The State of the Game - a serious discussion

[Isolrem]

YOU HAVE BEEN FOREWARNED: this post is very long and parts of it may be tedious. I discuss here what I feel are the most crucial issues FK currently faces. For anyone who cares about the condition of the game now and in years to come, I invite you to take the time to read this.

I have been meaning to write a lengthy article about this topic for some time. A number of factors have kept me from posting this sooner. The most important is that I feel it is perhaps not my place. I have been playing this MUD for many years. I profess to have a good understanding of the game world and its mechanics. Still, I am hardly among the most senior of our players, and I have even less to do with the actual administration of this game. In the end, I am only a player, and my opinions have little impact, which is a shame because I feel what I have to say here is of the utmost importance to the game going forward.

One need only read a few threads in the suggestions forum to note that there are two separate types of opinions concerning what type of changes should be made to the game. I would even call it two different philosophies. Without naming any names, I will say that many of our older players, including past and current staff members, believe in making accomplishments in the game more difficult in order to make obtaining them feel more rewarding. They are also largely in favor of adding new content - be it in in the form of quests, areas, items, skills, feats, spells, or races. On the flip-side, there are certain other members who are largely in favor of reducing the difficulty of the game, and they are more likely to propose changes, tweaks, and mechanical adjustments towards the existing game.

Before delving into what I believe, I should first note that FK is unlike most games out there, especially commercial ones. FK is not a merchandise, Mask does not make any profit from improving upon or hosting of the game. Moreover, the active players of FK are a closely knit community. In fact I will wager that there is at most two degrees of separation between any two active players in FK. That is to say, given any other active player, there is someone I know who knows someone he knows - and I do mean know as in having some sort of relationship outside of the game. That being the case, it is perhaps a defensible opinion to think we should be building upon the game to suit our existing players - to suit each other.

Indeed, here is the crux of the problem: I am not aware of any concrete decision, at least not one made by or shared with the player-base, concerning what should be done with the game as we move forward - what is our foremost priority and our ultimate purpose. Do we need such things? I would argue we certainly do in order to keep from wallowing in aridity. It is my belief that in spite of everything I said in the previous paragraph, our priorities should still be absolutely identical to that of any marketable product: firstly, to increase adoption; secondly to improve retention; and only in the third place to provide innovations.

My reasons for this belief are manifold. I believe MUDs are awesome, role-playing is awesome, Forgotten Realms is awesome, and more people should be introduced to FK to discover the awesomeness of these things. But more importantly, I believe the game needs more players to have some measure of security. In all my years of playing, there has never been a time in my recollection when the game had what would be considered a sustainable player-base. The WHO list usually peaks at 20 - 25, and occasionally I would be the only player logged in. This is quite simply not enough players. A larger player-base has the obvious benefit of more role-playing opportunities, more player interactions, and all the perks that go with these great things. Moreover, as it stands right now, at any point a few key players' leaving might start a chain reaction that will quickly lead to the disintegration of the game. That is something we should try to avoid at all costs. Of course, so far this has not happened because a lot of our core player base are very devoted and have been playing the game for years. Still, it is not something we can always rely on, and while it has kept the game from fading out of existence there has also not been any notable amount of growth or expansion.

Now at this point, many would argue "of course we know all of this already. attracting new players is important, it is our top priority, we've always been doing it!" That is what you might say, it may even be what you believe, but I would vehemently argue that it is not, in fact, the truth.

The important thing to note is, it is not the case with FK - as it had been for some other MUDs I've played - that our administration have simply given up or moved on. We still have a very active staff which routinely makes additions to the game. I have just returned from a 6 month hiatus and found a myriad of changes that have occurred while I was gone. It is hard to argue that, almost invariably, all the changes we've made were improvements that have made the game better. So why is it that, in spite of these changes, our player-base has not increased at all in the course of these 6 months? Is it really just because no one plays text-based games anymore? Let us take the time now to analyze these changes and see just whom they've affected.

1. Rate of component drain has been significantly reduced. This is an awesome change for everyone. The amount of consumption of components for some spells used to be pretty obnoxious, and collecting all of them had not been very contributing to either fun or role-play.

2. A number of spells have been modified to act more in accordance with their DnD counterparts, and to take caster level into account. The best part about this is that bandit wizards no longer throw 5 magic missiles and 1hko newbies. But for the most part, the effect of this has been fairly marginal, and I can only hope that it was not a very big effort to make these changes when the gain has been so little.

3. Enhancement and expansion of the random quest reward system. This is a very attractive and reasonably unique feature of our MUD, and I like it a lot. It certainly does a lot for retention when I know that my new characters will not be using exactly the same gear as my last one.

4. Addition of new quests and areas. Honestly, this was very nice for me personally. But the fact of the matter is FK is already a very expansive world with a huge amount of content to explore. Newbies will not care about the addition of a bit more. And will old players return just because a few new areas or quests had been added? It seems unlikely.

So, if we accept my original premise that increasing player-base is our first and foremost priority, then some of the changes that were made were good while others have been what would be considered in the corporate world a waste of resources. The first thing you learn in product design is that resources are finite, and you can't do everything you want to. So even though all the changes that were made were for the better, if I was the product manager I would call some of them mistakes.

Some will say this is overly harsh. After all, our staff is composed of volunteers and they should be allowed to work only on what they want to. In particular, building new areas and creating new quests is a great expression of creativity and a lot of people prefer doing that to anything else even if it does not contribute much to our primary goal. To that, there is little I can offer in way of a solution. Certainly I can neither afford, or pressure Mask, to hire paid programmers to help improve the game. I can only say that my own services as a programmer are offered, if they are required.

