The Exodus

[Naerwyn]

I'll admit I haven't read every line of every post, but I just thought I would add in my thoughts briefly

First: A good and friendly community cannot be one sided. It is very difficult to remain polite and kind when others refuse to do so. Courtesy must be a cycle- if you want to improve the community, start by being friendly and welcoming yourself If others catch on, then your goal is fulfilled.

Second: I've read several posts here, and perhaps if I have time later i'll go back and read through everything, but from several spots I noticed the implication that the staff are unfriendly (ignore this if that was not the intent of your words, and please be careful with them in the future ). I don't consider myself to be an Evil staff member, but you guys should know that these posts don't encourage us to automatically start throwing out rainbows and sunshine- in fact they have quite the opposite effect. If you have a problem with a particular staff member, then there's a great PM function here. Know that there's no thread anywhere in staff boards titled "We're here to make the players miserable." And remember we're only human

[Aegohl]

Know that there's no thread anywhere in staff boards titled "We're here to make the players miserable." And remember we're only human

They don't invite you into that part of the internal boards until you prove the depth of your evil. =P

[Damien]

I guess that the "GMs = evil" comes from the habit of some GMs to sometimes play evil NPCs / Villains or Monsters, usually with the goal to cause some story / atmosphere / entertainment.
Since big events(no matter if fighting involved or not) are often frowned upon by many players ( there have been a lot of complaints that one cannot "get around" big events if they take place in more publically reachable places) the most GMs are doing small stuff and miniquests now, mainly for newbies - who often are rejected by other players even if they want to roleplay. Well, some Newbies don't want to roleplay at all, true, but that's not the majority usually.
Illarion has a good base for being a "friendly" community since the most staff members usually try to act somewhat fair, but the atmosphere of a roleplaying game as well as the community comes from the players. Kicking out bad behaving people is one necessary thing to keep up a certain behaviour level which can be done by seers/admins/GMs, sure... but there's always more than staff.

[Naerwyn]

Know that there's no thread anywhere in staff boards titled "We're here to make the players miserable." And remember we're only human

They don't invite you into that part of the internal boards until you prove the depth of your evil. =P

Only three lamb sacrifices to go before I get my initiate robe

[Aegohl]

With all due respect, I disagree with the above. I don't want to start a fight on this thread, so please try to understand that I'm only trying to give constructive criticism.

Some of the biggest events in Illarion history are some of the best remembered. It's only the events that make players feel as though they're being punished that they complain about. It takes a lot of intuition to do something that effects everyone without making them feel targeted, however.

Take, for example, the event often called the "Lich Wars." This actually started out as not a quest. Japheth, Papoitsi, Rinya, and myself would often go ingame with our GM characters and play around with the players. Sometimes that meant putting on a bit of a skit for the players to view and other times that meant attacking the town with armies of skeletons.

This singular time we actually managed to push the players out of town and so we closed the gates behind them and it soon became an ongoing thing. This quest went on to inspire many others that the players loved. For example, I've often seen players posting a screenshot of my lich when he put Pendar on trial telling someone in the audience that "flattery will get you everywhere, my dear boy."

One major quest that players complained about was the drought; however, they complained about it because things they took for granted in playing Illarion were taken away, they believed, to unfairly disadvantage a player that it was believed widely was actually a staff member (and since then the belief has been proven to be true.) However, on the other hand, people often talked fondly of the major quest that ended the drought.

While it gets very little mention nowadays (there's so few of us left who would remember it anyhow) the coming of the Forest Trolls was a major quest that a good lot of people enjoyed. However, towards the end of it there were complaints that the quest unfairly benefited a character whose player had a relationship with a staff member and the boards went to flames as Manuel and some other players attacked the player and the staff member publically.

At one point while I was a staff member I even made the mistake of bringing back my character, Moskher, in order to push a quest in Varshikar. I got bad feedback and soon withdrew the quest entirely and it was forgotten by the players very quickly I think.

Another recent example was the resurrection of Darlok. We had a situation where a staff member and a handful of players were roleplaying that one thing was happening while another handful of players were roleplaying that it wasn't happening in the same time and place. One side argued that the other wasn't rping well and the other side was arguing that their rp which existed previous to this quest had been ignored to benefit a staff member.

