WARNING (Long thread, but please read)

[morgaine]

CHALLENGES FACING M.U.D.'s. (And TFC in general)

I'm trying to analyze things a little bit and figure out what the problem is. A low player base is a result of the problem... obviously this is something due to the changing mind-set of todays gamer. I think graphical games share a large part of this "blame game". When does today's adolescent choose a text m.u.d. over a graphical comparison? Personally I love the text world and wouldn't trade it, I truly believe there are still many people out there who agree with this.

Anyway, I'm trying to figure out what some of these challenges are because I would like to see more people logging in . I think one of the huge challenges is lack of accomplishment. There are many many many areas of tfc that someone can achieve this sense of accomplishment, though I feel that many of them are being ignored. One area is achievement of levels. Unfortunately, at 30/30/30 this ends... and that becomes a dead end on the accomplishment spectrum. Another area, is the building of our eq sets. Today this is easier then it has ever been, for the first 80 % of the way there most everything is handed to you, the sense of accomplishment is dimmed down. The other 20 % is difficult to get and sure does instill a great sense of accomplishment on the players, but it is also a very timely process. I am not disagreeing with this, just pointing it out. There is another issue here as well, for some people this is their greatest sense of accomplishment, and when they die, they leave. Maybe they don't want to put the effort into the reward of rebuilding, maybe its just frustration... I'm not sure why this happens, but it happens often. Of course, there are many other areas of accomplishment. Zoning is one great accomplishment, for rangers it might be collecting different steaks. Gold rank, MM rank, mobhunt and lq points... there are random quests, ammq's and the sparring arena. These are all great things, as they inspire activity while granting a sense of accomplishment. However, it is short lived and things like lq's and being at the top of the rank are only rewarding on the level of pride. I am going to be posting a series of ideas that I think can help boost this sense of accomplishment in some areas, many will be bad a few might be good... I believe that the forums are for brainstorming and discussing, I don't always get it right and thats OK.

I firmly believe that today's gamer thrives on the experience of risk vs reward. People want a sense of reward for these accomplishments. I also firmly believe that this reward should not be EQ, but something more permanent for the character, .... or something that can be built into something else...something that inspires creativity. I have a few ideas, Ill keep them coming...

Another huge challenge is TIME. 9 years ago i could play for 6 hours a day. Today I have a slight window between the time that i wake up and noon. When my daughter wakes up this time ends, and right now I am in a demanding class so I really only have until 10:00 since I need to prepare.

Unfortunately, I am sure I am not the only one with this problem. We also have problems like significant others who feel like we aren't spending enough time with them and begin to hate this game instead of respecting it for the creativity that it offers.

Time is a huge issue, many great players have left because they just don't have the time. Leveling takes an extreme amount of time, but thats OK... because you are accomplishing something the whole way and when it is done, it is done. Unfortunately, when it is done, it is done! Choosing to continue leveling other characters can be monotonous after you get one all the way there... and then have little to accomplish at the top. I don't think its that there is so little to accomplish as much as it isn't recognized, because everyone wants reward for their risk or their effort. Back to time...
I wish there were more "little quests" with small rewards. I firmly believe a quest point system should be instated to act as a reward, these points could be used to build player confidence and creativity...Not to get eq... I've got some ideas that I will be posting. I posted an idea about 5 keys, Not that I thought it was great... I just love the idea of having a bunch of little quests that can be run on their own without Immortal help offering people something to do over a 20 minute time period. Sometimes, 20 minutes is all we have. 20 minutes isn't a lot to accomplish very much; however, there are some small quests that already exist that give us this opportunity i.e. mobmaster, location quests. c lo bright, etc... I've got more ideas for small quests that i will be posting. I firmly believe anything that gets people active and gives them a sense of accomplishment is great for the realm. We really need to consider where the future can take tfc, not where the past was. I still get hung up in the past, I'm going to try to do that less. Because the world outside is changing, the world inside will need to change as well to survive. This is something i know the implementers understand very well, unfortunately they have the rough task of trying to predict the effects changes will have on the realm, and this is impossible. Post evaluation is a better, but not the best solution if an adverse change is made... I suppose there is no best solution, because I don't know the answer, and I don't think anyone does... if so please post

Continuing with time.... I would just like to see more ideas posted about mini quests or things that can build of what tfc already has to make implementing of the ideas easier and give people more to accomplish over short periods of time.

Onto encouraging new players. I do think new players stop in from time to time, I think they need more encouragement from us. Personally I would not be here today if it wasn't for Cordir's fate, and people like Trakker who popped me a bunch of non magical gear and a spiked whip after my first mob death and loot. I wish this great force was still around. Remember when the advice was type who fate, and then ask that person for help? It is what I was told...

