I'm pretty sure when I heard about it I said sure, do it.

Arsalil:


I enjoy the simple things in (Lusternian) life: RP interactions, participating in rituals and commune events, RP interactions... If I log in and greet the commune over CT and get no response, I tend to log off. I'm sure a newbie feels the same way. If they log in, or start a new character, and don't get anyone talking to them, what's the fun in being there? The way to retain new people: Interaction, interaction, interaction.

I just want to comment on the part where logging in an saying "Hi" on CT is an issue. I have noticed that a lot of people are poor at welcoming members as they wake. This is not only a Glomdoring issue but this has been an issue with every alt I have created. It only takes a second away from whatever you are doing to say "HI" or "Welcome"....don't be a snob.

Also, for those waking, don't expect it all the time, the commune does not revolve around only you and sometimes people are very busy or the player base might be small at that exact moment.

Look at it from both sides.

Really late in bringing up this point, but here's why looking at total number of minutes is a horrible number to judge player base health by:

I'm on Sahmiam approximately 24 hours a week. It's been like that for a year. Now ask Magnagora if I play the game or not. 99% of that time is spent idling in a manse occasionally chatting on an OOC clan, and I would not consider myself to be playing the game (excluding this weekend).

Time logged in only counts the number of minutes a character is online and can't possibly be a good representation of activity. I add at least 5760 minutes to that total a month, and my guess is that my monthly average is closer to twice that. Assuming 150 players contributing the same amount of time a month, I account for 0.67% of the activity, meaning that there's almost a 1% margin of error (if i'm doing the math right, heh). But that's assuming only 1 idle person and that all other people are 100% active 100% of the time. The margin of error greatly increases for each additional player idling without contributing to the game.

Obviously going to have to shrub you for all that idling then!

Estarra:

Obviously going to have to shrub you for all that idling then!

Idling and afking aren't the same thing, but if we're shrubbing idlers, I wonder how much the total play time would drop....

EDIT: And there's also a difference between paying attention while idling and ignoring Lusternia all together. ;)

Hello number that's suspiciously round.

Speaking as someone who's barely logged in (until very recently) since 2010, being spread too thin among the orgs definitely seems like a big issue. Hallifax and Gaudiguch returned just as I was fading into inactivity anyway, but now I'm back the feel is very different. As my new character, I don't find four of five people just hanging around at the nexus; there's less communal chitchat on the org channel, and the basin definitely feels less full than it used to.

Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad I came back. My guild has great RP, the new start has given me the impetus to go exploring the realm more than Faethyr ever used to, and I'd forgotten just how much I love the world here: the histories, the places, the characters, the quests. It's all great. It's just kind of unsettling to see how much has changed.

I don't really have any constructive comments for improving it, though. I'm not especially well-informed on IRE's recent marketing efforts. I know they're concentrating on a Facebook presence, which seems to be the fad at the moment, but I don't know enough about online marketing to comment there. As for closing guilds or orgs, that doesn't really seem like a viable option. For one thing, it'd be nigh-impossible to justify in-game, and would be spitting in the faces of all the players who've worked hard to build monks and the Lost Cities up. Trashing what players have worked for is a terrible retention strategy.

Ytraelux:

Yep. Worked great, too. Now everyone's warm, compassionate, kind, and sensitive, and no one ever does anything mean to anyone else.

Lendren:

Yep. Worked great, too. Now everyone's warm, compassionate, kind, and sensitive, and no one ever does anything mean to anyone else.

Isn't it grand?

Wait, I just realized it...I know how to solve the population problem...

Let's all just be friends. No more warring of cities and communes, no more war between the gods, welcome the taint for it is misunderstood. If we could accomplish this we would all be friends. Friends only attract more friends right? So what do you say?

Can we grow trees in your cities? If so, you can build buildings in our saplings.

No, there's no forest terrain in the cities to support perma trees. Believe me, I tried.

Trooooolololo.

Zilias:

Wait, I just realized it...I know how to solve the population problem...

Let's all just be friends. No more warring of cities and communes, no more war between the gods, welcome the taint for it is misunderstood. If we could accomplish this we would all be friends. Friends only attract more friends right? So what do you say?

Can we grow trees in your cities? If so, you can build buildings in our saplings.

I've just come back after.. 3 or 4 years, I don't even know how long and I get the distinct impression that this is what has happened. All the story behind Lusternia and the violence and conflict has gone limp. "We'll all just hide behind our alliance over here, you guys stay there, and we'll co-exist somewhat happily."

Way too much status quo.. is everybody scared of *gasp* losing their Demigod level if there's a fight?

Eh, it's more that without alliances, the other side would come along and gank your org so hard. No one wants to fight if they won't win anymore, because there isn't much to gain from fighting, no goals to achieve. I don't fight for that reason, I'd have to die 10 times in enemy territory to lose demi, which isn't going to ever happen.

Shinza:


I've just come back after.. 3 or 4 years, I don't even know how long and I get the distinct impression that this is what has happened. All the story behind Lusternia and the violence and conflict has gone limp. "We'll all just hide behind our alliance over here, you guys stay there, and we'll co-exist somewhat happily."

