CUEmu - Thread Posts

Merakesh

Thu Apr 15, 2004 1:53 pm

I am the Mayor of NWC, Corellia, Corbantis Server. I occasionally read over the Politician boards to see if bugs are reported or fixed, etc. During my readings I find a lot of posts about awol mayors, awol citizens, etc. As many of you know, player attrition occurs in EVERY mmorpg. I am sure that most of you have played in other online games, and if you are politicians here, you probably held some position in a guild/clan in those other games. You know how bad it can be. To think, all it would take is a post on a forum or a mail in the game for a player to say, "hey I think I am going to take a break from the game for a while," or, "I am moving on to another game and didn't want anyone to get screwed up due to my absence." This takes a special kind of player to have enough concern to do this, something that we all have found to be lacking in our player cities at one time or another.

My city is a Guild City, which I find has less of an issue with this, since guild chat doubles as city chat, and we can more easily dissimenate information to all citizens via guild mail. Our guild is <WotS> or Wielders of the Sword, which has had its ebbs and flows since the beginning of the game. We too had a mayor that went inactive for an extended period of time - I saw a need and filled it by picking up the pieces and getting enough votes to replace him, which was no easy task - as our city had the same problems many of yours does, the major one being player attrition. I see houses with names of players that have long since logged on to play as I drive through my city. The guild officers decided to make some changes for the better, and we got out and actively recruited, trained and assisted players in the game elements, and in turn in city operations. The week that they implemented inactive citizens removal "fix" scared us a bit, but several guildmates and I went out and did what was required of us - we filled those spots that were lost with new, active and excited players, and now have 2 more than we did before the "fix."

Maybe the problem isnt with the loss of active players, but it lies with all of us to get out and do something - instead of wholesale construction and moving in players that may never play again, take a more active approach to helping players with the game, assisting them in enjoying it - because it can be daunting at times - in lieu of just handing out houses and paying maintenance just to maintain a city. Cities with inactive citizens may need to be destroyed. The idea was not that every 10 players have their own city, but to have large player cities with active citizens.

An option for those of you having issues with city growth or stability at your current size - check with other cities having problems and discuss combining them. We talked at length about doing this ourselves. It may hurt in the short run, as one or both cities will lose the namesake and identity that went with it.

The idea of this thread is to get us all active once again in the profession and more importantly in the game. Post some ideas you have for assisting with the player inactivity problem, city growth issues, or your opinions on how best to manage your city. I personally liked the inactivity "fix" as it cleans up dead weight and really aids in reflecting the true state of cities. We used the immigrant policy as so many other guilds/cities did - which I disagreed with - in the beginning. Using it aided in attaining Metropolis status, but at a great cost to the citizenship in maintenance on the houses, and when they all went poof due to a previous fix a major headache to the active players. I was happy to see the entire west side of the city disappear myself. Again, the purpose of a city is to have an active player base...not just to have enough "ghost players" to have amenities for 10 active players.

We all know bugs exist in the game, and this thread is not to bash the profession but to get ideas on how to operate DISPITE the current profession/game bugs that get in our way. Let's just assume this one time that we all know about the bugs and that we are going to actively discuss ideas about how best to manage with them.

Thanks for reading my long rant, hope it stimulates some of you in the profession.

Sincerely,

Merakesh <WotS>

Mayor, NWC, Corellia - Corbantis Server (4/3/4/3)

Master Weaponsmith

Merakesh

Thu Apr 15, 2004 1:55 pm

#2

Sigh, Duplicates are so retarded...if only the soe boards worked all the time...half the time it tells me I am not logged in while posting even though I am, and voila, a double post

Reply to this one please.

Merakesh

Thu Apr 15, 2004 2:11 pm

#3

Oh another tip...if you find your city hurting for funds, gather up like 8 players to do one run per week out of Dantooine mining. We run ours every week - taking 26k missions. One run out with 8 players will garner your city 416k. I call it a City Fundraiser and put it on the guild calendar. Regular players always come out to support it. I usually round down to 45k per playerdonation, so they don't incure travel costs, etc. It's voluntary, and so far we have not missed a week in about 2 months of running them (except last Friday when my fiancee gave birth to our little daughter

). Our city costs 359k per week to operate at its current state. So we run a surplus on the missions, not counting other city funding such as taxes and shuttle fees. All it takes is 2 hours out of your week to keep the city funded! Hope this helps.

