Consolidation vs Unlimited Expansion

[Ephemeral]

The best designs are when there is nothing left to remove, not when there is nothing left to add.

There are endless threads concerning the health of TW. And although over the years I have posted a few times about limiting the breadth and frequency of changes in TW, I thought it might be of value to start this thread with a summary and few ideas on this issue.
The discussion at hand is simply this, TW direction has been to constantly change much as a retailer changes the stock on his shelves. By changing the game perhaps takes on a new ‘feel’ and may generate renewed interest. But there is a down side to constant change too, especially if it evolves into the primary and single mechanism used over a longer period of time.
So it may be that TW is doing more harm than good by constantly changing. It may be that continuous changes distracts from building stable, long term squads. Of course there are many long-term squads, but their activity levels often vacillate throughout the year. Additionally, the support levels required for the various arenas, events, and specialty leagues may be better applied to a single, focused effort.

Players generally log on and play during certain days and hours. It is unlikely that generating new arenas, new events, or short-term leagues will cause players to log on or increase the amount of hours they play. Perhaps TW might consider the following.
- Do away with the specialty short-term leagues and consolidate all existing leagues into a single year-round league. This league could contain elements the existing leagues, by taking advantage of the most popular features/ideas/rules.
- In recognition of the calendar, consider dividing the single league into two ‘seasons’. There could be season playoffs and perhaps an annual playoff for champs of both seasonal playoffs.
- League web sites, coding, and other administration could be consolidated for ‘the most bang for the buck’.
- Consider modifications to the rules so that players are ‘rewarded’ for team play as opposed to selfish objectives. This might include making squad hopping a bit more ‘painful’ than it is now. (But not so ‘painful’ that players wouldn’t even consider changing squads.) Note that even the existing cheater rules would take on more meaning since a player would be facing never playing again in an organized fashion if he cheated in a single league play environment.

Just my opinion, no need to flame my ass if you don’t agree. Any intelligent, productive feedback would be nice.
Eph

[Xog]

I'm not going to flame, but

The best designs are when there is nothing left to remove, not when there is nothing left to add.

In some ways yes, it is true. The way TW stands right now, there are a lot of new things being tested all the time - and even more new ideas sprouting left and right. To be honest I don't think there is just a couple things that need to be done in order for the quality of the zone to be better. I'm not going to give you the answers to everything because quite frankly I just don't think there is an answer. There is however a speculative explanation as to why the zone is losing its populous, and it's been addressed, known, and spilled out several times on the forums here. We're old. Not only old. But the playerbase of this game when it was in its prime is getting older as well. Most of us are Adults now, some getting there soon. Newer generations are not interested in this type of game. It's just a fact.

From my observations, the zone's upper staff has pretty much concluded that the setup of the zone in its prime was the best it ever was - they kept it that way, and the population started declining. When it got pretty low, a lot of change and restructure started happening and is continuing to happen to this day. There's plenty of great ideas and additions that could be made to this game. But I don't think removing any of the stuff this place had during its prime would be a good idea. I'm sure staff are observing feedback on the new implementation/changes going on in the past couple of years and are trying their hardest to move this zone forward and upward. IMO, they've got the zone in a new type of testing phase.. generally it's | alpha - beta - release |. well we're doing sort of a | release - alpha - beta (is it good? if yes, keep. if no, trash) | in a last ditch effort to bring more popularity to this place.

- Do away with the specialty short-term leagues and consolidate all existing leagues into a single year-round league. This league could contain elements the existing leagues, by taking advantage of the most popular features/ideas/rules.

This is a suggestion but I don't think it's something that can improve the zone. Think of this in a very large-scale manner. Staff is being replaced on the norm. They are not paid and quite frankly the new staffers aren't as responsible (mainly due to lack of professionalism/care by higher/old staffs because of the decline in popularity). This could lead to much abuse, a lot of angry players, squads dissolving at more rapid rates, players quitting the game and even ruining the zone. It's a flip-flop. If TWL were to become one league with all of its sub-categories destroyed, there'd be no place for small-time players.

