Question: What is causing the lower volume in orgs?

Ea

For a while now, I've been sifting through ideas to increase activity in Hallifax, to discern why individuals choose x over y in terms of 'making a character' somewhere new.  Whether it be alting, or shifting orgs, or a new player coming to the game -- I'm interested to know what makes people choose places to be as opposed to another.

I'd like some constructive feedback from everyone on this; if they have some ideas or insight on how to improve an org from a player stand-point, or if the org isn't interesting because of lore, or cosmetics, or something that cannot be changed easily.


Please keep it civil and constructive, I'm genuinely interested in feedback.

Jolanthe

Ea said:

I'm interested to know what makes people choose places to be as opposed to another.

A game like this can serve as an escape of sorts from real world obligations and the like. In that regard, I appreciate being able to veer far off the course of my real world work/social structure and have a place where I can be useless and only care just as much as I feel like on any given day, and it's still okay and acceptable, even on down to the RP level. If nothing else, Gaudiguch grants me that in spades.

Coraline

Outdoors pretty, bunnies cute

Saran

Cliff notes for why i left halli way back when would be that on they went too focused on certain aspects which kinda excluded other rp avenues. Kinda the opposite of Seren where it trends more to being too generic that it lacks enough focus which causes it's own set of problems.

Also, I think a pretty important thing to keep in mind for anyone trying to improve anything in this game is to avoid burn out.
For orgs, you do need constant presence to get as many newbies as possible but you don't want to be keeping yourself logged in constantly cause burnout then you'll leave. You'll be able to do more in the long run if you like, go play other games when your motivation dips.

Innon

Population breeds population; I believe this is due to the fact more population means more people into the same things you are. Also, some Orgs have a clear path. Ignoring seconds, there are two types of novices: true Lusternia newbies and players that have knowledge of Lusternia with no current main. In my opinion, the flavor of Glom/Mag/Gaudi is going to pull more people that are true novices. The second group are even more needy (like me). This group needs to build and have support to make obtaining Demi easier. This group wants to be prominent as fast as possible, and they aren't fully engrossed by Lusternia; their character is developing meaning they probably need a lot of OOC help. They aren't cemented in the world yet. Moreover, they want to benefit from things like the chessboard, domoths, larger hunting groups, etc. Also, they have access to more tradespeople. The light at the end of the tunnel may be Orgcredits. The more people competing for the org credits will cause the org to need to ration more, so if lower population orgs are smart with orgcredit policies they may be able to pull the second group of newbies and maybe even some demis. The true newbies will fall where they think they fit from the website/wiki. 

Niwynne

My experience of Celest since my return has been that it's pretty dead when I'm around (as in, zero other players) and on top of that also managed to join a guild that had no advancement paths due to it being under reconstruction. So very little for me to actually do, aside from levelling which gets a bit boring when there's no one to talk to really, so I have not been logging on much. Don't really want to switch orgs as it means either I can't use a bunch of my skills or have to change to a different class.

Xenthos

I do everything I can to make sure that our newbies know I want to answer their questions / help them get into things.  I think that is very important to engagement.  Lusternia is old, which means it is very complex in a lot of ways.  Trying to figure it all out is problematic, and beyond that people want interactions / engagement.  Some people may enjoy a MUD as a "solo" kind of game, but it seems to me that the vast majority prefer having people they can go hang out and do stuff with.

Low pop is problematic in that regard.  Glom goes through periods of that (even around the beginning of last summer, as our most recent slump), but I just try to keep on going.  Getting even one person to stick around is huge, because that person makes it easier to keep the next.

Xenthos

@Niwynne When is your play time?  There are usually a couple of Celestians around near the weave, so I am assuming not then.  Unfortunately that is where I am locked to, excluding weekends, but if you have questions feel free to drop them to me in a forum message and I will give an answer when I can.

Right now Seren, Celest, and Hallifax are the least populated orgs, but we all do want you to have fun.  I can't help much with your Celest RP but people like Veyils (Deichtine) are on a fair bit earlier than me and sometimes do hunts with our allies, or domoth upgrades.  Ask her for an invite to Crux if you are not in it, that is where coordination happens.

Shaddus

Seconding Niwynne's post.

Hallifax has a few active players who reach out to younger characters  to see if they need help, but are kinda sparse populationwise.

Devora

This is going to make me sound kind of daft, but while I love the premise of Halli, the few times I tried to start out there I got lost constantly No idea if this is a factor in true newbie retention or if I just suck at maps.

Bairloch

Not just you. I started a newbie there just a few weeks ago on a whim. That place is rough to navigate to start.

