Where is everyone?

[Beachgamer]

One I will emphasize though is that general OOC toxicity on the forums and in other OOC communication medium related to our server the past few months has taken its toll, unfortunately, on some longstanding players and DMs. It can be difficult for some to wish to continue to participate in our community at no fault of their own when OOC negativity directed at them becomes enough to no longer make it fun to play here.

It is great and absolutely necessary to hear constructive feedback and criticism of fellow players' RP, the server, the DM team, etc., but toxic and negative, and even hostile, OOC feedback is never a positive thing to foster sustainable and constructive participation in a community like ours. We all need to keep this in mind going forward and do better as I personally know of a slew of players (and DMs) that have quit or are playing less due to negativity and toxicity directed at them specifically or generally (instead of constructive feedback and criticism or even compliments) that is just burning out their enjoyment on the server.

I am not singling anyone out here, but please everyone, try to be more positive and constructive in feedback and criticism to your peers in our community. It is a crucial recipe to making this a continually fun and awesome RPing environment for our niche RP community.

I look forward to seeing you all IC and us doing better on staying more OOC positive and constructive in our feedback to each other.

[NegInfinity]

Posting in a soon-to-be-locked thread

That's not the right way to do it.

Discussion is more or less polite right now, and if someone voices concern it is generally a good idea to address that concern. Locking the thread is pretty much equivalent to trying to shoo away the issue.

[Asmodea]

I can say that I think a complaint I hear quite often and occasionally run into myself is the feeling of lack of lasting importance to IC actions and decisions.

The draw of NWN 2 over other RP mediums -is- the ability to shift and change anything and everything and that sensation is lacking. The status quo is pretty stable; I am pretty sure that tomorrow will be the same as today and the same as last week and next month.

I play one of the more influential PCs on BGTSCC (Isabella Villame) and I waffle in my belief that I can do or say things that have any impact at all; I can only imagine what it must feel like for people less connected.

RP is the most enjoyable for me when hard choices are made either by myself or by others. Choices that lead to consequences.

The question as I see it, or at least the question that would help me is how to help spark that sensation that what we do impacts ourselves and others around us even if in the smallest way.

That's just my two coppers!

[joleda]

The server has only had a handful of developments that were long lasting.

The first that comes to my mind was the Gnoll infestation at the crossroads keep. There was a shrine to Bhaal inside, I think. Or was it a different deity? The Gnolls were driven away and the zone was remade into the Friendly Arm Inn.

Are there any plans for something similar? Something large or overarching? It could help.

[Asmodea]

The server has only had a handful of developments that were long lasting.

The first that comes to my mind was the Gnoll infestation at the crossroads keep. There was a shrine to Bhaal inside, I think. Or was it a different deity? The Gnolls were driven away and the zone was remade into the Friendly Arm Inn.

Are there any plans for something similar? Something large or overarching? It could help.

As a note I think actually small changes are easier to do and almost as good at giving the sensation of having impact. They need not even be changes applied to the server's build (Which require a ton of work) or even necessarily involve the DM team (Social and political interactions among PCs is often what ends up feeling 'the most important' in RP as things stand).

[Snarfy]

The server has only had a handful of developments that were long lasting.

The first that comes to my mind was the Gnoll infestation at the crossroads keep. There was a shrine to Bhaal inside, I think. Or was it a different deity? The Gnolls were driven away and the zone was remade into the Friendly Arm Inn.

Are there any plans for something similar? Something large or overarching? It could help.

Without giving too much away, there are some massive plots going on in the city of Baldurs Gate that would definitely benefit from more attention from both players and Guilds alike(the Virtuous Soil seems to be a whopper, at least 3 DM's are working on it that I know of).

Getting up to speed on or becoming involved in these plots, however, might be no small task, as many of the players and/or guilds that have been working on them are either very scarce, or they are working on them behind closed doors. My only advice here is to keep an eye on the elfsong plot threads as well as IG in the Gate and, with any luck, you'll find a way to get involved.

[Snarfy]

I can say that I think a complaint I hear quite often and occasionally run into myself is the feeling of lack of lasting importance to IC actions and decisions.

The draw of NWN 2 over other RP mediums -is- the ability to shift and change anything and everything and that sensation is lacking. The status quo is pretty stable; I am pretty sure that tomorrow will be the same as today and the same as last week and next month.

I play one of the more influential PCs on BGTSCC (Isabella Villame) and I waffle in my belief that I can do or say things that have any impact at all; I can only imagine what it must feel like for people less connected.