The most outstanding problem that I see, however, is that even the changes made to improve adoption and retention did not address the most pressing issues we are facing right now in acquiring new players. If we looked at the statistics of how many players create new accounts and how many of those players actually bother to play for more than 5 hours, what would be the ratio? If we collected user stories from new players and asked them what they had the most trouble with, what would be the top answers? Unfortunately I do not have the numbers with me, nor am I aware that any such forms of metrics have even been implemented (they must be the first thing we do if we are ever serious about driving adoption), so I can only hypothesize from personal experience of learning the game and starting new characters, but here are my top concerns:

1. Not enough player interaction upon creating a new character. Absolute reliance on a player council member being logged on to resolve many confusing problems. Not enough advertisement of the ASK feature.

2. Very difficult to train in the early levels for certain classes. Lack of immediate and enticing rewards for playing the game.

These are two problems which in my mind are most discouraging to new players, and they are also two problems which have had nothing done to address them sine the inception of the player council and the newbie training area years ago. Frankly, those things have proven insufficient.

In my mind, these are also the problems which we can get the most bang for the buck in immediately resolving, and therefore are the logical first step towards any serious effort in attracting new players. So what are my proposed solutions?

1. Remove all current restriction for new characters to leave the newbie area. This includes description and name approval. Perhaps make these restrictions for progressing past level 10 instead.

2. Recruit more players, i.e. everyone who has adequate experience with the game, into the player council.

3. Encourage player council members to actively introduce themselves to new players instead of just answering via the ask channel.

4. REALLY push the existence of the ask channel into new players' heads.

5. Add a comprehensive map of the starting city to the inventory of a new character.

6. In Waterdeep at least, add several additional quests that are immediately available to new characters, require exploration of the city, and use the random reward system.

7. Make training in the earliest levels easier.

It is my belief that if we implemented these 7 things, and then proceeded to make an effort towards greater publicity both on the internet and by introducing the game to our friends, we would receive an immediate surge in adoption (this is under the assumption that we do still regularly have players trying out the game).

Once we have begun to address the issue of adoption, we must look next at retention. Retention requires a much greater effort, and that is why my following proposals represent a fundamental change in how we approve and prioritize suggestions and bug fixes.

1. Put on halt all major building projects that involve new areas, new races, new quests, or other types of purely additional content.

2. Delay all bug fixes if the existence of those bugs do not fundamentally affect the health or operation of the game.

3. Consider the merits of all suggestions based primarily upon how they affect players with little to no experience with the game.

4. Make every effort to adopt suggestions that positively affect said players.

5. Implement analytics that track in detail the activity of new to relatively new players: what they spend the most time doing, what they are most likely to be stuck on, etc. In order to come up with ways to address these issues.

There is perhaps no one, save for Mask, who can take a crack at number five. However I believe it is the most important point on there. It is not enough for me or anyone else to come up with things we THINK are deterrents to retention. It is imperative that we know for certain.

Another qualm I have with the current system is the general consensus "up there" that soloing is something that should be discouraged. I understand that role-play and player interactions are the two things we most actively wish to encourage amongst our players, but maintaining that philosophy given our current player-base is simply shortsighted to the point of blindness. A great example of this is the Underdark wilderness that was implemented some months back. What a momentous effort that was! Probably the biggest change to FK since the spell-casting system overhaul. And yet, what was accomplished by that? Aside from enabling a tunnel by which drow characters can finally visit the surface, how many parties have been organized in these months that have gone to explore this gigantic new area? How much role-play has it facilitated? And was it enough to make it worth the effort? In my mind the answer is a resounding no, and the reason is simply we do not have enough players to take advantage of an area which is exclusively accessible to a large party of high level characters.

So what I want everyone to keep in mind is: for the many awesome things you want to add to the MUD, you need to up the adoption and retention FIRST. Discouragement in general is also a very bad business strategy. Much more frequently what you should be doing at the management level is encouraging and enabling. If you wish for players to RP more than the natural way to do that is increasing the rewards of good RP, not punish players who don't.

What this means is that, unfortunately, when implementing changes we should not be considering what we as experienced players want. I have another example here - in the suggestion forum there is a thread discussing hiding one's character from the who list or removal of the who list altogether. Their reasoning cannot be called invalid - the who list is a very OOC thing which is being used for a lot of OOC purposes. But to me that is ludicrous. We have few enough players as is, and if new players can not even see those who are online, they will have zero incentive to stay. These are the types of things we must never even consider as changes.

If we moved to implement these suggestions, I believe there is a real chance that FK will grow to become in the coming years the last bastion of text based gaming and role-play in an era of brainless console-based titles. If things go on as they are, well... I will still play the game, and the way things have gone FK will probably still linger for several years, if not decades, so it is not the end of the world.

If you have read this far, I am grateful for your attention. I also hope you did not think I am out of line for writing this. Though so far I have tried to make this sound like am empirical study, I must admit here that it is ultimately an opinion piece. While I obviously adhere to these opinions, it is not a necessity that you do. If you have any issues with the general gist or any specific detail of what I am stating, I invite you to comment.

[Tyeslan]

I have to say that I agree with this, and that it basically sums up what I have felt about the game over the last couple years, and that I couldn't even fathom how to put it all in words. I don't speak a lot on the forums, and generally don't have much to add because I don't feel I am always well informed of what I wish to speak on, but this is a good place to start.

