Discussion: How to bring back old players

... sit down, kick back and relax, and talk about anything that doesn't belong on one of the other forums.
byrg
Posts: 371
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2015 8:56 pm

Re: Discussion: How to bring back old players

Post by byrg » Sat May 22, 2021 12:41 pm

Naerin wrote:
Sat May 22, 2021 11:52 am
Rerolls.

Been a few players I've seen who come back for a sec, try out their old characters and are expecting that they can get better stats now. Then they try a set of rerolls, ask if it's broken, learn that it's pretty useless now, and don't have the same excitement they came in with and usually take off.
Definitely seen a number of instances of this the last few months.

Sanguine
Posts: 351
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 9:48 pm

Re: Discussion: How to bring back old players

Post by Sanguine » Sat May 22, 2021 7:44 pm

Naerin wrote:
Sat May 22, 2021 11:52 am
Rerolls.

Been a few players I've seen who come back for a sec, try out their old characters and are expecting that they can get better stats now. Then they try a set of rerolls, ask if it's broken, learn that it's pretty useless now, and don't have the same excitement they came in with and usually take off.
Don't think these kind of players would stay or play regularly even if they got max stats.

Ashlee
Posts: 762
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2015 12:02 am

Re: Discussion: How to bring back old players

Post by Ashlee » Sat May 22, 2021 8:44 pm

Aldevir wrote:
Sat May 22, 2021 11:51 am
Sanguine wrote:
Fri May 21, 2021 11:57 pm
What drives people away (that we have control over, unlike families/work/life) is the filthy and stinky -players-. What brings people back is simply asking your friends and telling them, "things are better, players X, Y and Z are gone."

At least, that's my two cents. Nothing with the actual game mechanics really drives people away. Mayyyybe if warrior changes stuck, they would, but if they had just instead nerfed fear and kick, it might have been a welcome change in meta. Maybe.

Just tell your friends the game is fun and play with them. That's the best you can do.

Edit: honestly drawing newer players to the game is more important than drawing all their ones back I think. The older ones that have stuck around this long or not been kicked out are here to stay, maybe they'll come and go, but they're here to stay. New blood is what we need. Those young teenagers who have 14 hours of data play and test their limits and talk back and have fun lol. Bring back the Glory Days even if us Glory Dayers are too old to participate now!
Only speaking for myself here, but I didn't stop playing due to any particular person or their behavior, and that isn't what keeps me from returning. I definitely agree with you that the game mechanics or lack of any meaningful development of the MUD didn't drive me away, but if there had been changes and developments throughout the years, it may have kept my interest. I'm not sure. It does look like the current imms are doing a pretty spectacular job making changes, addressing bugs and engaging the playerbase now, which is awesome.

This had me reflecting a bit on what keeps me from wanting to play again, and I think that your edit touches on it a bit. When I came across the game in high school I was a depressed kid with social anxiety. The MUD gave me an escape from the real world where I had to deal with an alcoholic step-father who was....not pleasant...I was 100% addicted to the MUD at the time. I had the time to spend 14 hrs a day playing. Now I'm grown and have a great life, but am constantly busy and exhausted from it. Its not that the MUD is bad or the players are bad. I simply don't have the energy to sit down and try to relearn the MUD or make new friends on it.
This is true for me as well. Found the mud in college when I was super anxious and needed an outlet. I loved it. But life has made it hard to play much at all.

Tusty
Posts: 27
Joined: Tue May 05, 2020 3:42 pm

Re: Discussion: How to bring back old players

Post by Tusty » Sat May 22, 2021 9:26 pm

Personally, the old days of large group pk kept me playing. 1v1 is fine I suppose for some, but those old fights of 8v10 were truly great. Clans that actually hated each other made things great. Gank squad troll groups led by Mangler killing newbs and taking their jeweled dagger made things great. When claymores, hooked spears, and lvl 30 was acceptable pk setup. The game now feels like if you don’t have time to grind out a perfectly started char, lvl it to 51, join an over bonused clan/remort, somehow get RARE LEWT, then there’s no reason to play. Too many complaints about “pk style”, didn’t “rp with me before you killed me”, “you and your two friends aren’t doing it right” stuff.
Maybe if there was someone who kept a log and posted when the MuD is most active for pk it could bring back some of the larger group fights and lessen the “pk?”
No answer....logs off.

Divina
Posts: 324
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2015 2:27 am

Re: Discussion: How to bring back old players

Post by Divina » Sun May 23, 2021 2:19 am

I think the majority of us found the game in high school, college, university etc. The mid/late teenage years and early 20s. Life was a simpler time and we all had less worries/stresses and responsibilities in the world. If you could somehow make that come back then you'd have the miracle cure and we'd all be back to the days of the en-mass 30 v 30 Mangler gank squad 4k fights.

P.S I have no miracle cure.

