Well folks, us oldbies do have some grievances from the state of game play like Phiney or Annah stated. And to acknowledge the newbies and midbies points, it might be because we don't play and participate in the community enough that we have them. But the fact remains that
oldbies(or atleast I) leave because of two main reasons:1. No one can go on forever: As has been often said: The game isn't the binary file. Its what we invent. Me and my buddies (like annah, phiney, other old coots) here had a good thing going once. The game and the community interactions had a theme and that theme was evildoers sabotaging guilds and bringing mayhem to fulfill their ultimate( and classic) objective of ruling the world. The good guys tried stop them and due to the nature of the conflict almost everyone else had to get involved. The upshot of the entire scenario was that there was high drama everywhere. It was fun for some, not so fun for others but we had a game. But in time the sameness got to us all. It was just some of us masterminding the entire thing. And when we didn't want to do it anymore (due to whatever reasons) the whole thing died out. The new folks did not step in to carry it forward. And so the game lost a piece of its culture. So yeah some initiative from you all would be much appreciated.
So @Illysia, Timothy, Sarras and folks: If you need help or ideas, I am at your service personally. Just email me. But to expect me to reinvent it all again...lets just say I am older and have a fuller plate IRL to do it all again. Invent something fun and I'll play for sure. I still spend 5 to 10 hours a week gaming.
2. Not enough people try to RP:See we all have our lives and are strangers IRL. Yeah some of us will know each other personally but thats besides the point. However here I find a lot of people forming cliques of pals and so forth and trying to use this as an extension for RL friendships and relations. Like that one guy talking about his wife and kids in the faces thread. Thats cool, I have nothing against it. But you lost me at that point. I can't participate in that.
I don't know you and there's no reason I need to. When I come here I should take a look at your name, hear you speak, look at your sig and go:
Hmm. Here's Timmothy Perriwinkle. He sounds like a ghey bard. OMG what a fairy! My ranger and him have got to be enemies
And so I'll have a basis of interaction with Timothy.
I don't need to know that Sarras needed help with homework because she flunks math or summin. I just need to know that she plays a dwarven blacksmith (maybe). But lo and behold, for most of the people here I know no such thing. So I have no basis of interacting with them. So the bottom line is: People need to RP most of the time and be real people as an exception. I can be best friend or mentor or lover or sworn enemy of Illysia the tavern wench. But the real person behind that, I might like her too but its not a requisite for my enjoyment of her in-game company.
In an MMORPG, the RP is important. Do it always. Never forget who you are supposed to be. Look at Annah's example:
But of course, the Black Order is a whisper who's turning into a very powerful scream.
Now we all know BO is more of a fart than a whisper
but that's not the point. The point is, Annah plays his character and doesnt forget his agenda. If everyone did that, you have the beginning of RP. And then we oldbies can also fit into the game because IRL we probably wont.
Here's a fun idea for all the current players of PS: I am willing to help you setup a game. If any 5 of you are interested, get together and PM me.
