Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2016 14:09:21 GMT -5
So, while I feel as though shutting down Tuluk was the right thing to do, let me explain why in no small part I believe it happened. Having played chars in a noble house, merchant house, and the Legions in Tuluk during VERY beginning the Reign of Nyr to the end, I can say for a fact that there were multiple opportunities to bolster the size of Tuluk.
In the end, what kept Tuluk from ever taking off was the fact that Nyr began imposing population caps on clans. Every time my interest started to wane in Tuluk, it was because there would be no one else online VERY frequently. I mean, there might be a dude in a bar in Tuluk - maybe even one interested in joining the clan so the two could spar - but when clans only allow 5 PCs max... and if there are 2 nobles but only 1 is logging in... then playing in a clan with hard caps in a region where there aren't many PCs to begin with becomes boring as hell.
Yes, boring people are often bored. But in a game where socialization is such an enormous factor, things will not be as fun as they could be if players are strictly limited on who they can interact with as a grunt level character, especially in combat-intensive clans.
There are ways to defend imposing caps on clans, for sure. The vibe I got, though, was that it probably depends on who you are as a player that decides how many minions may be employed... and that isn't really objective at all.
Anyway... Yes, there are other reasons that Tuluk was weak, but I think that a huge amount of opportunities for clans to explode with popularity were stifled because of restricting the size of clans to the point where they never really could take off. Again, I can see why staff would think this is a good idea: don't let the shitbag we don't like suck in all the players - we have this other guy over here who is on point and who we like, and we want him to have a pool of people to recruit from. That kinda deal.
When thinking of Tuluk in the future, it may be interesting to consider simply opening ONE clan in the entire city... maybe a group that is either already marginalized or a single GMH like Kadius. Then again, Kadius still has Morin's... plus, I think the Nak-only experiment should be allowed to run its course for a decently-long time in the foreseeable future. Maybe, before even considering re-opening Tuluk, other "projects" like the gith clan could be taken on with a similar plan:
a silt pirate clan, insurgent groups, extremely rare shit like a sect of vampires or other supernatural groups (like gith, perhaps on a "time limit" of sorts) other weird tribes... really, the only limit outside of our capacity to put in the work inside the game is one thing;
imagination.
I am not trying to sign the staff up for more projects before the fresh ones have even started... just sorta brainstorming and thinking out loud.
It is time for the game to move forward. No more stupid backsliding. Many people who play this game now have been playing it a decade or longer, so I feel like it is easy to become mired in tradition or routines... for the fun to intensify, I think we need to try to escape some of those old modes of thinking and playing the game and continue to allow the old barriers to be broken down by those who feel up to the task... and in the end, that will take risking being wrong numerous times - perhaps, even, making mistakes and failing in huge ways. You may even piss people off and lose karma while doing this, but if you run into enemies, maybe you are going in the right direction.
Good luck to players and staff alike as we move deeper into what looks more and more like a new era for ArmageddonMUD.
"New shit has come to light"...
In the end, what kept Tuluk from ever taking off was the fact that Nyr began imposing population caps on clans. Every time my interest started to wane in Tuluk, it was because there would be no one else online VERY frequently. I mean, there might be a dude in a bar in Tuluk - maybe even one interested in joining the clan so the two could spar - but when clans only allow 5 PCs max... and if there are 2 nobles but only 1 is logging in... then playing in a clan with hard caps in a region where there aren't many PCs to begin with becomes boring as hell.
Yes, boring people are often bored. But in a game where socialization is such an enormous factor, things will not be as fun as they could be if players are strictly limited on who they can interact with as a grunt level character, especially in combat-intensive clans.
There are ways to defend imposing caps on clans, for sure. The vibe I got, though, was that it probably depends on who you are as a player that decides how many minions may be employed... and that isn't really objective at all.
Anyway... Yes, there are other reasons that Tuluk was weak, but I think that a huge amount of opportunities for clans to explode with popularity were stifled because of restricting the size of clans to the point where they never really could take off. Again, I can see why staff would think this is a good idea: don't let the shitbag we don't like suck in all the players - we have this other guy over here who is on point and who we like, and we want him to have a pool of people to recruit from. That kinda deal.
When thinking of Tuluk in the future, it may be interesting to consider simply opening ONE clan in the entire city... maybe a group that is either already marginalized or a single GMH like Kadius. Then again, Kadius still has Morin's... plus, I think the Nak-only experiment should be allowed to run its course for a decently-long time in the foreseeable future. Maybe, before even considering re-opening Tuluk, other "projects" like the gith clan could be taken on with a similar plan:
a silt pirate clan, insurgent groups, extremely rare shit like a sect of vampires or other supernatural groups (like gith, perhaps on a "time limit" of sorts) other weird tribes... really, the only limit outside of our capacity to put in the work inside the game is one thing;
imagination.
I am not trying to sign the staff up for more projects before the fresh ones have even started... just sorta brainstorming and thinking out loud.
It is time for the game to move forward. No more stupid backsliding. Many people who play this game now have been playing it a decade or longer, so I feel like it is easy to become mired in tradition or routines... for the fun to intensify, I think we need to try to escape some of those old modes of thinking and playing the game and continue to allow the old barriers to be broken down by those who feel up to the task... and in the end, that will take risking being wrong numerous times - perhaps, even, making mistakes and failing in huge ways. You may even piss people off and lose karma while doing this, but if you run into enemies, maybe you are going in the right direction.
Good luck to players and staff alike as we move deeper into what looks more and more like a new era for ArmageddonMUD.
"New shit has come to light"...