Hydlaa Trading Post

[Illysia]

(Bolded text added for the tl;dr crowd)

It's a shame to see the kiosks in East Hydlaa go unused, so I propose that we turn it into a trading post between markets.

Many quests require items that highly specialized RP characters might not be able to get; for instance, characters that craft instead of hunt can't just go and pick up an ulber fur. Or perhaps a character that hunts doesn't want to go herb hunting for themselves but needs some for some reason. I trust that the quests were done that way to encourage player interaction so we need to take advantage and interact. Not to mention it's a good community building exercise. The "I Am Planeshift" Awards project here shows that the community needs to get better aquainted with who is a part of it.

Since no one wants to hang around forever in the area just waiting for something to happen, I suggest announcing that you have something to trade in Gossip and try and drum up some interest or make specific arrangements with other players to RP trading at the post. But either way, I would ask that you try to do your trading in that area.

I know that going out of your way to do trade and business there is a little irritating and might add delays to what you are trying to do, but please keep in mind that the Devs have gone out of their way to provide these areas for our use so the least we could do is use them. If we don't stretch out of our comfort areas whole areas of the game will continue to look barren and will probably never build up.

As an alternative to East Hydlaa, for more shadier deals, there is Camp Banished which could stand to be used and for those that don't want to get PvPed there is the warehouse district of Ojaveda and Dsar Sarraghi.

[Taya]

I've used that area in East Hydlaa for RP outside of the fair events several times, but certainly not for trading.

My trader always has, and always will, go about his business very close to Harnquist. That's the place players who are looking for items gravitate toward naturally because it's a central point for crafters and it's where storage is and it only makes sense that a merchant will try to sell where the people are. With that said, it's hard enough to get customers even there (zero buyers the last five times I logged the merchant, even though I've been asked to log him in more by several people) and about 90% of those who do buy something barely RP. Considering I have no need at all for tria, it's only worth my time if buyers make at least some effort to RP, so unless I see them RPing more there is no chance at all that I am going to go out of my way to sell in a place that is much less accessible and which has no storage access.

For me, storage is a big issue. It's also been the reason a few merchant characters I know of stay near Harn, as they are generally not leveled much, if at all, and can't carry many items. I sell from written lists and then pull any ordered items from storage to get around the issue, and as a result of being there I also tend to get tied up in any random passing RP that isn't just about buying from me at the same time, which I see as a huge plus.

If I followed your suggestion I'd lose almost all, if not all, of that random passing RP and would be left with only gossip arranged exchanges which I'd have to walk to and from storage for each time. I just don't find that appealing enough.  My merchant can stay exactly where he is, sell, RP with anyone who shows up about anything they like other than buying/selling and be in an ideal place for me to help out anyone new who is a bit lost all at the same time, so I won't be moving him.

With that said, I couldn't agree more regarding shady dealings being best suited for Camp Banished and certain parts of Ojaveda. But the last time I checked, that's where these things were happening anyway.

[Illysia]

Thanks for reading and bothering to respond Taya. But, while I understand your concern, the storage thing does sorta miss what I am going for. I'm not talking about being a walmart in east Hydlaa. I mean literally trading. I have 5 iron and I trade with someone that has 10 rat hides. And the idea is not to stand around for 4 hours just hoping to make tria or bringing 500 books to sell for 30 circles a piece or something else that wouldn't make sense from a logical IC standpoint. I'm trying to get at encouraging RP between a wider pool of a characters. Many people need a reason for their character to interact with others, especially moody or difficult characters. This is one way of doing such things.

The point is not to wait for RP but to create RP.

If a character is weak then they should be selling/trading fewer things at a time. And don't most street vendors have a set amount of supply? How many people in RL set up shop outside of the local metalworking shop and go back in constantly to pull from an unlimited storage supply? What I am hoping to do is to try to encourage people to stop letting mechanics dictate RP, especially when mechanics can fall short of the possibilities and when they can also be changed to accommodate RP. If we all always say, "well I won't do it until someone else does it," who will EVER do it?

The community could use some broadening out in activities and also getting to know other members within it. The Devs really can't do that for us. We have to look for and pursue new avenues on our own.

