Strategia
Well-Known Member
I would like to open this post with some useful notes and basic information.
First off, I will likely refer to this post/thread as a "petition"; however, it is not intended to be put to a vote (yet), rather it is intended as a discussion platform for interested parties. It's not a "staff only" thread either, feel free to give your opinion (see next statement).
Second, this will likely be a very unpopular proposition; however, I feel that it would, in the long run, benefit Cityworld, and through that the server as a whole. Please don't put useless "I don't like this proposal so you can suck it" posts in this thread, if you feel you have a valid counterpoint please elaborate.
Third, understand that I am writing this from the perspective of a former city leader, someone with a hand in crafting the concept of Cityworld, and thus a vested interest in its continued existence. I will try to present a balanced argument, but I do have (sometimes rather strong) opinions of my own. Please don't take anything I say out of context as a supposed "fact", rather unless otherwise obvious everything I write is my opinion only.
Fourth, I am not proposing this out of the blue. The basic issue has been recognised by people other than myself already; Skeven acknowledges its existence, and I know WildStyle agrees with most of what I am going to write here, at least.
Now that this block of disclaimers is over, let's get down to the nuts, bolts and brass tacks of the issue.
Cityworld is dying.
Well, that's putting it strongly. More accurately, Cityworld is anemic. There are only a handful of people who spend any kind of time there. When the cities were (relatively) new, everyone wanted to move there, and many people did. However, after a while, the influx of new people tapered off, and now new people join a city only very rarely. Those who already own land in a city generally don't spend much time there. This has been going on since at least before my absence, which I estimate at at least a month, probably two, perhaps more. What this has led to is a situation where maybe half a dozen, maybe a full dozen, people have pretty much free rein over Cityworld, while most of the server rarely, if ever, goes there.
There are many causes to this problem, most of which I will not go into here (especially the ones that are in the past, and thus irreversible). As I understand it, the process of making Cityworld more attractive for players is already underway; however, this will take some time. I can't speak for City 17, but Mykenai is still under construction (although it's getting closer and closer to finishing). When the cities no longer need any major construction work, it should be possible to organise what we were talking about, a rivalry of sorts with city-vs.-city PvP events every so often, and perhaps other competitions e.g. a footrace over rough terrain, a(nother) mining competition or a treasure hunt in the Wilderness.
One reason why people are reluctant to join cities is because of the restrictions they impose. The plots cost money, and come with a preset size and other rules (e.g. no cobblestone in C17 or the old 15-block height limit in Mykenai) that further curb possibilities when building a house. This could be mitigated by planning larger, cheaper plots, and perhaps easing the rule restrictions. However, in the meantime these issues have led to the (distressingly, to me) widespread phenomenon of villages in Freebuild.
While Freebuild is, of course, Freebuild, these villages do present a problem. There are by my count at least half a dozen of them, quite possibly many more. They are smaller, but more active. They are not allowed to charge for their plots, which draws in many people. Some of them impose similar restrictions as the real cities do, setting down rules for people's houses, while some of them are an assembly of pre-built houses that people can move into. They do not have warps or a separate world or any other perks, but this - pure speculation on my part, mind - creates the image of a handful of small breakaway communities from the larger cities, which can be another draw for people to move there.
I recognise that the villages are but one problem the cities are facing, and not the first which needs to be addressed. However, once the other major issues are being worked out, something does need to be done about them. I am not advocating a prohibition on living in Freebuild, or on banding together outside the cities, or the immediate shutdown of existing villages. My proposition is that, in due time, restrictions be imposed on creating them. Building a castle shared with a few people is fine, of course, but organising a village with plots should IMO, in the long run, no longer be allowed, as this defeats the purpose of having Cityworld in the first place.
Please note that I emphasise that this will be a longer-term process, not something that should be done by this time next week. The cities themselves need to sort their shit out, so to speak, before we should start discouraging villages, and even when we do it shouldn't be a rapid eviction. Wild's suggestion of moving villages to Cityworld sounds like a good idea, attaching them to the cities as suburbs or creating a "village zone" that could serve as an introduction to Cityworld, where new players could get a temporary house before moving to one of the larger cities.
Also note that I started writing this post last night but didn't finish it, which is why it contains some of the same points as Wild's. However, I prefer a gentler, longer-term approach, rather than Wild's IMO rash solutions. What I have outlined here would be a gradual process rather than a one-time revolution.
If you have an opinion on this issue, and/or my proposed solution, please drop a reply in here detailing what you think and why. Thank you for reading.
