint-jumping, or just not engaging in roleplay. People basically won't interact with you unless they're your friend already. There's also a huge stigma against newbies in some circles. People don't want to take the time to interact with new players and build relationships with them.

 

When you have no relationships and no engaging RP, why stay?

 

I stayed on some absolute dumpster-fire servers because the characters and the relationships between them were so deeply compelling.

 

I think a huge thing we need to do is find a way to encourage people to interact with others. Encourage people to RP with new players - and old players they might not know well too. 

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I joined this server in 2015, and honestly now days the only reason I stick around is because I have friends here.

 

Back in the the day, I could log on and with almost certainty know that I would run into some wacky ****, even if it was off-hours. I could get kidnapped and fed to a wolf, get a close encounter with an undead or get sacrificed by orcish shamans. I could have my kneecaps broken and  be given a choice between joining a group or getting executed on the spot. Something was always going on, and even though I was a cringy child with a shitty character, I felt like the world was alive and I was playing a part in it, however insignificant it might be.

 

When I came back 2 years ago, this spirit had died down, but it was still there. Atlas(?) still felt inhabited, I could still find interesting and fun RP. On my first few days back, my meme character was adopted by a terrorist group and shaped into a child soldier who believed himself to be a powerful mage. I played a backdrop role in some political shenanigans and partook in lynching people who wronged my group. All of this worked not because of staff intervention, but because of a lack of it. Over time, more and more restrictions were placed on roleplay, making this sort of dynamism impossible. And for what? Fairness?

 

Why exactly must characters limit the amount of people they bring to a raid? Why must they follow "cooldowns"? Why do I need permission to burn a fucker's house down, exactly? Why can't I set up a shack in the wilderness?

 

Why are bandits and villians punished so much? They're the ones who bring life to the world. This is a medieval setting, it should be dangerous and gritty! We should be struggling for survival against deadly foes instead of sitting in a tavern, sipping tea and staring at elf thighs!

 

Nowdays I just log on, vote and run around looking for rp. Even when I find it, it's nothing more than just dialogue, there's very little reason that drives conflict other than "me evil" or "me hate your kind", and even then, most nations seem to be obsessed with being "tolerant" and "modern".

 

Most people seem content to just afk in a square. Can't say I really blame them: What other option is there? To join a military and play as a cog in the machine as ISA Soldier NR 12564316 doing guard duty? Thrilling gameplay.

 

This concludes my rant. Stop cucking players and fix the server.

 

gameingg out

Edited by gameingg
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9 minutes ago, Urara said:

I think a huge thing we need to do is find a way to encourage people to interact with others. Encourage people to RP with new players - and old players they might not know well too. 

 

I played in a LARP once that gave all newbies three "Helped a Newbie" tokens at the beginning of their first game. Those newbies could give out those tokens to whoever they wanted, but it was encouraged to give them to people who helped them get integrated into the game. Those tokens could be turned in for prizes, like some medicine or a free piece of crafting equipment (both of which are harder to make than in this game). Maybe we could implement that.

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Having also been around since 2012, I do think coming into the current world feels a lot more hollow and more like you're entering into glorified SimCity RP. Nations being taxed creates very rigid systems of trying to maintain upkeep financially or otherwise, so the culture of larger cities can be intimidating and turn people off (almost turned me off when I came back after a 4-5 year hiatus). I think I'm tactful enough to try to maneuver around those settings as best I can, but when it comes to activity and meeting new people, you gotta go to a nation capital and get absorbed into SimCity (unless you're fortunate enough to already know people OOCly coming in who will welcome you).

 

GMRO's above post sums up the feeling pretty well too, as does Burnsider's. The addition of more flexible, less-strict settlements (i.e. a Freebuild/Wilds area) would make the world seem a lot less intimidating and rigid, allowing for new people to discover their own niche and develop their characters at an easier pace.

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I'll be honest, this post ultimately will have no result and things will remain the same as they always do.

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2 minutes ago, Basil Moroul said:

I'll be honest, this post ultimately will have no result and things will remain the same as they always do.

 

Truer words never before spoken.

 

Hitting us with data that shows a problem and then saying "but it's no one's fault" is just really defeatist talk that shows this is not something that will be changed.

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I should also point out that the issue is not just bad players. I play a knight and a fairly new person was interested in becoming a knight, so I was talking to him about my order and what it does and how to join and one of the better players on this server messaged me, telling me that their country needs him and so I shouldn't try to get him into the RP he wanted because the country needed the people.

 

It's the system that requires that which is the problem.

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