Improving the Player Base

[jezer]

I know someone has mentioned this idea before... but I think one of the best ways of improving the mud player base is actually making it so sloth can be played through a java applet in a web browser.

Often my online friends claim to be bored, or ask me what I'm doing, when I tell them about sloth, most visit the website, some of them even get as far as clicking the telnet window but none never get any further because of the "setup" that's really required to play sloth in the context of eq changes and group targets.

Clients and scripting is biased to computer and tech savy people, if you want to appeal to a wider (younger) set of people... How many of us don't play from other locations because we "don't have our scripts with us." If you want to show the world that graphics aren't really what makes games so fun, it's more about depth and community... you have to make the game accessible.... I bet hundreds of people visit the site each month but never play, because they are looking for a way to get in... they probably think telnet is some batch script formatting there hard drive. The DOS Prompt and Telnet are dead technologies... DOS prompts have more in common with the computers booting up and failing than they do fun games.

Sloth is not dying, but it is in slow decline... I think this is the only way the future could be assured.

And while we are porting... lets go sql backend...

[jezer]

[url:fycnzxjm]http://anyterm.org/[/url:fycnzxjm]

[url:fycnzxjm]http://shellinabox.com/[/url:fycnzxjm]

[Yasik2]

[quote="jezer":36jy9u45]if you want to appeal to a wider (younger) set of people...[/quote:36jy9u45]

This ain't gonna happen.
"Younger set of people" are lazy and dumb, they want something for their eyes, not for imagination they lack of by the way. They won't write scripts even if they are familiar with some sort of programming language, won't put years of efforts to make their character cool etc.
They want to be cool here and now, w/o actually working to become so. Also, they want to kill other people.
They dont belong here.

[marge]

Telnet function isn't even installed by default in windows anymore. Then they have to figure out how to turn the localecho and ansi colors on. If they want to use the most current version of wintin, they need to install the .net protocols.

If Yasix is correct, it may be a moot point. Tragic

[jezer]

Bah, when we give up, sloth isn't in decline... it's actually dead. You can't tell me that we wouldn't get more players if the game were more accessible... We have got two problems... we aren't really out there... secondly when we get past being out there, everyone has to jump through hoops to play. If I read that technology right, sloth doesn't have to even be rewritten it would just be "accessible" through a console in a web browser. We got to keep up with the times, it doesn't mean we have to change who we are... we just need to change the approach.

[Yasik2]

If we want to keep up with times, then we should buy Unreal 3D engine and start developing full-scale 3D-graphics client.

[jezer]

[quote="jezer":8sejsdot]We got to keep up with the times, [b:8sejsdot]it doesn't mean we have to change who we are...[/b:8sejsdot] we just need to change the approach.[/quote:8sejsdot]

No Yasik, sloth is text based, and that's part of it's charm, sloth has extraordinary depth, it's a great game without graphics, it's just different... but just as cool.

[Yasik2]

Go on and explain the charm to those you want to come here and play, or rather wander randomly asking for eq and coins being perma-hungry and thirsty, then abandon after 2 weeks.

[Rynquald]

I've always found the attitudes some people hold towards new players in various online games baffling.

Everyone likes playing with people at their own level of skill and experience, but without new players it just doesn't work. You don't have to help new players if you don't want to, you don't even have to be around them, but open hostility towards them damages all aspects of the game you presumably enjoy.

Take this thread alone, and the message it would send to someone browsing the site and considering playing.

[quote="Yasik2":2xk5xkdv]"Younger set of people" are lazy and dumb, they want something for their eyes, not for imagination they lack of by the way. They won't write scripts even if they are familiar with some sort of programming language, won't put years of efforts to make their character cool etc.
They want to be cool here and now, w/o actually working to become so. Also, they want to kill other people.
They dont belong here.[/quote:2xk5xkdv]
[quote="Yasik2":2xk5xkdv]Go on and explain the charm to those you want to come here and play, or rather wander randomly asking for eq and coins being perma-hungry and thirsty, then abandon after 2 weeks.[/quote:2xk5xkdv]

A broad, sweeping statement against "young" players, who I think it's fair to say comprise a decent fraction of potential new players. And what looks pretty much like a shot against anyone who doesn't already know how to play.

