Q&A: Answers To Questions From The Board - 2006-04-03

[marct]

This is a TOOL, not a GAME. As I understood it, R2 was going to sell itself and Ryzom to new and old players alike.

I think this sums up what you said very well. This is a tool you are building. Stop treating it like content. The content is the results of the tool, and the good tool users will rise to the top.

Instead of offering the tool up and encouraging everyone to use it, you are actually discouraging people that know about it, and going to discourage people when they come in and try to check out the newest thing (R2).

Discouraging anyone is not a good idea for this.



I keep going back to the fact that what you really want to do is point out the best creators, and reward the best creators with something else. Whether it is points to use for hosting, points to use to buy gear(shirts, hats, mousepads), slots on the homepage for the best creators, etc.


Edit: I fear most of the business sense has left the company in the latest downsizing, and what is left is the folks to maintain and build new content. That is great, but someone needs to run business plans and model the uptake, etc in different scenarios. The scenario you are creating goes nowhere, and that is what has the people here worried.

[cloudy97]

I'm sure it's not as bad as you make it sound.

The point of this is to make the game last longer. If you, as a new player, from day one can make a scenario with 200 uber kinchers invade a town area deep in Prime Roots - what can top that?

In my opinion we shouldn't be able to use content we haven't experienced first hand yet, and that is ONLY to keep the game interesting for us. Nevermind the quality of the scenarios.

[evalisa]

In my opinion we shouldn't be able to use content we haven't experienced first hand yet, and that is ONLY to keep the game interesting for us. Nevermind the quality of the scenarios.

^
i like that idear

[dazman76]

Yep, definitely agree on that one

[jamela]

No, I completely disagree. If someone can make a great invasion scenario I don't care who they are or what their history on Atys is. Simply making a PR town and making 200 uber kitin invade it isn't going to interest many people for long, is it?

Dagger's wonderful unfinished trilogy included no uber kitin at all and no PR and tops your scenario without breaking sweat, Ulani.

Just because you may have access to items and landscapes that you have never seen doesn't mean that they will be any less rewarding when you do then come across them in their natural form, on Atys.

[jamela]

I'm with Daz, Oud and Noin (even if I couldn't wade through all of Daz's post just yet ); don't impose limits on creativity! It's a tool, not a game, you learn to best use a tool by using it and experimenting and playing with it. I disagree with Xavier entirely about having to grind before I can place a Kami sentinel in a scenario.

Ahh, the good old debate: "pro or anti XP"...
....
But I know it will feel much better to place a sexy Kami the day I have to win it.

For a game to last it must hold interest. Atys is already a masterpiece of creativity capable of holding a great deal of interest in its own right, but many people have still wandered away. There are few outstanding puzzles: where are Lixie, Sirgio and Pei; how does this damn weather affect digging?

Are interesting ideas inspired by having to grind through some kind of progression in order to win some fancy tools? I don't think so. Fascinating stories and puzzles arise first and then you try to work out how to make them work. They may be told with very simple tools, but if the tools are too simple the idea may be difficult, dissatisfying or impossible to realise. In which case you look for another tool to bring your idea to life.

Edit: Just remembered that actually, dull, grinding work does inspire some very interesting ideas in me. I don't think anyone else would enjoy them, though, least of all my managers. Not really something you'd want to encourage in Ryzom

[dazman76]

Hehe, sorry about that I do tend to waffle on sometimes Oh btw, my "I agree" above was related to brand new players not being able to create uber kitin I still don't have a workable solution for it tho, that doesn't lead back to levels or time ingame There has to be a way to make it both fair and rewarding for new and old players alike...

[cloudy97]

Jamela, I agree with you - it doesn't make any difference for making the scenarios or playing them. Telling a story is more than spawning mobs, of course.

Exploring is a big thing with Ryzom, and I think it's important to keep up the interest of the 'real' Atys after Ring is launched.

And for what it's worth - I am still level 89 after 7 month in game. Wont get all the toys, I'm sure.

[dazman76]

And for what it's worth - I am still level 89 after 7 month in game. Wont get all the toys, I'm sure.

This is also where my problem lies The only skill I tried to grind back in the day was Forage - and I only managed to get that to 120 or something My healing is roughly the same, with elemental being around 80 and the rest are nowhere.

