I don't want to be a slave to my region anymore

[rukio 8909]

3 hours ago, Llir said:

 

 

Anyway, I appreciate the thoughts on activity here, we're making some major revisions for next map to make it less central to a realm's survival. More details will be provided once the system is more fleshed out.

 

Just do a system that registers your character to one nation and regardless of where you go for RP it counts for that nation's activity and not wherever you're roleplaying at.

[Mannamannaa 1626]

5 hours ago, Llir said:

 

For the Bywater decision, I am personally handling it and am free to discuss it in DMs with the NL, though I want everyone to know we are not by any means closed to the idea of giving special consideration to the halflings. Gotta keep that shirecore aesthetic going.

This...

This shouldn't need special consideration. The continued existence of a devoted and active roleplay community (no matter how small!), not to mention an entire player race, as an independent entity should not be one threatened by staff in almost any circumstance at all, especially not hardcoded into the server mechanics of nation management. It should be decided through RP, Plain and simple.

I think there is a big disconnect between what Staff and the Players see as the optimal norm for the server, and this difference has just caused one of it's best players to take an indefinite hiatus. This is the same sort of situation that caused the end of my own time as a Nation Leader as well. Just... Think.

Does the situation and system described in the OP sound fun? Does it sound enjoyable? Does it sound like this person should return to the server at the end of their small break if the Activity Checks will continue to impact their mental health? And most importantly,

How many times do you want this system to chase away formerly devoted players from our community. From LotC?

[Borin 5230]

2 hours ago, rukio said:

Just do a system that registers your character to one nation and regardless of where you go for RP it counts for that nation's activity and not wherever you're roleplaying at.

no

I disagree vehemently with further OOC-ifying nations and nation allegiance.

[rukio 8909]

20 minutes ago, Borin said:

no

I disagree vehemently with further OOC-ifying nations and nation allegiance.

So you'd rather the current system where you can't actually leave your nation or they lose activity? Okay.

 

Edit: Staff have made it clear that activity checks aren't going anywhere. Solutions for those who have issues as jumperhand3 did need to be suggested, not complaints of OOC-ification of nations (Which has already surpassed whatever issue you think my suggestion would cause)

[argonian 12836]

1 minute ago, rukio said:

So you'd rather the current system where you can't actually leave your nation or they lose activity? Okay.

false dilemma

 

there are other options 

[rukio 8909]

Just now, argonian said:

false dilemma

 

there are other options 

See the edit. 

[argonian 12836]

17 minutes ago, rukio said:

See the edit. 

it's not like they've put mercenary activity on offer either

[Borin 5230]

57 minutes ago, rukio said:

So you'd rather the current system where you can't actually leave your nation or they lose activity? Okay.

 

Edit: Staff have made it clear that activity checks aren't going anywhere. Solutions for those who have issues as jumperhand3 did need to be suggested, not complaints of OOC-ification of nations (Which has already surpassed whatever issue you think my suggestion would cause)

I retain my right to complain abt your suggestion and look elsewhere for solutions
I refuse to be gaslighted into being a supporter of the current system
I hope u stub your toe on a waterbottle

[rukio 8909]

1 hour ago, Borin said:

I retain my right to complain abt your suggestion and look elsewhere for solutions
I refuse to be gaslighted into being a supporter of the current system
I hope u stub your toe on a waterbottle

wtf 

Okay...

What would you do different then to monitor activity...

[DrunkPapaBear 1975]

11 hours ago, Llir said:

This is just factually untrue. I can share the numbers with the NL if needed, but going back 12 weeks I can see the Orcs activity has never been zero on any of their tiles.

 

he meant the capital region where activity was turned off for the weeks before Christmas 

[Ibn Khaldun 7728]

@Hanrahan and I shared common thoughts on this matter in Balian Discord and I made the following sardonic remark:

 

"Oh man, yea I have a deep disdain for the activity system. It's basically a fentanyl vending machine for some people and a choremaster for those who can resist the timesink that can occur with the game."

 

I'll expand on my bit of banter and make it a more serious response to the matter at hand.