One thing I find hard to swallow on this game is that any thread I read the basic statement of it is: Everything has to be harder. I don't understand why that is. I feel some times that it is more to justify all the work in it is appreciated, or yeah, maybe to keep those who will just walk over it without any other thought, out, but the bottom line is, those people who join and see these things, more often than not, go to ASK and are complete bewildered as to what to do, where to go, etc. I can see that as a deterrent for continuing on. To be honest, also, I have several low level characters started and can't imagine continuing them on alone because it is a very tedious start out, and getting past level 10, 15, or even to 20 just makes me exhausted to think about it.

Another thing that bothers me is there is a lot of discouraging on the threads here, or in the game, but never enough encouragement. I am going to compare this to what I know best, dog training, and say positive reenforcement, encouragement, and the like, does so much better than constantly saying no, don't do this, or don't do that, or there is no way that we as staff, imm, etc can even imagine doing that for you. It's nice to hear when you make a good point, or have an excellent RP and more often than not people are going to go out and spread that, instead of bad mouthing, (I have seen plenty behind the scenes), or telling people don't bother it is a hopeless cause. 1 good/bad thing can lead to 10 good/bad remarks. It is constantly pushed in if you have ever worked in retail.

I don't know what else I have to say at this moment, but if I come up with more, I'll post again. Thank you, Isolrem for posting this.

[Gwain]

I do think that the people that do stay on past the new character stage are higher quality players than most, but I would have to concede that they may be alts of existing players. I never know for sure. Quantity wise, I've not really noticed a drop in the playerbase. If anything it could be that other games and video game systems draw people away from text based games. I've been a regular player here since late 2001 and I've only noticed a marginal drop. When world of warcraft came out, it was a larger drop for a bit, but there was a rebound. If anything I've seen less and less wizards but I don't know how to adress that as I have never made a wizard and have done little to understand their mechanics. I think what it really comes down to is the time of the year, other distractions and experimental character design.

[Isolrem]

I admit the game has neither grown or really stagnated in the last 5 years that I've known it. My point however is that our current player population is not something we should be content with.

[Harroghty]

No, you're not out of line.

First, the focus of building has been as you described for at least six months. There are tons of things in store (in testing even) to improve Waterdeep and help new players immerse themselves in its environment.

Second, I will say that we get around ten votes a day on TMC and yet I see many more players than that log in during a day. Our rise to the top 10 in TMC immediately precipitated an increase in players. Sure, we have lost some older players, but "a few honest men are better than numbers" (as Oliver Cromwell put it). If everyone who played this game voted daily then we would skyrocket in the polls and therefore attract new players.

Thirdly, but still on the subject of activity, seven of the last ten player-hosted events were run by the same player. Even after we put out the offer of our coded support for ideas. Not every player needs to run an event, but this indicates that the initiative rests heavily upon a few people. Each of us has the opportunity to add life to this game through our daily interactions.

Fourthly, I have had two new builders approach me and both of their projects are now on the test port. There is an active list of projects (linked above) available for you to pick through. I have thrown out tons of ideas and I always have more projects going than I have time to manage amidst the work and worry of real life (though my woman joins Mask's wife in her abuse of this game for the time that I do commit). I welcome you to look at the help file for new builders.

Mask and we, his minions, are standing at the door and knocking. We offer to support your event ideas and we are offering you ideas and support for building. I see your frustrations and share them as a fellow player, but I raise them also as a staff member and say that though we are busy - we are happy to help. Just help us to help you, please.

[Isolrem]

Harroghty, I do appreciate the constant effort of all our staff to improve the game, and will strive to make myself useful.

However, when browsing these forums I still sometimes get the general feeling that people don't have enough appreciation of the hardships of the complete noob. In order for a player to enjoy a new market at town square they have to make it out of the font first, and that is hardly a guarantee at the moment.

In the end, building new areas with newbies in mind does help, but I feel there is also a great deal of mechanical changes required. I understand that presently the ability for most of us to help with mechanical changes is extremely limited, and those who can are very busy and have few resources. That is why I am recommending the incorporation of more of the player base into actively recruiting newbies. For example, if I had the ability to see whenever a newbie char is created, and could make my way to him and teach him the ropes by hand, I would gladly do so, and I'm sure many others would be willing to as well. That I feel will have a much greater benefit on adoption.

[Solaghar]

MUDs are a dying genre, there's no getting around it. The heyday of the MUD was in the mid-90s, when the programmers were at college, before MMORPGs. I remember I started playing when I was about 15 years old, and I must have been insufferable to the older people who played these games. Back then there were a lot fewer MUDs and a lot more players. There are very few, if any young people who are joining MUDs. Those few who do find out about it are probably looking for a roleplaying experience more akin to pen and paper D&D. But there's no large population of people waiting to play MUDs. The people who go to MUD connector already know about MUDs and are just looking for a new one to try out. Most people who come by from there won't stay, though a few will obviously... but you have to be familiar with the entire game genre beforehand.

There are more and more MUDs out there now, competing for fewer and fewer players. There's nothing wrong with pushing for top 10 on Mudconnect, it's the best way to draw new players, but they're not really "new" if you catch my drift, they're people who have played MUDs for ages and are looking for a new place. But people who think that any MUD will manage to get back to where they were even 10 years ago isn't seeing reality. We're people working out new ways to build computers with vacuum tubes while everyone else has moved on to silicon transistors. There's nothing wrong with MUDs, they work well and as you said, FK is better now in terms of code than it has ever been. But even the roleplay aspect of a game like FK isn't so amazing compared to graphical MMORPGs. Though I never played them myself, I know there are plenty of dedicated roleplay servers for all sorts of games, for instance with Neverwinter Nights 2 you have player-created servers with entire persistent worlds, like a graphical version of FK, where roleplay is just as strongly enforced.

