whats wrong with alfa?

[Analogkid]

AK, would you consider DMing on any of the current servers?

Thats a tough one. Last time I DM'd, well we all saw how that turned out. I'm pretty sure that anything I do as a DM would be under more then usual scrutiny. I also am still debating with myself just how I feel about alfa. While thats going on its probably not best to DM. Besides, I mainly just want to play...

I certainly believe we can improve things in ALFA and should try to do so. I welcome your or anyone else's input on how to do so. As for what you can do to have the most immediate impact on the problem- fill out and submit a DM app.

Not sure how much power you have to change people's personalities. I do have my suggestions as to what would fix things and keep alfa going for awhile longer. Those are multiple PCs,DMing on the server you play on and being more open to letting more folks come in. None of those will happen because a handful of people won't let it happen and are pretty satisfied with how things are i'm sure.
Instead we got the usual circle jerks going on and situations where some people spend all their time looking to fix things that don't need to be fixed, out of sometimes good and noble reasons....and sometimes...not so much.

[Analogkid]

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.

Basically, though perhaps I should have learned my lesson after being around here for more than a decade. Even after recent events I tell myself ok...maybe if I roll a new PC, one who is different enough from my last one which apparently caused so much grief, anger, woe, sorrow and torment for certain people then I might again have some measure of fun, even with the discomfort I feel about recent events. After all, the common refrain is to try something new when you get in a rut. Of course we only aim those comments at appropriate subjects...I mean players.
Anyways, Instead...I get boredom.

[Rumple C]

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?

There does have to be an element of ic realism in there as well, some pcs just don't play nice with others (ic). A paladin most likely wont be welcomed into the thieves guild, nor will the ratbag be welcomed into the high society group "companions of the noble chinchilla" or whatever. At other times players do have legitimate reasons for seeming stand offish. Deep dark secrets, treasure maps and not wanting to share etc.

I guess it is a different issue if they say you as in "you" not you as in "your pc". Most folks here (I would hope) are adult enough to put aside personality clashes in game.

I hope that Heero and the new dm/player initiative will be able to help you find a friendly bunch of players and DM(s) to play with AK.

[Adanu]

Not sure how much power you have to change people's personalities. I do have my suggestions as to what would fix things and keep alfa going for awhile longer. Those are multiple PCs,DMing on the server you play on and being more open to letting more folks come in. None of those will happen because a handful of people won't let it happen and are pretty satisfied with how things are i'm sure.
Instead we got the usual circle jerks going on and situations where some people spend all their time looking to fix things that don't need to be fixed, out of sometimes good and noble reasons....and sometimes...not so much.

In all seriousness, when people suggest things around here... people like Swift and Darkmystic are quick to shut them down because 'they don't fit with ALFA" or more accurately their vision of ALFA. Fact is, while things are in a seasonal rut, we aren't seeing too many new people lately. If you want that to change, the admins either need to be more lenient, need to find more avenues to advertise us in, or you need to change the rules so the more casual can thrive here too. Expecting us to have more players at this point is just unrealistic without any of those or a combination.

Everything has to adapt or wither away. That includes us. Tech does good work, but that won't mean a thing if people are turned off from playing for other reasons.

[Rotku]

... people like Swift and Darkmystic are quick to shut them down because 'they don't fit with ALFA" or more accurately their vision of ALFA...

And then people like Adanu scream DOOOM!

[Adanu]

... people like Swift and Darkmystic are quick to shut them down because 'they don't fit with ALFA" or more accurately their vision of ALFA...

And then people like Adanu scream DOOOM!

In all seriousness; If I thought ALFA was doomed, I would have left moths ago.

Just because I think things could be better does not equate to me thinking ALFA is not worthwhile in it's own way. EVen as a joke, I'm tired of people on this forum who think voicing less than satisfaction on the forum is doomsaying.

[Castano]

Solutions:
1. Reform of the server travel rules. Get rid of the 24 hour rule. It causes more harm than good. Session farmers already know how to manipulate it, so it just hurts casual players.
2. Multiple PCs on different servers.
3. Cross server plots, with temporary waiving of the 30 day rule for those "foreign" DMs running just the cross server portion of the plot on the other server.
4. Set times for players to log into their session - I cannot stress this enough. Popping into irc to check if a DM is on and logging in is not the way to go - you would not randomly check on your PnP group like that, so don't be surprised if what is going on on the server is not for you. The successful "cliques" in ALFA log on together at the same time for a dedicated session with a DM.
5. Be nicer to DMs
6. Know when to temp retire your PC. e.g. when the rest of your crew has moved on.
7. If you are not doing #6, build PCs that are more RP flexible in a cooperative as opposed to confrontational manner. If your PC will definitely kill Bane-ites and everyone has moved on to Bane-ite PCs...well you're in a tough spot. See #6.
8. If your DM stops DMing make a new PC for a group that is actively being DM'd. e.g. the dwarf campaign.

[Swift]

Not sure how much power you have to change people's personalities. I do have my suggestions as to what would fix things and keep alfa going for awhile longer. Those are multiple PCs,DMing on the server you play on and being more open to letting more folks come in. None of those will happen because a handful of people won't let it happen and are pretty satisfied with how things are i'm sure.
Instead we got the usual circle jerks going on and situations where some people spend all their time looking to fix things that don't need to be fixed, out of sometimes good and noble reasons....and sometimes...not so much.