To display two situations which were similar but yielded different results: Darren was a player who had been around for many, many years, was well-respected by the players and staff, and had played a villain character named Dravish which many players widely knew. I allowed him to play a very powerful lich character and run wild, more or less, with a certain amount of oversight from me. While there were a few complaints about his power level (which I think ended when I nerfed his stats a bit) overall the reaction was favorable. Well before players got bored with him, Darren allowed the character to die. On the other hand, while the Temple rp was enjoyed at first, players felt overwhelmed by these highly active liches that were constantly around and soon the complaints poured in; unfortunately, the players weren't quick enough in launching one last attack that ended their characters lives for the sake of the other players.

In any case, again, I hate to even drudge up those firey times because I absolutely *do not* want to see flaming on this thread; this is a good thread that can benefit the community a lot. However, I want to make the point very clear that it's not just "big events" that anger the players. It's when they feel either hassled, singled out, or they feel someone else is being unfairly advantaged *especially* when it's a staff member.

[Pellandria]

I tend to disagree there with you.
"One major quest that players complained about was the drought; however, they complained about it because things they took for granted in playing Illarion were taken away.."

As long as I remember only Powergamers bitched around, because they had no wood to use, this whole Quest itself was nice, even as snipers attacked the ones who "built" Darloks castle(but this simply sucked, didn't destroyed but the mood at all).
I really enjoyed it and you know why..because ou "couldn't" do much, you had to wait..noone who plays the hero and rushes to Darlok and kills him, that was simple fantastic.. it brought us back where the normal chars normally would stand...as simple citizens..no huge terraforming mages, no princess to rescue, just plain and simple "you must endure this" and this is what maybe Illarion needs again, a war or something terrible landscape changing except the winter, something you can solute as one only player but with standing together and fighting one big evil, because it influences all not just one..maybe this is why I normally don't like quest, there will always be favoured people, just always and I don't bitch about it, I 'm sure its a hell of work for everyone, but in the end there will allways be someone who didn't liked it and its good, because everyone has his own taste and opinion..wow got longer then I wanted it..

[Mr. Cromwell]

But something like this misses the game completly. Instances ( guilds, towns ) that are respected. Players that are respected. Is there something like this? I don't think so. Everyone is everyones dude.

@Nitram
Agreed. We need more organisations, and first step is to remove the retarted and counterproductive requirements for "four" different characters.

-You need at least four chars from different accounts to start a new guild.
-Before starting a new guild topic, you have to ask the moderator via PM and he will check if there is the minimum of four different accounts behind the guild.
-New topics without the permission of the moderator will be deleted without further notice.

Absolute, total and utter bollocks. Now that I have constructively made clear my discontent with the present sitiuation. Anyone should be able to put up a new thread on the guild forum. Sure.. maybe 9/10 would die without ever turning into anything, but it's worth it if 1 becomes an established group. It's just such a pain in the arse sometimes to actually try and find four people for some guild.. chances are that you won't even need four people for most of the stuff that goes on in this game.

The current system seems to be more geared for "the order of the everlasting bottle of rum and mystical underpants" and "the magical hamlet of snowhite and the seven hairy buggers" kind of organisations, which actually need a lot of people. However, it's not just knighthoods and towns that should be around, some real guilds would be nice too. If I have to get two random people so I can get my own topic on the GB.. what's the point? The two other members are not any less random.

I ran the Silverstar merchants for a long time, and it was rare that we had more than three active members. The best times even were with just there.. Mishrack, Brendan Mason and my Cara. When we actually hired people to run around the town to advertise the fact that we were in the shop, ready to make business with people. We didn't need more people, and I think that kind of guilds would be what the game needs..

Very very few guilds in the past had four members at the time they were established.. so please, let us remove this nastyness and focus the GM efforts on some other stuff. Pressing the delete button when an inappropriate thread appears is just so much easier than premoderation like that.. and it doesn't kill off any potential guilds and clans.

[Elviane Kitomerae]

Ok Fianna, stop, please...

