This server used to be heavily populated, as in, not a long time ago, the server was at 50/50 for the epic turnover to Efu:M.
I think some parts of the server turned me away at first, getting boring, maybe the difficulty was too high for some people on one side, other veterans love the high difficulty. I think it's balanced out now but the mission was always to stay alive, it's a semi-horror setting.
The server has been fleshed out enough and it's always the same few folks playing. Maybe we have to increase our bribery skills and allow custom concepts and extra loot, subraces for inactive players to return. Pragmatic. I'd also be interested in the xp system being modified for more casual play. The mayoral elections and ever changing politics are fun, fair from an IC perspective (as fair as any other aspect of real life...), and something you don't really get in any other server, the high quality of RP.
If it were my server i'd get rid of subdual as it causes alot of strange things to happen, how do you get beaten by a greataxe and survive. It would increase the realism level and fear of death aspect... true bravery and cowardice. I totally believe in the roleplaying as well, and see subdual as pragmatic and useful towards a roleplay server. It would also increase the responsibilities for armed or magical assault, something that's more brisked away because of subdual (quasi ah i'm dying, but sometimes, or should i say almost never, roleplayed that way) and something that enrich storytelling and "fun"
Regardless of anything else, removal of subdual is a terrible idea. Primarily because people then have the choice between murdering someone or ignoring them, which leads to less RP. Beating someone up can lead to further conflict.
I think coming up with alternatives to bringing old players back is a fine idea, provided it doesn't spoil the server. But I fail to see how removing subdual system would do that.
It is still heavily populated. If you're worried about the numbers, the best things that are done is what you guys do in-game. When you're all having fun, plotting, questing, interacting and conflicting, it's more fun for others as well to climb aboard.
The spirit of wanting old players to return is obviously quite universal!
Recognize, though, that the tastes and preferences of our current and ex-players are as varied as can be, and that what appeals to one player may turn that player off.
It provides a very difficult balancing act.
The bottom line is NWN is old. EFU is far from dead or dying, but there are a lot of other shiney new games to play. So long as there's stuff to do, people will keep playing on the server.
Bribing old people into coming back is going to make newer players feel less valued, and you'll start to see a lot of stagnation if the same old guard players are running around with subraces and extra attention - with no new blood or ideas coming in.
I don't think subdual mode causes weird or bad things to happen. Getting beat by a sword and survivingl requires some suspension of disbelief. If character's start dying off in random scuffles and robberies that contribute nothing to the narrative its going to make people shy away from conflict rather than embrace it. "Realism" is not necessarily a good thing. There's already plenty to fear on EFU; your hard-work crafting a character and story going to waste because of a stray fireball from a duel shouldn't be your main worry.
My one suggestion would be that its very hard to get "anything" going on the server if you're short on time: Whether running for mayor, exploring, or questing. If you have six hours a night to spend plotting, spying, and running around the island you can get plenty done and have a good time... but if you only play one or two hours a night you're often lucky if you can get people together to hit the granary or poisoned well - let alone go someplace cool. I think more less strenuous, less-time consuming places for casual players to go in lieu of hanging out in the square might be nice.
The fact that newer players will be sinking a huge chunk of their gold into sendings, toll-booths, and resting at the mist's end (they don't have wages, remember) might also be a little off-putting - especially since its difficult to earn without joining an association or having a large network of friends.
Quote from: Numos;305161...
My one suggestion would be that its very hard to get "anything" going on the server if you're short on time: Whether running for mayor, exploring, or questing. If you have six hours a night to spend plotting, spying, and running around the island you can get plenty done and have a good time... but if you only play one or two hours a night you're often lucky if you can get people together to hit the granary or poisoned well - let alone go someplace cool. I think more less strenuous, less-time consuming places for casual players to go in lieu of hanging out in the square might be nice.
...
I'm happy to say that with the new areas in the mist, random area transistions that pop up, and caravan/invasion things give quite a bit to explore and find new stuff every day - even in two hours. =]
Just gotta run around outside of town, is all.
6 hours a night? Good god, no.
FWIW I generally play no more than 2 hours a night, and I don't play every night by any means. If I'm involved in some sort of event then I'm on for longer but that's much rarer.
Thank you for your post and although I agree with your sentiment that I'd like to see more old players return, from experience I'm pretty sure your proposed ideas are not good ones. You'd also be amazed by how many old players are lurking around under fresh account names.
I find it much easier to play characters that satisfy my own standards if I go away and come back. I keep coming back, though, and the major reason I do is because I like a lot of the community here on a personal level. I count very many people here as friends, and in fact I've traveled internationally to visit a few of them. I think that the key to getting the players lies in the community. The game itself has its faults, but I try not to get attached anymore to winning and losing. That makes all the difference for long-term playability.
Lurk lurk.
This is a game that requires a lot of time commitment in order to be enjoyable. As people grow older, their responsabilities toward society increase and their commitment to this community goes down accordingly.
Unfortunately, bringing back the old crowd of the 'good old days' isn't possible nor will everything be as you remembered it.
Encourage your talented RL friends to play!
/lurk
Lurking.
Rest assured there are many of us who would wish we could play more but kids and such stop the night-long login's that we used to be able to do.
All I can say is removing subdual mode would made me not come back. Unfortunately Im to busy to be as hardcore as I used to.
What is this...
Doctor saying he cannot take it to the max?
That's it. I quit.