It's great to work on and improve a game we all enjoy. But I consider it more of a hobby that I do for my own interest rather than anything else. If I lost all of my old characters and had to start over again, I simply couldn't bother. I started MUDding when I was 15, but I'm almost 30 now, that's half my life. I'm married, I have a job and obligations, and if you ever wonder where all the other MUD players went, the exact same thing happened to them. Just like there are still people who have been playing Everquest since it was an AOL chat room feature, there will always be people playing MUDs, but we're pretty much grandparents who insist on playing records rather than switching to CDs, and trying to think of some exciting new way to get people interested in writing with a feather and ink pen instead of a ballpoint one.

*If you want to get an idea of how far MUDs have fallen, consider that with about 10 people voting per day, FK is in the top 10 out of thousands of MUDs who presumably can't or don't bother to get even 10 people to vote for them. Go on MUDconnect and search for MUDs that have 75-99 or 100+ players online at all times. Then log in and count how many players are actually there. Also consider some MUDs allow players to idle while logged in, so while there may be 20 players online, many could be idle for days. There's just no big market of people waiting to get to FK...

[Isolrem]

I don't know... I've tried neverwinter nights and neverwinter nights 2 roleplaying servers, but they've never suited me. Once you specify that everything is possible, the inadequacies of any graphic engine becomes painfully obvious. Even in a graphical game you are still forced to smote out your actions, and people either just don't bother or it still ends up looking awkward. Until we have actual virtual reality, I will always consider MUDs the best medium for roleplay.

Of course, I understand that the majority of potential players we are trying to attract probably have played MUDs before or at least know what they are. However that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to be accommodating. FK is still a pretty complex game that has many unique things, I do believe that the easier we make it for people, the more will come. As for just how big this potential player base is, I am sure we have the stats up there somewhere. Maybe Mask could enlighten us as to how many new accounts are being created.

[Selveem]

I believe Solaghar is right. MUDs are a dying breed and any new players we receive will primarily be from other MUDs. Most common people these days have never even heard of a MUD, much less attempted to play one.

I think you've great ideas, Isolrem, and I can get behind most of it.. Except retention. I think retention is a bigger factor than you give it credit to be. As Solaghar and I stated, MUDders are a dying breed. In terms of a product, you don't just want something to be a passing interest, you want a sticky product. One that you can't seem to let go of.

To Gwain's point.. We've got some great players here. Really great ones, actually. People that actually care, even if they aren't given the recognition I feel they deserve. I try my best to interact with those people in-game. In many cases, even off the game. These are people I want to stay; people I am loathe to part company from after all this time. They're people precious to me. This is what keeps me around. The way I see it is if we impress that same value upon newer players and show them that they can feel comfortable in making this their new home, we've got a new person who will probably stick around for quite some time.

I believe retention is more important, even, than attracting new players. The last thing I feel we need is drying up the declining well by having them come over, let them get bored with spam-killing a dummy for 4 hours, then leaving and never looking back. Why? It's because no matter how great our position is on MUDconnect or any other site.. We'll not even be considered in the future by that person or the friends they would probably bring with them.

If you want to leave it as purely suggestion with no critique, stop reading here.

Mask and we, his minions, are standing at the door and knocking. We offer to support your event ideas and we are offering you ideas and support for building. I see your frustrations and share them as a fellow player, but I raise them also as a staff member and say that though we are busy - we are happy to help. Just help us to help you, please.

As someone who actually tried to contribute in building, I can honestly say I just found the experience beyond frustrating (to put it mildly). I have a rather high sense of loyalty to FK and I would like to contribute as a way to thank everyone for these 10+ years, but it felt like all of my effort was being stymied the entire way.

Perhaps my case was different than anyone else's first attempt, but even with all the pledges of support I received (and bless them for offering [particularly the players: Drammor, Cecile, and Adam]), my concept was met with responses that led me to believe it was barely even skimmed. I was asked to create something that I feel an RP MUD does not have the capability to create: a dynamic area. One that is impossible to create in a 50 vnum setting, especially for someone building for the first time on a heavily modified SMAUG (one that's practically not even a SMAUG anymore).

I'll just suggest my case was some rare anomaly, but I think if 'Mask and his minions' want to be truly seen as helpful, don't destroy those coming to you offering to help.

[Gwain]

I believe that building is a more structured now, with areas that have quests elements, training elements and merchant elements combined. I'm not much of a dynamic area builder these days, but the types of areas that I built were more of what you would call museums. They were areas where players only had to go once or twice, bought things, left and then the areas were empty. Or they offered a service a character would only use once. These are areas that I like to build, but there are too many of them and I can understand the desire to build more dynamic locations or expand on previous half finished or spartan places. That adds to the mud by increasing traffic and repeat visits to the area in question. The areas with an organization to be battled for example (I won't say what or where for ic/ooc reasons) I've observed much traffic and repeat business, which is grand and they are fun, simple areas of carnage and engagement.

I accept this and focus my creative energies on contributing when the oppertunity knocks. Sort of like the market expansion currently in the builder forum, I know items but these items don't need an area to be built to house them, just mobiles to sell them in a place that exists.

Improving or adding dungeon areas or quest grounds of dynaic scope is a good focus and in the past year I've seen the result of the increase in this kind of area, mostly in areas suitable for younger adventurers or areas with higher risks being properly introduced to seasoned ones.

I'm pleased with the building situation and when or if an area like I used to do is needed, I'm more than happy to contribute it, if not I'll always look for other ways to lend a hand.

I don't think that any creativity is being daunted, its just being set in a reasonable boundary for the sake of balance and proper growth. In the end I may even be inspired to build or design one of the areas in the current desired framework.