[Taya]

No problem. I'm happy to read/comment because I agree with your aims, just not the specific suggestion that East Hydlaa is a good place for trade, mainly because I feel it will limit potential to broaden RP opportunities instead of widen them. The storage point is one small issue, but even if we decide to 100% ignore such mechanical concerns (we can't actually; when it comes to something like trade, mechanics dictate what we can or can't do in almost all cases) there's still the issue of RP realism. There is nothing at all about the area of East Hydlaa that makes it attractive to me when playing a merchant. It's not a case of "I won't do it unless someone else will" but more a case of "there's no incentive for me to do it and it seems like a way to make my RP experience more stunted and artificial."

Now the idea of RPing a street vendor with just a small number of goods is fine, but the reality is we have a small player base and few people RP selling/buying unless they are actually looking to sell/buy. In reality, that street vendor would likely get customers. Here, given the really high supply of items (people ask friends/guild/alliance/random people who just happen to be in the same place as them and generally get the item they want quite quickly) and the relatively low demand for these items, a merchant with a tiny pool of stock to draw from is going to have very few interactions with people unless they also engage in non-merchanting RP which is outside the scope of this idea and something else anyway.

I think if we had the player base, it would be really great to push for a merchanting area and that East Hydlaa would be the ideal choice, but given how frequently it can be difficult to get these kinds of interactions even in more central locations, I just can't see this working - and there really is no escaping the fact that my merchant has been able to get involved with things near Harnquist that I never would have had a way into otherwise, plus it's generally where the newer players who need quest items but don't really have a guild or understand the game too well yet tend to be.

Maybe I'm a minority. I really don't know. But given that I can't often play in the hours that seem to see the most RP and sometimes have real trouble finding RP of any form, I really don't want to agree with the idea that we should spread RP out in ways that don't seem necessary and could often be inconvenient. You shouldn't need to use gossip to set up a trade RP in my opinion for example. Please keep in mind that all this is not to say I avoid these locations in my own RP though, or any others, I just don't want to force myself to use them unless I (from the perspective of whichever character I am playing at the time) have an actual IC reason to go there for something. I'm just missing the reason in this situation though.

Maybe if you feel strongly enough that it would help, you could try interacting with merchant characters IC and somehow give them reasons to move where they operate?

[Illysia]

Summary for the tl;dr people

• East Hydlaa is the loading dock for caravans, an IC mercantile spot
• Mechanics only affect certain aspects absolutely, there is always a work around.
• People have been waiting for the community to rebound on it's own for years, it still isn't a working solution. Time to take action.
• As long as the playerbase puts in only the bare minimum effort it will always get the bare minimum return for it. There will always be a new reason "not to do" and no net change.

_______________
(whoo boy... here we go.)

Actually Taya, I believe your opinion matches the majority, but  here is why I disagree with these things. Side note, I hate using gossip as well, but we don't have the playerbase for casual encounters.

One, that area is the loading dock for the merchants coming into the city... There should be people and goods flowing through the area, but it's like the Death Realm right now. The game has very limited man power so waiting for the devs "finish" the area, so it more matches the settings is not helpful. However, there is every IC reason to do mercantile things there.

Also, if no one transacts business there because there is no transacting business there, then it is still a self perpetuating problem. Remember that this game started with just the plaza and crystal hunting, and yet somehow it grew beyond that into the game we have now. Also, people like Kada-el took initiative and eventually it lead to broadening out. If I recall, Kada-El's started as a forum tavern but you can now visit it in game. Sometimes you have to step off the edge first.

Two, mechanics are only a part. You can trade via the window, you can RP a trade that never actually happens, you can put stuff on the ground and let people take things themselves... This is what I mean by don't let the mechanics dictate the RP. The trade window is an aspect not the sum total. Capacity and weight are an imitation of what should be intuitive limitations but often have little practical value due to the fact that you can train to carry at least 300 kilos no matter what race you are which means you will have to impose your own logical IC limits anyway. The items you can trade are endless since you can grab a book and write it up as a placeholder for a new item, and you can technically stand in the middle of the bronze doors and do business since there are no mechanics limitations on where you can sell (some games have that). Imagination is more stifling than any physical place in the game but at the same time it can also produce way more content at a faster clip than the people working on the game can.

Three , people have been RPing in front of Harns for as long as I can remember. But if you'll notice, people are still not broadening out their RP nor is the playerbase growing. As the Planeshift awards project proved, people don't even really know the other characters they are inhabiting the game alongside. Waiting for RP to just pick up/manifest or for the playerbase to just pick up has long been proven not to work. In the past that was just a theory, now it is a game that can't even peak 100 players after a major new release. It's time for the playerbase to take a more active role in building itself up and widening out.