Mort nailed it -
For me, Career + Family take precedence. If I've got extra time to waste, I'll log in if I want, and that can be chancy at best.
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EFU should do something like this which sends out emails sporadicly to player's who haven't posted in some time. If anything it would remind them of the community and perhaps make them want to poke their head in again.
It's not like the good ole days when one could skip classes for a whole week and spend 14 hours / day playing, no.
Adolescence is stupid sometimes.
Kids, work, life, girlfriends/wives, amoung many other things. Youth is great for playing but being a grown up gives far less time to play games. I try and get on as much as possible but I do enjoy living in the real world in my older age!
Quote from: Mort;305190Lurk lurk.
This is a game that requires a lot of time commitment in order to be enjoyable. As people grow older, their responsabilities toward society increase and their commitment to this community goes down accordingly.
Unfortunately, bringing back the old crowd of the 'good old days' isn't possible nor will everything be as you remembered it.
This. I still want to play, but life--well, it comes first. Honestly I never should have been playing as much as I was. >_>Hey lookit, I'm back.
Bringing the old DM's back would be even better, but it's even MORE time intensive for those chaps, and if you can't committ to something 100% as a DM, then it's better sometimes to not committ at all, as otherwise you leave so many loose ends and confused people wandering around...
I want to play but I know if I get sucked in it will take away time that I really REALLY need to spend on certain other areas of my life :)
Bringing back players and DMs who will immerse is very cool imo... Inviting new and used players and DMs who will immerse IG is cool too.
Just be aware that when people disappear from the forums and game (for months and years at a time)... don't take any of it personally. Life has many challenges, attractions, needs, desires... things to do... and not do.... Not all of it needs to be talked about... This is the strangest life I've ever had. EfU has always been a good life to have as well.
I've made time now, so I'm back... Keep rolling EfUians.
The Apocalypse is always happening. Always was :D
See you IG...
What Mort and Howland said. Myself, I haven't been around in a few weeks because my workload at my job just increased threefold, and it takes a certain amount of mental energy to properly role-play that I just don't have right now.
EfU is best enjoyed when you can afford to give it your undivided attention, and I'd rather stop playing for a while than play half-assed.
All I can say is my next account name will be "WillAFKrandomly4Newborn"
Fact.
Yeah what mort said. i have a child getting ready to drive this year and going to university soon, damn am i that old?. Efu has never been anything short of awesome, and was a great alternative to my splintered pnp group i had a long time ago. maybe one day i will have time to get back into it, but finding time is really hard these days not that i ever contributed much anyway. Not to take anything away from all the many years of hard work from the d.m. staff cause they are certainly awesome, but damn i miss the underdark. I know it is nolstagia more than anything else but i liked the grittyness of it. i see alot of preludes going on i might jump on the band wagon. keep on rocking efu and d.m. Tom is nothing short of a genius.
With the number of preludes being run by DMs recently aimed at new players I would like to suggest a mass email go out to all of those who have registered a forum account inviting them to check out EFU. With Gamespy's support no longer it is important that servers tap into their existing base as opposed to looking to recruit new players. I know of two servers which have done the same as I would advise this server to do so as well.
^ Very much agree with this! It certainly would not hurt nothin
I have recently returned after a year away. Still trying to figure out who is who and what is where. Completely lost.
It's very hard to come back even after 1 month, as a pc left unplayed is just outdated, and "outressourced" compared to regular players. I mean, if you can only hop on for 1h or 2 each week, it's hard getting involved in anything, and death of a pc is a much higher toll in terms of XP.
For DMs who can't commit 100% it's even harder as players expect them to know everything that they're asking help about.
Maybe finding ideas to keep non regular/ non hardcore players in the loop would help a bit.
I know this might not be the most popular idea, but has anyone considered advertising? Both Facebook and reddit.com have some pretty well-targeted ad options that are reportedly quite effective. A couple of hundred dollars could possibly bring in dozens of new players.
Beyond that, expanding out into social media beyond the forums couldn't possibly hurt. What if we started an EfU subreddit? The forum screenshots threads are what originally convinced me to play here. If we were posing interesting screenshots where other people could see them it might entice people to ask, WTF is EfU?
whatever happened to kyle fox?
whatever happened to dangerous guy?
As one of the grandpas on the server, good news is, if the game sticks around long enough, you whipersnappers with kids/grilfriends/lives etc pulling you away, will find your 40' plus years giving you your time back! 'Course at the trade off for your youthfull endurance(three hours will seem like an eternity in a chair), manual dexterity(the ability to pvp and type, or hell move and type, will decline drastically), short term memory, et all..but never fear, another decade, and all the old players will be back!!!
They may not remember they were ever here, but ..meh..who wants to hear them rehash episodes from EFU ver.1 anyhow..
Quote from: Wild Card;316844With the number of preludes being run by DMs recently aimed at new players I would like to suggest a mass email go out to all of those who have registered a forum account inviting them to check out EFU. With Gamespy's support no longer it is important that servers tap into their existing base as opposed to looking to recruit new players. I know of two servers which have done the same as I would advise this server to do so as well.
I would also reccomend hitting up the old forum as well considering it has its own list of registered users.
Add our facebook group somewhere on the webpage in case players want to join it. It's another way of building extended community
I think ~30-40 years from now it'll pick up because we'll all be retiring and finally have time to fully commit to EfU!
I wonder if Grandpa Naga will still crush quests or if he'll have turned into one of those guys who play lesbians buxom enough to make a CoA-player blush.