RP is the most enjoyable for me when hard choices are made either by myself or by others. Choices that lead to consequences.

The question as I see it, or at least the question that would help me is how to help spark that sensation that what we do impacts ourselves and others around us even if in the smallest way.

That's just my two coppers!

I have to both agree and disagree with the notion that player characters have little or zero impact in the larger scheme of things. The contributions made to the recent Beregost plot by numerous players is a perfect example of a 'lasting importance to IC actions and decisions'.

On the flip side, I definitely understand the perception that some characters who are less connected might not be able to have an impact. Then again, perhaps this is a result of their own disbelief(please try not to waffle, Isabella kicks ass!) or just plain apathy towards making an impact.

If I'm being totally fair, I would have to say that the players who seem content to live within the status-quo bubble of personal RP/grinding/leveling far outnumber the ones with the mojo/ambition or know-how to work towards achieving a lasting importance.

Part of the problem, as I see it, is a complex one that revolves around the *(edit)less inclusive nature of niche groups and the walls that a player will have to dig through in order to put themselves in a position to make an impact(which often, but not always, involves working with guilds, both focal and non-focal, and getting attention from DM's).

That being said, having an impact is possible(I can personally attest to this... but only vaguely) for every and any player who wants it, but it is not an easy task, and it requires a player to truly put aside personal ego.

Ok, I'll stop rambling now.

[Empoweredfan]

It was a good ramble Snarfy. Pretty much hit the nail there. We are less inclusive than we used to be. That is good. That gives us something to improve ourselves on. =)

[Calodan]

Snarfy has a point. I think here when you go to do something they want it to mean something and if it is easy does it really feel like an accomplishment? I mean if the USMC ever just handed me my Eagle Globe and Anchor pin right off being a Marine would mean nothing. It was the struggle and the fight. The journey on the way that made it worth while. I would have to say that holds true for anything we do in life. I have tried to make impacts and I tend to fall short. Not because of the server but because of me. PCs like Miss Villame and others are a big part of how this world is set and now a lot of the organizers are taking a break and moving on for a bit. This is where we as players who have always wanted to make impacts are supposed to step up. I know I have been running a story thread once weekly to kind of build Kory up properly after all these years of finding him and his RP ways. There are many things happening but it needs a general or a leader to be taken care of. We as players need to be open to each other and to push each other to be excellent RPers. It is only through unity that we will see this server grow back into what it once was.


Game on! Peace be the journey!

[chad878262]

Some good ideas in this thread. I still think that it primarily boils down to attitude and perception. What dialectic and snarfy said has a lot of merit. If folks take a breath and remember other players (and DMs!) Are actual people on the other side of the computer screen things would improve vastly. A lot of folks are so bitter and upset, perhaps with good reason, but you get more bees with honey than vinegar. If there is something you want to do, but need help to accomplish rp it, ask for help and moat important be patient and persistent. Good things come to those who wait and all that.

[NeOmega]

Lots of patting ourselves on the back and giving "man in the mirror" speeches.

That's not really moving forward. It is vapid lyrical flourishes.

People talking about hard work to make a change in the world:
Yes, I suppose if you want to be Napoleon, or Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or Ghandi, it does take work and sacrifice. But when I am talking changes, I mean micro-changes. So you don't have to be buddy-buddy with DM's to change something, and spend four months in a long campaign to get a sign erected or temple built.

Minor ones:
Things like a bard being able to change the music in a level or a druid being able to plant a tree or shrub. Perhaps a new NPC animal spawn in a forest.

somewhat minor ones:
A new armor look or weapon look, an item added to the hall of wonders or temple of Gond. This item could be something the priest there sells for a month, and it gives a bonus to one of the craft item abilities, and simply has to be in inventory, like a reverse curse. Or maybe an item that has 10 charges in it, (and doesn't cost 35000 gold), to increase craft skills a bit.

Something like the ability to cast flavorful elemental spells, ie a follower of Akadi can now cast summon greater *air* elemental instead of summon greater elemental.

A paladin gets a greater reward for purifying undead remains, and destroying scrolls of create undead and create greater undead. Now you have paladins seeking these things out, asking others to seek them out for them. Now you have PLAYER GENERATED QUESTS based on SEMI-PREDICTIBILITY, and as a side bonus, the ability to talk about necromancy without it being so hush-hush, so other necromancers have a cover for asking about such things, and can group together IC.

bigger ones:
An artificer getting an item set added to the loot drop. A character retiring, becoming an NPC, and having a small, one time quest challenge based on his primary "roll skill", be it perform, bluff, intimidate, or something like that. You meet the NPC, go "whoa, 40 sense motive check, I'll be back, I'll remember you!" Look. The player made a difference. He is off playing others now, but he is remembered.

