[BenSa]

I dont Care about the main chat Close it. But we realy need to get more ppl here! Ye i would say that we Lost about 120 ppl.

[Darken Rahl]

I dont Care about the main chat Close it. But we realy need to get more ppl here! Ye i would say that we Lost about 120 ppl.

I'm not saying it is the only reason the player base has declined, although I think it holds a fair share of it.
and yes there is a lot we can do to fix the decline of players...

Updating the Home Page maybe? --- This is a no brainer... You cant just update it until there is 200 players and take a screen shot... you have to keep it going, giving it life and making it seem lively. It only takes one person to log in and be like wow, false advertisement! Go back to the shard from which they came and talk how quiet IN is... ALREADY! 79 players online is not 200.

Now I know there are plenty of things going on with this server, perhaps if they were advertised on the main page for everyone to see once they type in the URL for IN it would attract more players? The current main page is so stale. Especially for the ones that know better.

Like I have mentioned before... the RPA is in the works and we plan on taking screen shots. We would like them displayed on the main page or at least have the main page provide a link...

There should also be provocative text involved... inspiring new RPer's interested in the RPA to choose their loyalties wisely to either virtue or vice... etc.

I will make a post about this and DEMAND it to be presented on the main page. No more waiting around, if no one is going to take steps to try and fix this, the RPA will do what they can to take things into their owns hands in regards to RP. We want IN to thrive like everyone else, so give us some help here!

I know there is a lot we can do.
It's just a matter of getting things done.

We need real authority involved right now, otherwise the future of IN may not look so good...

[Cana]

Chat is not the reason for declining population. Chat is just a tool, it's the attitude of some people that needs fixing. There's always some back and forth banter in UO, it's the nature of the game but some players are taking it too far. It doesn't matter if chat would be disabled because sooner or later new player would run into those bad players and the bad encounter is still there, just delayed. I think chat is a good tool, especially now that the population is getting smaller. Disabling it by default seems counter productive, since I see new players ask valid questions there every day. It's not just a channel of unwanted bickering and whining, it's actually very useful channel of getting into the game mechanics if you are new to the play style or even the game itself.

Another thing is, there's many reasons for declining player base. Most fizzle PvPers left because they enjoy a different PvP system. Some others left because they enjoy OSI style pre-cast PvP. Some left because they were here just for the nostalgia and will go back to playing whatever they were playing before or find a new game. People come and go. Darken, you yourself said, and I quote:

UO is a dying game, and the players a dying breed.

This is very true, and this is a niche game and we are catering to a very small niche market (sphere .51 play style) within that already small crowd. What we really need is engaged players and those players making the shard lively again. I commend your efforts (and everyone else involved) on RPA and I think it'll be very good thing for the shard. This is what we need. We need something to have players engaged in and having fun doing it. Those are the players who are here to stay. RPA might not be for everyone but other players should make their own fun in their own way. What needs to stop is this catering for tournament pampered players that expect the staff to create all the engagements for them. Tournaments are good, but having too many makes players depend on staff to play the game at all. I have more suggestions but I have to go now, I'll add them here later.

[sm0ke]

chat isn't the reason it's' declining no but it is a stupid addition if you think about it, you can tattle on people when you get ganked, it's for people who macro all day long and don't go to town and interact with other players. It's just for lazy people or people who macro all the time it's pretty silly and useless if you ask me.

Then you use it to trash talk and others jump in and it's a cluster fu*ck on your screen and it can ruin peoples feel about RP so i guess it could be bad for the shard.

I voted yes

[ElvenBane]

Chat is not the reason for declining population. Chat is just a tool, it's the attitude of some people that needs fixing. Disabling it by default seems counter productive, since I see new players ask valid questions there every day. It's not just a channel of unwanted bickering and whining, it's actually very useful channel of getting into the game mechanics if you are new to the play style or even the game itself.

So you're saying instead of disabling the tool that allows these obnoxious people abuse, lets fix their attitude and personality? That is by far way harder to control than to fix the underlying problem. It might be counter productive due to the declining playerbase but it will populate britain more. The other problem is that GMs need to be more active not only by answering pages but hosting more events that are not 1v1 or pvp. Make some fun events for the pvmers, for the rpers and some for pvpers or some team ones that all can enjoy. I see some GMs and they are just on to answer pages, trying to correct people on public chat with their gm or their player char causing more heated discussions. When they feel like they will throw in a supplied 1v1, where we already have an automated 1v1.

I am not saying the staff doesn't do work and I dont appreciate them but maybe throw in a monster bash here and there. It's just a simple xmlspawner with monsters, change the str and hits and a matter of activating them. I'm sure lots of people would enjoy the change. Maybe have someone write a RP story where they can impersonate some evil sinister and take over the lands where people have to do simple quests or whatever to defeat him. Create a maze with teles or anything.

I give huge thumbs up to Loki who is concentrating on the new pvp changes. (although its taking quite a while to implement - i heard it's coming in this sunday) But we're losing players and I think the new pvp changes will help stabilize the population at least. I like the idea of better AR has resistences against FS etc. That would create more demand for higher AR and put the crafters to use because right now no one wears anything higher than ice and wouldn't bother buying off player vendors. So we lost a huge population of tradesmen already.