In all seriousness, when people suggest things around here... people like Swift and Darkmystic are quick to shut them down because 'they don't fit with ALFA" or more accurately their vision of ALFA. Fact is, while things are in a seasonal rut, we aren't seeing too many new people lately. If you want that to change, the admins either need to be more lenient, need to find more avenues to advertise us in, or you need to change the rules so the more casual can thrive here too. Expecting us to have more players at this point is just unrealistic without any of those or a combination.

Everything has to adapt or wither away. That includes us. Tech does good work, but that won't mean a thing if people are turned off from playing for other reasons.

Because I am SUCH an influential voice here in ALFA that everyone actually listens to

For what its worth, on the three things AK listed there, I do not feel one way or the other about multiple PCs, am very much FOR being able to play where you DM and...well...considering the issues we have had with players in the past despite our application process, I will never, ever be in favor of simply throwing open the doors to this community. People already complain about lack of DMs, you will just complain about it even louder when they have to spend all their time dealing with people that are completely inappropriate for our community. If you really want an invasion from 4chan or Something Awful to come here "for teh lulz" and mess everything up for the people who actually WANT to be here then, yeah, lets open those doors. The application process basically ensures that people who apply at least have a modicum of support for the idea of IC RP.

[Castano]

BG Tales of the Sword Coast and Dalelands are both open servers. They've done fairly well. I'm not 100% in favor of opening ALFA with no password, but I would support 1 server like that as an experiment.

[t-ice]

I do not feel one way or the other about multiple PCs, am very much FOR being able to play where you DM

In spite of us doing it for a long time at Exodus, I have come to think that not being able to be the main DM for your PCs IC friends is a positive thing made possible by ALFA's multi-server platform. Especially in light of "clique-ness", and DMs who'd rather play. (We do need dedicated and enthusiastic players, too, not just DMs!) Any possibilities for abuse in the case of DM/player are multiples more, and more insidious (probably to the point where the DM/player cannot avoid developing a bias even if he tried), than for two characters at neighboring servers.

Reform of the server travel rules. Get rid of the 24 hour rule. It causes more harm than good. Session farmers already know how to manipulate it, so it just hurts casual players.

Expecting people to constantly server hop just leads to meta, you can't be part of two concurrent plots on different sides of the world no matter how you spin it, so it won't let people catch more DMage in their timezone without horribly breaking IC plausibility. Travel rules are not restricting hopping, it's the expectation of people that players don't metagame that is limiting it. Call it social pressure if you will. Unless we want to link all bigger cities with IC teleportation circle networks and tell people to go at it. The magic is plausibly there, but to me such epic magic just breaks the game. I mean how relevant is a level 6 PC in a world like that?

And how true to ALFA's core vision is OoC server hopping compared to just letting people join different parts of the world with different PCs? Not being stuck with the only PC you have might even lead to more setting-specific and colorful PCs, as opposed to the more general, "has combat ability, will travel", adventurers that most our current PCs are (for good reason, that's what the current game works mostly with and for). But I for one would like more varied characters than "adventurer", it's a possible strong side of a PW that spans the world to see different folks at different parts. Because I haven't seen much of the presumed setting difference between Silverymoon or Baldur's Gate or Corwell in my playing of ALFA - except for the name and creature type of the usual bad guys.

[Stormseeker]

Dislike the waiting 24hrs real life, especially i am wounded and step thru, i am wounded when i come out the other side even though its weeks/months away. Either fix it or get rid of it. As for the bs of not being able to join another ongoing plot on another server.......so does soloing and dieing,other dm plots on the same server. Now my self i could still implement my self in multiple server dm plots even with the 24hr waiting. Most plots are 1day a week, if you are lucky.
But i don't. To much for me to remember and it's not fair to my dm's and other players. If you are so worried about players farming dm plots then just "tag" them some how with a undropable item. lol dm's wanting players,players wanting dm's, and here we are saying setting rl waiting times on a fantasy game where you can gut someone 1sec and the next sec be fully healed.

[t-ice]

lol dm's wanting players,players wanting dm's, and here we are saying setting rl waiting times on a fantasy game

Well that's the thing, just how far can we go bending "IC reality" to accomodate getting DMs and players together, and still keep it enjoyable to the people involved. I don't much enjoy playing this game as a game. I enjoy it due to the fantasy narratives it gives. If that narrative becomes "let's get together and move to TSM to bang sum orcsies, I heard they gots sum cool new caves built. Now where can we find a healer to complement our party?", then no thanks.
The "IC fantasy solution" is out there: Teleportation circles in every city.
The question is do we want that?
I know I don't, because a narrative that takes into account anybody and anything teleporting anywhere becomes silly contrieved. When the alternative is not teleporting that one PC around, but have the player hop to different PC shoes and all IC consistency issues are solved.

[Heero]

MS's strange lack of player woes aside, I am pretty sure the DMs that are logging in and active arent lacking for players. How do yall suggest they are to accommodate for an increase in player demand for their DM time?

[t-ice]

MS's strange lack of player woes aside, I am pretty sure the DMs that are logging in and active arent lacking for players. How do yall suggest they are to accommodate for an increase in player demand for their DM time?

My experience as few months of MS DMing hasn't been an overflow of players, but rather the opposite. Maybe it's different in the US timezones.

[Heero]

Please note the first portion of my statement excluding MS.

I am not saying Im against easy access to DM session across multiple servers; rather, I am asking how you/we/I/them/etc. expect the current, active, DMs - most of whom arent lacking for players - to accommodate an increase in demand for their time.

So, how can we make it more appealing for people to spend some of their often limited free time logged in as a DM?