Waiting for the problem to casually fix itself or simply not doing anything different has often been advocated, but I've always seen the best results when people put in solid effort to affect the change. And I don't mean just being the change you want to see. When I threw the Ball, player count hovered around 70 online at a time for three days straight, same with Dev/GM events such as the alchemy events and book fairs, same with other player run events. When I ran the Stonehead, I had people coming out of their way to show up, even newbies, and to be fair, Gug was one of the most desolate places until Amdeneir came through and took top spot.

The common denominator to attracting people was giving them something to do. Most players are not going to hang around for amny length of time if all they can do is grind, idle, and occasionally RP, especially the new ones. There is nothing unique to PS about that, but providing new and regular RP experiences is something that is very unique and engaging. The problem is that it takes effort, and no amount of waiting is going to change that. If the playerbase puts in only the bare minimum effort of to building itself up then it will always get the bare minimum return for it as well.

That being said, there is nothing wrong with Harns, in of itself, but I don't see people setting up more merchant stands or trading posts around it either. In fact the RP there is really pretty hit or miss. Until players stop waiting for the next person to initiate change, there won't be any growth. The community as a whole is already stagnant, so what is needed is a kick start. Its not a matter of preventing further decline, it's bottomed out, now it is a matter of rebuilding.

I know it is inconvenient, but for what it is worth so is making a game that you aren't getting money for, so is taking time from real life to host an event so that others can have fun in game, so is learning to RP when you've never done it before... but look what eventually came from people inconveniencing themselves and doing those things. However, that doesn't mean that you have to do it all the time, just periodically make a conscious effort to go out of your way. You don't blaze new trails by always following the same maps everyone has used.

[LigH]

Not sure if I really get the kernel of your idea ... like turning the rather passive channel based, half OOC auctions near the plaza (the usual place where at least a few people are available to hear you) into active IC auctions at the east market (to "audibly" shout at passing people if they can provide your needs)?

[Taya]

Illysia - I don't really understand you.

I disagree with you about East Hydlaa. End of story on that. But there's really no need to type so much about the reason why you think of such things, because I agree with your reason. I'm the only one you've replied to so far, so you also don't need to stress about how hard the devs work. There was a nice chunk of content in that update that was my work and I usually do at least a small bit of work on the game every day. I talk to a couple of the devs quite often, so I know how much time and effort they put in and how little appreciation they sometimes get shown back for it. I am also in game encouraging RP whenever and however I can.

With that said, I fully agree that we need to give people things to do. I have set up everything I can think of at different times from longer RP arcs to simple merchant stands, from encouraging well established guilds to interact with other guilds to hovering at Harn's to help any new players who show up. You don't need me to tell me to step up and do things. I've been doing that since the day I found this game regardless of what others did or what they thought about me.

As for the PS awards idea - great idea, but quite a few people didn't like encouraging it for a few different reasons. I considered nominating several people, but didn't. This isn't about the reasons for that though. Either way, I'd say it's not hugely reflective of the overall community. A lot of the people I am closest to in game don't even check the forums often at all.

Now you seem to be agreeing that player base is an issue, so think of this - More new players would cause players to branch out and occupy more space. No new players with an already low player base will cause them to group into the amount of space that is comfortable for their interactions to be held in. Asking those players to spread themselves out is only going to fill currently inactive areas at the price of other areas of the game because it's still not bringing in new players. It's only asking current ones to change. And this change is a thing that would remove activity from the area where new players start out in game. The game would look even more abandoned to anyone who just joined, decreasing the likelihood of them finding interactions that might make them stick around. A new player doing a quest for the first time and finding out they need a broadsword to give a guard or need a tefu skin isn't going to enjoy being told "come to xxx" more than "come to the place you first started by the blacksmith" or even better "tell me where you are and I will come to you."

So I'm going to repeat what I said earlier, if you want me as a merchant to move where I interact, give me a reason through RP. Feel free to send a groffel and tell me you will pay more than my standard price if I make an effort to move to sell to you. Then I'll come. (And no, I don't really care if you actually pay more or just RP you do. But always make this difference clear to a seller. I've known someone get hurt being told they'd get paid a certain amount, but in reality they refused to pass anywhere close to as many tria as they RPed.) Or better yet, find a more permanent RP incentive to move me by.

Secondly, if you want these areas to fill out naturally, find a way to encourage:
1 - new players to join.
2 - new players to stay when they do join.
Because this right here is the underlying issue and all you are doing is poking at symptoms of it. I'm actively engaged in point 2 of this whenever I can be. I don't have time for point 1 though and what we really need is someone to deal with that.

