PlaneShift
Fan Area => The Hydlaa Plaza => Topic started by: Illysia on September 13, 2016, 09:58:20 pm
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Hi o/
Satisfied now, Lilu? It was a short post. :P
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a new record for you Illy? ;D
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Hello.
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Hi.
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Actually... this is SmartyKran. :P
Cannibal! :P
Hello Emaline and Zerxzz o/
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Hiya! :)
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Hi Illysia. Welcome back. :)
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Old habits ... Hi! \\o//
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Hi.
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Old habits ... Hi! \\o//
More like the nostalgia bug bit me again. I was curious to see what was going on. Looks like the playercount is still low, but the project itself has progressed some. It also looks like some of the settings have changed on me.
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Well well, look at what the Enki dragged in. Welcome back :)
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Hiya o/
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I don't believe it's the real Illysia.
/me pulls a mask off her! It's the old janitor! ZOINKS!
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Rawr! Things are not right in the game. Blah. People need to focus more on building up the RP community. Blah blah. I remember when the game had 200 people online... in ONE DAY at ONE TIME! Blah blah blah... :@#\
Better Mishka?
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Rawr! Things are not right in the game. Blah. People need to focus more on building up the RP community. Blah blah. I remember when the game had 200 people online... in ONE DAY at ONE TIME! Blah blah blah... :@#\
Better Mishka?
You left out "there was a time when we not only didn't have mounts, we didn't have running speed either!" Which sounds very akin to "we had to go to school in the snow, uphill both ways," even if I know it's true in your case.
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Technically I'm not old enough in this game to have played HAGS in Hydlaa so we've always had the ability to run since I've been playing. ;D I do remember fall damage being so high you had to be careful of coming down stairs though. I never ran down stairs in PS even after fall damage was nerfed. :P
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,"
..."we had to go to school in the snow, uphill both ways,"...
But but Mishka we still have to.
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Rawr! Things are not right in the game. Blah. People need to focus more on building up the RP community. Blah blah. I remember when the game had 200 people online... in ONE DAY at ONE TIME! Blah blah blah... :@#\
Better Mishka?
Yeah, that sounds like her ... less the player stats snapshot and the TV Tropes quotes.
In the spirit of debates past, I'll just leave this here. ::| ;D \\o//
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4SBfhRmvzU
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*Sighs* You lot are so picky and demanding now. :P
http://planeshift.teamix.org/index.php?page=char_stats
A little less than 45 is the peak.... for the week. The average doesn't get that high across the year.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OpenRoleplayingDecay
Favorite Excerpt:
One additional form of Open Roleplaying Decay that appears in many MMORPGs is the loss of a roleplaying population; while random, 'in-the-field' roleplaying may initially be a particular server's bread-and-butter, the roleplaying will eventually lose steam, and confine itself to guild-centric RP (or the occasional one-off RP event). As a corollary, speculation or inquiring about the status of this process as it applies to, say, one game server vs. another is a great way to break the Internet.
Happy now? Picky picky picky.... ;D
Added Bonus - Lecture!:
What this game needs is to focus on rebuilding a larger core of steady RPers. It needs this more than art, quests, or any of the usual trappings of MMOs. What would help rebuild the community is to focus on giving players the materials for three levels of "conflict" to help them form, drive, and sustain dynamic and interesting RPs. The levels are personal, community, and world conflict...
World Level Conflict would be a progressive, non-quest story that pushes/affects the context that a character lives/exists in: invasions from the labyrinths, a challenge to the octarch’s administration, threat of hostile takeover of a major city, complete loss or a gain of an important resource, etc. This may or may not directly involve any particular character, but any character in game would be indirectly involved no matter where they lived or what their occupation was.
Community Level Conflicts are similar to world conflict stories, but they are smaller in scale. These will affect people from specific groups be it species, town, profession, ect. It may be a notable NPC citizen threatening to leave, competition from professional rivals, species specific diseases or biological quirks. This gives people fodder for nuancing their characters and gives something akin to “current events” to pull from when personal RPs don't present enough story material to work from.
Personal Level Conflicts result from the combination of character backstory, active RP stories, and world and community stories. They will naturally develop on their own as long as there is enough story material. If RP has started to peter out, it’s likely because people involved have run out of things to RP about. This will happen when there isn’t enough raw story material to work with.
