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How could the mud encourage newbies through tough times without making gameplay easier for them on average?
For instance, when a PC dies, maybe the player sees a list showing things they did right in terms of personal bests and improvements over their last death. Keep track of enough stuff (time survived records, Mob kill records, PK records, gold earned, etc.) and there's nearly always something encouraging that could be highlighted.
Maybe skill improvements could be frontloaded to occur the first time you use each skill after a death, but subsequently not occur the next time they normally would. You get the same reward you could expect anyway, but it's all packed in right when you're feeling blue.
Similarly, XP could be backloaded in that you get more XP per creature the longer you stay at a certain level. Immediately after gaining a new level, XP gains could drop significantly to balance out the earlier help. Basically, your overall pace of leveling should remain the same, but the bumps and lulls should be smoothed out some.
Encourage good mental health associated with the game. Give a small XP reward to players who log in after being logged out for a minimum number of hours. Along with that, reward players who choose to quit on a high note after a minimum number of hours in game. This could be done by asking them if they want to quit as soon as their adrenaline stops pumping after gaining a level or successfully PKing someone. By training people to quit when they're happy, you will be training them to remember the game more fondly than they would otherwise.
And similar to my first suggestion, when a player does choose to end their game session, give them a long list of reasons to be happy with what progressed. Include every single thing with which they could possibly impress themselves. Furthermore, I think Seantryn Modan must be destroyed.
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