[Bellayana]

Fk is a diverse world and even though I play an evil character I still try to make the game fun for all. The good and evil. I know nothing about coding but I always try to help newer players. Fk is one of the most newbie Friendly muds I've seen out there. I agree the ask channel needs to be pushed more for newer players. The players here are amazing and that is all new and old. Thanks for posting this as it shows that you and everyone else does infact care about our game.

[Tyrrell]

Obviously I am a very new player, having only been around for a couple months, so I don't really know anything about anything. But I do have a comment I want to make about recruiting.

I think you guys are thinking too narrowly. Everyone in this thread, and in other 'how do we get more players?' threads I've read has been focused on other MUDs. How do we compete with other MUDs, how do we get higher in the MUD rankings, how do we pull in other MUD players. I think it would be beneficial to remember that there are other sorts of text-based games and that in certain respects, FK now resembles those more than it does other MUDs.

Everything I've read here in terms of where staff and players want the game to go has put the emphasis on RP above all else. This is what MUSHes are all about. Personally, I come from a MUSHing background. This is the first MUD I have ever played, and I honestly never thought I'd ever even play one. I've never once chosen a game off MUD rankings, nor would I, since the sorts of games that appeal to the MUDding masses have really never appealed to me. I was brought here by a long-time FK player who is primarily a MUSHer, these days, and it was really only because she swore this place was different that I bothered to give it a try at all. I've found FK a fun and rewarding experience, and I do think that there are other MUSHers who would feel the same if they gave it a shot.

I also think that recruiting MUSHers would get around several of the problems others have mentioned, since we have no idea how long it ought to take to get a char from level 1 to level 10 to level 20, and so can't very well be frustrated, since we have no basis for comparison. Getting any objects randomly handed to us is sort of an awesome surprise, since MUSHes really aren't coded for that kind of thing. A grid with more than 10,000 rooms? Blows my mind, since most places I've played in the last 5 years have maybe 30, at most. Basically, we don't know what the norm is for any criteria except RP, so you don't have to worry that much about us complaining about things being too hard, or too easy (Too expensive, maybe, since I did that in another thread, but that's different! And I sort of took it back later. Anyway.), or any of the other complaints you're likely to see from people who have years of previous MUD experience to compare this to.

I'm not saying recruiting MUSHers would be easy, or that it would be some sort of panacea, but I do think it's something you guys should be considering. It would require more comprehensive newbie help files, dealing not only with game play, but the absolute most basic-level "I've never logged onto a MUD before in my life what the hell are these commands" mechanics, but I think it's a playerbase you guys should consider trying to tap into a bit more if you can.

[Raona]

I want to thank those who've taken the time to contribute to this conversation, especially Isolrem for initiating it. As a staunch proponent of the challenge-the-new mindset, I will try to share my rationale with a clarity I don't think I've publicly offered before. You are free to disagree, and state that disagreement publicly - but please keep in mind the caveat at the end.

I'll second Tyrrell's observation and add to it: Based on what I saw of other MUDs out there when I started playing online RP, many current MUD players will have to unlearn a number of bad habits (like "you lead me through this quest, I'll lead you through that one") and expectations ("with the right information, I should be able to advance quickly, without risk") in order to enjoy FK. Our most fertile ground for recruiting is in RP-focused online arenas, and from the large (if aging...but alas, not yet retiring) group of folks who grew up with pen and paper RPGs and miss the heck out of them. (I'm from the latter camp!) They are harder for us to reach, but I think they will love FK if they find it. They just don't know it exists, and they should be looking for it. That said, I found FK through a MUD list, once I'd figured out I wanted to try a MUD - and had it not been in the top 10-20 or so, I'd probably have given up on MUDs entirely before I found it.

It's my memories of pen-and-paper games that underlie much of my determination that the early levels should not be an obstacle to jump over and quickly overcome, but rather some of the best times to be had. Young whipper-snappers, take this to heart IRL: You THINK your life will get better and you'll have more fun when you get older...but don't bank on it! The early years are often the best! So too with D&D - though I desperately wanted my level 3 cleric to get to level 20, I never had so much fun playing as in those early levels and days, of discovery and true adventure. Things actually got pretty lame after level 18 or so. The battles became more epic, but the adventure was fading; it became formulaic, and a little wit and creativity couldn't win the day over a dragon, the way a good ruse could get you past the goblin guards. (Alas, a coded game must constrain your creativity appreciably; but one place I would encourage people to consider building is adding alternate pathways to existing quests - other ways through them.)

There's no question our original training temples were built on the notion of getting you up to speed quickly, up to the point where you could "do something." You were intended to grind out levels 1-10 in the training temples, fighting dummies. Even so, if you have the right mindset about it, and aren't shy about interacting with upper level PCs (a tendency I think most MUD players tend to bring with them), levels 1-10 can be great. You can get out and about, and you can do things. In WD, at least, there is plenty to do and learn and explore, and areas are being (have been for several years, actually) modified to support that mindframe. I even traveled the roads by day, looking for and avoiding the bandits. (Yes, I do have one alt, other than Raona...it's level 11, I think, and I still enjoy playing it...just don't have time and the mental bandwidth to keep up with two PCs.)

I agree that the low levels need to be enriched - no question - but jumping over them isn't the fix! They may even be too hard, too discouraging, or too confusing to new players. But they should not be made easy, and the notion that they are an obstacle to get around is, in my mind, unforgivable - moreso on the part of a DM than a PC. If there's nothing fun in playing low level PCs, just have folks roll up level 20s. The low levels can and should be the best of times, especially for new players exploring the world for the first time. They should set the right expectations: namely, that you can die in FK, that reward is generally consummate with risk taken, and that you want to find friends. The Gods will help you, but only if you help yourself and don't constantly take stupid risks.