Yonio
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2021 2:59 am

Re: Discussion: How to bring back old players

Post by Yonio » Sun May 23, 2021 11:46 am

Divina wrote:
Sun May 23, 2021 2:19 am
I think the majority of us found the game in high school, college, university etc. The mid/late teenage years and early 20s. Life was a simpler time and we all had less worries/stresses and responsibilities in the world. If you could somehow make that come back then you'd have the miracle cure and we'd all be back to the days of the en-mass 30 v 30 Mangler gank squad 4k fights.

P.S I have no miracle cure.
I mean - gaming is way more socially acceptable now, there are probably WAY MORE gamers that fit this demographic than when we got hooked. What's stopping these people from being drawn to our COMMUNITY(/game)? I think mostly just outreach, and sure graphical games of which there are plenty, but we have to be able to get some smaller % of those players interested.

Dixon
Posts: 318
Joined: Mon Sep 07, 2015 2:50 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Discussion: How to bring back old players

Post by Dixon » Sun May 23, 2021 12:31 pm

Personally I find that what keeps bringing me back, besides a few good friends that can tolerate me, is the pk. A lot of competitive gamers would love to have the feeling you get from pk here in other games. I've played Rainbow Six Siege on a competitive level. Along with other pvp heavy focused games. None of them gave the same satisfaction of surviving with 4 hp and killing someone. Those games are all fast paced also. Pk here can be fast paced sure, but matches on those games last literally 2-3 minutes. Whereas i've had pk sessions go for hours on here and not once be bored.

For those not interested in the heavy pk we have smobbing, group rp, and tons of smaller quests and stuff for people to do. The problem is getting us out there for others to stumble upon like we all did all those years ago. If you want to sell a product you can't just have it sitting on a shelf with a sign that says buy me. You need to put out ads, spread the word around, bring others to check it out. I've tried to get some of my friends to play this. But they only want to watch me play it when i'm in the middle of pk, and I move very fast in pk. All they see is a wall of text flying by and no clue wtf im doing until I catch someone.

If we had a easy way to share the site/forums with others would help. A way to get the game out there. Forums are a double sided blade tho. They could stumble across one of the many raging/flaming/unneeded threads/posts that we have and be like yea no thanks. Then there is the hidden clans to consider. Are they really hidden when everyone knows about them? Not to mention the gate guarding by people who don't play in some clans. There's people who don't log onto the mud, yet they still control who can join the clan they are in. I've applied over the years to multiple clans on this game on unknown characters. All of them denied. Some of them were good to go until they learned who my alts were and I was instantly no voted. Some of them didn't know me at all and that made them no vote me. Of course I could just be a tool and no voted myself for being myself. But yet there are clans that are gatekept by oldies who play the forums and not the game.

Long and short of it imo is that we have different elements in the game that could attract almost anyone. We just have to get noticed and get it out there. I'm sure that even some of the newer generation who has grown up on video games could come to love this game if given a chance. We could probably find old people like ourselves who would play when they have the time. If we have no way of getting ourselves out there tho, no one is going to bother trying us out.

Rodger
Posts: 141
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2016 10:41 am

Re: Discussion: How to bring back old players

Post by Rodger » Sun May 23, 2021 3:49 pm

My hope would be to get some more 'end game' type of bonuses on lightside. Ideally for any clan except the current handful of bonused clans, I think this is good for pk and good for getting people back into the game. There are some people who are already rank 8 - but the majority don't usually pursue it, if there was something (similar to fade) at the end you would see a lot more experienced players giving a lot of time to Lightstide and pk tends to be better when LS have more numbers (opinion).

Bryan
Posts: 72
Joined: Sat Jan 16, 2016 6:27 pm
Location: Shayol Ghul

Re: Discussion: How to bring back old players

Post by Bryan » Sun May 23, 2021 6:09 pm

Playing time was a big part of it for me. Life just got busy and I didn’t have the time to keep up.

Also having a good group of people who I enjoy playing with has kept me here on various alts. Discord has helped a lot.

Sanguine
Posts: 351
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 9:48 pm

Re: Discussion: How to bring back old players

Post by Sanguine » Sun May 23, 2021 6:27 pm

Dixon wrote:
Sun May 23, 2021 12:31 pm
Not to mention the gate guarding by people who don't play in some clans. There's people who don't log onto the mud, yet they still control who can join the clan they are in. I've applied over the years to multiple clans on this game on unknown characters. All of them denied. Some of them were good to go until they learned who my alts were and I was instantly no voted. Some of them didn't know me at all and that made them no vote me. Of course I could just be a tool and no voted myself for being myself. But yet there are clans that are gatekept by oldies who play the forums and not the game.
Re: this, you've said it already - it's likely that it's you. We're generally a family here, and if you get kicked out of the family reunion, it's likely you. If you come in a disguise but people can still tell, they'll kick you out, too. Granted I think people should be given second chances, and likely some of those players aren't giving a second chance. And that makes them the problem just as well as you. And I think administration is doing a good job of pushing those people away, but it's just as much, if not more, our job as the players to do the same.

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