[GM] The Future of the RCD

[iridia]

The Future of the RCD

More about the eviction of the RCD can be read here.




The GM Team wants to keep the space of the RCD available to players as a public guildhouse. The guildhouse will be left unlocked so anyone will be able to use the space for rp. This seems to be working well for the Hospital in Amdeneir and will be applied to other public guildhouses in the future as well (University).

Aside from unlocking the RCD the GM's will be renting out the space for events. A variety of setups for different types of events will be made available. For example; performances, weddings, meetings, etc.

If you want to organize your own event at the RCD you can make a request with the GM's to rent the RCD. You can do this via a tell or a petition in game or via a PM here on the forum to Iridia.
For your event you can choose one of the setups, however we will not be making any changes or additions.
Renting the RCD for your event won't be free, a fee of 10K will be charged by the Octarchy.

Interested in organizing an event at the RCD? Or suggestions for one of the prefab setups?

Let us know!

[Mariana Xiechai]

Awesome! Can't wait to see what activities will be in store!

[cdmoreland]

None, most likely, just as when Dannae left it open 24/7.

[Sming1985]

I should say the Hospital in Amdenier is 'working well' if the goal is to provide a few active characters a venue well away from the rest of Ylliakum to play in.

However, as more and more of these new venues are developed and attract veteran players into isolated penny-packets, the more Hydlaa and Hydlaa East become a ghost town.

Plane Shift tries to present itself as a role-playing game, but with no one to role-play with, new comers are often left to wander aimlessly looking for some non-NPC character to talk to. The only characters around are a smith or two grinding at Harnquist's, a couple of characters grinding away at the training dummies, and the occasional streaker running across the plaza in pursuit of finishing some quest. Crafters, stat grinders and characters running around on quests are not known for stopping their activities to role-play with passers by.

I know this post is suppose to be about the 'Future of the RCD' but quite frankly, the future of PS is connected. Is the Octarchy about encouraging player participation and attracting new players to stay, or is it about desperately attempting to keep veterans happy so they don't leave?

By the way, this wasn't an eviction of the RCD. This was an eviction of Damola, Waesed, Sulaika and other characters who cooked or tended bar or entertained at the Den. An eviction of people who put their thought and effort and time into developing the venue and hosting events. You don't evict property, you evict tenants. Trying to frame this action as something done against the building seems an attempt to sweep under the rug the real damage done to those characters and their players.

[Candy]

There have always been roleplay hotspots. Back in the day it was Kada-El's - when that crowd started tapering down, you didn't find many public roleplays outside of that "penny pocket". It isn't all veteran players in these areas, either - it may simply look that way as we hang around there most of the time, but anyone who enters is welcome unless they cause an IC disturbance.

You'll note that the same players can normally be found at the weekly markets and that, too, is a roleplay hotspot on Sundays.

Hydlaa is a ghost town because of low player count. The player count is low because, as hard as the devs work, the game is still pretty rough (and has been for what, a decade?) and a) gamers expect a higher-quality product, and b) roleplayers will gravitate toward either paid games like WoW or private servers of more polished games. Another issue that 90% of the brand new players I've spoken to over my stay in PS have mentioned is the graphics. They just don't like the look of the game. It's unfortunate that they'll pick the mechanical quality of the game itself over the quality of the roleplay community, but there's little we can do about the way others think.

[cdmoreland]

Waesed and my other alts might stay around but things will never be the same. I have known many players to leave, not because of the graphics, but because the dev team and GMs have made it unenjoyable. I've been playing and doing my best to promote PS for 5 years, but not anymore.

You taken the life of those of us that wanted the RCD to live on.

[Mariana Xiechai]

I should say the Hospital in Amdenier is 'working well' if the goal is to provide a few active characters a venue well away from the rest of Ylliakum to play in.

However, as more and more of these new venues are developed and attract veteran players into isolated penny-packets, the more Hydlaa and Hydlaa East become a ghost town.

[...]or is it about desperately attempting to keep veterans happy so they don't leave?

I'm not going to comment on the rest of this thread, for fear of hijacking its intent (and because I agree and disagree with various comments so listing which would be futile), but I grow ever more weary of this passive aggressive accusation. Despite the assertion, no, the hospital was not GIFTED to a handful of people just for being old players. It was an effort and a push done by twenty (if not MORE) individuals, both new and old, who all were intrigued by the idea and wanted to see it come to fruition. If you'd take a moment to look at the numerous threads right here on the forums you are currently using you would see tables full of people all having IC discussion about it. OOCly, the person who even WORKED OUT most of it with the devs no longer even plays, but she passed the reins to me for that specific reason: she no longer plays.

http://www.hydlaaplaza.com/smf/index.php?topic=41992.msg475227#msg475227
http://www.hydlaaplaza.com/smf/index.php?topic=41992.msg476825#msg476825

I have seen new players and old players constantly walking through the doorway. Nobody is ignored. Nobody is turned away (unless they ICly cause a disturbance.) If they are, I can promise you it's probably just because I and the other doctors are so busy we can't type fast enough to greet them. Just last night, Yoken, Kecalle and Ravynne were all in a room discussing a recent attack, some person named Chaara that I do not know was upstairs, and Anysu, Prreta, Celroc and Elisa were discussing a plan for treatment of Prreta.