A necromancer introduces a new spawn to the fields of the dead for a month.

Getting a "mercenary companion" for a week.

These don't even have to last forever, they can last an hour, a minute, a week, a month or a year instead.
When you go to the graveyards, and undead peasants and undead patrols spawn periodically, you know some necromancer did something.

What I'd like to see, is, every time a new spell is added, or a map is changed, loot items added, or even area added, it is announced that players will have to figure out how to do so. It isn't just given as a new toy. It is earned through RP, questing, etc.

And again, how would this work?

semi-predictability and level restriction, although level restriction is not necessary.*

Semi-predictablity means:
Every spawn has a chance of dropping a particular item.
Example: all living spawns might drop their type of meat. It is sell-able to a merchant for 5 or 10 gold coins, it is eatable for healing, stackable to 99, weighs 0.0. Some is only usable by some races (forgive my lack of lore, but humans would not be able to eat goblin meat or gibberling meat, unless they had UMD or perhaps a feat).

But lets say, the player really wants an orc mercenary "animal companion".

First, he would have to find the Orc NPC. This particular one in stubborn though. He doesn't work for gold. Only goblin meat, and as long as you keep feeding him, he stays. When you stop, he disappears and reappears in the woods of sharp teeth as an NPC, looking for work.

The necromancer? Perhaps he has to take 990 undead remains to another necromancer near the underdark, who will give him a wand that can cast "dark desecration" on the BG graveyard once.

I know I'm gonna hear "that just encourages grinding, and not really RP, it's like mining"

Can we please just drop the charade once and for all?

BGTSCC is not a chat room. It is not even Ultima Online, as some have noted, so no merchants or other commoner classes. (too bad, but you know, the rulers have made their ruling). It is a game of mass murder, war, and killing over and over again, with a little talk here and there. Look at the people who constantly complain about XP, or fear XP "exploits" or complain about "favoritism". What is the ultimate end? What is the big deal if there is "favoritism"? Oh, he gets the big bad weapon or armor from a DM? Is it some kind of wonderful RP armor, that makes the DM's buddy RP better? No, it's armor for killing, for grinding, for doing everything this community tries to deny it is.

So again, I stress, MECHANICAL, PLAYER DRIVEN QUESTS based on SEMI-PREDICTABILITY will make the server FLOURISH.











*So, I know many are thinking, "well, if a level 20 necromancer wanted to collect 990 undead remains, he would just grind the graveyard for three days straight" I encourage you to look at the way gibberling hearts work. They are really powerful, I want an unlimited supply of them, personally. But, going through the caves for my level 20 weapon master to get a gibberling heart is not how I want to spend 30 minutes with him. Secondly, there really is no benefit to the necromancer for doing this, except just to be evil.

[DMogorgon]

I also think one or two people here are underestimating their impact on the server. I am a relatively new player and their characters "legends" are very well known to mine, completely in character.

a nice sentiment. more people need to hear things like this.

[DM Bloodlust]

The server has only had a handful of developments that were long lasting.

The first that comes to my mind was the Gnoll infestation at the crossroads keep. There was a shrine to Bhaal inside, I think. Or was it a different deity? The Gnolls were driven away and the zone was remade into the Friendly Arm Inn.

Are there any plans for something similar? Something large or overarching? It could help.

Something large and overarching, is the metaplot, which has never been more open to the public than it is now. All someone has to do is contact someone who is already taking part, or send in a player request based on the metaplot, like from what you can read here.

[DreWalker]

that underdark event with the slimes was so fun. when our little group got focused on something that may not have been the intention of the DM, rather than rush us along to the end of the area, the DM stayed and added to what we all got focused on. Very fun!

ps I blame summer

[maulofthetitans55]

I would imagine the months of non stop DDoS had a lasting effect on the server. That and NWN2 is very hard to set up these days.

Most online stores still sell the unpatched version and ppl won't go through the annoying process of patching manually and figuring out you need skywing. If someone doesn't figure out an easy way to get started, NWN2 will go from mostly dead to completely dead in the not too distant future.

Weeding out a few of the toxic, impulsive DM's wouldn't hurt either.