So I was Talking to my son;

So I got my son playing the Mud, he gave up and quit after trying a couple of characters. I thought to ask him what his troubles with the Mud were, and frankly his answer caught me off guard.

He said, its Old, the people who play it are Old, and it does not appeal to his generation.

When I asked him what could be changed to make it more appealing to him and his peers, I got another awkward response.

He said there should be classes and races that his generation can identify with. He claimed that our generation fell in love with the Hobbits and Elves of stories and therefor wanted to roleplay characters like them. Meanwhile his generation he claims is fonder of Pokemon, and DragonBall Z.

After watching him play his DragonBall Z video game for a bit, I tried to argue that our Monk class was quite similar in a lot of ways, to which he replied "not close enough". After discussing these two TV shows for several hours I came up with a concept that may help us appeal to the younger potential players out there.

What if we look into implementing two new classes intended to draw on these younger player's love of these shows?

For the Pokemon fans, perhaps some sort of monster tamer, capable of capturing several monsters, and using them against their foes. Something like a cross between a DK and a necro. A mage class for the most part with abilities that aid in strengthing its monsters. Without the whole evil only status that Necro's have, since these kids do not think of pokemon players as all being evil.

For the DragonBall Z fans, maybe we could tweak the monks, path them out a bit, or even give these fans a Q-class based on monks to strive for.

Now I am not saying that this would definitely increase our Pbase, but I find it hard to believe it would hurt to try and accomodate a younger generation. Please add your thoughts and opinions.

Side note, Soul Reapers like those in Bleach might appeal to these younger potentials as well.

Side note, Soul Reapers like those in Bleach might appeal to these younger potentials as well.

Yeah, thats what got me going, I watch bleach now for RP jumpspring'n

Tell your kid to roll a ninja. and *** some ppl- You know I would track him down and teach him everything I know.

Props.

I'm all for it, but you have to realize the work that goes into planning/balancing/coding a new class for this game.

A lot of the "issue" with major additions and changes is the integrity of the MUD. How much can we add/change without causing FL to not longer be FL.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for new classes and changes, etc. I'll be the first one in the picket line trying to get stuff done.

I just don't want to wake up one day and log in to FL and have to start PKing everyone because the only thing they know how to say is "Gotta catch'em all"

I've been playing muds for 13 years and I can honestly say if there were free mmorpgs with graphics back when I started I probably wouldn't have gotten into mudding. Also, pretty much all of my friends who dont play have automatically felt disdain for the game solely based on it's text only format. I think this is due to lack of understanding and unwillingness to read. I think we live in an era where people NEED to see the violence happen. We live in a visual world where the masses would rather watch the a movie than read a book. Heck, I even got my ex-wife into WoW but she wouldnt have been able to touch FL. At least we have EACHOTHER. GROUP HUG

Let's assume we get these "kinda likes" in here.

Would it be close enough? The younger generations are VERY specific about what they want. It's more about "having" than "identifying" with the class/race. I don't think they'd continue on with what they had if it didn't live up to the expectations in their mind, especially if they had a Super Sayan, how would they feel about it if they got stomped every time they logged it on? Is is still a Super Sayan in their mind?

Just playing Devil's Advocate here.

Not only that but the newer generations are more fickle. Where we've remained interrested in elves and such a new anime might come out and they'll move on, loosing interrest in what was just made to draw them in.

next time i will post how my little cousin that is girl likes games with ponies.please make ponie rase so her generation can play

I like ponies

next time i will post how my little cousin that is girl likes games with ponies.please make ponie rase so her generation can play

That's not constructive criticism and that does not help with the problem of our low playerbase. Keep it critical.

EDIT: I, like Foxx, like ponies!

here is one constructive post.everyone of us donate 15$ a month and you will have pbase

money won't magically make a steady set of players come and stay

this game is no different than any other product. if you want people you need to find your audience and cater to them. FL has never been about catering to the players. That worked when we had a steady influx of players from AR/CF and the players that were loyal to Virigoth and the original staff - the non catering attitude worked because no one cared, they were here for different reasons. If you want players, you need to redefine what FL offers them. We can't just be this elitist organization that says "Kill or be killed, evils dont really need a reason to kill you and take all your stuff. Spend weeks waiting on qrace/qclass app that we can't tell you anything about. And do it with only 7 players online average. And don't mind that our MOTD doesn't have anything for the past ~2 months"

I know I sound like an FL hater when I start talking about stuff, but that is not the case. It simply is the current state of this game. I am fine with that because I'm comfortable here, etc. But a new player? They don't last long at all. Why? Because we offer them much less than other MUDs do.

money=advertise this means more incomers.holding them as players depends on us and the imm's

really think about it for a minute. don't just speak off the top of your head, but really think about this game, other MUDs, and even other games in general.