I am not a many-PC player, and I know that's unusual. Perhaps that's why I think the way I do. But I have not been at all compelled, by any argument, toward the notion that levels 1-25 on FK can't be great. If were convinced they are only important as far as shaping your high-level character, I'd be for automating the process and having players start with level 25- or 30-somethings. But in my mind, what a waste of the joy of youth.

One concrete question: Are there folks out there who's first MUD PC, here or elsewhere, was no fun until they got to mid-level? I bashed a lot of dummies, nervous to venture out, and I still enjoyed learning how everything worked, stepping up to a real blade when I could finally afford it, etc. Maybe you just have to be an old fart to find that fun?

Let me close with a multi-pronged observation on the importance of encouragement versus discouragement: I don't know about other folks, but I'm willing to keep at something for a long time, even if it is really hard, provided I'm seeing progress, enjoying the journey, and have hope for the future. Hope is huge. When you give up hope that you'll ever accomplish something, that's when you walk away. That bar is of different heights for different people, but everyone has one. The first two points have a huge impact on how much you put into something, though, and your interest level...and it goes "both ways." Now that I help behind the curtain, I want to testify to you that your comments in the forum, their tone and focus, and what you do and say in the game, these things have a marked impact on the energy of the staff, especially Mask. When you say or do something utterly discouraging, it has a real effect on the game, because of the energy it sucks out of the people working on it. Some folks don't seem to appreciate how much harm they can do by making complaint and/or finding their way around the rules their primary idiom. On the flip side, the many people who take the time to say thank you, offer constructive suggestions, report bugs they could have used to their advantage, or otherwise contribute to the game may not realize how much good they do. Especially just those who just enjoy the game and do a great job of RP. Let me tell you from experience with a BBS (look it up, kids, it's retro) back in the 80's: death occurs when the impression of the key operators becomes that their guests are not having fun, don't care about their site, and/or are selfish, whingeing bastards. Thoughtful, heartfelt topics like this provide the opposite impression, even if they point at problems (known and unknown).

To put a finer point on this: What you say and do matters. If you can, say and do things that make FK a better place. If you can't, at minimum, do no harm. Don't complain about everything: pick your one, most important, battle, and keep mum on everything else until that's set to rights.

[Isolrem]

It is not my intention to suggest the early levels are something to be rushed over and not to be enjoyed. While I believe for one specific class it is a bit too painful at the moment, for the most part I agree that lots of fun and interesting RP have emerged from training and adventuring in the early levels for my chars. My greatest hope would be to see these things better facilitated, and I know much effort has gone into this and much more are being implemented. I look forward to how these changes will stir things up but presently I can only comment on things as they are - and currently we have a starting area lined back to back with dummies, leading into a gigantic city so easy to lose yourself in, yet with very little to actually do for a low level character. Everything sends the message that what I am supposed to do is grind and grind until I level up enough to venture out finding more exciting things.

I am reminded of my own experience in making a new character in FK. Back when I started Isolrem, there wasn't such a thing as a newbie training area, and I hardly knew anything about DnD, so after some very confusing methods of picking my stats, I was dropped straight into the middle of the dummy infested Font of Knowledge, with nary a clue about how things worked. I got through this stage because I already had extensive MUDing experience and also because immediately upon stepping outside into the city I happened upon a number of PCs who were friendly, helpful, and taught me the basics I needed to know. If these were not the case I am not sure I would have stayed, and while things are undeniably made easier now I still think these very early stages are what we need to look the most at for improving: the experience of the game in the first 30 minutes.

Compare this to the first roleplaying MUD I ever played. The requirements in that MUD for progressing past the newbie stage were a lot stricter than even in FK. In addition to a description you needed full character bios, background, characteristics, personalities, and traits, all amounting to several pages of writing which must be approved by the staff before advancing beyond the early levels. However, these requirements never restricted me from exploring the world from the get go, and instead of a focus on training by grinding generic mobs, it seemed every step I took in the starting city I would find another interesting and approachable quest with useful rewards for my level. Wouldn't it be preferable if doing these quests was the default way for acquiring the early levels and one never needed to bash a dummy again? I sincerely hope that is the ultimate goal of our ongoing building projects to improve the newbie experience.

[Brar]

I have think about this post and how to answer it for a long time.

I will try be short and honest, my most important fear about the current state of the game since I came back last year is the loss of general RP and the high focus on hack and slash from the players as a whole (myself included).

When I'm travelling in an unknown region and see this:

Code: Select all

(149) A huge pile of fur lies on the ground here. (perfect)
(144) A small pile of fur lays on the ground here. (perfect)
(144) A pile of fur lays on the ground here. (perfect)
(142) Fur lined studded leather boots lie on the ground here. (perfect)
(90) An ornate dagger lies on the ground here. (perfect)

And then find out that it is the entrance of the temple of a coded god with non aggro mob that are here for nothing but roleplay purpose, it scares me to hell that FK has become yet another H&S mud out there with spark of roleplay from time to time for good measure.

I hope in my heart that I am wrong and that most players will still prefer to stay level 10 and have fun roleplaying than rush all the way to level 50 to be uber and the most something but the focus recently have been so much on leveling, winning, earning, gaining that it makes me fears.

I don't think the size of the playerbase is at cause, most RP muds are like that, a group of twenty to thirty people playing together and having fun, you don't need to be a hundred to make a roleplay, in fact it's quite the contrary, too much is the death of RP as it becomes unbearable.