I really think just envolvement from the staff would have a way better impact on the shard. I know you guys have irl situations and jobs and families etc I understand but just a bit of effort to show the shard you guys care about the players would be very appreciated. A lot of talk about updating the main site, why not just get someone who can be a webmaster and post some weekly news. They don't have to be a GM or anything but someone who enjoys doing it and is socially acceptable on this shard.

Sorry I really don't mean to come off as some player who is trying to change the ways of the shard it's just the few things I have noticed while playing here for two months.
I love this place and wish to see it grow and become the best shard ever. I just hope you guys can see it too and would put forth the effort, both staff and players.

-eb

[Raziel_]

Better to start think how we could get ppl to play this shard . More skill days? Active gms? We have Lost over 120ppl in 1 month what is wrong? Think the owner and gmS need to figure that out. Idont blame on you guys . Just want to get ppl to stat here longer// bensa

skills gain here is hard, actually extremely hard! but thats what keep economy in good health!
the thing is there are serious players and those who wants to play for a month or two and dont care if the server will survive after that!
once they realize crafting is so hard they leave... thats my opnion...

[Venos]

Some modding on the chat would help. There is a lot of non-english talk and the occasional flamewar/trashtalk competition which we could do without.
In general though i think the chat is good as it lets players get to know each other.

[Cana]

So you're saying instead of disabling the tool that allows these obnoxious people abuse, lets fix their attitude and personality? That is by far way harder to control than to fix the underlying problem. It might be counter productive due to the declining playerbase but it will populate britain more.

I'm not suggesting that bad attitudes can be fixed, but that's the actual problem we need to address. I'm saying your solution is not addressing the actual underlying problem, which is the attitude of these people. Like I said, chat is just a tool and disabling it completely or having if off by default is not addressing the actual problem. I'm sure that we can come up with a better solution that'll do both, keep the unwanted negative comments out of public eye and for new players to have a communication channel which they can use to ask questions when needed. This is just a suggestion and I'm not claiming it is the ultimate solution, I'm simply trying to brainstorm for a better solution.

Maybe make it so that you can only have automatic access to the chat as long as you have your young player status active. Other than that, staff could grant some helpful players access to it so they can advice the new players. This should reduce the negativity new players see in the chat, there'd be helpful players offering advice to new players and I know IN is constantly looking for capable staff members to fill their ranks for one reason or other. This could even serve as a first step of staff recruitment. Generally helpful and well-mannered players are the best staff material too. This shouldn't be an argument. It should be a debate about what would be the best solution and what would benefit this shard the most. It's a call for reason.

[Be|gar]

Chat actually encourages a community feel as you can see discussions that are happening while you're macroing, hunting, etc. It especially helps when oldies come back and can immediately see all of their old friends and let people know that they, themselves, are here. Not only that but when new people join it shows them that there are many active players to interact with. It seems like the "hubs" like brit bank are getting rather sparse. I know personally when i would play other shards years ago, i'd go to brit bank first to see how much activity i could expect on a shard.

if you don't like what you're seeing, disable it, simple as that.

[Loki]

It's the summer, people have exams, good weather, last weekend was D3 open beta, and D3 itself is imminent. A lot of the lost playerbase has nothing to do with the server at all.

That said we will strive to provide the best service we can with the time and resources we have available. Mass hysteria and people doomsaying on the forums doesn't help though. I know each person means well but if I was looking for a server and I looked on the forum to see 100 posts whining or panicking I would probably be put off. Just saying.

As for the issue of public chat, it seems to be split pretty evenly 50:50, which puts the staff in a difficult position. The solution is probably to keep it but perhaps we will add a .banchat command to ban people who abuse it from the public chat, or a .squelchchat # command for temporary bans. There is merit to both sides of the argument for and against it, I just hope the people on each side are mature enough to accept that there is no consensus and only a compromise would be reasonable here.

[tranith]

This is like the guy or girl, who complains in a dating website of harassment, when they are too god damn lazy? or just stupid? t EXERCISE their RIGHT, to block the person.
Point is you can turn the Public Chat on, or OFF.... your call... exercise your ****ing right, and why ***** about it, trying to build up a posse or shall we say guild of pussies, who will follow your superficial point.
You can enable it, or disable it, so do it...

I think its ****ing great, yea sure some people may explode and take it to far and abuse sometimes, im sure everyone here has used it, and in a sense we can all say we are guilty of it.
Big deal, it creates more interaction. gives others some more to talk about or not to talk about next time they meet face to face.

And well to further resolve this miniscule matter, We have TIPS window...

GM Heres a new TIP... since clearly no one knows much about how to disable or enable the chat, not even my self, cause i love it, i never even thought of searching to disable it..

Add a Tip, how to Disable public chat messages.. Problem solved. quit whinning

Further more this could be all in one tip since its related.

But i think there is a tip about .c public chat.. maybe add this enable or disable instruction in the same tip..

If someone's to ****ing lazy and retarded to read a tip window, then post a question thats answered in tips, well then sorry to say **** you.

you fail on this server, and chances are you will in any other server, and most likely you simply ****ing fail at life

hope that wasn't harsh

I love you all.

[Mael]

well i dont have a problem with reading what people say that not the problem of public chat...its the fact that ANYONE can come into IRC chat and ***** and moan or even talk about leaving the shard or telling people to go to new shard...seeing how the happened the other day i was pretty pissed about it..and no one is around to moderate so its basically like other shards advertising in our public chat.