Increased Transparency from Admin Team
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There's a perception that nothing changes on the server and suggestions fall by the wayside. Open and frank discussion about what's being worked on, what's being changed to address the dwindling player population, and other such things are a necessity.
You do not have the luxury of keeping everything behind closed doors anymore.
"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal." - Albert Camus
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I agree with this.
I can be pretty sure the Admin team at this point is mildly frustrated with the low level stream of mild to moderate discontent that's been bubbling up, but a lot of that could be mitigated if people had some idea of the Whats and the Whys going on behind the Scenes. If nothing else the comments and suggestions would be made from a point of better understanding, and could be more easily addressed since more information would be available for reference.
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I know this is going to come off as Snarky, but I mean it sincerely.
If people are saying you need more transparency and openess, and you are having to point to where it's happening, it probably isn't enough.
People either aren't seeing it, or aren't feeling like it's enough, both of which lead back to the same issue.
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I've deleted my equally as snarky post.
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I'm just going to leave this here:
The current server design is not working. This is not up for debate. If it were the case that low player numbers are simply due to NWN being a 20 year old game server populations should be low across the board and yet they are clearly not.
If you want the server to succeed, you need to start providing updates on a more frequent basis so when I do try to reach out to people and say "hey, this is what's changing," I can say more specific things other than "Zool's back."
It would also be useful if the Admin Team was more transparent about why they're insisting on doubling down on design choices that are clearly unpopular. Time and time again the same suggestions are made and yet nothing really changes. The current iteration of CoA has great factions, interesting plots, and motivated Storytellers but they're hamstrung by poor game design.
Give me a reason to believe that Suggestions posts regarding the server's so-called "vision" aren't just ignored and pushed aside because of a stubborn refusal to acknowledge that unpopular ideas are, in fact, unpopular.
"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal." - Albert Camus
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I share your concerns and applaud you for stepping up and tackling the issues head on. I think a good way to improve things would be to give the players more power in their feedback, such as a voting system for certain issues like rules, content, player voting for new DMs etc. The server as you can see by our population is failing.
While unprecedented, drastic measures are needed to salvage things before it’s too late. The DM team being open with the player base and finding a common ground on what changes to make and how to move forward would be a good start.
Another thing to consider would be holding an election for one person or a group who would be responsible for the server, while the DM team all coming to a consensus has worked in the past it might be time for a more clear chain of command. Another server I played on had roles from host, managers, admins and then moderators. There was a clear code of conduct for staff and each level of management was responsible for certain team members. It was very efficient.
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I see often there are very common suggestions that are brought up in Discord a lot over the past 4 months that often get brushed to the side.
Topics that include:
Low hp
Low loot
Low consumables
No DM in EU
Continual nerfing of existing gear
Massive areas in server that are empty
Wanting to have old fun quests backIt happens so often that if/when a DM responds to the suggestion its with a "The hp discussion again?" or "The loot chat again?". The reason why its brought up so consistently is because its commonly felt amongst the community of active, recently retired, and inactive players that all want the same thing. Its brought up consistently for a reason.
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Just for the sake of illumination.
The screenshot of player populations above, is misleading.
Those account primarily for console players, for which only a limited number of Persistent Worlds is available.
By all accounts there is a particular approval process that worlds must follow in order to be available to console players.
I'm going to look into it...See the following comment by Julius Borisov (Beamdog developer), and the surrounding thread for further details:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1150654/#Comment_1150654
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Certainly possible, but the 0/55 can't really be explained away. We have enough of a community built over the years that numbers should be much, much higher, and asking why those people aren't logging in is a valid question. Some we've lost to time, simply a matter of people getting older and having other priorities, but there are a fair few who just aren't logging in or left for greener pastures.
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@gDarDog said in Increased Transparency from Admin Team:
Massive areas in server that are empty
This is being discussed by the Team. We want to keep maps credible and represent distance, but not be a chore to go from one town to another.
How do you recommend representing the 30 miles from Arabel to Eveningstar, for example?
"You can complain if you weren't asked; you can't complain if you were asked but didn't contribute." ~ Professor.
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https://nodebb.cityofarabel.com/topic/54720/zools-journal
This the kind of thing you mean?
> !!!MOLES for the MOLE GOD!!!
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@Zool Love it, that's great. Didn't even need to be this detailed tbh b/c that'd be a PITA to update more frequently. I suppose if anything gets added there a simple "+1" reply would be enough.
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@Echo Through a sign that states "Eveningstar, West - 30 miles" along the road. Perhaps another sign in one of the transitory areas that states "Eveningstar, West - 15 miles."
Realism is already not a thing given 30 miles is only two transitions anyway, there's no harm compressng things a bit further.
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I think the eveningstar road is actually fine. There;s other that... need a look though. (off topic sorry)
> !!!MOLES for the MOLE GOD!!!
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There is a sign... or at least there used to be signs. I put them there.
This used to say "Arabel, 30 miles" or something like that.
It got changed."You can complain if you weren't asked; you can't complain if you were asked but didn't contribute." ~ Professor.
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@Zool Storm. Horns. Ascent. Stonecliffs is the Eveningstar area I would personally shrink a bit. Two transitions isn't a big deal, really, it's just the size of each.
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@Echo Yes, that's the point. The signs are already the only real indication of distance anyway since two transitions are nowhere near 30 actual miles even in NWN. Therefore, it's okay if areas are a little smaller for the sake of reducing sprawl. True to scale realism will never be achievable without it being an utter pain in the ass (or adding mounts, which is... fraught with peril and I do not recommend this in the slightest).
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The maps going from Eveningstar to the Stormhorns is the biggest standout. The most interesting quests on the server are out there Irondrake, Dwarf Rescue, Frozen war. If you don't run up, it can take 30 mins to get out there and another 30 mins back.
The map where the NPC for warm waterfall is for example, its just massive empty paths that you have to run through with an occasional care spawn.
As for the Zool's journal, I think its a great addition. Shows very clearly what is being worked on
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The server was at 20/55 some nights when the factions were released. For a variety of different reasons, players have left to a point where you often see 0/55. Many of those complaints were voiced.
@Zool Said without compromising the "server vision"... Does the vision matter if nobody is playing?