What to do about the raw materials shortage? Players can help remedy the raw materials problem by coming together and agreeing to background story occurrences that run as a common thread through the lives of multiple characters. Settings and GMs can help by running events that don't focus on keeping players busy but rather reveal parts of a progressive story that gives a sense of a dynamic, living world.
What is Conflict? While good vs. bad and hero vs. villain are classic forms of conflict, those are not the only forms. Conflict is the thing that prevents a story from ending at the first sentence. It is the force/concept/thing/situation that has to be overcome, reconciled/ resigned to/endured/etc.
Conflict provides the variety in a story by posing a question then answering it. For instance: Will <Character A> ever beat <Character B>? Will <Character B> marry <Character D>? Can <Character C> explore Shindrok’s Crater without dying a horrible death? The conflict can be as simple or as complex as one wants, but it absolutely needs to be there.
Also, wikipedia's version of what conflict is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_(narrative)
In literature, the literary element conflict is an inherent incompatibility between the objectives of two or more characters or forces. Conflict creates tension and interest in a story by adding doubt as to the outcome. A narrative is not limited to a single conflict. While conflicts may not always resolve in narrative, the resolution of a conflict creates closure, which may or may not occur at a story's end.
Now NOTHING should be missing. :P
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My my.. have you become interested in conflict? I didn't think that was your thing? Regarding your other points, I like the idea, but without lots of players who are willing to go balls to the wall from morning till night, it's kind of like trying to start a fire in a vacuum. Good luck with that.
How the world has changed since we last spoke!
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Big step might be for Illysia to stick around... since I stepped a toe back in, the forum has been more dead than in-game! But has livened back up and have some interesting things to read just recently.
How many people on the forum still play in-game?... How bout just pick a one day a week and a time (can revolve) to get all the forum participants in game... forget the rest... and even get forum folks that you don't like for "conflict"...
We could even have a good flame war about what is the best time to get the energies flowing.
I have always had trouble RPing... (or even getting into RP, as I don't think I ever really have) because of organization... I can't randomly RP for 3 hours straight... but once a week... I could plan to make that happen.
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@Rigwyn: Conflict yes, goriness no.
I've always had conflict in my RPs but they were mostly non violent or non physically harmful. Referring to those things as conflict now is just a result of personal study into literary technique. For instance, Illysia and Zandral are diametrically opposite in their personalities and approaches in life. Whenever they were in close proximity there was going to be friction. Another example is that Zandral wanted to enter the world of politics and failed time after time causing her to re-examine her goals and outlook. Both instances were a part of early RPs and both represent conflict. They were situations to be confronted, or, if you like, they presented plot questions to be answered.
As for the players RPing. You don't need them RPing hard all day, though having dedicated RPers hanginh around for long hours would help. All that is needed is some time, consistency, numbers, and commitment. Sadly, time is likely the least available commodity. PS always seems to demand more than is reasonable to get anything going. But for all intents and purposes, its doesn't matter for me as I'm still out the biz here. If I want to RP I'll go back to where there are healthier communities.
I just come here to see if there are people I still recognize here and see if there are nice new people to add to the list of people to give a shout out to.
@Thoss: Good Googly... Someone wanting me to stay instead of telling me to stop fussing because everything is fine. PS is in worse shape than I thought. ::| Jokes aside though, my health is in no shape to go through the abuse and stress that investing time and emotion into PS brings, I'm sorry Thoss.
However, I think starting to RP on the forums would help with timezone, time to play, and player count issues. I've seen it work well in other places. If someone sets up a casual BaRP(Bar RP) thread where people can come and go as they please, you may get interest back onto the forum and eventually get it back to RPing in game. It'll let characters that otherwise wouldn't meet get a chance to interact. Just make sure people keep it moving fairly briskly, no writing novels each post or let them break off for more in depth RP. :sweatdrop:
I'm not quite that much of an oldbie, but I think that may have been something Kada-El did which led to her actually getting a tavern in game. I do know that the original Kada-El's tavern was online and players would hang out there, so they made a place in game to hang out in once Hydlaa expanded.