Coraline

I had a newbie there too. Didn't login for a long time because the map was frustrating and there were not many flyable areas (the char was a trill). Then got a message saying the character might get deleted so logged back in and it was actually pretty fun.

The character suicided now though because of my rl I have very little time to login, let alone play 2 characters. Rip goldia 

Ayisdra

Coraline said:

I had a newbie there too. Didn't login for a long time because the map was frustrating and there were not many flyable areas (the char was a trill). Then got a message saying the character might get deleted so logged back in and it was actually pretty fun.

The character suicided now though because of my rl I have very little time to login, let alone play 2 characters. Rip goldia 

I'm sorry about Golida. Although for what little it is worth, I'm glad to hear that it was RL that was the main reason and not that you ragequitting (which is what I assumed when I saw how the epic ended for you...)

Coraline

Ayisdra said:

Coraline said:

I had a newbie there too. Didn't login for a long time because the map was frustrating and there were not many flyable areas (the char was a trill). Then got a message saying the character might get deleted so logged back in and it was actually pretty fun.

The character suicided now though because of my rl I have very little time to login, let alone play 2 characters. Rip goldia 

I'm sorry about Golida. Although for what little it is worth, I'm glad to hear that it was RL that was the main reason and not that you ragequitting (which is what I assumed when I saw how the epic ended for you...)

I won't lie and say that it didn't play a part. The epic quest itself was taking up too much time and botching it in the end made me go "this is pointless, why am I wasting so much time" and RL was getting busy too

Coraline

On the bright side, every time I'm slacking/procrastinating on a deadline, I ask myself "Goldia died for this??" and it works everytime :P 

Arix

Tzaraziko died for your spins

Devora

Arix said:

Tzaraziko died for your spins

Hello new forum signature

Saran

Innon said:

Population breeds population; I believe this is due to the fact more population means more people into the same things you are.

Pretty much yeah, it really doesn't seem like it's realistic for the game to continue to support six orgs because of this. 

It's really the same as guilds and why they needed to be pared down. Some orgs might do well but that'll be matched with lower pop somewhere else which then costs the game retention and continues the downward spiral.

Minkahmet

Niwynne said:

My experience of Celest since my return has been that it's pretty dead when I'm around (as in, zero other players) and on top of that also managed to join a guild that had no advancement paths due to it being under reconstruction. So very little for me to actually do, aside from levelling which gets a bit boring when there's no one to talk to really, so I have not been logging on much. Don't really want to switch orgs as it means either I can't use a bunch of my skills or have to change to a different class.

Well honestly, what I did whenever I found myself in a guild with no direction regardless of who I played throughout the years, I'd take the more productive route/lead it by becoming one of the leaderships whether secretary/undersecretary/admin/gm what have you and help out. It's not always perfect but communicating in some form with those with the abilities, make a big difference. So that's my suggestion if you find nothing else to do and you see a problem such as that in your guild. Lack of motivation to do anything is killer sadly. Besides, in Celest-there are plenty you can do, albeit hardly anyone about in your timezone, but most of us respond pretty quickly when we do log on I assure you. Sometimes working up the courage to ask questions can be beneficial in the long run.

Ea

Thanks for the feedback so far.  A lot of good insight.

Niwynne

Serenwilde has a good active population at the moment. They're mostly not demigods or combatants, so they're not winning anything, but there is always someone around to talk to and RP with, and they are really good at making noobs feel welcome in my expereince so far. So it might look like they are dead with regards to villages and Domoths, but they're much more fun than Celest.

Minkahmet

Niwynne said:

Serenwilde has a good active population at the moment. They're mostly not demigods or combatants, so they're not winning anything, but there is always someone around to talk to and RP with, and they are really good at making noobs feel welcome in my expereince so far. So it might look like they are dead with regards to villages and Domoths, but they're much more fun than Celest.

Unfortunately, that can't be helped as it doesn't appear...to fit in your frame. However, that is not to say if it's more enjoyable there, then it might be a better fit for your enjoyment to join Serenwilde, and there's nothing wrong with changing the scenery to meet your needs. I know many like myself have done it and was likely the best choice we've ever made.

Esoneyuna

My very first character was in Celest by process of elimination. There were 3 orgs, Magnagora's came across as too over the top evil, I had bad experiences with forestal communities in other games.

Later on my first alt was made in Serenwilde because of specific people and my interaction with them. That alt soon became my main. I joined Hallifax soon as it opened.

When I came back from hiatus being active in Gaudiguch rather than Hallifax was because at that time Hallifax was very different from what I remembered and I didn't like it much. It can be attributed to fear of change I guess. Subsequent tries to get in to Hallifax again are a bit rebuffed by my social anxiety and fear I will never really advance there due to only having a basic command of the English language.