New Novia World Order Proposal

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Tahru, Jun 8, 2021.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Tahru

    Tahru Avatar

    Messages:
    4,800
    Likes Received:
    12,170
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Spite
    It is vital to Novia to have players see other players and ultimately see the Novia world as very much alive. The achilleas heel of Novia is that there are far more places to go than players to populate them, at least for now. This proposal addresses that core issue without compromising existing players nor their assets as every last outlander is important!

    Part I: New players are rewarded deed for completing quest lines. Those deeds are currently POT deeds and instead should be Place-Anywhere deeds. It is just as important for the game that NPC towns succeed as POTs. A dead town is a dead town either way. Alternatively there should be a continued questline to upgrade the deed.

    Part II: POT's that have not had a single resident visit in 2 months AND the owner has not logged in in 6 months, should be considered abandoned and become invisible on the world map and associated connections. Should the owner log into the game, even if they do not visit the town, the town should instantly be visible again in the exact location it was before in the same state it was before.

    Part II a: Should a resident of a POT find themselves with property they cannot access in a POT because the owner did not log on for 6 months AND he/she did not lot on for 2 month, the player can retrieve all property as normal from any bank OR they can wait for the owner to log back on. Ultimately, this functions just as it does today without changes.

    The goal of this change is to improve the new player experience and make every town, POT and non-POT a vital and attractive part of the game. It does not take away any paid benefits at all. Nobody loses anything at all other than the infinite right to make the game look deserted without at least logging on twice a year.

    As a side note: I realize these kind of suggestions can be contentious and I may be wrong. If there are those that feel differently, that is fine and all flaming posts are welcome! At the end of the day, none of these posts hold much weight because everything is a matter of priorities in terms of business objectives and tasks to those precious company employees that keep this game afloat. We all want that!
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2021
  2. Lazlo

    Lazlo Avatar

    Messages:
    1,497
    Likes Received:
    3,223
    Trophy Points:
    113
    I don't think these are necessarily bad ideas or really have a strong opinion about them one way or the other, but I do think people overrate the value of the game "looking alive" (an example being the scrapping of private town instances and overworld). What really makes the world look alive is for it to actually be alive.
     
    kaeshiva, FrostII and Time Lord like this.
  3. Tahru

    Tahru Avatar

    Messages:
    4,800
    Likes Received:
    12,170
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Spite
    I agree. I think the main difference here is that the proposal does not take away anything from once ambitious players that have been pulled away for life reasons. It simply pauses them until they come back. Back in alpha, really disliked going into most towns, private or not, because it took forever to walk through them and there was nothing to do or fight in most cases. Now it is worse in a way. I have taught myself to ignore all towns expect the few that I know and have a need to visit. The reason I developed that skill is because the vast majority of towns have less than zero to offer. I go in, waste an hour looking around, and get nothing out of it, not even experience. At least if the game filtered out most of it, I might actually be willing to explore towns again. I think that is the point. POT's that have nothing to offer should not be on the map period, but they did pay for it and most with dreams..., that is why this proposal forgives inactivity for anyone that returns. I don't think anyone bought a pot with the idea of screwing the game and its players, but that is exactly what is happening.
     
  4. FBohler

    FBohler Avatar

    Messages:
    1,213
    Likes Received:
    1,264
    Trophy Points:
    113
    "Stickiness" of new players may have been affected by the absolute emptiness of the game. I speak for myself as I almost gave up playing SotA within my first week.
    Ultimately, I believe that the emptiness is jeopardizing the game in the long term as many new players may be leaving too soon.
    So yes, anything that tries to make the game feel populated and alive is good in my opinion.
     
  5. Time Lord

    Time Lord Avatar

    Messages:
    8,336
    Likes Received:
    28,405
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    ~SOTA Monk~ ~Monastery~ ~Thailand~
    Compliance and the usefulness of seeing others?
    [​IMG]

    And yet here our game is still surviving, with plenty of game life being had by many who can't or just don't see each other. I don't think anxiety should lead our game into monitoring and checking up to see if others are meeting anyone's personal game playing expectations.