Oh yeah, and for fun... just like I proved you can in fact polish a turd, here's how fire burns in space. Not quite a vacuum but close. ;D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zdD7lfB0Fs
For some reason I love messing with Rigwyn's figures of speech. ;D
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tbh, what this game needs is a dashingly handsome but loveable misfit getting into antics.
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Only if he is getting smacked with a wooden spoon by a lovey, tavern running fenki.
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For some reason I love messing with Rigwyn's figures of speech. ;D
lol. Interesting video, but it's not a vacuum if you supply the oxygen - not even close :)
It seems Mythbusters managed also managed to prove me wrong.
https://youtu.be/yiJ9fy1qSFI
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In space but not in an absolute vacuum is the closest anyone is going to come to messing with that figure of speech... for now. ;D However I do wonder what would happen if they tried it with some kind of fuel and liquid oxygen mix instead of gaseous oxygen. Doubt anyone will try though. It is dangerous.
But as for the poop... ::| And here I thought it took millions of years.
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Oh, Japan..
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Added Bonus - Lecture!:
What this game needs is to focus on rebuilding a larger core of steady RPers. It needs this more than art, quests, or any of the usual trappings of MMOs. What would help rebuild the community is to focus on giving players the materials for three levels of "conflict" to help them form, drive, and sustain dynamic and interesting RPs. The levels are personal, community, and world conflict...
World Level Conflict would be a progressive, non-quest story that pushes/affects the context that a character lives/exists in: invasions from the labyrinths, a challenge to the octarch’s administration, threat of hostile takeover of a major city, complete loss or a gain of an important resource, etc. This may or may not directly involve any particular character, but any character in game would be indirectly involved no matter where they lived or what their occupation was.
Community Level Conflicts are similar to world conflict stories, but they are smaller in scale. These will affect people from specific groups be it species, town, profession, ect. It may be a notable NPC citizen threatening to leave, competition from professional rivals, species specific diseases or biological quirks. This gives people fodder for nuancing their characters and gives something akin to “current events” to pull from when personal RPs don't present enough story material to work from.
Personal Level Conflicts result from the combination of character backstory, active RP stories, and world and community stories. They will naturally develop on their own as long as there is enough story material. If RP has started to peter out, it’s likely because people involved have run out of things to RP about. This will happen when there isn’t enough raw story material to work with.
What to do about the raw materials shortage? Players can help remedy the raw materials problem by coming together and agreeing to background story occurrences that run as a common thread through the lives of multiple characters. Settings and GMs can help by running events that don't focus on keeping players busy but rather reveal parts of a progressive story that gives a sense of a dynamic, living world.
Why when Illysia says it, suddenly everyone praises her, but I've been preaching this for years and nobody has listened to me, and even called me a nutjob? You guys suck.
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Because I have seniority Mishka Avacado. :D I'm pretty sure I've been trying to rally RPers here since before you started playing. ;D I've waged more wars on this count.
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Seriously this should be something something so self-evident so it doesnt need much thinking, real question is how you execute it.
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Simple, go back to basics and research story crafting.
To google! ;D
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=How+to+create+conflict+in+a+story
Treat RP plots the same as writing a single author story in terms of structure and necessary elements.
Further, make sure your characters are well rounded in terms of perspective and expression. Flesh them out. In real life, most people only have "one character" in a situation which they don't control. Yet, interesting stories still emerge as a result of the complexity of "character" interactions.
Whenever you RP, give your characters a goals even if it's just getting a glass of water. Move them to pursue their goals, and look for ways to accommodate hindrances to accomplishing the goals for the sake of story. Maybe an old flame they are on bad terms with is between them and the glass of water. You now have conflict.
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Did someone call for dashingly handsome? Here I be! :thumbup: :sorcerer:
I too have dipped a toe into PS in the last 2 weeks or so- and looked at the game stats. Three times my toe has dipped this past week, three times (different times of day) 7 or less players ig... ::| There are geometrically more npcs than players... but perhaps the PS crew will invent useful ai and the computer can play with itself? X-/
Little left to encourage further than said toe now and again, at least for me. But good to see your posts Illy and others, here, from time to time.
Roled ::)
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Hiya Roled. :) Yeah, there is definitely more NPC activity than player activity now. I really wish people had listened to me years ago when I said this could happen.
