[Sombalance]

Somewhere, and I thought it was in this thread, but I may be wrong and I'm too lazy to go look for it, I thought someone implied that RPIs are seeing a decline in players, both new and old. The exception appearing to be Attonement which has started out strong, and I believe will likely stay strong if they manage to come up with a good method of attracting new players who might not otherwise pick an RPI. The posts from people who have been associated with that game have been positive and open.

I consider this to be in sharp contrast to many of the people who post in support of RPIs. Way too often, I see posts that have something like "someone who actually has an imagination and has put themselves right into their stories" to describe someone who plays an RPI as opposed to someone who doesn't, which always strikes me as insulting to those who don't play RPIs.

Anyhow, are any of the existing RPIs (lets say that have been live for a year) seen a growth or a decline in their population? Is there an RPI that is noted for drawing in new players? Are there non-RPIs that are roleplaying muds that are noted for drawing in new players and that are growing? It does seem like one problem all RP games have in common is that the longer they are open, the more involved the story becomes and the harder it is for a new player to "catch up". Is anyone dealing well with this issue?

Now, I know some people like to say "our players are better than your players, so it doesn't matter if we have less players you", but that's just noise. Players are what they are and everyone has good ones and bad ones and a lot that fall in between.

Instead of picking at each, maybe if we look at what is working well now, we might be able to adapt and improve the games we play. And yes, all things have to adapt. If you think you have it perfect and aren't willing to consider change, then you are just marking time until the end comes.