I don't know why, but every time when I try to talk in English, there is somebody who gets me wrong! This time it's you...

Sorry but... Yes I said that... but in another pointment...
See.. I play a lot of games besides Illarion... So why don't play the game you talk about? I never said something about players to throw away! That's the reason, why I get affraid of playing and talkang in English...

But back to point... all I wanted to say was: Play! Play What ever you want! Play as much games as you want! But I don't unsderstand why to compare them...

That was my point! Don't say such things,please...

~ Elvie

[Fianna Heneghan]

@ elviane
I'm very sorry if your feelings were hurt. That was not my intention, I promise you. I understand english is a second language for you and misunderstandings must happen a lot. I was trying only to redirect the tone of the thread that I started.

I am not trying to compare the games. I am not trying to embarass anyone. I am trying to draw attention to a problem that I think is serious, but can be fixed.

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to read my post and write your responses. I value your input and your opinions.

PO Fianna

(( And one more time for anyone who may have missed it... ))

Dantagon wrote:
Does this have to do with rp? No. Graphics? No. Skills? No....I guess this leaves you thinking, what the hell does this game have that Illa doesn't? Community and friendly staff and players! We let them know that we had a failing server and they were almost desperate for us to stay.

This is really the point under discussion.

[Aegohl]

I tend to disagree there with you.
"One major quest that players complained about was the drought; however, they complained about it because things they took for granted in playing Illarion were taken away.."

As long as I remember only Powergamers bitched around, because they had no wood to use, this whole Quest itself was nice, even as snipers attacked the ones who "built" Darloks castle(but this simply sucked, didn't destroyed but the mood at all).
I really enjoyed it and you know why..because ou "couldn't" do much, you had to wait..noone who plays the hero and rushes to Darlok and kills him, that was simple fantastic.. it brought us back where the normal chars normally would stand...as simple citizens..no huge terraforming mages, no princess to rescue, just plain and simple "you must endure this" and this is what maybe Illarion needs again, a war or something terrible landscape changing except the winter, something you can solute as one only player but with standing together and fighting one big evil, because it influences all not just one..maybe this is why I normally don't like quest, there will always be favoured people, just always and I don't bitch about it, I 'm sure its a hell of work for everyone, but in the end there will allways be someone who didn't liked it and its good, because everyone has his own taste and opinion..wow got longer then I wanted it..

Actually, more of what you said agreed with what I posted than not. The main point you disagree with me is related to the drought quest, which, unfortunately happened just before I joined Illarion, so maybe I shouldn't have included it as an argument. I do, however, remember a lot of vocal complaints and I'm sure you do; regardless of if you agreed with the complaints or not.

The point I merely try to make is that it takes a great deal of intuition to not offend players when doing a quest, but it's possible. I don't fault the people who have a failing quest; I do and have in the past, however, faulted those who didn't care if the players didn't like it or not. And it may even be the case that right now the staff tends towards being too scared to do big quests.

However, my advice to young GM's is that the GM's who are most active, do the most quests, and interact with the players the most will be the most fondly remembered. That is the reason I have so much respect for Estralis. While unfortunately he doesn't have the time to do quests nowadays, when I was a player I rarely ever saw a quest until Estralis became a GM.

[Alytys Lamar]

@Aeghol .. we don't should talk about quests, but sorry the *Negros* quest was very great. Very less complain and such stuff.. 75 where on at the end !! And Aleytys wasn't pushed or something else in this case...

http://illarion.org/community/forums/vi ... highlight=

This as a example.

But we talk about *an Exodus*. An Exodus especially from the english playing people. When I think back .. a lot from the people I played during the quest doesn't play at the Moment. Need Names ?
Darren = reason RL
JenJen play at the moment very less = reason RL
Broc = the same
Maggie, Kevin, Athian and others are playing very less at the moment for some reasons.

PO'S like Avareniah, Quinasa, Dinendal, Jeremy, Arameh, Galthran, Nalzaxx don't playing , leaving the game ... the list is endless and i fear i would cry when I see really all names here.

The same about the german's. A lot from last year don't playing or very less Illarion.

