Entertainer Archive

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Sienn wrote:

Okay I know I chose a small server and that I play at "unusual" hours but what's the deal with people who are supposed to be entertaining? If they don't have an actual AFK flag above their heads they act like they are AFK. This morning I went to several cantinas hoping to get training rather than have to pay for it and found someone in Coronet with the Helper tag up but who was apparently AFK. Come on people. If you are going to go away at least have the good manners to take the Helper tag off and move out of the way rather than stand there like a dead lumpin the middle ofthe floor. grrr Sorry about making my first post an angry venting but after spending so many credits on training I was a little frustrated.

Sienn

Wanderhome

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Welcome to the profession and forums.

There are many here who share your frustration with AFK "players".

Yes, I hate it when people go AFK without putting their AFK flag. Some of them spam random things too, so that new players think that they are ATK and try having conversations with the spambots. Ah, well

Was playing some music in a npc cantina the other day. There was like 3 or 4 afk players there. Customers came in and basically listened or watched them instead of me. So yes, very frustrating at times. I am the type, I do not macro, when I do go afk, i am sitting in a corner somewhere, or just log.

It is a frustration that many of us Ents share. There was talk of some kind of fix to resolve this, but none has surfaced yet.

In the meantime, just try to encourage others to be at the keyboard, have fun and try to make the cantina more interesting for those who come in. We had a heck of an AFK bot time before the combat upgrade, so many people are "trained" to just walk in, watch or listen to an AFK person, and go get something to drink or whatever.

There are players out there who don't like AFK Entertainers, and they'll look for a live one. Be sure to say hi to people who come in, maybe - that way they know you're really there.

Half the time I get the impression the people who come into the cantinas are just as dead. It seems rare that anyone returns my greetings and I just end up talking to myself to pass the time. Maybe it's just the time of day/night for them but it sure feels like so many of them think they are playing a single player game rather than a "massively multiplayer" one. Maybe they should have called it "massively isolated player" instead. If the game developers can't do anything to liven the cantinas up would it kill them to lower the cost of the entertainer training?

One trick that works well in terms of getting customers engaged, at least for me, is to have a series of very high-quality, professional-like (as far as you can in game) entertainment routines (both for music and dance, but usually I end up doing music unless there is a good band in place). Players are so used to seeing random flourishes designed to max out XP -- that is, with no rhyme or reason to them -- that when I turn in an actual performance (usually a solo variant or, with the droid, a duet variant, of my band's normal routines), I normally get a number of cheers, applause, and often some pretty sizeable tips.

I've also noticed that, although people do like "pure" creativity, if you take something that is familiar and 'Star Wars-ify' it, they seem to like it more (perhaps because it is recognizable). For example, I adapted the Ballad of Mack the Knife (Bobby Darin's version) to SWG, by using the "Funk" song and calling it "The Ballad of Boba Fett". The wrix bites, instead of the shark... Fett wears M'bari gloves instead of fancy ones... Han Solo dissppears, instead of Louie Miller... and so on. Everyone who recognizes the lyrics starts of laughing at "Oh the Wrix, babe..." and by the end they are cheering. I have another one called "Hotel Kor Spera" (there is a hotel by that name in our city, Kor Spera), which I wrote for our town's 1-year anniversary, and is based off of the Eagels' song "Hotel California", but again includes SW references. Instead of "We haven't had that spirit here since 1969" I rhyme the previous line with "since before ol' Palpatine" (that always gets a bunch of laughs), etc.

Now, I'm not suggesting you should do that exactly, but here is my point: my songs and dances are practiced, rehearsed, actual performances. The music fits the song... and what's more, the flourishes match (as best as I can with only 8 to choose from) the lyrics. Dance flourishes and lighting effects flow one into another when I am dancing. And the point is, people watching can tell. When I am there doing a real performance and some AFK macro zombie is 10 "feet" (in game world terms) away doing a random macro dealy, they can see the difference. Lots of people have said things like, "Wow, I didn't know you could do something that cool in game." They're so used to seeing random, no-rhyme-or-reason flourishes, that they have no idea you can actually do something cool with it.

Doing a real routine is not only a good way to get noticed (and thereby attact that needed healing XP, if in fact you need that, which I don't)... and it's also a good way to show the new entertainers in the cantina (should they be at-keyboard, by any chance) what REAL entertainment is like.

C

Every Friday a group of at-keyboard entertainers picks a cantina and performs there. We get a lot of patrons... people who come in and stay for an hour or more. These are people who respect and appreciate live entertainment, as they are not there to get healed (that's finished in a couple of minutes) for all that time.

Last night, I was doing music instead of dancing because we had a slight shortage of musicians for once (often it is the other way around). After some random playing, I launched into one of my songs, "Hotel Kor Spera" (based on Hotel California). About half way through it, one of the combat-type players sent me a tell and said, "Hey is that song a SW re-write of hotel california?" to which I responded that it was. He then sent me another tell, "Wow, that is so cool. I love that song, and you did a great job on it." A little more time went by, and he sent another tell, "This is great. I've never seen an entertainer actually perform something before."

Believe it or not, there are players, yes even some of the "combat leets", who respect when another player does their own profession -- whatever it is -- well. Just as they might respect a crafter who crafts well, or a doctor who heals well, there are people out there who respect an entertainer who entertains WELL.

Those are the people who make it all worth it. That's who I perform for.

C

I have never tried to "max" the xp when I dance or play music. I always put together a routine that appeals to me. And I hope that it appeals to anyone who enters. But again I have to think that it's a time of day or server difference or cantina choice or something. I've put together some mini-songs that are variations of RL songs, written a few stand up routines, etc... But the other morning I entertained for 3 hours and I actually counted every patron that came into the cantina. Out of 57 people who entered 2 returned my greeting but never replied to any of my conversation attempts, and showed no signs of life while I performed. The other 55 came in and simply stood there while they healed or got their inspiration buff or what ever it was they came to the cantina for and then left. I'd have asked one of the other 5 entertainers in the area if it was always like that or for suggestions on another cantina I might try to actually get some interaction but they were all afk for the entire 3 hours. I'm really starting to think this game just isn't for me. I read posts about these great times people are having in the cantinas and then I go to one (or 10) and it's completely dead. I see more signs of life outside a starport or outside in the outpost proper but as soon as they enter a cantina they suddenly act as though they've walked into a library. There doesn't seem to be an entertainer specific channel on Wanderhome and although there is apparently an "entertainer guild" every time I see someone with that guild name they are AFK. I'm starting to think it's a joke on new players. "Yeah you'll want to join the entertainer guild. Just look for their tag and ask them" and then they go off to have a big laugh while I stand there trying to get a response from someone who's actually gone to the Market or the Dentist or who's asleep in bed.