    I do understand that there seems a drive all around our real world for the secret monitoring, policing and enforcement to comply with some home owner's association's community standards of approved behavior and usage, but I don't truly think any world wide homeowner's association is needed or desirable.

    There is allot of wealth in our game which is not our own, we see it right in front of us all over our game without an actual player's character to be hunted down or seen with it. This prevents us from directly criticizing their actions or influencing their nature through social pressures, wants or desires.... yet I don't think we should have any ability to govern all that wealth's usage if it is not our own.

    I know what people say and do when they are all together seen in the same game. It gives undesirables much more power to dictate or influence the entire game's tone, and there's no way escaping it. People can be rude and therefore forever rude or undesirable if given the power to be always seen and interacted with. Sure, this could be eliminated by banning or hiding text or character, yet why give a chance for anyone to ever have or run into such an incident of bad, or controlling behavior?

    I do not see any need being greater, "than the need not to dictate any gaming behavior".

    Shroud of the Avatar is in no danger of failing just because we can't see all our players.

    I have always trusted our developers business decisions which have always been it's best in decisions.
    [​IMG]
    Despite any personal anxieties about others, we have no gangs ruling our individual gaming lifestyles.


    And I truly like that about our game, "with all it's individual personal social options"! :)~TL~
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2021
    necronut, Aldo and Duke Gréagóir like this.
  6. Sulaene Moon

    Sulaene Moon Avatar

    Messages:
    508
    Likes Received:
    903
    Trophy Points:
    63
    How would it work if an old POT owner logs back in only to find someone else took their spot? Where would their POT materialize then?
     
    Time Lord likes this.
  7. Tailz

    Tailz Avatar

    Messages:
    215
    Likes Received:
    555
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Gender:
    Male
    Some of this would work, however first you need players to fill all these places. This will take far more than the current few hundred regulars and maybe a 1k total including the weekend warriors to do.
     
  8. Scanphor

    Scanphor Avatar

    Messages:
    553
    Likes Received:
    977
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Part II a could only work if done via the magic mover or in such a way as to preserve deco placement. Actually rather than the owner, make it residents?
     
  9. majoria70

    majoria70 Avatar

    Messages:
    10,347
    Likes Received:
    24,869
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    United States
    I don't think players and pot owners should be punished for not logging in and I don't think residents need to worry more than necessary about their home in a pot or NPC town.

    . As requested by players episode 2 will not be having players homes in npc towns. Issues finding quest givers in the mixed mess was one reason.

    For players who are concerned there are others playing here's hoping one day we'll have a heat map to pull up showing dots of players on the map in locations. No names should be listed. Remember to know who all's playing all players would need to be on your friends list.

    Also for example I govern Wizards Rest and I'm away from the game for 3 months helping with my elderly mom. I definitely don't want anything happening to town residents while I gone.
     
    Wilfred likes this.
  10. Tahru

    Tahru Avatar

    Messages:
    4,800
    Likes Received:
    12,170
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Spite
    I don't think anyone can consider this a punishment. If the owner is not playing and nobody is using it, then its just does not matter. It is not like anything is taken away. The moment they log in it is back. From their point of view, it is exactly the same and they were non the wiser for it. It is a really bad charactization to claim this is a punishment. If anyone is doing the punishing it is the people not playing punishing those who are.
     
    arcdevil likes this.
  11. Vesper

    Vesper Avatar

    Messages:
    246
    Likes Received:
    530
    Trophy Points:
    18
    This comes.up pretty frequently on the forums lately. Nothing ever comes of it, and I don't supect anythingever will.
     
    Cordelayne and Tahru like this.
  12. Tahru

    Tahru Avatar

    Messages:
    4,800
    Likes Received:
    12,170
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Spite
    It not like I expected anything to happen. But it doesn't hurt to make suggestions. To me this is the biggest problem of them all. And I have some belief that the game will go on anyway, but I am not a "good enough" kind of guy. I believe we should always strive to improve. In my honest opinion, the world is deader than tumbleweed in a forest fire. But it does not have to be. There are new players joining all the time, why not welcome them and care about them as much as we care about players that don't play anymore?
     