But why ? All what stand over my post is more or less true.

But at most I would say we need the atmosphere back...
The new crafting system is very nice work from the staff, but I see less Rp and more and more PG since this is implanted. A lot of people only working and working, ignoring other players.
The Nordmark is empty. Varshikar was again busy and very nice to play, now the same problem. Trolls Bane is often empty.

Now a little question ? can it be that the summertime bring this *hole* also ? A lot of people working, school is over, Holidays ????

I wish the people come back, the magic in Illarion is up to you, to us players. We need quests again, little and great quests.
We need this was Dariya has mentioned

give the limited number of staff-members time
don't expect the staff-members to improve the rp, THIS depends on the players
don't expect the staff-members to post nice and friendly, if you don't

and maybe to read this important Thread again:

http://illarion.org/community/forums/vi ... highlight=

I always have a problem to say what I feel in those threads.... but I missed this points a bit.

[Dantagon Marescot]

It isn't the summer that is doing this. In fact, I was hoping to play more this summer as work and school cut into everything. This is all happening because of the hostile atmosphere and the lack of rp from people leaving. Plus during the server crashes (which in no means was the staffs fault), we all started to look for something else and found things that beconed us to stay instead of pushed away people who wanted to play.

What happened to the colaberation between Lianis and Thorvald to make something for the players to read each week on their progress. I personally enjoyed reading such things and enjoyed knowing that the staff was working on something. Sure I don't expect them to get anything big and awesome done any time soon. Though maybe a few smaller updates once in a while wouldn't be to much to ask for. Hell, it would even be great if we could have some more information on this world to toy with so we can develop our characters to it.

Sorry if this is a more depressive post than my last one. I am really stumped on what will get people who have left to return. Just because we make it so the new ones stay, doesn't mean we will get the old ones back.

[martin]

The new crafting system is very nice work from the staff, but I see less Rp and more and more PG since this is implanted.

I see this as a big problem; this system was developed over a really long period of time with a lot of talking, suggestions and so on and it was designed to increase RP and decrease PG.
And it's really disillusioning to hear that the effect is just the other way 'round.

Martin

[Sun Long]

I don't agree.
With the new system it's possible to rp more than before. It's like real life: You work but you are able to talk to somebody beside this now 'cause you don't have to click every second and your fingers are free for typing.
You just have to do it.

[Juliana D'cheyne]

The new crafting system is very nice work from the staff, but I see less Rp and more and more PG since this is implanted.

I see this as a big problem; this system was developed over a really long period of time with a lot of talking, suggestions and so on and it was designed to increase RP and decrease PG.
And it's really disillusioning to hear that the effect is just the other way 'round.

Martin

I think the main reason we see a lot of PGing now... or I did, was simply chars trying to catch up with some skills that were lost with the new system, that should settle fairly soon. The only interference I see with RP is having to go to a table to craft whereas before you could do it at your depot and maybe see more chars that way.


However, getting back on subject, possibly when the newby island is in place, more will come and stay to RP. I haven't seen the "lack" of RP ig at all so I don't understand that, but I have heard people talking about the lack of "atmosphere". I do know certain groups tend to stay together and RP and rarely get outside the group. I also think it is not so much ig discouraging people from staying but the forum. Suppose part of the forum was public and for new players, and part was private for those here a certain time? Would that help at all? Also, possibly those with non-active chars over a couple of months only be allowed to post in the public part of the forum which would have strict rules on posting written? Well, just some quick ideas....more questions then ideas.

[Alytys Lamar]

The new crafting system is very nice work from the staff, but I see less Rp and more and more PG since this is implanted.

I see this as a big problem; this system was developed over a really long period of time with a lot of talking, suggestions and so on and it was designed to increase RP and decrease PG.
And it's really disillusioning to hear that the effect is just the other way 'round.

Martin

Sorry for this, but I can only say what I see and hear. I agree with Sun, the possibility to RP during work is greater as in the past. But otherwise I know from others and myself that people working and only say greetings.. that's all.
Just ignore the try to RP ..