However, the forum being active would help towards making people care about the game more. People's feelings in regards to PS need to be inverted. Right now, it feels like it's an unnecessary chore, like there's not enough to engage with, and like there's no one around. It's a shame too because there is a lot more in game now.
What's missing is enough engaging RP to look forward to. The community could start to repair itself if people got back in the habit of interacting with each other and looking forward to those interactions.
The game's RP community started with crystal hunting, small numbers, and not much to do in game. If it built into an interesting RP community from that then it could rebuild now if people actually want to see RP revive. Apathy towards doing instead of wishing for RP in PS is probably the only thing holding it back now.
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That wasnt excactly what i ment but you got the point. :P
I think the key problem is getting all the players come at the same time to play. like i myself is too busy to play.
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This lack of players means I can pretend I'm on my own dedicated server!
Also, gotta love how these threads end up derailing. Although I don't think Illysia minds much: it's her very essence to ramble about lack of players~ How's Aiwe doing? ;D
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Getting people together without more for them to do won't help. The player count wasn't always this low. People being together at certain times didn't stop the decline, especially since cliques have a tendency to form.
There has to be a threat of fun RP to convince players to log on in the first place. To do that you need a plot or situation worth jumping in on and word of mouth to spread it.
However, every thread derails once it's original purpose has been addressed Mishka Avocado. So we can now determine that all the people who are going to say hi have said it. As for Aiwe, I don't know, but one day he may turn up again to say I told you so.
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All I can say to that is, toes... >.>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAkyvNmAIG0
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@Eleirit: Hello.
@Rigwyn: Eww... :(
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Oh hey, Illysia is around. I'm glad I popped in to lurk :)
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Hiya Zalya. :)
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Aside from the discrepancy between CrystalSpace and the ability to emote, which I've described in one or two other posts (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=42831.msg479162#msg479162), I also think that it seriously needs expansion. And not to the extent that it becomes emptier than it already is. We don't need to visit the entire 7th level or the road down to it from The Dome, but we should be able to see a Nolthrir village or two.
Of course, you don't want to make only enough of a village to seem unfinished, because that would worsen the environment. Is that part of the reason why you can't travel to the other levels? Making inaccessible landscape so as to convey sense of vast distance is easier than making a village look convincingly genuine. Granted, having a long road that you can't leave does make Yliakum seem small and fakey from an adventuring standpoint.
And what of the DR?
In some other thread of mine (http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=42244), I was polling for interest in an expedition into the DR. Gedundk was orphaned at birth, and kra is developing some interest in searching the DR for kras gemmor (parent). There didn't even need to be very much down there: it is dark. All I'd need is a way to attach a rope ladder, climb down, and space in which to wander. I could imagine everything else.
However, if Gedundk can't get down there, then what's the point of even being in-game at all? Standing around in the DR with a useless avatar is worse for role-play than me writing a communal story literally.
Leastways, those are my thoughts on that matter.
Really, I think there should be some corruption and scandal in the Octarchy. Doesn't need to be a major conflagration; all it needs is to be enough so as to give fuel to a dissentive movement.
Surely there are enough non-GMs in offices so as to make that interesting?
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At this point, any village would likely require a new map. A new map would definitely make things seem emptier. Expansion is nice for exploring lore, but the game really needs more a more active community first.
Also, there has been call for expanding DR for some time but I remember the last time it expanded. ;) It was cause for a lot of frustration until people sorted how to get back out. It used it only be the part that you get to below the citadel. I dunno though, I remember when you could fall to the bottom of the DR and not die. It was vague interesting to wander around but the novelty wore off pretty quick. I think what the DR needs is RPers more than more space.
As for story to work from, You don't need scandal to be in Octarchy. You can set it at the community level. Some private citizen gets embroiled in an embezzelment scandal. They could have had a government contract and they spent it on a yacht for the 6th level only to be busted be a watchdog group or other private citizens. I do think the game needs more stories to help give a sense of progress and life, but I still say it boils down to the players.
Lots of good ideas have been tried in RP only for them to fizzle out due to poor community support. I think PS' problems begin and end with needing a larger, cohesive RP community. Until the RPers rebuild, the rest will kinda flounder or be wasted.