    FrostII likes this.
  13. Scanphor

    Scanphor Avatar

    Messages:
    553
    Likes Received:
    977
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Only true if were to make it any resident log in, rather than just the owner
     
  14. Tahru

    Tahru Avatar

    Messages:
    4,800
    Likes Received:
    12,170
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Spite
    That was in the proposal.
     
    arcdevil and FrostII like this.
  15. Oakenhammer

    Oakenhammer Avatar

    Messages:
    355
    Likes Received:
    999
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Austin
    You know what would help unite the player base and make it feel more active? A global searchable marketplace. You wouldn't actually have to see the other players to get the feeling that there are a lot of other people playing through the sheer number of listings.

    Also, what we could use are a handful of quest hubs that have daily, weekly, and monthly quests that send you out to other scenes to complete them. The hubs would encourage social interaction and create common meeting places.
     
    FrostII and Tahru like this.
  16. Scanphor

    Scanphor Avatar

    Messages:
    553
    Likes Received:
    977
    Trophy Points:
    63
    Nope

    Result is - if a resident in a POT with a long term AFK governor logs in after 2 months and a day, as written the only way to access their lot which would very likely still be current tax wise etc (remember for some tax free deeds the period can be up to what, a full year?) is to tear it down and get all the items from the bank. This is WAY more restrictive for POT residents than the current system...

    In any event this is academic, I agree with Majoria, you can't penalise POT residents because their governor / owner is on long term AFK, which your proposal would most definitely do.
     
    Wilfred likes this.
  17. Tahru

    Tahru Avatar

    Messages:
    4,800
    Likes Received:
    12,170
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Spite
    You missed Part 2! This is what happens after the POT becomes invisible. But even still that point is negotiable, everything is. And yes, this is academic.
     
  18. Tahru

    Tahru Avatar

    Messages:
    4,800
    Likes Received:
    12,170
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Spite
    I worked really hard on this to make sure it was not harmful and does what really needs to be done for the benefit of everyone playing the game, now in in the future. I guess I did not do a good enough job communicating it, because it is bullet proof and treats everyone with respect. I also believe that NPC towns that don't have questlines in them should also go invisible if nobody is living in them. There are some that don't have a single resident.
     
  19. majoria70

    majoria70 Avatar

    Messages:
    10,347
    Likes Received:
    24,869
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    United States
    Many players don't play for many reasons and I'm example of that. My mother is very old and I'm unable to play when I leave the state to help with her. It's not a choice well it is my choice to be with her and help with her. I don't want anyone disturbing Wizards Rest access while I'm gone. Players are free to claim lots while I'm gone. Making the town invisible on the map is not wanted by me. Many towns have stewards who manage the top as I do. Having map access is desirable to keep the town viewable whether the governor of stewards ate playing. It's not going to solve an aliveness feeling for this game to target pots. Other visual markers can be thought out imo. Empty towns have still been paid for to fund this game. Think in the $1000's of dollars. Yes that's right. Wizards Rest isn't the largest town but it did cost thousands of real dollars and surely you can appreciate we don't want to be made invisible for any reason. We want our town to have a chance to thrive even when we aren't there. After all thats very important to offer players choices. It's not about how full of empty a town is.

    I do think governors could set lots to claimable if they care. Anyway when money is involved people won't be on the side of messing with their stuff.

    I agree about the global market item search. We really need it.
     
    Wilfred and Nubby like this.
  20. Tahru

    Tahru Avatar

    Messages:
    4,800
    Likes Received:
    12,170
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Spite
    No matter who you are nor how much you spent on this game, if you do not log on for long enough, your homes are put in the bank and the lots are reset. That is a fact. There is no value in a POT that has nobody in it and in fact will lose houses anyway. It more than generous to let the POT's sleep for a while. Maybe even bundle in the deal the ability to freeze lot timers in that POT as well, so when the owner comes back everything is there. That would be a great feature in itself as it could give POT owners the ability to stop lot expirations while they are not playing. That is super cool!
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2021
    arcdevil likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.