What Has happened To Our City

fchall · **Joined:** Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:27 pm **Posts:** 350

I really don't know where to put this.
I haven't been down to the city for awhile. In case you're wondering, I do go donate every few months to help keep it going.

So, recently I have visited the city and met nothing but derision for being an old Gametap Vet and being ignored by people.
Is it too much to ask for a simple greeting in response to a Shorah and Wave.
Come on people. I waved and said hello. At least you could respond in kind.

What has happened to the friendly caring community that once was?
Being an old vet. I offer help to people who seem confused and receive nothing but BS in reply.

What has happened to our city?????

Whilyam · **Joined:** Tue May 09, 2006 1:04 am **Posts:** 4134

Hello. UU vet here. I haven't noticed the problems you do. Only time I don't get a hello or shorah is if I'm talking to someone who's AFK. Also, I notice a lot of explorers who have english as a second language. So, consider that some people may not be able to express themselves fully. The only thing I notice is our community shrinks. This is something I aim to turn around.

fchall · **Joined:** Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:27 pm **Posts:** 350

Whilyam wrote:

The only thing I notice is our community shrinks. This is something I aim to turn around.

OK. So what can I do to help? I am all about helping those in need.

Annabelle · **Posted:** Fri Jul 11, 2014 2:11 am

Shorah fchall!

I'm not a vet at all (but old enough explorer to be considered as one).

Sorry to hear that you felt unwelcomed in the city.

I don't go very often on MOULa and even less in the public city. Whilyam identified 2 possible explanations: explorers with other native language (I'm one of them) & the shrinking online community.

We have more exposure being on this forum than let's say being on MOULa. In 2010, 2011 we could find a lot of explorers online at any time of the day. I remember seeing 20 to 25 buddies online during long periods each days. The years past on and the community is coming less and less. From time to time, I check on an app (WhoM) that gives me the buddies being online on MOULa. I get depressed by the low number (2 or 3 max...) and decide to go elsewhere.

But all is not black. There are a lot of activities still going on on the server. The best way to know when an event is going to take place is to check the GoMe (Guild of Messengers) website. They keep a calendar up-to-date. On those events, you'll surely see old faces that you have known in the past. There are still many vets coming daily or weekly or mostly on events. On weekends there are chat groups in some neighbourhoods. The Meeting Place's Hood is one of them, I went there on few occasions already, that group go there every sunday afternoons (European evening Hours). On American evening hours, there must be groups too.

Just retry and do not get sour by this bad experience you had

*** One important thing to remember in public ages ***

The server is weirdly built... if in a given age there are more than 8 explorers, chances are that only the 8 nearer guys will see your chatlines. The city is very vast so anyone not in your vincinity won't even notice your arrival or your "Shorah & /wave".

kaeebonrai · **Joined:** Thu May 08, 2014 12:11 am **Posts:** 53

@Annabelle: You can make it so everyone in the Age can see your messages by enabling /autoshout it only needs to be done once a session - or whenever you disable it - but logging out i believe disables it too.

As to the other stuff - I really can't comment - UU vet here, but don't really log into MO:ULagain other than to go to the AGM once in a blue moon. =P

EDIT: Actually.. As to the community shrinking - its not unusual for a community staved of content to slowly wither - maaaybe things'll get better in the future - maybe they won't. We'll see.

I really hope we can attract more new blood - because the old blood is starting to get a wee bit stagnant =P

Karkadann · **Posted:** Sat Jul 12, 2014 3:06 pm

I remember hearing about someone who used to donate 65 bucks a year just like getting a gold account over at GT, one year the individual decided not to because they where not in the caverns that much but the following year they had a CAVCON awareness party and the individual wanted to make another donation but did not know whether to donate the usual 65 buck 100 buck or since the individual skipped one year perhaps 130 buck. The individual decided to let the atmosphere at the party make the decision.

The individual walked up to the group and said hello and no one responded. Needless to say the individual has not donated since.

No one wants to feel unwelcome, and no one is gonna pay to feel unwelcome.
Any body coming in from GT is most likely gonna experience the same thing, and is most likely to leave.which may explain a lot.

