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shevegen · 07-19-2017, 10:35 PM

This reply will probably not be of much help to Dionae since I refer to ancient days - the 1990s era.

Xyllomer was great in the middle-to-late 1990s era. Peak count was +60 players online at the same
time, for about ~2 years, with a more "serious" count between +40 and +50 there.

Due to various reasons, both internal and external, that number dwindled downwards. Some of the
external is that the old text-based way to play games found a lot of competition with graphical
clients; some internal problems being wrong technical decisions made leading to player retention
going downhill.

The GEAS codebase derived from Xyllomer, with several modifications.

The comment by Dionae about the combat system is correct - but these changes were already
made during or shortly after the beta day, so 1998 to 2002 or something like that.

With 2018 being just about, that is ... a 16 years gap.

GEAS did not have the same high count of players but it has had a range between +20 players
active at peak count in 2010, and +18 and +17 in 2012 and 2013 respectively. I have no idea
what happened to the game past 2013 after PO Allalltar and PO Okkita nerfed 'who' and refused
to reinstate the old variant - also wonder what happened to admin when surrogate helper admin
people nerf the game before abandoning it anyway.

A lot of the gameplay necessity for players wanting to "roleplay" depends on other players. And
here it depends a LOT on the "quality" of players. GEAS has had both people who have no
interest in roleplay and can not roleplay at all - but it also has had players who were very
well capable of roleplaying so. Unfortunately roleplay is not a primary design goal. In particular
PO Turian has no understanding of the term "roleplay" so most game changes will be about
features, game mechanics and functionality. Which is fine for people who look for that but not
so great if you are looking for roleplay. PO Abharsair has had a stronger focus on roleplay
in general - see the extended emote system which I suggested and which PO Abharsair
agreed to was a good idea. Unfortunately PO Abharsair has also become extremely opinionated
and more frustrated with the game, all the while as time constraints persist due to reallife. I
understand that a hobby can not drain too much time, but it's not just a lack of time - a lot
of the code quality is bad. The homepage states that darkelves are not different from elves
yet the game code allows you to instantly identify darkelves at all times, even from far away
thanks to 'scout' when said darkelf is inside of a battle-armour. So you can wonder why the
background specification is not being followed by the code implementation - good luck
trying to convince PO Turian that there is any problem in consistency. And that is just
one example for smaller problems and inconsistencies.

These may be too small to notice, as long as you have other players to have fun with.

And the best resource by far were the players, not the code.

When you lack players though, you can not really have a lot of fun IMO. Code without
players is just dead weight.

Anyway, I have no idea about the game these days but the best time is usually at about
peak count times of the game. The primary peak was usually during central european
time (late evening to night times); there were smaller secondary peaks based on
people in the USA being active but this was usually significantlly smaller.

Whether this is still correct or not I have no idea - but it was a correct observation from
~2009 to 2013.

Biggest problem in the game is admin not really listening anymore though.

> Almost everything is learn by doing as well, so there is plenty you can pick up on your
> own and explore.

Actually, it was that way with the old skill system. Learn-by-watching.

Lateron PO Turian downgraded the skill system and hardlocked it. Now players were
forced to fake-join guilds such as Shaolins due to gaining unique skills that way,
whereas the old characters could just continue to use the old skills that they easily
learned.

So the old skill system was a lot better than the changed variant. Which in many
cases is true for the whole game - the mechanics used to be a LOT better. And a
lot o this has to do with code that was pushed down onto the game lateron, such
as the opinionated and inconsistent bilinear karmapartheid system. Then again
those who are unable to roleplay on their own may like an opinionated system.

07-19-2017, 10:35 PM	#5
shevegen Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 63	Re: Roleplay Mud This reply will probably not be of much help to Dionae since I refer to ancient days - the 1990s era. Xyllomer was great in the middle-to-late 1990s era. Peak count was +60 players online at the same time, for about ~2 years, with a more "serious" count between +40 and +50 there. Due to various reasons, both internal and external, that number dwindled downwards. Some of the external is that the old text-based way to play games found a lot of competition with graphical clients; some internal problems being wrong technical decisions made leading to player retention going downhill. The GEAS codebase derived from Xyllomer, with several modifications. The comment by Dionae about the combat system is correct - but these changes were already made during or shortly after the beta day, so 1998 to 2002 or something like that. With 2018 being just about, that is ... a 16 years gap. GEAS did not have the same high count of players but it has had a range between +20 players active at peak count in 2010, and +18 and +17 in 2012 and 2013 respectively. I have no idea what happened to the game past 2013 after PO Allalltar and PO Okkita nerfed 'who' and refused to reinstate the old variant - also wonder what happened to admin when surrogate helper admin people nerf the game before abandoning it anyway. A lot of the gameplay necessity for players wanting to "roleplay" depends on other players. And here it depends a LOT on the "quality" of players. GEAS has had both people who have no interest in roleplay and can not roleplay at all - but it also has had players who were very well capable of roleplaying so. Unfortunately roleplay is not a primary design goal. In particular PO Turian has no understanding of the term "roleplay" so most game changes will be about features, game mechanics and functionality. Which is fine for people who look for that but not so great if you are looking for roleplay. PO Abharsair has had a stronger focus on roleplay in general - see the extended emote system which I suggested and which PO Abharsair agreed to was a good idea. Unfortunately PO Abharsair has also become extremely opinionated and more frustrated with the game, all the while as time constraints persist due to reallife. I understand that a hobby can not drain too much time, but it's not just a lack of time - a lot of the code quality is bad. The homepage states that darkelves are not different from elves yet the game code allows you to instantly identify darkelves at all times, even from far away thanks to 'scout' when said darkelf is inside of a battle-armour. So you can wonder why the background specification is not being followed by the code implementation - good luck trying to convince PO Turian that there is any problem in consistency. And that is just one example for smaller problems and inconsistencies. These may be too small to notice, as long as you have other players to have fun with. And the best resource by far were the players, not the code. When you lack players though, you can not really have a lot of fun IMO. Code without players is just dead weight. Anyway, I have no idea about the game these days but the best time is usually at about peak count times of the game. The primary peak was usually during central european time (late evening to night times); there were smaller secondary peaks based on people in the USA being active but this was usually significantlly smaller. Whether this is still correct or not I have no idea - but it was a correct observation from ~2009 to 2013. Biggest problem in the game is admin not really listening anymore though. > Almost everything is learn by doing as well, so there is plenty you can pick up on your > own and explore. Actually, it was that way with the old skill system. Learn-by-watching. Lateron PO Turian downgraded the skill system and hardlocked it. Now players were forced to fake-join guilds such as Shaolins due to gaining unique skills that way, whereas the old characters could just continue to use the old skills that they easily learned. So the old skill system was a lot better than the changed variant. Which in many cases is true for the whole game - the mechanics used to be a LOT better. And a lot o this has to do with code that was pushed down onto the game lateron, such as the opinionated and inconsistent bilinear karmapartheid system. Then again those who are unable to roleplay on their own may like an opinionated system.