I think it is more a question of generations rather than bad will, Roleplaying in itself is a dying genre because it takes time and gives little reward other than joy and hapiness.
It doesn't bring power, it doesn't makes your items shines more, it doesn 't makes your level grow which is not how the world turns today where you deserve to get everything immediatly.

Considering the increase of the player base, I personally prefer small scale adventure (up to ten peoples) than big scale RP where nobody understand each others and it is a mess.

And those kind of small scale RP we can very well do right now but for that we need a mean to communicate and assemble.
When we are 20 players online but each of us are grinding in their corner it's useless and gives nothing good.
But with the new tools Mask coded for the story council, they can make an echo that a roleplay is about to start and then everyone interested can join which is I think the direction things should take.

Focusing on party adventure and roleplay means to organize them more easily is, for me, the way to go.

Bringing new blood is always good, but I would favor quality over quantity and join Tyrell on the MUSH population.
It is easier to addict a RPer to coded fights and adventures than to make someones who knows only loot and reward to roleplay where he might loose or not win the way he wants.

I'm not sure my post is very clear but well, it is a tough subject and I tried to be honest.

Brar

[Gwain]

When I'm travelling in an unknown region and see this:

Code: Select all

(149) A huge pile of fur lies on the ground here. (perfect)
(144) A small pile of fur lays on the ground here. (perfect)
(144) A pile of fur lays on the ground here. (perfect)
(142) Fur lined studded leather boots lie on the ground here. (perfect)
(90) An ornate dagger lies on the ground here. (perfect)

And then find out that it is the entrance of the temple of a coded god with non aggro mob that are here for nothing but roleplay purpose, it scares me to hell that FK has become yet another H&S mud out there with spark of roleplay from time to time for good measure.

As the game now saves items left on the ground, we'll probably see a bit more refuse than is usual now and then.

[Isolrem]

The concept that we must only recruit quality players is, in my opinion, faulty. As many have said there are few enough people out there willing to try out a new MUD, and good RP is something that does not come naturally and must be taught. It does not scare me at all that there are H&S players as Brar described out there because they don't really make much of an impact on the game and its other players (positively or negatively). Sure sometimes they leave behind a scene such as the one Brar quoted, but it is nothing a sac all wouldn't fix. However, how much satisfaction can really be gained just by mindless grinding and building up the power of a text character? Eventually, one of two things must happen, he will either get bored and leave, or he will show off the fruition of this grinding through player interaction, which ultimately means he must learn to roleplay. If we get even one active player out of 10 people that start out H&Sing like this I will be happy.

On another note, I do not believe that staying at low levels is in any way related to good roleplay. To me, high level characters have access to more spells and skills, have a lower chance of randomly dying to random aggro mobs, and even just their higher stamina that allows them to move around more makes them better suited for many types of roleplay (and for the rest it is usually irrelevant). I used to have roleplay only characters that I never raised above lvl 15, but they basically could never leave Waterdeep which was not much of a problem in those days since there was almost always something going on at Market Square that one could just jump in. With that being less and less the case now it is hard to conceive making such a character again.

The solution to all these problems in my mind is still mass recruitment: first get the numbers, then worry about upping the quality. In my eyes we do not yet have population when we can start being picky about how "we don't want these types of players in the game." Unless they are actively being disruptive to other players, I say let them be and hope they learn.

[Harroghty]

Role-play is something for which we all must strive constantly. The coded game will certainly help you immerse yourself, but only you can decide for yourself to assume your chosen role.

I agree with Isolrem. We will welcome anyone and allow them to decide if this game is suitable for them (either by enjoying it and staying, not enjoying it and leaving, or by breaking the rules and inviting us to send them away). New players from any which way are potentially the newest sage of Realmslore, the next faith manager, or even the next administrator (immortal). There is a lot of potential here and it falls to us all, players and staff - members of this community, to help people find out how they fit into it.

[Elerian]

I have been playing this mud since Jubei introduced it to me back in 2001 while we where working the night shift together. I have seen countless generations of players come and go. Myself coming and going in the past couple of years due to deployments and whatnot. I applaude you Isolrem for this post, I did the same a long time ago with a post called Advertise or Die (the original post getting lost a while back) but it was basically the same thing.

In that post I outlined a scenario, out of 10 new people who join the mud, 8 will stick it out past entry level, 3 will quit before faithing, 1 will be kick/banned, that means 4 people will be around for long term RP and out of those 2 will stay past a year. I know these numbers are just a scenario based and totally made up but it kind of helps you visualize the benefit of bringing in new blood. I know traditionally everyone likes their circle of RP friends, but imagine a who list that had 30 different people at any given time vice the same 8 people playing 30 different characters. The FK community as a whole will change. There will always be that influx of the current WoW generation vice that PnP generation most of came from, but honestly this mud, its people, and imms are of top notch quality.

I cant tell you how many crappy muds Ive seen that at any given time have over 60 players. Hell ive seen one at over 130 players once for a global event and im mind boggled cause the mud was crap, the RP was crap, and they actually had good decent players.

I even asked some of them why they stay and dont try something different, and alot of them answered 'I would leave, but im already too invested relationship wise and dont wanna mud hop to a mud that no one logs too." I think once we can get a steady influx of players and our numbers start reflecting the influx, then eventually word of mouth and curiosity will start attracting some of these good players.

[Keller]

In keeping with the spirit of the original post, this will be another looong read, dealing mostly with my own experience as a new player and possibly bringing little to the table. Bring a snack. Also I may be a contender for longest post on these forums ever, the tl;dr is available at the bottom.

I'd like to say I am happy to see a thread like this on these forums, many of the replies, and that there are many replies to read, also brings me hope.