 

The game as it stands is one that lends itself towards being a timesink. Whether by those who play the game for its more Sims-like potential of being able to "roleplay" the minutiae of everyday life or, and this is where the current activity check system contributes harm to players, to maintain a % depending on whether you've directed your character to be with a [OOC] settlement or nation. Those players who play infrequently or per a real-life schedule are often pressured indirectly to keep contributing to this obnoxious (my words) activity system in order not to have their place of preference evicted. Those who (of their own volition or out of addiction) play long hours per day are basically fed fentanyl seeing as they contribute greatly to maintaining that activity %. I am not passing judgment on the latter category, but it is an existing category as evidenced by a number of posts in the Farewells subforum.

 

I recently had a discussion with [name redacted] 1, leader of [name redacted] playergroup who gave me great details to his/her current predicament in terms of "maintaining activity". They essentially described their current game experience as essentially a chore list and a pressure to "perform" per the activity check standards. I think this is pretty unhealthy for many people, whether they are young or an older player. I struggle to understand why moderation can't just inspect settlements and decide based on agreed-upon guidelines to "ruinify" the inactive towns and let players go about their gameplay without having an activity check system hanging over their heads.

 

This next part and piece of advice is actually for the playerbase rather than moderation. I know this advice may not be well-received by those who have made it habit and fashion to be "toxic" (essentially downright rude, uncooperative, and just a pain in the arse to get along with); but I think players need to be completely honest with themselves about seeing their ideas manifest in gameplay. Be realistic about whether your Group X/Y/Z needs to be a great nation with large regions and rather concede and accept that at best you may just be able to manage a lair (as far as I know, lairs are not bound to an activity check %) or come to agreements to live next door to nation/settlement X.

 

I say this as someone who has been helping the players who found the Cingedoz culture I wrote interesting. I've always encouraged either having a lair or simply negotiating and living near others (Khron'Hundmar, courtesy of Nooblius and sneakybandit & Minitz, courtesy of MadOne2k). Niche ideas add flavor, but will hardly stand on their own and we as players should be a bit more honest with ourselves both in terms of the audience's reception of said niche as well as the time we could conceivably give to build our said niche roleplay group.

 

Spoiler

1. Just out of courtesy, I wanted to omit names. If said player reads my post and wants to let it be known he/she spoke to me, they can.

 

[AndrewTech 2811]

The current activity system is terrible for roleplay. It was even worse in Arcas, where nations couldn't purchase additional land tiles and you had to keep at least 0.1% activity on a fief every week outside of the capital tile to keep from losing it. My IRP family, the Stafyrs, and I literally resorted to doing praying RP and AFK squatting in addition to weekly events just to make ends meet.

 

Allowing additional tiles to be purchased again is great and honestly the system's only saving grace, but people still feel compelled to RP in one place lest their home community get gacked. It wastes so much potential creative energy that could otherwise be spent elsewhere.

 

Axios and Atlas weren't perfect, but people at least felt compelled to explore new places. Isolationism hurts the server narrative and creates artificial competitions that aren't driven by roleplay at all. I'd prefer just relaxing the war rules to greatly reduce the mina cost of conflict and remove capital tile protections to allow players to naturally deal with abandoned settlements that can't hold their own.

 

Or alternatively, if anything is to be done for gauging activity, we should instead do MODEST mina or resource maintenance costs (the latter being afforded for orcs, wood elves, or other niche currency free societies) for settlements and nations per tile each week. This would create a mina sink that would reduce inflation and a resource sink that would bolster the IG economy, shifting the burden from the players to the leadership of these places to make ends meet. Otherwise they should start to suffer consequences from failures to pay such as overgrown roads, nasty ST events, etc before finally resulting in a compelling RP reason behind region loss.

 

This rant aside, my heart goes out to the halfling community and I hope you're able to have your own settlement someday. I'm a big believer in the idea that every core race should have a place of its own, and the halflings have sadly been out in the cold for years because of their niche roleplay. Best wishes and good luck.

[Llir 5702]

3 hours ago, DrunkPapaBear said:

 

he meant the capital region where activity was turned off for the weeks before Christmas 

 

The capital region is a subregion of the tile and doesn't independently collect activity. If overlapping regions have the activity flag enabled it causes duplicate data in the activity plugin, so that may be why you saw the disabled flag on the region. Activity is only counted on the tiles, which encompasses the capital region regardless of what flag it has set. 

[Burnsider 4542]

16 hours ago, JoshBright said:

delete this comment plz

 

I will not.

[Box of Rain 131]

It's hard enough not getting evicted IRL. I just want some wholesome RP to go to when I can. Administrators that have even considered evicting us should feel ashamed and deeply embarrassed.