So in-spite of what others say Fchall your not alone Non violent games don't seem to be very popular these days. I find more entertainment with 3ds max 7 the Cyan plug-ins and the various do-dads available in the GoW web site used for Age writing

Why should I pay to feel unwelcome when I can get it for free :mrgreen:

Whilyam · **Joined:** Tue May 09, 2006 1:04 am **Posts:** 4134

Honestly, that's a stupid way to decide if you're going to donate. Anyone who knows anything about multiplayer online games knows you don't base your decision to buy on random encounters. Also, RAWA has said that continual even donations are better than lump sum a year donations.

Karkadann · **Posted:** Sat Jul 12, 2014 5:25 pm

Your right it is stupid way to decide, If it was an isolated incident. but its based on frequent encounters with AV's that have several names, and occasional stories like the OP.

Also consider the CAVCON awareness party was to raise money to keep MOULa open your less likely to contribute to people who you feel are treating you like an outcast, whether it was intentional or not. Im not even suggesting you need to any thing to access, but we need to attract more people who are willing to donate their hard earned cash and give them a reason to return. New content will only hold the interest of people for so long. Its the atmosphere that will keep them coming back.

Whether their contribution is cash new content coding or just helping out to create an atmosphere people wanna return to. There ALL equally important contributions to a successful multiplayer online games from what little I understand.

And I think a one lump sum yearly donation is better then a no lump sum donation

Mac_Fife · **Posted:** Sat Jul 12, 2014 7:15 pm

Karkadann wrote:

And I think a one lump sum yearly donation is better then a no lump sum donation

Undoubtedly, if those are the only two options on offer.

But I think your example might have several explanations behind it, much of it due to inadequacies in KI chat. Most regular(ish) players will have an established group of buddies. At a busy event, if you're in buddy chat and an "unknown" player tries to say hello then it can be difficult to flip to age chat to respond or you think they're aiming the greeting at someone else. In a group it's easy to think "I don't want to drop out of this conversation, someone else will answer" (not saying that's the right attitude, just suggesting a possible mindset). Another possibility is that at an event, some people might be using voice over a TeamSpeak server and not really paying attention to the KI.

Whilyam · **Joined:** Tue May 09, 2006 1:04 am **Posts:** 4134

Good points, Mac. That slipped my mind too. The KI is trash in its current implementation.

Karkadann · **Posted:** Sat Jul 12, 2014 9:09 pm

all im saying in my usual round about way is the atmosphere has changed from GT to Present and the cavern population seems to reflect it. If its possible to regain some of the Atmosphere people remember from GT the numbers may change accordingly.

Szark · **Posted:** Sat Jul 12, 2014 9:30 pm

The biggest draw for me in the GT era was the amount of activities that were held down there. I don't mean music parties but Bahro Glyph tours, Photoquest, and various lectures by Thend and the Puzzlers which I covered in issue 13 of the Archiver titled "Looking at the Whole" http://thecaverntoday.com/archiver It was those that kept me coming in.

As for how it is today well lucky for me I went down a couple of weeks back and 3 out of the few that were down there said hello directly to me so I engage in some chit chat reminding what I had been missing.

Tweek · **Joined:** Tue May 09, 2006 12:11 am **Posts:** 2633

I don't mingle in the cavern, haven't done for years. I prefer solo exploration.

Szark · **Posted:** Sat Jul 12, 2014 10:12 pm

I like both

Magic88889 · **Joined:** Tue Sep 19, 2006 4:33 am **Posts:** 91

I think there IS more of a lack of community these days. At least compared to how it used to be. But I think it has much to do with the number of people visiting the cavern rather than the quality of them. Or course, that's only based on the handful of times I've visited the cavern myself over the last few years.

There used to be tons of people there, all the time. So there was always bound to be somebody that would be willing to say hi, and help with whatever was needed.

Now, we get new people, who didn't grow up with that feeling, and maybe aren't as familiar with the interface, or are just exploring and don't want to be bothered, ect.

When you get the big events, and there are lots of people gathered, there tends to be more interaction. I remember the last such event I went to, the Obduction RAWA Q&A session. Lots of people there, and most of them were super friendly. Even during the Obduciton kickstarter, I visited many times, and was always welcomed, by new and old players alike.

I honestly don't think that the problem is necessarily with the people.

What Has happened To Our City

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