[Illysia]

@Taya: Ok fine, you don't agree. I replied to you because you responded in thread and the other people reading did not. The post is not merely for you. People often read and don't respond in the threads they just catch me in IRC or game and give their input there.

That being said, it's almost always desolate even around Harn's. I'm curious, what groups of RPers you are expecting new players to see, especially since most of them are coming from games where only 6 players in a spot is an "empty" place in the game? Very few people actively RP while crafting at the smith. Harn's isn't  that alive really.

"Encouraging" has not worked the last 5 years we've tried it. It's time to lay that myth to rest. That undefined term is not enough to convince people to hang around, it's a buzzword. It is time for more players to stop using nebulous terms and start actively forming initiatives. If you don't like this one that is fine, there is a whole game full of possibilities and other players can pitch their own idea. But it's time for those ideas.

Last, what I am talking about is the problem not the symptom. I see new players on all the time, what is going on is that they are not staying, the whole idea of this initiative is to create points of interest to get people to stay. People don't care about going out of their way if it is for a decent enough reason. I've gotten people to Gug, Oja, and Amdeneir that way, even new people. This is not what I guess or think works, I'm telling you what methods for sure work. It's time to go back to that if the community is to grow.



@LigH: Not exactly what I mean but what you say isn't completely different from what I mean. This thread is for a specific place and actions to do there with East Hydlaa loading docks being the place and RPing trade being the action. There are a lot of wasted RP possibilities there. But, what I am trying to advocate here is taking some lost RP opportunities, like using the empty kiosks or doing a real auction instead of just using the channel, and making an active effort to turn it into something that will attract other players, even if you have to attract other players one by one at first.

An analogy would be water droplets. If they stand apart they stay apart but if they brush against each other, they can merge. Then the merged water drop is bigger and can grab on to other drops and get bigger and bigger. People have to make an active effort to make a group of RPers that can take on people that weren't initially a part of the group, but once they do that the group is more likely grab others and draw them in. The great part is that you only need 2 RPers to start with.

Last night, I was able to RP with 7 people at the absolute worst time of night for RPing, but it didn't just happen. I had to make a concerted effort to stop people and try and RP with them but it worked out well. I caught a certain amount of people, then some of those people caught other people and then after awhile some of us ended up picnicking by the Gazebo laughing and telling stories.



The Gist of the Post:

Moral of the story is... the game needs definite action and not the same ill-defined words I've heard for the last 7 years.

[Taya]

I have not said it's just for me? Nonetheless, your responses are directed that way because I was  the only one here to respond to.

Again, please let me stress that I'm not disagreeing with you when you say that ideas are good and needed but you seem to be taking the stance that I am just 'against you' and that I am part of what you see as the problem. but let's get this clear, I 'want' action and change and development. I just don't see much use for this particular idea. This doesn't mean I think it's bad to explore it. If you raise it on a  forum for 'discussion' I'd assume it's a good thing to get the opposing view along with the reasons behind it as well in order to refine the idea and work out if it's good.  So as I said, give me IC reasons if you want to sell it, not OOC talk about why I should change how I play. Approach the merchants you hope to see move actually in game. As you said yourself - "People don't care about going out of their way if it is for a decent enough reason." My merchant would need a reason. I'm not suddenly going to do something that would be completely OOC for him unless you provide that.

And yes, exactly as you point out, the area around Harn's is not lively enough. How can taking away the interactions that merchants can cause there and transporting them elsewhere, merely moving the already limited activity from one place to a place new players are even less likely to encounter it, be good? What you propose does nothing to change the actual level of interactions going on between players, just the 'where' part of them.

It's great that you do things in game to encourage RP. I've only ever been lucky to catch you once to my awareness and I kind of wish it had been more often, because what I saw looked good and I really wish there were more players doing these sorts of things.

But turning this into a "I've heard it all before" game helps no one. There are newer players who do try to make an impact and who do try to make a difference and they get really tired of being told "I've heard it all before" every time they do suggest something that they think might help. It's a bit condescending really. As are the implications that I am just spamming out buzzwords with no action.

I'll wish you the best either way.

