The "I'm Bored" Conversation Thread

[Ebonwumon]

There was a time when I would be "that guy" who told everyone about Planeshift and the cool things it was doing. That time has long since past.

Interestingly enough, the amount of things I said was a function of Duraza.

[Illysia]

If its fun, people will play. If its awesome, they will tell other people about it.

*clears throat and refers to years of forum complaints and arguments and the current player count*

Now, what were we talking about in order to make it more fun and awesome?

[Rigwyn]

I've been entertaining an idea.

When I started playing in late '07, I remember seeing dark empire tags all over the place. Players with these tags were running around and working like ants - mining, making stuff, training each other, etc... I was never a part of that, so I really don't know much about it, but I like the idea of having an organization that both role plays and supports players in training.  The advantage that I see here is that if you support new players in training ( giving them starter equipment, showing them how to level up ), they will eventually see that some members of your guild are engrossed with role play and may learn about it that way. With a minimal requirement of just speaking in character, anyone could easily participate to some extent while feeling like they are a part of the RP story/community that you have created.

I'm thinking that once they've had their fill with training and begin to get bored, perhaps the RP option will look more appealing. I also like the idea of a supporting community that's there to help the new player.  In a way, I think that perhaps insisting that everyone role play very well and putting down levelers might have killed some of that fellowship and in turn role play.

What do you think about the possibility of a guild or association that caters to both as described above? Something the those who are initially more interested in leveling could be a part of?

[Ebonwumon]

I was in IRC saying this the other day, and I'll say it again here. All those things are secondary. Not saying your idea isn't good, it's just not relevant.

If you talk to people who play D&D, almost unanimously you will hear one thing: being a good DM is hard. And it requires a LOT of time. For people to experience quality RP you need the good DMs. You need people willing to put the time and effort in to make it a good experience. Currently there just aren't people taking that big of an initiative upon themselves, and until that changes, no matter how good the mentorship prospects are, unless someone is demonstrating actively how things need to be done, no one else will learn how things should be done.

I don't propose to have the solution to this one. I don't have the time to put in, and even if I did, I'm not sure I'm willing to. PS was a cool part of my life, but I'm not sure I want to go back to it. I'm pretty happy to be an alumnus. Absolutely, one hundred percent I see this as the problem, though. From a dev point of view, what needs to be done in the game is to make the storytelling easier. The printing press idea is an invaluable one. If there's a new BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy), then the number one goal of the BBEG, in terms of storytelling, is to get his name known. Get the fear instilled in the population. Nervousness. If no one told Harry not to say Voldemort's name, I'm not sure the Potter guy would be scared of him.

The rest of the community just has to either wait for their Dark Knight to come save Gotham, or a buy some hockey pads and try saving the day. Whoever takes up the mantle has a lot of work for them. The rewards are great, the feelings I had when I ran a successful, long-haul storyline were uncomparable. I just hope there's someone left in the community willing to take on the task (and that they hurry up and do so).

[Illysia]

@Rigwyn: There used to be several guilds like that but I think what you want to see is like a tag and the only way to get that is with a guild and the guild  mechanics present problems. People who don't want to join guilds would have a problem and then people already in guilds probably won't just leave their guild. Perhaps adding a title system might help but again it's a new feature.

Perhaps it will help to take time to hang around the explorer tent near Harns with a sign that says "Ask me for help" or something. Maybe set up a group of people that will hang out there at the same time to keep each other from getting too bored and for helping newbies.

@Ebonwumon: The problem is that there is no one to be a DM. It's a vicious circle. There is no one to do it, so there is not enough going on to convince someone to invest the time, so there are fewer people around, so there is still no one around to do it. What we need is to be able to break up the effort into smaller chunks across more people. But the printing press idea would help in that. Everyone contribute a part.

[Rigwyn]

I have to agree with what Timmy is saying for the most part. It does take a shitload of time and lots of planning. Once you've started a game, you get lots of crap from people about how you're just another wanna-be-evil mary sue, how you are somehow wrong for writing up your events on the forums, or how moronic and brutal your characters are etc...  So you ignore the ones who talk crap and just focus on the players who enjoy what you are doing but it still eats at you.

A more ideal situation would be to have two or more DMs ( please don't confuse that with GM) on at the same time and both planning and driving their stories.  When that happens, awesomeness ensues.

The greatest reward in doing this imho, is seeing others thoroughly enjoy the game.

[Illysia]

Most people are too scared to start something that big so two at a time is unlikely.

[Ebonwumon]

HEY RIGGY, SUMMERTIME INGAME DM PARTY?

[yourcharname]

no

[Illysia]

I think plot workshops in game would probably be helpful, it's just how do you set one up? Maybe run mock plots and use something like groups or a channel to give OOC instruction on how to handle plot elements and incidents.

[Rigwyn]

I and a few others had actually set up a separate forum dedicated to this . We used it to discuss technique and to collaborate on plot ideas. I'd be more that glad to help if anyone wanted to learn.

"HEY RIGGY, SUMMERTIME INGAME DM PARTY?"
-- Heh heh ... would be nice to see some sort of gathering.

[yourcharname]

no

[Rigwyn]

The forum is http://tmd.myfreeforum.org  however I have not looked at this in some time .... not sure if I want to continue with it or not.

On this forum, I had started a thread here:  http://www.hydlaaplaza.com/smf/index.php?topic=40661.0

[yourcharname]

no

[Rigwyn]

Woo hoo!

If you ever want someone to bounce ideas off of or to discuss ideas with, I'm here. Most folks are usually open about discussing this kind of stuff.