new player input

[Coulter]

After having played in shadowmoor and run a larp of my own for a few months I feel that I might have some input as to how shadowmoor can attract and retain more new players. I write this because I have read that shadowmoor needs new players to continue and I would hate to see another larp cease due to financial problems.

My first suggestion would be to work with new players and characters on their story and activities within shadowmoor. A way to make players feel as if they are part of the living story rather than an extra in some one else's adventure. I made it a point to collect a story from each new player to work with them and give them a place and a story that we kept on file to further that story.

One of the things we noticed in our third event was that the players that had played the first 2 events were killing the new players and taking their loot at the end of the game. This was discouraging many of our new players because they had no recourse. Thus our justice system was born. We had an npc judge and sheriff posse and we even had a trial which many of the players enjoyed as they were used as witnesses or attorneys.

The last observation I have from my time with shadowmoor is the slow leveling system with diminishing returns. There is a reason WoW is popular, it is a game that offers fast rewards and a quick leveling system and players are drawn to that model over other games. The concept of semi mandatory character retirement is a good solution to characters that become too powerful after in this system.

Thank you for reading what I have to say. I mean this to help the shadowmoor game and community and not as a criticism. Any questions or input would be welcome. 

[Chris Lynch]

In truth none of the things you brought up are new subjects.  People do get asked at the beginnings of each season to write up characters histories and such, which is really something for the player to think about and help them with their concept.  It would take a lot of effort for 6 very hard working plot members to make absolutely everyone feel like they're being focused on individually.  This really is a group game.  If you're lucky and you really make an effort as a roleplayer then you'll get your personal moment, but its takes time, a lot of time, to get to that and it definitely wont become a normal thing.  Obviously, the larger the population the more group focused a game gets.  We're small compared ot our big sister Clanthia, which runs an almost completely group oriented game due to large numbers (80-100+).

Concerning pvp and laws, I don't really have much to say.  The theme of Shadowmoor is a frontier town run by basic druid-type laws that are up to players to interpret.  We are left to resolve our issues inplay as our characters without NPC interference.  Personally, thats how I like it.  Nothing irritates me more than when a plot member feels like they need to stick their noses into pc on pc business.  This is just the theme of this chapter of SOLAR.  It isn't a game mechanic nor a part of the game that needs to be improved out of play.

On a side note:  If people are concerned with people killing their characters then I'd follow these simple rules:  1) Who cares, your character isn't real. 2) Real life playground rules apply kids:  when the bully dumps sand in your hair find a kid bigger than him to make friends with and try your best not to look like a potential victim.

Leveling.  Yep getting to a good level where you can do something sucks, and nope its definitely not WoW, its a larp.  Every larp I've ever attended (and if been to several) had a similar time frame for leveling.  Most of the fun of the game is getting new stuff every event.  In WoW once I get to max level, grab my epic mount, raid for my tier 69 gear, and pwn noobs in BGs....well, I stop playing wow for a while.  I assure you that in the 14 years of Shadowmoor, the 20 years of SOLAR, and the 25 years of NERO from which SOLAR came from the leveling system has been looked at.  Patience is a virtue.  I was irritated too when my character was relatively low level.  Thems the breaks.  If we all leveled quickly then we'd all make new characters just as quickly.

Well, there is my take from a guy that has played for a hot minute.


Random thing:  Hey cool, SOLAR is mentioned in the history section of NERO's wikipedia page! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NERO_International#History_of_the_New_England_Role_Playing_Organization

[Chris Lynch]

Btw,  super props to the New Player Committee for taking the time out of their day to do newbie mods and whatnot!