The pit is a huge encouragement for new players, a loaded pit gives the appearance of a loaded realm. I have some ideas based around the pit that I will be posting as well.

MISH! Mish is incredible, I would like to see her do a little more, I have a couple idea's about this too.

Limiteds.... Limiteds are awesome, they are an accomplishment; however, since they are in limit they are not an accomplishment everyone can obtain, I have some more ideas about a somewhat new definition for "Item Limit".

I think one of the best things TFC has going for it right now is the equipment code.... stats and how the effect our characters. There is a ton of options, da/-svs/hr/dmg chr int wis luc! It's all great! It all effects us! Unfortunately we cant fit it all on! That is great, because now we have choices. I dream of a day that people actually have multiple sets and they choose what to wear for whatever they are doing...

Let's face it, random eq keeps popping and the good stuff doesn't get sacrificed so it builds and builds and builds while the economy sinks. I have some ideas to help this a little bit too, but my point for making the statement is that building a set is not as difficult as it used to be, and I don't think it should be viewed as needing to be challenging before approaching "Uber" items. I know this is running into my ownership flag idea, this is one of the ideas I feel very strongly about, I feel like being able to pop everything would make eq building more challenging because you actually have to go get the items, ... this would also instill a sense of accomplishment... I've got more on this... I will be posting some ideas.

Wow, I've written so much I've forgotten some of what I wanted to say... Thinking back I touched on sense of accomplishment and time limits.... I think I touched on loss, as eq loss.... did i hit the benefits and the negatives?

OK, The Immortal system. I don't disagree with this system at all, I think the immortal system is something that greatly personalizes the tfc experience, this is going to lead into my next topic...Thank you to ALL of the immortals who have put so much hard work and effort into making this system great.

Making tfc my own. Everyone today wants to leave a piece of themselves everywhere they are involved. We want to feel like this is home, like it is our own, like we have added something to the experience, either for ourselves or for everybody else. I think we need to build more personalized creativity into the game. I have had 3 restring credits in 9 years I guess I'm not talented enough to stock up in them.... but seriously, all I got to restring was 3 simple rings. I posted an idea a long time ago about equipment description flags and scales or whatever, some type of item that would attach to it and change the name to suit another material. This is one great way to further personalize TFC. I feel very strongly about the importance of being able to personalize the realm, With a low player base role play is running thin, hopefully role play will rebuild. I think we need to improve the bard class, as it does encourage role play and further personalization of the realm. The house idea.... This is great, Ive got more on this that I will be posting. Having a home built with quest points would not only lead to further personalization but offer permanent rewards for the questing experience, killing a few birds with one stone and tying many great aspects of TFC together. I've got a few ideas on further personalizing TFC and I will be expanding on these Ideas I mentioned as well suggesting some new things.

Further, the TFC forums is an excellent way to communicate these ideas. PLEASE RESPOND! And please do it respectfully, I know I'm guilty too. Lets try to say I like it, or I don't like it,.... if you can't think of why think on it,... but please please please respond!

OK to summarize some of the things i mentioned so far are...

Change
Accomplishment,
Personalization,
TIME,
Newbie Support
Differentiation.... (eq codes)
... I didn't mention a whole lot here because with the current class system and eq codes I think it's pretty good... this is something players needs to be interested.
Player interactions... I've mentioned this many times before, It's something we need to keep people interested as well, anything you do together is fun.
Forums

Did i say anything else? I think I've got more coming and I would love to see other opinions on what challenges face today's mudder.

Remember the player base is not a problem but the result of a problem, ... We all know TFC is great, and is capable of supporting the player base that other realms do.

I've got a lot of ideas coming up on forums, I think that many of them would work great together, ... please give me some honest feedback. Positive and negative, I want to build these ideas into something good, they usually don't start there... this is brainstorming.

Thank you for your time.

-Morgaine Belle'rose

PS: Please accept my apologies for promising so many ideas, because I don't have the time to post them today! I will in the future.

[Zaku]

I really like the idea of including quest points into the game although how, I'm not really sure :P.

[Tynian]

Boiling things down into two basic parts, we need to do two things:

1. Keep current players entertained and engaged in the game.
2. Attract and retain new players.

I think we've done #1 pretty well overall, in that many of us have been around for years. But the challenge now is that many of us have been around for years.

#2 has been a failure, by and large.

I appreciate the suggestions.

[Whistler]

I think you've got a lot of good points, and i particularly like the idea of being able to 'build your own house.' will start a separate thread on this idea.


-Whistler

[Odmar]

Excellent ideas!

I've been away a LONGGGGG time.....because I didn't have the hours and hours it would take to do some serious exping or golding or something.

I really like the idea of mini-quests or something you can do in a short time.

And maybe something you can do without risking the loss of all your eq that you spent months accumulating!!


Thanks!