Really sorry for that... the new system ist so nice... >.<

[Aegohl]

@Aeghol .. we don't should talk about quests, but sorry the *Negros* quest was very great. Very less complain and such stuff.. 75 where on at the end !! And Aleytys wasn't pushed or something else in this case...

http://illarion.org/community/forums/vi ... highlight=

This as a example.

But we talk about *an Exodus*. An Exodus especially from the english playing people. When I think back .. a lot from the people I played during the quest doesn't play at the Moment. Need Names ?
Darren = reason RL
JenJen play at the moment very less = reason RL
Broc = the same
Maggie, Kevin, Athian and others are playing very less at the moment for some reasons.

PO'S like Avareniah, Quinasa, Dinendal, Jeremy, Arameh, Galthran, Nalzaxx don't playing , leaving the game ... the list is endless and i fear i would cry when I see really all names here.

The same about the german's. A lot from last year don't playing or very less Illarion.

But why ? All what stand over my post is more or less true.

But at most I would say we need the atmosphere back...
The new crafting system is very nice work from the staff, but I see less Rp and more and more PG since this is implanted. A lot of people only working and working, ignoring other players.
The Nordmark is empty. Varshikar was again busy and very nice to play, now the same problem. Trolls Bane is often empty.

Now a little question ? can it be that the summertime bring this *hole* also ? A lot of people working, school is over, Holidays ????

I wish the people come back, the magic in Illarion is up to you, to us players. We need quests again, little and great quests.
We need this was Dariya has mentioned

give the limited number of staff-members time
don't expect the staff-members to improve the rp, THIS depends on the players
don't expect the staff-members to post nice and friendly, if you don't

and maybe to read this important Thread again:

http://illarion.org/community/forums/vi ... highlight=

I always have a problem to say what I feel in those threads.... but I missed this points a bit.

Summertime historically at Illarion brought more players because people are out of school, not vice versa.

Also, some of those people you mention above as having left because of rl issues are friends of mine and I know them very well and while it is true that they have pressing rl concerns, many of them were fading before those rl concerns came about and beyond that expressed a disinterest in Illarion as it is now even if those rl concerns weren't an issue. The rl concerns provided a means for them to pull themselves away from a community that they had grown so used to commenting on and logging into for such a large piece of their life.

Also, I wasn't so much talking about Negros (although I even hate to say that name because of the horrid connotation of the word as it was used historically in the United States) as much as I was talking about Retlak and Nalzaxx. I wasn't all that much aware of Negros. And I don't mean this as anything against the players or even against the quest. I'm merely saying that there was a large part of the community who were bothered by the quest.

[Estralis Seborian]

Well, some words from me. First off, there will always be games that are better in a way or another than Illarion. That's only natural for a game that is coded in the spare time of non-professionals. Nobody gets payed for coding Illa - UO is a commercial game, developed over years by pros. Shards use the main code and add some additions to make the game different - Illarion is a completely different game. From this, it draws a certain magic and together with a close knit community, technical flaws can be ignored.

But that is not the issue here, the tone in the community and of the staff is. We all know that the dot-affair wasn't a magic moment for the community as well as the harsh tone of players and staff alike here and there. Maybe you can write down 10 "do"s and 10 "don't"s for the communication?

About quests, I agree that major quests are vital for this game. Keep in mind that it is very easy to start a minor quest, involving two or three random players for an hour than a major quest, involving the whole island for weeks. We definatly need more player driven quests, but for this, we need a background conflict or at least a background "problem". This is were the background story crew enters the stage...

[Aristeaus]

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that once upon a time the players made thier own quests, and the aid from a GM was a HUGE thing.

Whereas now players want most of the quests and action placed before them on the platter, and the strange and powerfull occurances from GM's are an everyday thing.

This isnt everything i know, its just one of the differences that has come over time. Some people prefer it, some dont.

At the end of the day, some people like Illarion, some dont. Its all personal taste.

I myself have RL concerns, and Illarion isnt the game i used to play. I dont say its not as good as it was, its just different.

[Tinuva Geogroda]

Personally, I used to prefer illarion when it was just a small community game, when you could have ALL the online player list sitting around one/two campfires, when people would pass by, you greet them and they sit down.