[Illysia]

Taya, nothing in my post is meant to be taken personally. If you'll remember the first post is actually the point of the thread and it is a call for people to try something not pointing blame. I'm not being half as condescending as you might assume. It's merely explanation, when I don't explain the first time I say something then I just end up having to explain later anyway. I could care less who is the problem or whatever, what I am after is action and plans not more discussion on who is to blame. Everyone says the same words at some point, I said them years ago, what I am trying to do is save another set of people from making the mistake of proceeding in the same way that has been proven ineffective. Also Taya, your merchant isn't the only one that am appealing to, I'm not even calling just for merchant characters.

But let me ask, if you talk about the potential of the merchants at harns, how is that radically different from the potential in east hydlaa? What difference does moving less than 10 mins away make if there is currently a small difference in the amount RP between the two places? How do you think the spawn point even came to be where it is? It was adjusted and I for one miss spawning in Oja. People will follow the RP so what is needed is for people to come together to step up the RP presence but to do so with a game plan.

Again, it's everything I mentioned earlier about the mechanics bending around RP. I actually don't care if it happens at Harn's but rather than taking my post personally, I'm asking for some kind of initiative. Do what you feel you must where you feel you must but grab some people and make plans for it.

Further, I already gave IC reason earlier. It's the settings. But aside from that, it is set up for markets with the expectation that people needed it it considering how many people sold just fine there during the fairs. Are Devs the only ones that can create an IC draw in that area? I know it's not. You however can do what you want obviously but I've already started trying to draw attention there myself. so my characters will take their goods there.

Side note for people saying "you're being a snob/condescending:
New players aren't require to always defer to old players but never forget that applies both way. It always helps greatly when you just assume no one is going out of their way to personally attack you. However, none of that has to be an issue here if everyone agrees to not make things personal.

[Theorex]

Reading between the lines here I see this as more of a request for people to arrange roleplay more often (and actually roleplay the trading IC rather than OOC), which I would agree with completely.

However, I don't see any reason for specifying a location to do this. I think you were trying to hit two birds with one stone here, and I respect that, but I believe the issue of Hydlaa East being "barren" is more down to how little a role it plays in planeshift's ecosystem, that is, there are no mobs, no storage or crafting areas or NPCs who trade common items; the only reason to go there is for books, quests and to upgrade low level magic.

I understand what you're saying, the kiosks are just sitting there collecting dust, and in RP terms, they make a good outfit for trading, but I don't see them being populated unless either we get overflowing crowds of players in hydlaa, or the kiosks are given something really worth standing around there for. It is natural to trade where the people are, and this tends to be the "local highstreet", or in this case, the plaza. I wish I could see a good reason to move, but I can't, as it is currently.

[Taya]

Okay.

----East Hydlaa vs. Harns.
1. New players start by Harns. You can help them if you have a character there. It does not matter where the spawn point 'was.' This is where it 'is.' I often find I am able to help newer players from my merchant character while he is there. These players quite often don't even know how to use things like gossip yet.
2. There are more players at Harns due to storage/crafting stations. It does not matter if this a mechanics factor. It's still a fact that these things draw players to this location. If I position a character where there 'will' be players, there will always be a greater chance of RP resulting than if I message in gossip asking people to move somewhere else. I can message in gossip for RPers just the same wherever I might be, but 'passing trade' will always increase the likelihood of interactions.
3. My experiences of trying to find RP via gossip have generally been poor. My experience of going to where players are/are likely to show up and RPing to them to get things started has been much better. So I prefer to go where there is a greater chance of there being players.

In short - number of RP interactions is dependent on the number of characters your character will encounter. Unless storage / spawn point / crafting stations all get moved, this means Harns is always going to be the better place.


----Regarding settings.

Yes, East Hydlaa is trade related but so is the Winch. Why not sell goods there? And keep in mind, a lot of 'merchants' are selling produce made by residents of Hydlaa. My merchant sells items made by local smiths and advertises as such, so his goods are not coming in from East Hydlaa. They are coming from the forge at Harn's or the alchemy stove in the arena. Saying that East Hydlaa is more IC for selling than any of these other locations wouldn't make sense.

As for initiative. I see plenty of attempts being made and implying that people are not doing anything is unfair to those people.

I know you're not only appealing to me Illysia. But I am only one person and so I have answered from my viewpoint. Others are welcome to do the same.

In summary:
1 - change is good.
2 - I don't see why merchants should move to East Hydlaa and the reasons you have tried to provide are not enough to convince me.

[Zazhia]

I do too support the idea of more RP and people encouraging it, but I fail to see why East Hydlaa is a better spot than Harnquist for trading, given we are such a few players. It's of critical importance that there are people there because of newcomers - as already pointed out earlier.

