Hello boys and girls,
It seems to me these days that many people ask… "Sunny? How do I involve people in what I'm doing?"
And after thinking about it… I thought... "Well gee golly! It's not that hard to involve people!"
Here are some simple tips from someone that tries to get people involved… However... Disclaimer:
I'm am not giving you tips on how to get people involved in DM PLOTS or DM hooks. Why? Because I don't care about that…
Too many people are obsessed about "conflict" and getting involved in DM plots (No offense to you DM's, I'm sure your plots are nice.)
I'm not sure what Conflict the Gleaming Blades actually went out of their way to establish. They seems to be focussed on "What was out there" i.e. the Monsters and Treasure and Dungeons rather than the "Enemy Faction." I think they were much more about PvM rather than PvP.
Theres a side of Arabel that's been lost to time and it isn't taken as seriously… And that's just questing... Getting involved in the stuff that's already there.
"Quests!? What value do those have Sunny!?"
Because Quests are the equivalent of the modern day "Bar"… You should go to them to get drunk and wake up with a stranger.
I saw a bad habit forming a long long time ago among players but never said anything... However I think it needs to be said:
QUESTS ARE NOT A MEANS TO AN END TO LEVEL UP AND ACQUIRE GOLD!
Brit and Maylee run jobs every single day… But many that run with us will notice that we've slowed down alot recently... Why? Because were starting to get ooc tells from people just logging in asking us to run jobs with them.
Here's the deal... We run jobs because we like to ROLEPLAY on jobs… We learn about your character, we get to have some fun... We really don't care all that much about the loot and gear. We want the RP and it gets tiring to roleplay with people that don't want to roleplay and just want to blow through job after job. We slow it down and do formations for the roleplay (And to save you money…Seriously, formations... they do work... Use em fools)
So my tips (After a little rant) are as follows:
-Run quests and make sendings for them! Even if there really isn't anyone else online… Just make the sending, you never no. Make sure to include the level range in your sending or just make a sending stating that you'll grab a job after everyone is gathered (base the job off of the levels of people that show up)
-Never treat a quest like it's "just a means to an ends"…. Even if it's a pain in the ass… And we've all done Nada's like 600 times by this point... Just roleplay it out... Try to figure out something funny to talk about... Sometimes you'll create those really funny meaningful moments when you're on the simplest of jobs.
-Don't take on quests that might get others killed even if you know you'll live. (Fact is, if people figure out you don't really care if they live or die? They'll stop showing up to your sendings.)
-Try to do things that DON'T require a DM in order to get done. Now I might get flamed for saying that, but don't forget that I play in a time zone when there really isn't a DM active. We get about ten or more players that get really bored during those times. So what do we players do? The same stuff we've been doing since "my" old days…
The early Gleaming Blade was great.
They ADVENTURED all the time, just making up their own adventures by going out exploring, or making up good reasons to do lesser done quests rather than the same old five or six just so they could level up safely.
We go out and just LOOK For stuff! Like exploring the Helmlands (Not safe… by the by) Or Helping Brit mine out minerals(also not really safe)... Or run one of the odd ball quests that you don't see done all the time(Has a risk of a party wipe for the unprepared) Fact is... Just go out and do stuff... Stop relying on the DM's to give plots or spice... When the DM's want your attention? They'll come to you... Meanwhile just try to build up relationships with others.
-Talk to other players! Seriously… It's super easy... Just walk up to them and be all like "Hi... sup... You like swords? No? what about scythes? N-no?... Daggers?... weak" But seriously... You'd be surprised what might happen... You just might meet your new best friend and it all happened because you walked up and said hello.
-Try to create unity with your groups when questing. Dude… Seriously sit down and think... When was the last time you told your rouge friend... To scout... "Why even bother? I know where all the traps are." KIA BITCH! That's me mentally bitch slapping you through the interwebs. I know that it can be a pain to go through those motions and even I'm guilty of just being like "Lets move." But we gotta give those players a chance… The whole reason some even make rouges is to be THAT GUY you count on to scout. Use your players... Use their skills and create that "group mentality and dynamic"
Why am I even bothering to make this post? Because I feel like when Brit and I get online... People are excited to see us... But when we log off.... People leave! I'm all like wtf?... The server isn't doing well and I'm sharing my "point of view"... I don't want to see Arabel go down, and I'll be damned if I don't fight for it.
So understand this... My opinions may not be popular when I say stuff like...
"I don't support conflict."
"I don't support PVP."
"I support COA Sims."
"I think PVE / PVM is how to rebuild a shrinking servers player base."
This is not to say we shouldn't have PVP or conflict... But we don't have the player base to support it... We need things to promote players to play together, grow and work together...
And we've had them all along... QUESTS... The DM's have given us the tools and the world in which to play in... So use it.
Most importantly... The easiest way to save the server is to just BE online… Just play.
~Sunshine
Got any tips to add? Lets see em… Got a thread to flame? Meh, go ahead... After I post this, I'm not reading this thread again... Good or bad. My opinion has been stated.