Everyone's got ideas as you can obviously see, and staff is definitely not ignoring them (atleast I hope so). Zone Development & Improvement is a very delicate issue that needs to be discussed thoroughly and IMO, with its public, before any major decisions are made.
With all that said, I think I'll add this little contribution to suggestions on providing a higher populous:

Badge (achievement) System: All bots have a module that records all types of information and if it matches up to certain criteria, it rewards that player with a badge (that can be displayed on a webpage or as a !badges [name] cmd)
Some examples of badges could be:
MVP Badges:
\EVENT\ MVP: Obtain MVP status in a \EVENT\ match.
(how might a player react to this?..)
(A game of FALLOUT is starting in two minutes! ?go FALLOUT)
(Excited Player> OMG I don't have an MVP badge for Fallout yet!)
(Excited Player> ?go fallout)

Excellence Badges:
Kills/Streak/Attaches/Flag Time/Points/Ratio: Obtain X amount for [BADGE NAME] Badge.
I can really make a whole list of like 300+ badges for this. If a staffer would like me to expand on this, let me know.

IMO this game, at this point in time, needs a ROLE. I would LOVE to have a whole badge system in place throughout the entire zone connecting to one role - obtain badges. Heck, it could even be a multi-zone feature. (certain badges are earned in specific zones.. can u imagine it? this game would be so nuts). An approach like this would keep players occupied - they'd have a goal to play instead of just hop in and kill people for no reason.

[Xog]

anyone like that idea? really though, it would bring this place out of an "MMOSSG" to an "MMORPSSG"

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Space Shooting Game

:eek:

[Maverick X+]

anyone like that idea? really though, it would bring this place out of an "MMOSSG" to an "MMORPSSG"

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Space Shooting Game

:eek:

That would be playing Star Sonata then.

[Xog]

That would be playing Star Sonata then.

eh, more like Jumpgate. :]

and games tend to include things that made other games successful.

Zomg, Everquest has quests in its game design - thats what you did to keep playing, quest.

Asheron's Call did it

Diablo did it

World of Warcraft did it

etc. you get the point. This is a spaceship game. Quests aren't really something you do in outerspace. It's more of a militaristic navy system, thus the badges.

In those other games, you're an adventurer that seeks .. stuff. and does quests.

In this game, you're a spaceship pilot. And you kill people. Wouldn't it be interesting to have a badge system set up?

[ÆNIMA]

I like Ephemeral's general idea of simplicity. When things are just plain simple it's a lot easier to run. When things are a lot easier to run, we need less staff. The need for less staff means that less people are required to run the most important aspects of keeping TW afloat. There shouldn't ever be a worry of losing someone who has been key and not having a replacement.

Also when things are simple, it permits the average pub player to branch out and try new things. They won't feel overwhelmed at all the several leagues that are going on. They might even feel that they can create a squad that can compete.

Xog, I really like the idea of an achievement system. When I'm playing Halo 3 online and I get an achievement I didn't even know about, it makes it fun. Perhaps getting certain difficult achievements would allow people to cash in on rewards (chance of spawning with antiwarp in pub or seeing people's energy). That would give the achievement system a deeper incentive.

Of course achievements would all be automated, but who would be willing to code it? Who will take on the challenges of designing and maintaining the website?

I guess being for achievements goes against my first comment of simplicity. But I think we can all agree that things should be changed and then kept the same, but with more depth to the everyday experience.

Keep it simple, but give it depth.

[Xog]

I like Ephemeral's general idea of simplicity. When things are just plain simple it's a lot easier to run. When things are a lot easier to run, we need less staff. The need for less staff means that less people are required to run the most important aspects of keeping TW afloat. There shouldn't ever be a worry of losing someone who has been key and not having a replacement.

Also when things are simple, it permits the average pub player to branch out and try new things. They won't feel overwhelmed at all the several leagues that are going on. They might even feel that they can create a squad that can compete.

Xog, I really like the idea of an achievement system. When I'm playing Halo 3 online and I get an achievement I didn't even know about, it makes it fun. Perhaps getting certain difficult achievements would allow people to cash in on rewards (chance of spawning with antiwarp in pub or seeing people's energy). That would give the achievement system a deeper incentive.

Of course achievements would all be automated, but who would be willing to code it? Who will take on the challenges of designing and maintaining the website?

I guess being for achievements goes against my first comment of simplicity. But I think we can all agree that things should be changed and then kept the same, but with more depth to the everyday experience.

Keep it simple, but give it depth.

if someone were to write up an outline to the point of where i can match two (or more) things up such as

if THIS meets THAT requirement, award BADGE NAME to THAT PLAYER.

then have code updating it on a webpage/db, I could make a big list of different badges with each achievement reqiorement (and give each badge a reference ID#) but nobody has contact me yet, so I don't even know if they would be willing to do this