Way too much status quo.. is everybody scared of *gasp* losing their Demigod level if there's a fight?

You also lose any essence you've invested into the new demipower system, so for some can be essentially worth another trip from 1-demi by itself.

It's because there's no point to fighting anymore. The last real PK grand event that I can think of is the hai'Gloh Zemordia / Xion Initiative on -- and that was the one that gave rise to the current alliances. After that, lots of tears were produced and smobs were buffed to Achaea and back, nexus weakenings were removed (although, yay aetherflares, I guess), village feelings, domoth opposites, etc. etc. Plus the fact that power isn't a really huge issue to keep (the Master Ravenwood has 4 million; we're discussing raising new ascendants when the Ascension is over), and demigod essence (+ high loss during fights, + spending essence for nifty things

Yes, there were the Gnafia and Forsaken/Zenos events, but they were more of Us vs Mobs rather than Us vs Us, which are the ones that really shake up alliances and the status quo.

The changes were made so that losing orgs weren't too bashed out, and thus to keep people from being 'depressed and frustrated' (and thus, stay around more). I'm of the opinion, however, that people were around more when there were big things happening (point to current Ascension event, compared to the past two months), not when they're not fussing over something (a raid, an event where they have to reach goal x to beat org y, etc.).

Ramble ramble.

Ytraelux:

Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad I came back. My guild has great RP, the new start has given me the impetus to go exploring the realm more than Faethyr ever used to, and I'd forgotten just how much I love the world here: the histories, the places, the characters, the quests. It's all great. It's just kind of unsettling to see how much has changed.

I don't really have any constructive comments for improving it, though. I'm not especially well-informed on IRE's recent marketing efforts. I know they're concentrating on a Facebook presence, which seems to be the fad at the moment, but I don't know enough about online marketing to comment there. As for closing guilds or orgs, that doesn't really seem like a viable option. For one thing, it'd be nigh-impossible to justify in-game, and would be spitting in the faces of all the players who've worked hard to build monks and the Lost Cities up. Trashing what players have worked for is a terrible retention strategy.

I think a lot of older players retired, which can change the culture somewhat. I also worry that the younger generation is more into "multitasking" and are trying to play the game while doing something else.

IRE's marketing is a concern for me because of a few things--mostly, my biggest concerns are info about the game is uneven--they use Facebook a lot but instead of posting to their main site, they have turned the ironrealms.com site into more of a content mill--giving people credits for making comments and the articles aren't really that interesting to players--I suspect they are hoping for Search Engine hits to move the game. The web site reboots are somewhat uneven, and some of the promotions seem to be less about RP and more about things that I think hurt the game--login every day for 10 minutes to receive a free credit or lesson or something like that. I kind of worry they are forgetting what the audiences are looking for in a MUD, although so far these promotions have not changed how the games actually play.

I would say Facebook is not just a "fad", any more than web sites used to be a fad.

Idiots was removed site-wide on IRE games because they felt the forum rants contributed to in-game spillover and resentment. I pretty much agree with it--constructive criticism is fine but why have topics where people bitch about other players.

Shinza:


I've just come back after.. 3 or 4 years, I don't even know how long and I get the distinct impression that this is what has happened. All the story behind Lusternia and the violence and conflict has gone limp. "We'll all just hide behind our alliance over here, you guys stay there, and we'll co-exist somewhat happily."

I disagree. People who were here at the beginning likely remember the old days when Conflict Quests were done so much that players couldn't take it. I think Estarra wanted the conflicts on an ideal level but what ended up happening is the fact that player skill is the one thing you can't nerf and too many players did it too many times--sadly, when you mix deep Role-Playing with Unreal Tournament or Team Fortress 2 style gaming, I think one hurts the other. Anyway, these changes happened a long time ago, and there are a lot more strict war rules on some of the other IRE games.

There's a lot of ground in between "conflict quests are wearing everyone out" and "fights don't mean anything anymore."

Phred:


I disagree. People who were here at the beginning likely remember the old days when Conflict Quests were done so much that players couldn't take it. I think Estarra wanted the conflicts on an ideal level but what ended up happening is the fact that player skill is the one thing you can't nerf and too many players did it too many times--sadly, when you mix deep Role-Playing with Unreal Tournament or Team Fortress 2 style gaming, I think one hurts the other. Anyway, these changes happened a long time ago, and there are a lot more strict war rules on some of the other IRE games.

I started pretty much from the beginning, give or take a couple of weeks, so yes I do remember. Now it just seems to have gone to the other extreme.

That said I've only been back a week, so I suppose I should wait and see for a bit.

Phred:

I would say Facebook is not just a "fad", any more than web sites used to be a fad.

Oh, I'm well aware that Facebook itself is far more than a fad by now. But marketing through promotions on Facebook seems to have become suddenly popular in the past year or so, whether or not it's actually effective. It seems more like encouraging everyone else to notice how popular we are than actually, well, creating reasons to be popular.