It seems that events always drive people to the game - I'm speaking specifically our recent scavenger hunts and event days during the holidays.

How about we make this just a normal weekly occurrence? Maybe every Friday is Event Night in CF - if it's a RP party in the inn, a scavenger hunt, an arena competition, or anything else but we'll know folks will show up for it (and for us old folks, schedule it into calendars). Let the Immortals cycle through it so it's not too much of a burden on someone and it'd also give the stage to showcase lesser seen or even new Immortals (Jormyr!).

So how about it? I know everyone enjoys this and it drives the amount of folks up... win win?

Since you wanted feedback.

Immortals have better things to do with their admin time than host scavenger hunts constantly.

Special things that happen constantly and consistently are no longer special.

I don't know about you, but I assume immortals have lives and probably don't care to dedicate every Friday night to a bunch of whining pricks that are never satisfied.

That's just a few off the tip of the iceberg that is the reasons this idea is horrible.

Every single time an event has been scheduled, usually 50+ people are on the game and everyone enjoys it. Depending on the event, it allows direct interaction with opponents, Immortals, and honestly spices things up.

If you don't want once a week, then do once a month - and it doesn't have to be the same event each time, I specifically said that so saying constant scavenger hunts is bogus. A different Immortal can host any event they want.

I just would like that or the 100+ days or something more often, that's all I'm suggesting. I never heard a single person whine about an event being held.

You probably shouldn't ask for feedback if you don't like hearing it. I only responded because you seemed to really want feedback. Suppose you prefer not to hear how bad your ideas are.

I wonder if the immortals feel the same way when you tell them their ideas are ####.

Also, again, no response earlier because weekend + exams.

So, I am somewhat in agreement with Tsunami here, though I would urge him to keep the discourse civil, but I also have some sympathy with you Torak. It is a difficult balance to strike. Here are my own personal thoughts..

Novelty is important:
You can see the issues associated with expectations and novelty clearly in the repeated attempts at the "Night of 100 Players" The first event was a major success because the staff gave it 100%, and the players responded well too. The benefits of later events were muted because the novelty had worn off. The same would apply to quests.

Creating this content is pretty time consuming:
Yes, I agree that quests and events are fun, but it takes a huge amount of time and energy (more than you might think) to design a major quest. Or write major plot lines. I have some experience in this, despite being a heroimm.

Mini-quests might be able to be run more frequently, but I have doubts about their benefits if they are run even twice a week. Eventually they just become a part of the ever-changing CF landscape and become relatively mundane for most players.

Running quests too frequently sets up the expectation that quests MUST be run:
To quote Niccolo Machiavelli on rewarding behavior, and giving favors as a "Prince" (which you can replace with any form of governance):

"There is nothing so self-defeating as generosity; a prince should guard himself, above all things, against being despised and hated; and generosity leads you to both. It is wiser to have a reputation as a miser, which brings disdain without hatred, than by seeking a reputation for generosity to incur a name for rapacity which begets both disdain and hatred."

(In essence the hand that feeds generously is going to get bitten badly if, for some reason (sometimes through no fault of the owner), the generousity in portioning gets withdrawn. It is a general observation about some of the perils of governance, and why well-intentioned leaders, with only the best in mind for their community, can go astray in action and intent. Interesting real-world examples of this include the slow dismantling of the welfare state in some European countries currently, and the civil unrest as a result.)

This is the problem which I perceive with the Role Xp, and Edge point system, and is evident in recent changes. As well as the problem I perceive with the extent of your proposal, in absolute terms. As much as I would love to do a quest daily, it just isn't practical from a time perspective, or from the perspective of general human psychology.

Final thoughts:
I do agree with the core message. New CF lore and the occasional large event adds a lot to the game, and rekindles interest in veterans. I don't question the logic there at all. It is just finding the correct balance between keeping the novelty, and engaging the players in the best possible way.

Furthermore, I maintain that players need to assume some responsibility for creating their own fun in the world which the community has created. Fun begets fun. If you create a positive experience/mindset for yourself as a player, it will have spillover effects on other players around you. If you can do that without any immortal presence, or expectations, even better, because at that stage 100% of the factors in your sessions will be under your direct control. Any kind of immteraction, or imm initiated fun will probably be an additional bonus on top of that.

If the problem is over rewarding or it becoming a novelty then just do it once a month. Something scheduled also helps out a lot for those of us that have busy schedules - there were a lot of people psyched up for Daev/Ray's scavenge hunt because it was announced in advance. If it's because it's a lot of work, then even something fun like the Twist trivia or an Arena competition would spice things up.

Maybe the Inn just needs to do more stuff...

Thanks for the thoughtful reply - that's really all I wanted more than this hostility.

nt

It's just another way people deal with the fact that they are complete failures as people. It strikes a sense of superiority that doesn't exist. Best to ignore it.

Nearly 40 views, not a peep.

But I doubt it would happen.

Scavenger hunts and such are kind of a novelty thing. What CF would benefit from I my view is more storyline driven quests. Like Empire finally getting round to attempting a Balator takeover, locking Thrym in an imperial dungeon and taking over the orphanage to get cheaper cents for a week. But only if players participate. The following week could be the fortress liberating the orphans, the battle ragers jail breaking Thrym, etc.

I made a post a while ago suggesting there be some automated 'invasion' mechanic to spawn a bunch of mobs in an area of different ranks with a boss mob controlled by an imm so you could just push the orcs/skeletons/whatever button and have an event provided there's an imm that week who can put a few hours in to controlling a mob. Would take more initial work but could be epic. Mobs could be only aggro to those within 5 levels of themselves and come in different varieties for participation at different ranks. Lowbies could take out goblins/zombies, heroes could gang the warlord/lich guards, orcs could join the horde or choose to try to take over, etc

Or you know, storyline driven quests. But I think there is actually one of those going on right now it's just not clear how to participate.

Is the main detractor from attracting new players IMO. Newer generations are spoiled by a society of instant gratification and don't have the attention span or dedication to stay focused on a game like this. Us older groups simply don't have time typically due to wives, children, and careers to give to what is required for this game now. I honestly think too much realism, some of which I am fine with, at the cost of gameplay fun has had the worst outcome to the player numbers as anything simply because the group of players that want to LIVE in and/or FOR the game has shrunk a great deal from when we were younger. That and the initial time investment and long term time investment has increased a good deal compared to when the game was younger, in many ways. This is not to say there have been only changes for the ill, as many changes have come in to help. Cap on EXP penalty to mob death was a nice change. Removing, at least it appears, EXP drain from mob energy drains is a nice change. There have been many nice changes, but many that just make it difficult to feel justified in the great amounts of time invested as a more older/mature adult.

I don't want to say that this is wrong. It's all perspective. It might be wrong for me and many others, but there are many players left, and immortals, that this kind of immersion is what they want above all else. Realism and RP should be so intense that they feel completely immersed. If this is where the game is decided to be, that's fine. But it won't retain as many players or be as inviting to as many players since those type of people are a very finite source.

You must be exasperating to deal with as an administrator