Not everyone who tries the game will like it or stay, but some will. As long as people are actually creating a char and trying it out we'll continue to gain new long-term players.

[jezer]

That's just crap Yasik, not everyone is the same.

You make out like, out of the 6 billion people in the world there are only 30 people who will ever play sloth and these are the current hardcore players... that's a load of crap. I would have played sloth years ago, if I had known... if I had accessibility.

It's just all too hard... or people don't care... sloth will die with this attitude... no biggie, I'll play something else. We will only have ourselves to blame though.

[Rynquald]

A new post for new subject matter...

Jezer makes an excellent point. The possibility of making a web interface for Sloth would make the game far more accessible, and encourage more people who find the site to try it. Even if it was just a stepping stone into getting a "real" client.

Of course a coder would have to have the time to do it. But it's a worthwhile project to have on the list.

[jezer]

[quote="Rynquald":3seqxjna]Take this thread alone, and the message it would send to someone browsing the site and considering playing.[/quote:3seqxjna]

I might be taking this in a context Ryn didn't intend... but it's the old "stuck in the mud" players mindsets that is actually one of the biggest things killing the game.

It's why I dish out on a lot of old players... it's not that I don't like them... or respect them... but I'm afraid there time is past, and they are holding progress back. There comes a time when the old must die, and in trust things must be handed over to the new... unfortunately things of the past have such a tight grasp of the game, unless it unravels I don't see a future.

Sloth needs fresh new ideas to continue... it needs pains in the backside like me always thinking of new suggestions/improvements/expansions, it needs more Jugglebloods that actually get stuff done.

Hamper these things, exercise your iron grasp to keep everything the same... it's eventually going to die.

[Yasik2]

Well, maybe you're right, i was a bit unfriendly, but that's because of my experience in other aspect of online gaming, Lineage.
As for Sloth, newbs come, behave helpless and clueless, anger Brad and the group disbanded, so in the end I lose opportunity to earn exp.
As for java stuff in browser window - the more complex thing is - the more ways to exploit bugs etc. As half-admin/half-coder (not in Sloth, of course) i'd vote for not make things complicated or intricated above some "neeed" level of complexity.
Years ago i managed to get a client, develop my own set of scripts constantly improving, then moved to another client, learned Perl, moved to Linux, now i'm rewriting everything from beginnings.
I'd never done this if i had a browser and a mouse, i'd been clicking mindlessly all this years.

[Rynquald]

[quote="Jezer":2ux8lxql][quote="Rynquald":2ux8lxql]Rynquald wrote:
Take this thread alone, and the message it would send to someone browsing the site and considering playing.[/quote:2ux8lxql]

I might be taking this in a context Ryn didn't intend... but it's the old "stuck in the mud" players mindsets that is actually one of the biggest things killing the game. [/quote:2ux8lxql]

Since I'm not entirely sure whether you we agreeing with me or calling me "stuck in the mud" I'll clarify

In that line I was exclusively referring to anti-newb sentiment sending a negative message, not actually the entire thread.

[Rynquald]

[quote="yasik2":1hk2ylhv]Years ago i managed to get a client, develop my own set of scripts constantly improving, then moved to another client, learned Perl, moved to Linux, now i'm rewriting everything from beginnings.
I'd never done this if i had a browser and a mouse, i'd been clicking mindlessly all this years.[/quote:1hk2ylhv]

That's a good point too, and the required effort to actually get started playing Sloth could serve as a kind of shield against some problematic (troll-like) players.

Hypothetically, if we somehow made it trivially easy to start playing and got a large number of casual players along with new long-term ones, maintaining the level of order we enjoy could become an active task. But still, while we could have to deal with some of the problems larger MMOs face, it would be preferable to the slow death of Sloth.