Hello Everyone,
Below you will find some thoughts, ideas, and suggestions with regards to our Mud. Honestly I feel like the game has become a little bit stale and dwindling player numbers only compounds the issue. I know this is something everyone is aware of and I ask that all replies, etc. please stay focused on finding answers, not dwelling on the problem(s). Finger pointing and casting blame only expends energy on that and does not help us arrive and implement real solutions. Now that that is out of the way, I hope some of the below agrees with you and I hope this sparks some good structured debate and potential change.
- There has been ongoing discussion (brought up in various posts) about areas. There are thoughts that we should limit down (temporarily remove) some areas, while others just want new areas pumped out to drive interest. I don't think either is necessarily the best approach. My suggestion would be to continue work on new content, but also further develop the areas we have. This can be done by adding interactions within areas, such as inter and cross area quests. There are shrines spread out across the lands, instead of just finding them, they could lead to additional tasks. Or some are locked away and require performing task(s) in order to gain access. Overall, the goal is to further expand the lore of the world as while that may not appeal to everyone's interest, I think the additional quests (and XP/gold it will bring) will help things. We have a lot of already developed space that I think we could play with and expand upon, while also adding additional content when available.
- Marketing. I am just going to assume all of us have talked about this game and made attempts to get others to play. However, we are limited to only those engagements and we could definitely use a more focused effort by someone both willing and capable. I've seen at least one or two people offer suggestions and it's my opinion that if they are willing to invest the time and effort, we should absolutely do it. Heck, I'd even be willing to chip in to help give them a budget or help pay for hosting a site, etc. I cannot commit thousands of dollars to this, but I feel like if this gets traction there will be others that are also willing to chip in $5/month to help fund the cause.
- Player and staff accountability. As players we are one of the core essential components to this game. How we communicate with each other on the forums and in-game reflects on the game as a whole. I know this has been brought up before, so I want to ask that you keep that in mind before you post something and don't be afraid to engage with another player/staff member to act as a mediator to help keep things civil and talk it through. On the staff side, I'd personally like to see continued active engagement and visibility. Especially if there is only one or two players on and you happen to be around. Check in on that player and see what there doing, maybe have a chat about their goals, or something interesting in their description. These are likely lull periods and if you catch them in the first couple minutes before they see no ones around and quit, it might incentivize them to stick around, especially if they know someone else is there.
- I'd like to see a further integration of the forum into the game and this way we can track and accurately link players forum accounts to the characters they play. This would allow us to not only tie HoF characters to a forum account, but then we could setup things like looking up all the characters they've played that are notable (I think players should have the option to have some just not listed). Additionally this could help setup a system of trust between the players and staff that could carry across their characters and open up the possibility of auto-induction into cabals. Once a player is trusted and meets whatever that cabals requirements are (hours, PK, etc.) they would be auto-inducted as an initiate normally. Also, this could be extended (those that are trusted) to allowing that player to level all the way to 50 with a pending description check. I think this system would be very valuable to the community as it would also help instill and actively demonstrate a level of trust built between the players and staff. I know I would want to be trusted. Additionally, maybe trusted players would be those that would be asked to go on test port and help with beta testing, etc. I am sure there are more things that would be viable ideas around it.