Got your attention, huh? This little editorial is not about Forsaken World directly, but it does have potential applications to our beloved MMO, once it opens. Interested? Read on...
Taking a break from "All things Perfect World", I recently stumbled on a novel little game. It's a cell-shaded, anime-influenced racer, and it's name rhymes with "Cliff Ditty". I'm not going to use it's actual name, not for "not advertising a non-PWE game", more for "I have some unflattering observations".
I've played it for 3 days, now, and leveled up to lvl 32. It's a cool looking game, with fun, automobile-inspired quests, and some really nice features. Really good for a F2P game. But it has one major game-breaking feature, one that no developer on Earth can readily fix...it's community.
But that's not the "game breaking" part. It's the players, themselves.Never have I seen such a group of noob-calling, skill-insulting, scam-trying elitist jerks. They run amok, like it's a private server, or something. Auction House prices range in the *millions*. And it seems like the GM's are doing all they can to deflate the game's economy, with prizes, and "voluntary raffle tickets". It almost seems like the lunatics are running the asylum.
Now, this post is not about bemoaning Cliff Ditty, (though it is sad, it's a game that deserves better, imo), rather to emphasize the "non-programmable" aspects of a mmo that can be it's own undoing. Let's say, (for argument's sake) that Forsaken World has been "live' for 2 years, now..the community has fluctuated, with people coming, and going. Now, a new person comes in, and finds that "nobody wants to talk to a noob". How long does that person stay? Not long. As this continues, over time, veteran players move on, and nobody new joins up. All the existing veterans have bought all they're going to, and the new players don't feel attached enough to spend anything of theirs. Revenues drop. Servers get taken offline. Game companies move on. The games dies off, prematurely.
That's where it comes down to us, as a Forsaken World Community, to pave the way, and set the standard for how we're going to run our community. I'm not talking about moderators, or GM's, I'm talking about *we*, the players. How are WE going to treat each other, and those who follow?
Will we:
A) make a conscious effort to be civil to one another, and remember what it was like to be "new",
or
B) run Forsaken World like our own individual kingdom, and all who join later, our rightful serfs?
In doing the former, we ensure a greater play experience for all, for a long, long time. In doing the latter, we consign ourselves to disappointment, and the eternal nagging of "what might have been".
Sure, this post is a *theoretical*, but just remember, that post you make in the forums today will be "ancient history" later, (and not every one who reads a post comments, of course), so what did that anonymous reader take from your literary mark. Did it breed negativity, or did it show at least a grain of common decency, and fellow player respect? Those attitudes, moreso than the words of your post ,are what leave with the reader.
We are now, at this very moment, setting the cornerstones for our community. We are setting the tone for the growth of the FW community.Think heavily on that. If you can't be "nice", at least be civil. We have a hugely diverse player demographic, with people from (literally) all over the world. I'm not saying we should all start singing "We are the world"., or anything, but understanding that there is more to the world than *your* part of it is a big step forward.
Because the last thing I'd want is some reader looking back at this post, years from now, and saying "Wow, Autumnal was right". I do NOT want to be right, on this one. And that will take all of us.
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