What do we offer that makes people want to stay and play here?

What do we offer that makes people want to stay and play here?

I put out on the first date.

That would be nice if you hadn't already been ridden more times than the new rides at the Harry Potter theme park.

That would be nice if you hadn't already been ridden more times than the new rides at the Harry Potter theme park.

Bali is looser than zroth's manboobs would be if he lost the weight.

Back to the point:

I really don't think we have anything other than a unique community. Anything other than that can be found elsewhere, obtained easier, etc.

"So what if they get it easier, makes it less worthwhile." you say?

False.

When it comes to a game, getting something easier makes the game more fun. Fun holds people here more than anything else. (this does not apply to EVERYONE but it does apply to the vast majority. And especially the younger generation)

Frustration is the #1 thing that turns people away from this game. It comes from a myriad of source. Some we can change, some we cannot.

If you want to retain the people who come here, you have to ditch the "It is our game, take it or leave it." mentality and start catering to the players. Otherwise all you will have are the same players we have here who already are dwindling down their playtime and/or leaving altogether.

Open up cabal induction, open up qrace/qclass stuff to a 5-7day wait, no IMM under lvl56 wizi/incog, etc. etc.

You have to aggressively go after the players that give us a chance or else you will just lose them to the first MUD that gives him an awesome fire shield potion just for logging on.

Basically you have to make a choice. What do you want FL to be?

1. A game that is extremely challenging with a huge learning curve where you have to wait weeks sometimes for things you want and people are too busy trying to get the things they want to notice you.

or

1. A game with minimal frustration outside of PK, a game that is filled with cabaled people RPing and PKing where with just the desire to play will get you what you want. Fun IMMs interacting constantly, small rewards handed out frequently.

Option 1 sure makes FL fun and challenging still for all of us that have been here forever. But it does next to nothing for bringing and retaining new players.

Option 2 might make all that work/time/devotion you spent years ago trying to get a Vampire seem like a waste, but now you have 20+ ppl online with a healthy mix of cabals/races/uniques roaming around. You aren't going to quit playing just because someone got vamp faster than you did.

You can have option 2 while still making sure balance stays. Limits on # of qthings just as there always has been. A week is plenty of time to see if someone has an RP worth accepting or not. And with increased IMM count/interaction the monitoring can be ensured.

What REALLY are we going to lose by handing out things to the people who come here? Who cares if some level 15 human thief is given a spear of courage. He's new, he's not going to last long, but at least you've made him happy and want to play more. Who cares if you give some newb drow dk a custom title just because he keeps referring to himself as the soul reaver? You've made this guy feel special and he will always play here.

FL is a game, it is a product. If you want to sell your product and keep a loyal consumer base, you have got to offer incentives. There is a reason Apple computers have long been in the state they are starting to climb out of. They did not cater to the mass market, they secluded themselves into a holier than thou arena, and they refused to really branch out.

Now that they have changed their practices, they are rising. Fast.

Do you want to be Windows Vista? Or do you want to be the 17" Macbook Pro with it's amazing display, aluminum unibody chassis, 10 hour battery life, and hybrid video memory technology?

I watch a lot of tv online and I noticed tons of ads recently for different mmorpgs on the sides of the viewing windows. I think if we did advertise it would definitely help. I am one of the players that came here after testing from AR ages ago and I don't see anything like that happening again and we can't go around advertising on other muds.

Also, I think we should make it so moderate pkers can be elders and such too and see if more people want to be moderate to decide if the mud should head in that direction. Dying isnt what sucks, its getting full looted by the certain ppl in this mud who do that that ruins the "fun" and you know who you are.

Lastly, I don't understand how people would for example learn how to go through gear unless an insider showed them. Fact is, we keep knowledge so secret and all it does is help the few insiders with imm contacts and such know information and have an advantage over others. We need a freedom of information act.

money=advertise this means more incomers.holding them as players depends on us and the imm's

IMO this attitude is exactly whats wrong with the mud.

I think a good point has been brought up here and discussed in a reasonably constructive fashion.

You on the other hand merely wish to show your disdain for other peoples ideas without offering constructive criticism. If you dont have anything constructive or even polite to add then Im sure many of us would appreciate it if you didnt pollute our forum with your negativity.

I never thought I'd openly agree with Zroth,

But dude, I think you've hit the nail on the head.

my 2c: training is the biggest turn off.

The game has come to a point where if you havent trained, you dont stand a chance. Because people now go beserk on healing and staves and all that crap. It just takes too long.