Irony of ironies, Sulaika and Damola were both a part of the original team that helped Siteya (and later myself) push for the hospital. Sulaika I've seen lingering about on more than on occasion. Damola I haven't for a while, but I just assumed she was occupied doing other things (or perhaps I was missing her because of time zone issues.)

There's even a book in the hospital that gives Damola credit for helping research it.

So please. Stop belittling this accomplishment as some display of favoritism. You're insulting a heck of a lot of people by doing so.

[Sming1985]

I did not intend to belittle the efforts of people to get the Octarchy to do something for the folks of Ylliakum, like establishing the hospital in Amdenier. My point in bringing it up was this: while those eight characters were role-playing in the hospital in Amdenier last night, they were unavailable to play with any new players who happened to enter the city at the North Gate.

I have not talked to many new players, but I have talked to a few. None of them mentioned the graphics. Most of them wondered if there is anyone around to play with. If 90% of arrivals leave because the graphics are unsatisfactory, that still leaves 350 new characters per year, according to statistics published on the teamix page. Even if 2/3s of them are alts for existing players, that still leaves over 100 new players that did not stick around for reasons other than graphics quality. Since we can't really do anything about the quality of the graphics (been 'rough' for a decade...) then we might want to think about why the 10% are also bailing.

Would it be worthwhile to get even 1/2 of those 100+ looky-loos to turn into regular players over the course of a year? If they come here for role-play, which is, after all, how the game is advertised, then wouldn't it make sense to offer them some role play right away?

Hydlaa is a ghost town because players who are on-line are somewhere else in Ylliakum.

[Mariana Xiechai]

I did not intend to belittle the efforts of people to get the Octarchy to do something for the folks of Ylliakum, like establishing the hospital in Amdenier. My point in bringing it up was this: while those eight characters were role-playing in the hospital in Amdenier last night, they were unavailable to play with any new players who happened to enter the city at the North Gate.

I see. Thank you for clarifying.

[Phantomboy86]

Permanently locked doors of some random building off a side street sure do help those poor sweet new players.

Solid decision GM team, can't wait to get some use out of the new renovations when you're done.

[CheatCat]

Yeah, lock this house forever. Seriously all this seem to be done just because some few person decided to lock this whole place up because some trulls decided to spam PMs in order to have the power of RCD?

You see what happen? Do not reward the trolls, keep the place locked or give back the keys to the ones who have proven to be good at managing the place in past.

You say that there are no events at the place? Well take a look around you. There are no events anywhere. The staff of RCD works hard to keep the action going there. No perhaps no "offical" events but they keep the place open to those who want to roleplay there. Is it really so difficult to ask them. Heck, even the GMs could run the place there and roleplay but instead you chose the easy way.

You do not like the attitude of the staff? Well, surprise tell some people "get some action going or we take the house" and see how happy they will be. I do not know about you but I usually get bad results when saying things like that.

The staffs are working hard but they are not magicians. If people decide to ignore them when they say the place is open in game, can the staff be blamed? The population is low generally so I do not understand how the staff are supposed getting enough people for events. Maybe you should try run the place yourself (without any GM powers) and see how easy it is before stating that the "RCD staff are incompetent" or "the structure of the RCD staff is flawed".

[Rigwyn]

I did not intend to belittle the efforts of people to get the Octarchy to do something for the folks of Ylliakum, like establishing the hospital in Amdenier. My point in bringing it up was this: while those eight characters were role-playing in the hospital in Amdenier last night, they were unavailable to play with any new players who happened to enter the city at the North Gate.

A fist full of people can only be in one place at a time. It's a big world with only a few players. There was a time when there were people everywhere, but that's no more.

Why not just RP in the front so new players will see and be able to join?

There are different reasons. Sometimes it's because the story takes you somewhere else, sometimes it's for a change of scenery. Honestly? There are times when you want to get away from the newbies so you can RP with seasoned players and not get god modded, mind read, meta-gamed, gm-smacked or whatever. The reasons are mixed.

As for the future of the RCD, I would not try to force anything. The RCD was formed by a group of players who had a shared interest in running what was basically a fancy schmancy mobster dive. Think "The Bada Bing" but without the strippers. There were enough players at the time that were genuinely interested enough to pull this off.

Sadly, this endeavor proved to be a chore for those who ran it. I remember hearing lots of complaints about how nobody wanted to help run it. For some, running the RCD was more like having an unpaid part time job.

My advice: Come up with a new idea.

Rot in hell, all of you  :p

Rigwyn

[Candy]

You say that there are no events at the place? Well take a look around you. There are no events anywhere.

Except the player-run markets. Besides, not every roleplay has to be an "event". The RCD would lend itself to some more run-of-the-mill RP if we could get at it.

[Volki]

Hydlaa is a ghost town because players who are on-line are somewhere else in Ylliakum.

The issue here is that the game has so few players that when the few come online, they gravitate toward each other and leave most areas empty.

[Sarko]

Some of you may have heard some noise in the RCD, in the last past days, the setup inside has been totaly reworked.

The RCD will be Back to its Roots, a place for all artists to express themselves, an open space for people to meet, a place for creation or just to chillout.
The RCD will also offer a workshop for Luthiers to repair your instruments.

Some musicians have been called already to test the accoustic of the Room...



In Amdeneir too, The Hall of Learning is progressing, Many thanks to Knowledge Seeker Members, who are working hard to get it ready as soon as Possible...
http://207.244.96.64/PlaneShift/smf/index.php?topic=42192.msg476932#msg476932

 More detail Coming soon... Very Soon !!!