Merakesh

RobbPilot

Thu Apr 15, 2004 2:20 pm

#4

Once your mayor goes AWOL though, the plane is on autopilot with no pilot onboard and you are locked out of the cockpit. What's worse, the CSR's in the control tower ignore your pleas for help. There are voting bugs that make it hard to vote out an incumbant... especially an incumbant mayorwho brokered a lot of cross-server absentee citizens... I hated that idea from day one.

Just sit back and watch things go to hell.

Message Edited by RobbPilot on 04-15-2004 02:24 PM

William_Evans

Thu Apr 15, 2004 2:24 pm

#5

our shuttle generates 40k a week! our taxes are 1700 and we have 81 citizens and garage fee is 10% plus I charge 100cr to place special request trainers on demand wich goes directly into the city treasury and that genersates about 50k a month our city is 9 milion surplus

last week our city cost 520,500 to run

I agree with the original poster

Message Edited by William_Evans on 04-15-2004 02:25 PM

Message Edited by William_Evans on 04-15-2004 02:40 PM

Message Edited by William_Evans on 04-15-2004 02:41 PM

Jedi Master Will'iam E-vans - Rebel Colonel
Rebel Fighter Pilot

Retired Mayor of The Old City of Mos Alianza- Tatooine
High Council of DotA - Retired Ulumni

Hvzeda

Thu Apr 15, 2004 3:34 pm

#6

Those are some great suggestions for a moderate to heavy populated server, but for a low populated server, they won't work. I have gone into many starting cities and see not one player character in the hour I just wandered around.

As for combining two cities as one; extremely difficult because one city will have to pick up and move. Given that it is hard to get people to pick up their house and move to city, I don't see many cities doing that.

I don't there is ever going to be a silver bullet to solve this issue. Each city, each server, each planet is different. At best, all we can do is share with what we did, the good and the bad, and hopefully someone can benefit from it or provide us with input on how to improve.

My rant is over.

Kyrie
I came into the SWG universe as an entertainer
and performed to a crowded cantina in Mos Espa.
I will use a respec and become an entertainer again,
pull out my last pet from my creature handler days
and dance in an empty cantina in Mos Espa and disconnect from the game forever.

Merakesh

Thu Apr 15, 2004 7:19 pm

#7

Actually, these ideas work better on a lower populated server, specifically because of the attrition issues. Would it be better to pick up your house and move to another city, or have your city disappear around you?

If there is no one in the cities you visit, those would be the cities that need to consider merging

Merakesh

Thu Apr 15, 2004 7:22 pm

#8

RobbPilot, these are actually the thoughts that kill cities. We had an awol mayor for a month. Instead of "letting it go to hell," we got all the active players, their alts, and new players in the guild to get out and vote me in. If you want to be reactive, your city will fall - if you want to be proactive, your city can be great. If you have absentee citizens, let their houses die...their citizenship die with it...that helped us greatly. Then you can take back your city.

Merakesh

Mayor, NWC

hajihill

Thu Apr 15, 2004 7:44 pm

#9

Merakesh wrote:

Oh another tip...if you find your city hurting for funds, gather up like 8 players to do one run per week out of Dantooine mining. We run ours every week - taking 26k missions. One run out with 8 players will garner your city 416k. I call it a City Fundraiser and put it on the guild calendar. Regular players always come out to support it. I usually round down to 45k per playerdonation, so they don't incure travel costs, etc. It's voluntary, and so far we have not missed a week in about 2 months of running them (except last Friday when my fiancee gave birth to our little daughter ). Our city costs 359k per week to operate at its current state. So we run a surplus on the missions, not counting other city funding such as taxes and shuttle fees. All it takes is 2 hours out of your week to keep the city funded! Hope this helps.

Merakesh

Brilliant... simply brilliant.

Thanks Merakesh.

_________________________________________________________

- Archonia D'Syraculle for Politician Correspondent
Mayor of Elysium - Starsider - Dean of Corellia University
"However, what I tell you is true: No community will exist and prosper without widespread mutual OOC respect for one another." -Davyn Gabriel (Founder of VR)

Hvzeda

Thu Apr 15, 2004 9:38 pm

#10

Merakesh wrote:

Maybe the problem isnt with the loss of active players, but it lies with all of us to get out and do something - instead of wholesale construction and moving in players that may never play again, take a more active approach to helping players with the game, assisting them in enjoying it - because it can be daunting at times - in lieu of just handing out houses and paying maintenance just to maintain a city. Cities with inactive citizens may need to be destroyed. The idea was not that every 10 players have their own city, but to have large player cities with active citizens.

