Why's everybody leaving?

[Sebryn]

Just curious what the sudden "pack up our shit and leave" mentality's all about.

If you're one of the ones leaving, vote on what that reason is.

[DropThat]

I think mostly what its about is..... you guessed whats coming NEXT (fanfare) lack of people. do you ever wonder why there arent many people coming IN. the fact is, most of the time the game has 11 or less people in it, sometimes its even down to 1 or 2. if I wanted to go around talking to NPCs and whacking shit all by myself all day, I'd play a single player game. even if your RP for a char is a loner, there's still interaction between you and others when they cross your path or try to attack or help you. I think its an amalgum of all things. lack of RP+lack of people+OOC groups+newbs who get banned and those famous perma banned ISPs (which are the ones that most people in the US connect to for internet). I've said it before, and here it comes again. its a hell of a lot easier and less hassle to go to another game then
A.) wait in the banned room FOREVER while the imms ignore you like the bastards they are.
B.) finally get told that if you want to play get another ISP( at which most will say fuck this shit Im leaving)
C.) cancel your subscription and reset your whole internet on comp to work with a new ISP ( changing the mailbox to receive mail from different servers, setting a dial up connection, recustomizing everything, and so on.)(trust me on this one, even if you guys are uber comp users tonnes of people cant even do simple things like these ones) the latter are for very isolated examples, but the whole is still basically true.

still it is probably a combination of all the factors of ooc lack of players lack of rp and all the fighting and bitching that is driving people off. Im glad I could help

You know why it's lost its flavor? because these reasons make it no fun. d u h!


and it also might be that its stagnating. the thing which said religions are soon to be intruduced has been there forever. ANd who ever the hell gave the analogy too many cooks spoil the broth to one of my posts, youre a retard. who many people do you think work on the commercial games? thats what I thought. if these guys were serious about trying to work through this slump, they'd ask for help, make people who begin working on the project know every inch of code and how everything works by heart, and then ask them to do little things, incrementally increasing their workload as they proved they could do it well.

I mean how many vets are still here from so long ago? they've proven theyre trustworthy, get them to help out.

[Bones V2.0]

It's several reasons listed, and some that aren't.

It's just lost it's flavor.

Nothing wrong with the mud, save DropThat and Dobson, I just need a change.

Maybe I'm just plain tired. I've been playing this game pretty much non-stop since the first age, and I need something new.

[Quiet Wanderer]

Maybe it's just me, I don't know, but it seems like life itself is just so shook up and screwed up that not many people are able to devote time to AR. I doubt this MUD will die anytime soon, but all things goes through a slump then a revival. Right now there is a lot of things happening (America wise atleast) and I think we're experiencing a 'backlash' of sorts from people just getting bored of life itself. All you hear is war this, abuse that, this country hates America for this reason, X people died today. As funny as it is, I think a lot of this war has 'jaded' some of America. Of course, as always, this is one mans opinion, and I am mostly likely wrong, but thats me two cents worth.

Oh, DropThat, give it up before I get bored and find out where you live and come track you down. I have finals coming up, and your posts docking my IQ is not needed. Accept that you are wrong, and that what you want is not going to happen any time soon, if at all. The IMMs have bigger crap on their plates than to cater to such a minor whining that dosen't really matter.

[Rezakhan]

I'll hold off personally making any guesses about reasons people are leaving until enough time has passed to see if they really are serious about leaving. Someone a while ago said that "you don't post a farewell message if you're serious about leaving the game"--I feel like a lot of the people leaving recently are mad about some aspect or other and want their leaving to cause a stir and bring attention to their complaints.

[Bones V2.0]

[Burzuk]

I think the question is as nebulous as "what's the meaning of life?"

Everyone has their own answers. There will be some for whom the answer is the same as it is for others.

The question could just as easily be framed, "why are you staying on AR?" since it takes an active effort to maintain a character in any persistent gaming world.

Neither leaving AR nor starting a new career at AR are exactly new things.

IMO the results of the background player-counting script is far more relevant than individual "packing my shit up and leaving" forum posts. But that's my view of it, anyways.

First rule of running a mud is that no mud can please everyone, or even most people. C'est la vie.

[Rezakhan]

Wasn't directing my post towards you at all, Bones. I was thinking more of the people who have detailed leaving messages involving "I'm tired of the lack of RP, lack of good players, lack of pbase, etc. etc." In that vein, I know that I personally have had at least two farewell messages in the past involving similiar goodbye posts, and I came back fairly quickly each time. So don't take my musings on the current crop of farewells as criticism--more like a been there, done that type of thing.

[marsd]

I'd say, besides taking the background tracking script that burzuk has, how about we take our own logs and count the max number of players on?

It struck TheObserver and myself when we were looking through some logs that the playerbase was the same, with peak periods of about 35 to 45, (sometimes more during holidays), and slump period of 5 to 10, and generally 15 to 25 all around besides those times.

Well for resons why people are leaving:
1. Real life encounters, (boy/girl friends, school start, got a life career etc etc)
2. New interests (Like my other friends go into mmorpgs, other online games, FPS etc etc)
3. Newbies who come and go just to test the mud for a few days
4. Newbies who come and just want to flame

Hmm, that's about it. Everyone else's lame reasons like: Fuck this shit MUD IS BULLSHIT the IMMS HERE CAN SUCK MY WANG etc etc aren't worthed it to be taken as a valid reason.