Another thing is, that I generally dislike "constructed RP". As in announcing and planning every time I should either buy or sell something OOC in gossip. It drags real life into my RP, and I honestly don't see the need - or how it would improve the game in any way. To me it would only serve to break the illusion.

[RoberetGoldsmith]

Thanks for reading and bothering to respond Taya. But, while I understand your concern, the storage thing does sorta miss what I am going for. I'm not talking about being a walmart in east Hydlaa. I mean literally trading. I have 5 iron and I trade with someone that has 10 rat hides. And the idea is not to stand around for 4 hours just hoping to make tria or bringing 500 books to sell for 30 circles a piece or something else that wouldn't make sense from a logical IC standpoint. I'm trying to get at encouraging RP between a wider pool of a characters. Many people need a reason for their character to interact with others, especially moody or difficult characters. This is one way of doing such things.

The point is not to wait for RP but to create RP.

If a character is weak then they should be selling/trading fewer things at a time. And don't most street vendors have a set amount of supply? How many people in RL set up shop outside of the local metalworking shop and go back in constantly to pull from an unlimited storage supply? What I am hoping to do is to try to encourage people to stop letting mechanics dictate RP, especially when mechanics can fall short of the possibilities and when they can also be changed to accommodate RP. If we all always say, "well I won't do it until someone else does it," who will EVER do it?

The community could use some broadening out in activities and also getting to know other members within it. The Devs really can't do that for us. We have to look for and pursue new avenues on our own.

This pretty much is bang on.

The whole East Hydlaa trading is quite interesting. Essentially player behaviour V what settings/devs want it to be.
Be in game or real life, Merchants will always go where the money is and Harn's is where it is. But none the less some new avenues would be great, I will give some time thinking about it.

[Illysia]

Ok... let me stop and make this side statement: I really don't care that much about East Hydlaa... I really don't. Just do something! Do it at harn's... fine!

I intend to explain why I say East Hydlaa but really people, I didn't make the place. I'm not hooked at the hip to it, It's just where I'll be.



@Theorex: You are right about two birds with one stone and while I understand what you are saying keep in mind that all of those factors are OOC issues not RP issues. I wouldn't ask you to entirely move your whole operation, that wouldn't be fun. But consider, what did people do before banking was established, before there were mobs, before they could successfully complete quest (I kinda miss that system anyway)... they RPed. That is what I mean by not letting RP be dictated by mechanics. Mechanics are too limiting.

If you don't actually have a good on you, RP it and take RPed tria. Chances are that the items themselves haven't existed for that long either.



@Taya:
Ok, while I agree numbers affect probability that is not the same as successfully getting someone to RP with you. I've seen 7 people at the smithy that say next to nothing when I try to RP there... people in the area is not what I'm getting at, it's the RP specifically. Also, I would argue that hit or miss success with people in passing is not better. Valid, but not all around better. Yesterday I got way more people to RP with me just by standing at the base of the stairs leading to Kada's, but I would not tell people to just start standing there from now on due to the very hit or miss nature. That is why I advocate being proactive.

Also, gossip is NOT the point. I really don't care if you use smoke signals... Once more: The point is to create more points of interest not sit around nitpicking the details to death. Do it at Harn's I don't care. Make a wooden sign instead of gossip... great! I would love to RP in the winch but it is sadly not an area that everyone has access to, myself included.

As for initiative. I see plenty of attempts being made and implying that people are not doing anything is unfair to those people.

OK, here we go again, just said it's not personal, not to you or anyone else. I made no such implication. I'm trying to get more people on board. MORE. I never said it didn't happen, but look around, it's not enough. It would help dialogue and efforts to rally people greatly if people weren't so quick to turn a suggestion into condemnation of someone's efforts. Most people have lives aside from looking for people to insult in game. I especially can't be bothered to go around discounting people.



@Zazhia: We have less than 100 people online. I don't like contrived RP either but we simply don't have enough people for regular casual encounters. Every time my character randomly greets another character that the character dosen't know the character, and likely the player too, is confused. That means people are not even in the habit of casual encounter RP. Get more people first, then we can pick and choose.


@Roberet: Well, keep an eye out in gossip or if you like you can look for my characters in East Hydlaa. I will likely juggle which Characters I send but I will be trying to actively draw characters there. If you come up with better idea for any location, do suggest them somewhere, even here.