How many mayors you know that are doing this? I don't see it as being my problem of attritionof residents. Many people leave the game. I have tried to recruit so much that I have neglected enjoy some of the positive aspects of the game.In addition there are many people out there that don't want to move in a city. Gawd, I have tried convincing people the benefits of a city, but I get so many excuses that it would take me an hour to include them in this post.Until cities get a real beneift other than being another extension of pa halls (the community I'm mayor of is not an extension of the one pa guild and most residents don't belong to one) people will only flock there to buy items and leave. The hub of most activity is still at static cities.

I haven't given up, but I have learned if I don't get a definite answer, it isn't worth pursuing. I do feel like at times I am fighting a losing battle.

As for the inactivity rule, I hate it. I'm stuck with 3 mediums and 2 smalls of inactive citizens and the town has a significant portion of the land that is unbuildable, thus it has hurt our growth and I has know it has hurt other cities and this may cause a few cities to collapse and people to leave the game, which then effects the population of the server. Domino effect.

What I have learned. If you talk to someone and the don't give you a definate answer, don't waste your time with them. Move on and hopefully you can find another person that is willing to listen to you sell your city.

Kyrie
I came into the SWG universe as an entertainer
and performed to a crowded cantina in Mos Espa.
I will use a respec and become an entertainer again,
pull out my last pet from my creature handler days
and dance in an empty cantina in Mos Espa and disconnect from the game forever.

Merakesh

Thu Apr 15, 2004 10:36 pm

#11

Once again, maybe there doesn't need to be so many cities - you point out the reasons yourself. Let them die off, or merge, those are the 2 options we have right now. I am not saying go out and beg for new citizens, that is what i am preaching against. I am saying go out and show a new player the game, the fun, bond, then see if they wish to move into your city. I did this with several in the last month - now i have a master de who is freakin awesome, several new hunters for pvp action, and tons of ppl willing to help out in any way possible. It takes me a few tries to get one that stays with the game, but when I get it right, the investment pays off. It helps that I am in a guild city though a lot.

Many Mayors advertise for citizens, both on the forums and by afk macroing in starports. It is very prevalent. This is the wholesale construction I am talking about. That coupled with the immigrant trick caused many of the problems cities are having now.

And what are your questions you are not getting straight answers to? I don't follow. I am happy to answer a question if i can.

Merakesh

Hvzeda

Thu Apr 15, 2004 11:02 pm

#12

I never said I beg people to move out. I talk to severalpeople I know that were not in cities and talked to them. And it comes down, none of them sees an a benefit in a city. I can't believe how many people balk at moving in a city when you mentioned taxes.

I have done what you did with meeting new people. Showed them around, help them out, answer their questions, give them little tips.I have packbacks with equipment and clothing that I give to new characters when I see them. So far, there hasn't been a return investment, but I feel that it is too early to give up on that idea for now. Then again, I do not see many new characters (the drawback of a low pop server)

I know, if I told the residents that we were picking up and moving to another city, 75% would not follow. I've have come to learn, people do not want to move unless they want to. As for trying to get another city to merge and move to my location, people are resistent to it. As you stated, there is a cost and lost of identity, and many people rather lose that identity through the decay of the city rather than surrender it willingly.

As you stated, you are in a guild city, and you solutions may be perfect for that type of city. The city I'm the mayor of, we only have one guild (faction only too)and 66% of the residents do not any to that guild. On top of that, the residents are mostly all combat professions.

I'm rambling. Sorry, getting late and putting out another little fire in the town while trying to show 2 possible new citizens the city. Getting cranky.

Kyrie
I came into the SWG universe as an entertainer
and performed to a crowded cantina in Mos Espa.
I will use a respec and become an entertainer again,
pull out my last pet from my creature handler days
and dance in an empty cantina in Mos Espa and disconnect from the game forever.

Merakesh

Fri Apr 16, 2004 7:08 am

#13

Wow, it must be desolate on your server. It never fails when I travel to Mos Entha, Kor Vella, Tyrena, or even Restuss - there is a hapless new player wandering the streets by himself asking for help in spatial to anyone that slows down enough for him to get it out before they pass him by. I guess the population on your server is much worse than I could ever imagine...come to Corbantis with all of us - I will help you and yours get all settled in

Merakesh

Politician Archive

Thread: City Attrition Issues