whats wrong with alfa?

[t-ice]

Agreed, Xanthea.
But the 1 PC rules has been the way ALFA was built more than 10 years ago, and that's the way it has always run. So good luck getting a change there pass....

[Adanu]

There's any number of things ALFA could do to improve, so I'm going to talk about the single biggest problem there is, playerbase splitting.

While no doubt some people are happy to only log in for DM sessions and play with their group and rarely interact with anyone outside of that, that's not what the point of a PW is and isn't a way to build a successful one. The point of a PW (and the way that you can actively recruit more players) is to have a vast array of diverse characters around to interact with, the more the better. And the more people you have logged in even when there isn't a DM event going on, the more attractive the server is to new players. Nobody wants to join a ghost town. It really sucks to be a new player who can't find anyone to talk to or do anything with.

There's two major reasons ALFA falls flat in this department:

1) The issue of multiple servers, obviously. The more there are, the bigger the playerbase is spread out, lessening interaction. Maybe this worked in days passed when ALFA had the playerbase to support this, but it doesn't any more.

2) The fact that not all characters are compatible. Evil Steve and Gertrude Good are rarely going to have an IC reason to interact with each other (beyond, perhaps, a final climatic showdown!) And that's fine and IC, but it still doesn't help anything that there's typically going to be large sections of the playerbase that are largely off limits for interaction.

The way to solve both of these problems at once is for ALFA to allow multiple PCs, but only on different servers. If an option existed to have one PC per server then instead of people finding themselves spread out on different characters on different servers, they could both log in to their MS group, for example, and benefit from more people to interact with then there were previously. Players who couldn't interact before, because their PCs were not compatible, now have multiple different options for making ones that can work together.

Mechanically it could work something like with DM rules. You're only allowed to travel to servers where you don't have a DM account or a second PC. A trade off between having wider access to travel for one PC or having multiple PCs.

The other benefit to this is that sometimes people just don't really feel like playing their current PC for whatever reason. It's totally understandable, but there are very few options for doing anything about this other than simply playing less, which isn't good for the server. Multiple PCs encourages more play time by allowing people to play something else that they might feel more like doing instead of just doing other things with their time.

You're going to see a lot of resistance for most of those notions as t-ice said. Personally, I think multiple PCs is an awesome idea, but most here are stuck in the past.

[Xanthea]

Oh certainly I have very little expectation of this actually changing. I just enjoy being Cassandra or something.

[Magile]

1a)There are too many PCs that will not/cannot die permanently. This is partially the cause of cliques, factions and level imbalance.
1b)Any new PC starting out has to either "power game" through statics or deal with RPXP due to the slower DM attention (that usually would be devoted to characters already set in stone and around -- YES, I know that <x> DM will take the time with someone else, every DM says this... but it still happens).

Two points above hurt the player population and people grouping together. There's already groups set in stone, whether purposefully through players avoiding others or ICly due to the longevity of PCs' lives (that was very much NOT the case in a lot of ALFA 1.0). Most players don't want to be babysat, want to have an adventure, etc. Level disparity happens, characters get their hands held or die to crazy events, stop playing, get burnt out, whatever. Which brings us to...

2a) New PCs spread to random servers, such as MS, to try and get DM attention and find a group. Population begins to get spread thin (for the better, in their minds).
2b) DMs are definitely there and wanting the players on these servers... but some have gone AWOL due to inactivity of the player base, or some servers just have an inactive DM/content base to begin with.
2c) DMs are actually players on another server and, once DMing for a bit, realize they prefer playing.

The next three points all add together. New players/characters flock to a different server in hoping to find some attention due to the original issues. They may get the attention, but it's hard if they don't have a group going with them. Likewise, the DMs love to give them attention... but if you only see one PC online, a lot of DMs (read: NOT EVERY DM) will sometimes wait or just ignore logging in until it gets to peak time... which may not happen. This, in turn, causes DMs to get burnt out simply on the fact that, well, things are not working out properly. Newer servers also have kinks to work out with bugs, sometimes DMs aren't active, etc. Then we look at the final point, which has happened in cases I will not highlight (you know who you all are) -- DMs start trying to give back to the community and realize... they have a PC they would rather play. Who wouldn't? It's fun to have a character.