I am a newer player, and those of you who recognize me in-game will note that I have not been active lately. There are reasons for this beyond FK's control, but some that are within its control.

As soon as I logged into FK I was struck by the level of care and devotion which was put into this mud, from the expansive gameworld to the descriptions in each room, the variety of mobs about and the extensive skills, spells, and classes on offer. I have been mudding for over a decade now and I have to say that this is one of the most caringly crafted, well put-together muds I have -ever- been a part of.

As I played the game in the usual fashion I believe the average mudder approaches new muds, I encountered the imm staff for the first time. This encounter was one of the deciding factors in my decision to stay with FK. The imm in question noticed I'd been a bit of a loner bashing mobs for longer than necessary, rather than simply bamfin and lecture me on the way things are done around here, I was treated to a totally in-character roleplay with one of the mobs I'd become familiar with, which encouraged me to get out into the world and explore. It wasn't a particularly earth-shaking event, but it definitely left an extremely positive impression on me.

As I got out into the world, I encountered numerous players who were all more than willing to engage in roleplay with my character, even one sun elf who was very good at roleplaying not wanting anything to do with my character for quite a while! I met new characters, discovered more of the world, perceived some of the subtle background machinations and relationships between various characters here and there. All of these experiences were quite impressive and fun and engaging.

When there wasn't anyone around, I would proceed back to the portion of the game which called to me- progression. As a starting player, the entire mud was open to me to advance through as I wished, but it all felt a little.. closed off, a bit daunting, and in some cases seemed to be a one-time decision which would profoundly affect my character for the rest of his life. The one thing I felt comfortable pursuing was skill, stat, and level progression, because no matter where I ended up, these things I knew I would want to increase as much as possible. However this is the area of the game which most of the playerbase, including staff, seems to look down on. I felt dirty and guilty if I was off doing something on my own, but i felt stagnant if all I was doing was chatting with other players.

This is where I began to feel like I wasn't as welcome on the mud. In order to progress, having no surefire way of locating quests or knowing whether anything I decided to embark on was possible for someone of my abilities, I ended up sticking to the few areas of the mud that I knew were working for me. I am aware that the greatest of resources that could ever be made available is other players, but in many cases, asking these sorts of questions can clash with the personality I intend for my character. Some questions other players could answer are so reliant on ooc mechanics that finding a way to phrase them IC is a challenge, but deciphering the response is equally cryptic, resorting to ooc conversation feels like a cop-out and I'm left trying to figure things out on my own.

I felt like getting faithed was something I wanted to do, but was uncomfortable pursuing it because of the long-term implications for the character plus the lack of a definite persona for the character I was developing. I ended up wanting faith to be something that found me, rather than the other way around, which is not the most proactive way of looking at things I suppose, but felt the most natural.

I knew I wanted to join a certain sort of group in the game, but met with difficulty trying to pin down exactly what each existing group had to offer, nevermind who to approach or how to begin getting involved with it. Inquiring about a secretive organization calls into question how a character like mine could ever have heard of it, while pursuing individuals I've never met is a clumsy experience to say the least.

I knew I wanted to reach the top level of my class and specialize in a certain area of expertise, but met with difficulty finding a reliable method of training, both in finding places to gain experience and in finding trainers once I had said experience. My problems here were compounded by the perception that this was an aspect of the game I was supposed to be putting on the back-burner rather than the forefront, and while in some cases I was able to find -very- helpful players willing to show me some of the ropes, for the most part I felt like I was being chided for my pursuits.

The Express deliveries service is an incredibly brilliant addition to the mud, it is a solid, consistent questline where you know generally what to expect, but are always confronted with new challenges and taken to new, more or less exotic locales. If any effort is put into constructing new quests, I believe they should take a few lessons from this one's book. Having a series of quests all linked to the same organization, group of characters or single characters, which lead you through increasingly difficult/advanced/exotic levels of quests which blend the familiar with the new.

Ultimately what has led to my stagnation here on FK has been one, single thing- lack of investment. While there is plenty of RP to be had, very little of it felt like more than a one-off. What events I noticed on the forums I either could not attend due to character requirements or real life entanglements. I want my character to have enough of a life of his own that the path he takes through FK would surprise even me, and thus I seek an organic, dynamic experience where I do not plot out that he will join this church and this guild and do these things with these people in this area. Unfortunately it seems the wide-eyed, open-minded approach bears little fruit in comparison to a focused, scripted progression.

There is much I love about FK, but the things I feel need improvement for new players follow:
-more of a presence from the faiths, actively espousing the tenets and seeking converts.
-more of a presence from different organizations, drawing people into the ideals and conflicts of their groups.
-more of a presence from crafters, being able to find matching equipment is nice, having a hodge-podge of clashing gear for the 'stats' because its the only thing in stores/drops is bad.
-more quest-chains like the express deliveries service, possibly linked to the class trainer organizations.
-more obvious opportunities for advancement. No more joining class guilds to find the trainers offer only 5% of the skills and feats, and none of the stats.
-more obvious difficulty levels for areas. Not necessarily a function which gauges the appropriate character level for every area of the game, but something that lets players know what areas of the world are more and less dangerous. NPC talk, signs, poignantly placed corpses, etc.
-less scary death. The thought that as a new player, I might never escape the plane of the dead simply because i haven't earned the gratis of another player or deity, is scary.
-more interesting death? The afterlife of dnd is a -very- interesting place. From the the nine hells to the infinite layers of the abyss, from the seven heavens to the outlands, death can become the gateway to another adventure entirely, and there are methods of traversal between these realms and faerun that make the reliance on deities and clerics less necessary, while still important.