[theobserver]

::agrees with birdy::

The player base not falling radically. If you take the statistics over a large enough time frame (as in years), you will notice that our playerbase has been stable for a number of years now.

Considering how little AR has changed in the last three or four years, I find it remarkable that so many people are still around. How long do people play commercial rpg's? three , four weeks before the Next Big Thing (tm) comes along. To be playing the same game for years is a strong sign of a good design and a good community.
*************
And in case any one actually cares where I am, Im busy doing my final degree exams.

[Sebryn]

Just to clarify, I was a bit sarcastic in making this post.

Granted, the forums have been spotted with "Goodbye, cruel world" messages from a few peeved individuals, but I didn't mean to imply that I thought EVERYONE was leaving AR. In fact, as I'm writing this there are 21 players online, 6 of which are newbies. There ya go.

[ssgtortho]

Know why I am sick of AR?

1. Lack of new races/classes/skills/spells/areas exc. You may tweak and change, but you don't add. I have heard about religions for quite a while now, and it always says 'comming soon', but soon here might be after the end of the world.
2. The elitiest attitude among players. Most players know who other players are, and what char they play. Unless you have been here since the first age, and played constantly since then, good luck doing anything. I have been playing AR every day for the last 5 months at least 4 hours a day. I have YET to get caballed. I rped one arogent SOB Storm Paladin and couldn't get into any cabal I applied to. Yet this one guy I was playing with who said he "Remembered many past lives of Thera" Got into the Hearalds Cabal, NO problem.

[Sebryn]

You say you're playing quite a bit, but are you improving? Can you honestly say that your skills have improved, and are continuing to improve?

I'm not meaning this as a dig at you, I'm being serious. If you think you're getting better, then try getting into the Warlords... if your combat skills are good enough. If they're not good enough for you to get in, then work on them. You want to see if your RP skills are good enough? Have a conversation with some of the 50s around town... apply for the Heralds, see if there's something you're missing.

It's not all about "who you know," or "which character so-and-so plays that is in a cabal I want into." It's more about skill and learning from mistakes. I've still got a long way to go before I'm even CLOSE to being comfortable with my skill level and knowledge of AR. It's a lot of ground to cover, and you can't expect it to be mastered in just a few months, regardless of how "much" you play. You might have the quantity and the time invested, but it doesn't mean you're learning anything and applying what you've learned.

[Adebaldi]

[Burzuk]

[marsd]

lol adebaldi, nicely put. But your forum sig is kinda wrong.. Should be: A once intelligent man said, '.. etc etc'

[lookingaround]

Deiminos is the main reason. But other than that, I cannot play without being harrassed. Why would I play where I have to either sit in my guild, or fight some loser who sits on his computer hours a day and does zero roleplaying? There is nothing to do at level 50 except for gather equipment or pk, and I really do not find any fun in pking. But it is not my choice because trash(deiminos) will attack regardless of anything anyone says, or even if they have no reason to attack. Pk is very fragile, and with trashy players ruining all the activities of players, they will leave. When I first started reading these forums, I read that people believed that the player base will soon be completely gone. I did not believe this would happen, but now I know it will. Soon, the only players will be ppl who level up to 30 and stop, or trash level 50's like dieminos who waste everyones time. I really liked this mud, and I still do, but I do not like the enviorment any longer. I hope one day the Immortals are able to restore Abandoned Realms' glory and do away with trash, or regulate them. I want to play, not fight trashy players all day long who have no reason to kill. It has just become too tiresome and other muds will offer me the peace of mind I seek. Good bye all, especially those who were friends.

[Adebaldi]

If you actually interacted with him you would see that his RP is actually pretty good.

[Clifton]

I don't think it's so much his rp as it is the frustration he instills with multikill and hiding behind special guards and laws...

[Quiet Wanderer]

Other than the above mentioned things by Cliffton, Deim is one of the best characters I have met in game. He is on AR quite frequently, and adds humor to the atmosphere. Even though the 'humor' gets dangerous once you rank into his PK range, it's all part of the game.

I still think it's severely corrupt to use Special Guards and that whatnot against Knights, and to be able to attack them in town is just wrong. They're supposed to be protecting those in town, and creating, not attacking them. I undertsand the whole OUTLAW bit, but I still believe they shouldn't be able to attack in town, when they're supposed to keep the town peaceful. Saying that attacking Knights Cabal member in town is to 'prevent' chaos is bs. This whole war is getting quite stupid, as somehow, within minutes yesterday of Deiminos being attacked by three Knights, Drengar appears in game? This may very well be happy coincedence, but seems strange to me. I don't doubt Deiminos PK ability though, because I've seen him take and win such odds before, or if not, give the Knights a sore spot.

I just see a lot of problems with Justices, Drengar and Argoris probbaly the least, most of the burden laying on Deiminos. Yet again though, it's just my opinion, and still being slightly green to ARs inner workings, I may be missing things. Just seems Deim especially is corrupt. I do like his character though, and as of now it hasn't gotten to be an issue with me yet. I can just see where other people are complaining, as of yet I haven't experienced it because I'm working on a newer character and am just now getting close to fortieth rank. We shall see if my opinon changes abotu him though, neh?

---- Edit: --------

Shouldn't all the places where people can talk of Deim just be condensed into one big thread? Seems like we're taking up a lot of space.