The times when you used to know everyone, when each character MEANT something...



Nowadays I hardly know the name of important officials... let alone most people.

What illarion needs is a tighter community.

When we now go sit around a campfire the forest will burn down XD

[Llama]

For example, I've often seen players posting a screenshot of my lich when he put Pendar on trial telling someone in the audience that "flattery will get you everywhere, my dear boy."

^_^ Good times. That was actually said to Selisidour who was complimenting the Lich...

=====

What Illarion needs, in my opinion, is more INDIVIDUALITY. There are all too many people who you see once or twice, ONLY. Before there used to be a smaller community, and people used to actually KNOW each other. This allowed characters to be developed deeply, because there would ALWAYS be someone who'd be interested.

Also, in ye olde days, small events (even when ONE person messes up) used to draw the whole (10?) online player's list, and actually MEAN something. For example once I had pushed Aristeus' wife because she was in front of the shop door, and she got me into trouble with Varshikar. Or once I had got into trouble with calling K'lurk names and he wanted my head. Nowadays you don't even bother, bet you don't ever see either of those again. Or the whole (10) town used to mobilise due to a murder, Rping helping the victim at the cross recover...

I still remember the day Damien had Rped a full operation (actually happened twice), while surrounded by people....

What Illarion needs is MORE people logging in more commonly, and just, ROLEPLAYING. Also the skill system kind of ruined the game , I'm sorry to say.

Consolidation: Illarion needs more INDIVIDUAL characters, and more people interested in helping OTHER people evolve their characters

[Pellandria]

The problem is there is that somehow my mood get destroxed, when I play with others then my "groups" Iwill be honest here, because sometimes some rp is just really really bad and even if you want to help and improve it, some people just stay on ..one level you could say and then..you just don't want to play with them anymore, I'm sure I don't make any friends now, but some pseudo rp'er are really destroying the mood, I know I'm neither a good rp'er but atleast I try ; ) and there are times where your char simply wouldn't speak to anyone at all, but in the end I have to agree to Hadrian...in the past you kinda knew what every charhas done..where he/she stands and so on, but with bigger and more impotantly new community this "widsome" goes to waste, because most of the newer player don't have a full char history-> any reference to the actual play is missed, means nearly noone is afraid of orcs, only a few elves are really played like elves instead of humans and so on, without a full history of the chars and actually without their habits, let them eat a cake.. let them dislike certain items, what do I know, just bring a few more things to think about and then the rp will improve aswell.

[abcfantasy]

I'm starting to get the feeling that we need some kind of...fresh start

I think in the current state, it will be extremely hard to achieve the atmosphere of a tight community again. As it's already been said, there barely is any RP atmosphere in the game. Evil guys are rarely ever feared, towns are all neutral and all people roam about any town, knights are taken as a joke with no respect at all, even those people in high positions...

I don't know, but I think applications for creating an account is needed. We need to make sure players know how to react to evil chars, to those that are due respect, etc... Maybe there would be the need to even make evil chars, since people may get bored with many such chars, so they will drop the 'fear roleplay'.

But also, this 'community' is a large and growing one (yet not a tight and close one). It's hard to control a large 'community'. With applications, we would barely get any new players, but at least the real few would know what to expect and all. But then again, the idea of applications seems to be disliked.

Another thing, would a time limit for skill gaining be any better? Like...you can train a maximum of an hour or two a day (and maybe make skill gaining just slightly faster)? Or maybe a way to make a (selected) character teach to another character, which would be a faster way to gain a skill (but still limited). This would encourage training classes and hopefully more roleplay.

Sometime ago I had this idea of perhaps making a new (smaller) map, where only experienced players can reach (with specially created chars). There would be stricter RP rules there, and maybe only able to log in between certain times (to increase the number of players who log in in that time period, and to let those players log into the old map). Knowing this, players may thrust each other more and improve the community-like rp. I'm not so sure though, it may cause unintended consequences.

I'm even starting to think of a char wipe, but then again, it may do more bad than good. I don't know.

I had more in mind, but can't remember them right now. Don't flame me if my ideas are bad/wrong/harmful etc... I just tried to put forward some suggestions.