But, I've seen most of Atys - not to map resource or mob locations, but just to explore the planet. In fact I probably did as much solo exploring as I did skill levelling. I've seen virtually every area of the planet at least for a short visit, and probably 90% or thereabouts of the mobs. But my levels are low, and that's the way they're likely to stay

If I've seen something in game, there's every chance I'll have a reason to use it within a scenario - I haven't planned my scenarios, although I have several ideas to get started with. If I decide I want a group of Kirosta in my mission, I want Kirosta - not souped-up Kipee because the Kirosta aren't accessible 'yet'.

For me, this boils down to 1 thing, and 1 thing only. Whilst I appreciate the 'don't let new players have everything' reasoning, and agree with it, I just can't see how limiting time-served players (who have kept this company running for months, remember?) is going to achieve anything at all, for either Nevrax or *those* players. Also, as I said before, after reading the "we're doing OK, but need more players" news item, I assumed that Nevrax would want as many people as possible to enjoy R2. For existing players, this means opening the content, and forgetting points or levels achievements. Reward your faithful players. That is all. Those guys will be happy creating content for new players, but they also want to create it for themselves. Level 250s won't be interested in playing through "Attack on Yubo Village".

If there is no physical price tag attached to owning more options, for the love of god please attach one If you must use points systems and rewards, apply them to new players only. Above all else, please remember the number of people in this community, hoping that R2 brings the new spark they've waiting for MONTHS to happen - people have said they're "hanging on" for R2, which means if R2 wasn't on it's way, they'd probably be gone by now. Please think about your current players Nevrax, they are as crucial to the success of R2 as any other factor involved.

[marct]

If there is no physical price tag attached to owning more options, for the love of god please attach one If you must use points systems and rewards, apply them to new players only. Above all else, please remember the number of people in this community, hoping that R2 brings the new spark they've waiting for MONTHS to happen - people have said they're "hanging on" for R2, which means if R2 wasn't on it's way, they'd probably be gone by now. Please think about your current players Nevrax, they are as crucial to the success of R2 as any other factor involved.

While I can somewhat see your point with new players, I disagree. New players may come to Ryzom JUST for R2. I can imagine a group of 50 or less hardcore pencil and paper RPG guides in the first wave. If they come in and see they are limited, when all they want to do is create awesome scenarios and run them, well then expect to chase most of them off.

What is it that you are worried about Nevrax. Are you trying to stall them to get more money out of them before they cap out and leave? The easy solution for this would be to add content to the ring more quickly, not to limit it so folks feel crippled.

If it is items you are lacking, you have a very very talented community. Put a weekly contest out there for modeled and skinned items. Theme these, and put restrictions on them. (i.e. We are looking for models of pots, boxes, and general ambience items such as these. They must be less than 100 polygons each, and mapped with a 128x128 map. ) I am sure you could get at least a dozen new items a week. Heck you could probably even get modeled and animated creatures from the very talented folks.

All of this would allow your developer hours for Ring to be spent on enhancing the capabilites. All submissions would come to you guys, and with an intern or two under the direction of a staff member, these new items could be integrated into the Ring system at an alarming rate. Sure you would get some crap, but the 30% you put in would do 2 things, it would allow for folks to express their creativity, thus feeling part of the ring, and it would allow for more objects to be coming into game for the scenarios that are being developed, thus keeping the scenario builders thrilled. Heck, the community could vote on the models, so that task is even out of your hands.

Heck, I imagine you would even find folks that would qualify as worthy to create maps.

The thing I can't get over is that you are trying to have people create content for you! If that is the case why would you want to limit or discourage them from doing your job for you? You should be handing out the keys to the castle as soon as they are available to keep the folks interested and creating scenarios. Even though you may not wish it to be the case, R2 is going to take ongoing staff development hours.



Can I get a phone number to call and talk to somebody. This is really just silly, someone needs to wake up and realize what is going on here.

Is there not a mission statement or a purpose behind the ring?


oh that's right POWER TO THE PLAYERS where does this talk about limiting them, or stifiling their creativity?

P.S. You are already requiring someone to have a Ryzom account to build content for you. Shouldn't that be enough?