Now we have players who are discouraged from playing on other servers/having new characters while also having DMs on other servers who are discouraged from DMing/are not wishing to DM at the current time, which leads us to...

3a) Players return to the "main" server hubs or outright give up, hoping things will be better [a] month(s) down the road. Now, suddenly, we have servers with no population again and one server pumping with people or with the bulk of the player base.
3b) DMs of the "main" server get burnt out over the constant need and wants of all the player base. We're also a community -- people don't all get along, as all of the threads lately have proven with the venom in many posts. DMs become discouraged on the "main" server, can't help everyone's needs/don't wish to help everyone's needs (to be fair, this isn't necessarily a bad attitude in a community where there's a TEAM of DMs) and we either have faction-based/campaign-based DMing for the sake of time/to remain active or DMs take a hiatus.
3c) DMs of the "other" servers see everyone leave. This becomes a slap in the face -- everyone just up and walked out. They could DM the one or two faithful players... but seeing a player base that would rather not log into their server? It's depressing. This causes DMs of these servers to go on hiatus, or sticking strictly to campaigns IF they have enough players on their server. Let's also not forget the fact that if the DM is also a player, they may be tempted to play over DM since, hey, their server is "dead" at the moment.

Now we have the pattern changing, as you see above. The player base "resets" itself and, in essence, depletes every time this occurs. The "main" server gains population while ALFA as a whole loses population on the players taking a break/leaving. The community also loses population as the DMs of the "other" servers take breaks/leave and... well, you get the picture.

None of these are facts. They're observations. I'm sure someone might quote my scenario piece by piece and blow it apart -- so be it. I'm not responding to this thread past this post; however, I just wished to give my observations on how things are crumbling the way they are. I have no solution for this, I never claimed to. I fear this is just the way things are dwindling, and it has done this every time it's happened in ALFA 1.0 AND ALFA 2.0. It sucks. I'm part of the player base, after all. I experience these woes. I don't like seeing the population dwindle, as that leads to a section I didn't address -- the players who ARE active see the player base going down, and suddenly we think, "... why do we bother if it's going to die?" Adanu, you seem to feel like this with your last thread's comments -- you've lost friends/companions, you don't want to log in without them. AnalogKid, you're also sharing these feelings, I think. You want to play, but you can't -- you've attempted to get back on your feet and it led to this thread. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot more players feel this way... we're a community, it makes sense.

I'm sorry I have no suggestions for fixing things. I just felt like adding a constructive observation and hopefully someone can confirm that I'm not the only one worrying about it and seeing things like this. Will multiple PCs fix this? Honestly, it may help prolong the death of the servers. It allows players to get outside of their faction-based PCs to play with folks they normally couldn't due to IC reasons. It also allows players to risk things a bit more, which may deal with one of the first points I made about PCs living too long -- high level PCs may even take more risks (although the highest level probably won't, I think). I don't think it's the solution to the problem though. That I cannot know.

[Adanu]

Adanu, you seem to feel like this with your last thread's comments -- you've lost friends/companions, you don't want to log in without them.

While the gist of that is slightly true... it's more along the lines of Zyrus needs support to stay alive in any sort of prolonged right. He's a melee powerhouse, but he's only one Genasi, and healers are the obvious choice. PCs come and go... it's the role they fill that I need to play.

[Keryn]

Adanu, you seem to feel like this with your last thread's comments -- you've lost friends/companions, you don't want to log in without them.

While the gist of that is slightly true... it's more along the lines of Zyrus needs support to stay alive in any sort of prolonged right. He's a melee powerhouse, but he's only one Genasi, and healers are the obvious choice. PCs come and go... it's the role they fill that I need to play.

I have a plot going. Want to join me? We need a melee powerhouse Send me a PM

[maxcell]

[Rotku]

Magile for President!

[ElCadaver]

As we have an increasingly static playerbase, people partition out into cliques of those with whom they will or will not play; it's pretty destructive behavior but it's always been present. Reminds me of the final days of the NWN1 stuff.

Server travel rules.

[t-ice]

Server travel rules.

The travel rules are really no solution for getting people to play together on a day-by-day basis, since it's meta for PCs to hop around all servers all the time, and most players play by the IC voluntarily. (Yes, you can construct a PC for whom you can explain hopping around constantly, but that's really a analogue to the "I really hate orcs, so I farm these orc spawns" -character. And still getting involved in more than one concurrent plotline is a huge stretch at best.)