[Ashayen]

I'm starting to get the feeling that we need some kind of...fresh start

That is exactly what i think as well. And we all should begin with the forum! It sometimes really presses my mood down when i read through some topics and i just see moaning and flaming. Yay, that is it what i want to see in the morning when i enjoy my coffee >.<

And what really depresses me currently is the fact that some people just hold on at the old good times. Sure, the old times were nice, i play that game long enough to say that, but hey!... wouldn't it be better if you all would be a bit more open-minded. Be open for new things and let the old things be...hold them in your memories, that's what i do.

Illa always had it's bad and it's good times, but when we all pull on the right strings we're able to bring the magic back in there. And as i can see that's all what you guys want. I want it as well because it saddens me a lot when i look at the online-list nowadays. We need some fresh air in the whole game, especially now where it's hard to find any RP.

[Llama]

I agree, we need a new start.

A characterwipe would be the best idea in my opinion, people who spent hours pging their character will just get angry and leave. However we also need an account system.

The old essay system was allright in my opinion, it filtered those who REALLY knew how to Rp from those who didn't give a care. The only problem is that it took too much time, but I think we should have a group of volunteers to check it instead of letting just the Gms do it. I think anyone who's been playing for a year now, and is responsable enough should be able to check them.

Illarion isn't just a 'casual' game, its a way of life, we need to show we are SERIOUS about the Rp. Also, if the only new people have passed the test, people would be more eager to help them, since they show promise as Rpers, and won't be the kind of person who logs in one day and leaves the other.

As for skill gain, i think there should be a static cap, as abc said, no amount of resting should allow you to return to Pging. Obviously, the gms should track those who don't Rp, and PUBLICALLY ban them (its a good example to others).

I also think, that good Rp should be rewarded. A Gm should check the server logs casually, where s/he sees some good Rp taking place, give him/her a skillboost in one of the skills, or for very good Rp allow him/her to learn stuff lyke a language, or magic without needing a teacher (as in a sorcerer).

My two cents.

[Alytys Lamar]

A characterwipe would be the best idea in my opinion, people who spent hours pging their character will just get angry and leave.

Doesn't solve the Main Problem Hun.. that's a minor matter I guess. Look at Ashayens Post. I agree with her to 100 %. ( btw.: I hate the Idea of a Char wipe >.< )

The old essay system was allright in my opinion, it filtered those who REALLY knew how to Rp from those who didn't give a care. The only problem is that it took too much time, but I think we should have a group of volunteers to check it instead of letting just the Gms do it. I think anyone who's been playing for a year now, and is responsable enough should be able to check them.

But this is a very good Idea .. and I think this would be helpfull for the staff. So they have time for other things.

[Nitram]

The old essay system was allright in my opinion, it filtered those who REALLY knew how to Rp from those who didn't give a care. The only problem is that it took too much time, but I think we should have a group of volunteers to check it instead of letting just the Gms do it. I think anyone who's been playing for a year now, and is responsable enough should be able to check them.

Really great. The problem was that the few that came thougth that system didn't play our game after.
Thats the reason it goes disabled. We won't enable it again in order to scare away the few players that get in now.

Nitram

[Llama]

If you're ready to wait for a day or two to get an account, meanwhile you spend it looking up moonsilver or browsing the forums, then it shows you are ready for a game like illarion.

If a person wants a game where you just step in instantly and skill up or something, there are tons of them on the internet.

What always made illarion special, was the massive Rp it used to have, and you can't do that if you dilute it with new (not-so-good-at-rp) players.

Its true, the account system scares people away, but the few that DO come in, stay there for ages. The 'going away' posts are done by people who've played illarion for a while, people who have become a PART of illarion, not a casual gamer who can't be bothered to wait 2 days for an account.

That's my point. Its not about the quantity, its about the quality.

[Nitram]

There is no quality if you have no quantity

[Aristeaus]

I agree with the llama lover. The time people stopped helping new players was when the account system was abolished. The reason for this is that 'we' got fed up wasting our time speaking to the new players because we knew them mostly to be retarded. And the few good ones which came to the game suffered for it