Tl;dr: read the whole damn post please.
First off, I will likely refer to this post/thread as a "petition"; however, it is not intended to be put to a vote (yet), rather it is intended as a discussion platform for interested parties. It's not a "staff only" thread either, feel free to give your opinion (see next statement).
Second, this will likely be a very unpopular proposition; however, I feel that it would, in the long run, benefit Cityworld, and through that the server as a whole. Please don't put useless "I don't like this proposal so you can suck it" posts in this thread, if you feel you have a valid counterpoint please elaborate.
Third, understand that I am writing this from the perspective of a former city leader, someone with a hand in crafting the concept of Cityworld, and thus a vested interest in its continued existence. I will try to present a balanced argument, but I do have (sometimes rather strong) opinions of my own. Please don't take anything I say out of context as a supposed "fact", rather unless otherwise obvious everything I write is my opinion only.
Fourth, I am not proposing this out of the blue. The basic issue has been recognised by people other than myself already; Skeven acknowledges its existence, and I know WildStyle agrees with most of what I am going to write here, at least.
Now that this block of disclaimers is over, let's get down to the nuts, bolts and brass tacks of the issue.
Cityworld is dying.
Well, that's putting it strongly. More accurately, Cityworld is anemic. There are only a handful of people who spend any kind of time there. When the cities were (relatively) new, everyone wanted to move there, and many people did. However, after a while, the influx of new people tapered off, and now new people join a city only very rarely. Those who already own land in a city generally don't spend much time there. This has been going on since at least before my absence, which I estimate at at least a month, probably two, perhaps more. What this has led to is a situation where maybe half a dozen, maybe a full dozen, people have pretty much free rein over Cityworld, while most of the server rarely, if ever, goes there.
There are many causes to this problem, most of which I will not go into here (especially the ones that are in the past, and thus irreversible). As I understand it, the process of making Cityworld more attractive for players is already underway; however, this will take some time. I can't speak for City 17, but Mykenai is still under construction (although it's getting closer and closer to finishing). When the cities no longer need any major construction work, it should be possible to organise what we were talking about, a rivalry of sorts with city-vs.-city PvP events every so often, and perhaps other competitions e.g. a footrace over rough terrain, a(nother) mining competition or a treasure hunt in the Wilderness.
One reason why people are reluctant to join cities is because of the restrictions they impose. The plots cost money, and come with a preset size and other rules (e.g. no cobblestone in C17 or the old 15-block height limit in Mykenai) that further curb possibilities when building a house. This could be mitigated by planning larger, cheaper plots, and perhaps easing the rule restrictions. However, in the meantime these issues have led to the (distressingly, to me) widespread phenomenon of villages in Freebuild.
While Freebuild is, of course, Freebuild, these villages do present a problem. There are by my count at least half a dozen of them, quite possibly many more. They are smaller, but more active. They are not allowed to charge for their plots, which draws in many people. Some of them impose similar restrictions as the real cities do, setting down rules for people's houses, while some of them are an assembly of pre-built houses that people can move into. They do not have warps or a separate world or any other perks, but this - pure speculation on my part, mind - creates the image of a handful of small breakaway communities from the larger cities, which can be another draw for people to move there.
I recognise that the villages are but one problem the cities are facing, and not the first which needs to be addressed. However, once the other major issues are being worked out, something does need to be done about them. I am not advocating a prohibition on living in Freebuild, or on banding together outside the cities, or the immediate shutdown of existing villages. My proposition is that, in due time, restrictions be imposed on creating them. Building a castle shared with a few people is fine, of course, but organising a village with plots should IMO, in the long run, no longer be allowed, as this defeats the purpose of having Cityworld in the first place.
Please note that I emphasise that this will be a longer-term process, not something that should be done by this time next week. The cities themselves need to sort their shit out, so to speak, before we should start discouraging villages, and even when we do it shouldn't be a rapid eviction. Wild's suggestion of moving villages to Cityworld sounds like a good idea, attaching them to the cities as suburbs or creating a "village zone" that could serve as an introduction to Cityworld, where new players could get a temporary house before moving to one of the larger cities.
Also note that I started writing this post last night but didn't finish it, which is why it contains some of the same points as Wild's. However, I prefer a gentler, longer-term approach, rather than Wild's IMO rash solutions. What I have outlined here would be a gradual process rather than a one-time revolution.
If you have an opinion on this issue, and/or my proposed solution, please drop a reply in here detailing what you think and why. Thank you for reading.
Tl;dr: read the whole damn post please.