The ways for people to come to the same place and play together shouldn't come at the cost of IC believability.

And if the playing is down, temporarily or otherwise, the only thing we could do to help people gaming is to make it easier for those who do come to get together.

[Teric neDhalir]

The opposite alternative to the multiple PC route is to stop trying to have all servers online simultaneously. If server teams could take (e.g.) a month off it means;
- Time off to have a rest
- Time to add more content to the server and plan plotlines without interruption
- Server DMs have more time to play in fallow periods
- Online servers have higher population

I know it's against several charter rules but there's no point in having an empire of servers with no-one playing on them.

Or, alternatively, have everyone roll new 1st Level characters.

[t-ice]

The opposite alternative to the multiple PC route is to stop trying to have all servers online simultaneously. If server teams could take (e.g.) a month off it means;

It'd be very odd, and likely meta, for all PCs to suddenly and simultaneously flee a server. Odds are ongoing stories will be disrupted and put in ice while their protagonists inexlicably take a vacation at the neighbor realm. Assuming people at the server don't roll new PCs elsewhere for the break, which would go right back to the multiple PC route.

Yes, having a field of empty servers is pointless, but forcibly shoving people around, by shutting down servers or otherwise, will in my opinion become counterproductive in the end. Instead of moving server for the break, many players will just take a break from ALFA, and some will always wander away for good when that happens.

[dergon darkhelm]

This thread makes me sad. The names of the posters need only be changed to Rusty, NickD, Mayhem, Illialid, Borgia and it sounds like the death throes of ALFA NWN1.

Then the talk was of "density" and of turning areas into "campaign servers"....but it's pretty mcuh the same

[Riotnrrd]

I'm assuming the people who post here care about the project and want to help. The following are not new suggestions, but I believe they would help.

What can I do to help ALFA?
- Update your PC bios! Send them to your server team, ask a DM to post them to the PC bios thread. Bios are useful because they give material for plot hooks and ideas for the DMs
- Form a regular player group! Find players you like to play with, and set a time to play each week. Inform the local server DMs of your time slot, and encourage them to play with you. Many DMs will play if there are players
- Become a DM! DMing is a lot of fun, it's not hard. Set a weekly time to DM players, and communicate your timeslot to local players. Be regular, be consistent.
- Contribute content! Build or repair areas for a server. Post server bugs or trouble tickets. Learn to script. Work with base resources people (like me or Ronan or t-ice) to refurbish / redesign / organize items (clothes, weapons, etc) for the ALFA Base Resources campaign folder

'I can't do these things' is not an answer. We are all computer saavy people, passionate about this project. We can all learn to do these things. We can all contribute to the project in our own way. Pick something you're passionate about, and step in to help!

Contact me via PM if you want to help with any of this, and I will help you get started.

[Analogkid]

I have been seeing less casual dm'ing around. But that probably related to "low season". You and LC seemed to get good character dm'ing time back with CD in MS from memory AK, IIRC

From one or two DMs, and in the end, only cloud.

I think where we (alfa) could improve is in matching up dm's with players/groups. Regular timeslots and such so folks do have a reason to log on, and something to look forward to. Regular dm slots are awesome. Casual ones can be hit and miss.

If we could get new players into these times then it serves two purposes... one they remain engaged with Alfa, and they learn the ALFA norms (no running, close the bloody doors!, teamwork, dont solo etc).

If one is a lone wolf (either through chance or design), then I as a DM have less motivation to spend my time (reguarly) on that single PC. Yes, i do like to do meaningful personal stuff for them (if i know there is something they want to do), but I am also very aware thats a high input/low out result for my time vs player hours. Better to save it for a group. Even better a regular group where there is a story that keeps me engaged.

There is no conspiracy at the DM level. Offcourse we would say that, wouldnt we?

I know DMs here are human, and all have their tastes and inclinations for type of players they prefer. It just bums me out that I as a player have to entice you as a DM here.
I think think its evolved to the point where the DMs+cliques are just what they are. I experienced the same thing at the end of NWN1 when I would be told flat out that I didn't fit in with whatever session/campaign/one off that was going on. This is why regular time slots mean nothing if a player can't participate in any of the ones going on. The solution? to get DM to step up....even for myself to step up? One roadblock to that is I can't DM myself, right?