CUEmu - Thread Posts

Avallach

Thu Apr 01, 2004 12:57 pm

I've made no secret here or in development discussions such as the weekly roundtables that I feel the inactivity rule is a misguided attempt to fix the wrong problems. Given that, I don't want to spend much more time on it here, other than to say it's forcing a certain amount of attrition on cities, which must then attract new citizens to survive. It's also a safe bet in my estimation that most people who play SWG don't have a house in a player city, and are, unfortunately, largely uninterested in doing so. Additionally, most players don't read the boards here, so advertising on these forums is ineffective at best.

So....what is it that attracts people to living in a player city? What is the actual benefit of living in your city? I know when I think about Aventine, the real advantages are somewhat limited. First, and probably most importantly, the Research Center designation is pretty key. Beyond that, the advantages are hopefully greater traffic for shops and access to the banks/med center, trainers etc, which primarily benefit non-combat players. So how do we convince people who are not actively a part of a player city to join one? What is it that cities offer that's compelling enough to pack up your worldly belongings and move either as individuals or as entire PAs to a player city? Aside from the priviledge of paying taxes, why do your citizens live in your town? I know there's a certain intangible benefit in having a place of our own, but that's a secondary thing to convincing new citizens to join us. What is it that player cities can offer or can be added to the cities to make them more attractive to your average player?

One of the things we're considering doing is putting together "new citizen" packets with a house, some basic meds, etc for new people who move in to town. This is a great incentive once they're interested, but actually getting them interested is tough.

Other thoughts?

------------------------
-Charin Ianaro, Aventine Neighborhood, Temenos, Naboo

"I was born to laugh--I learned to laugh through my tears.
I was born to love--I'm going to learn to love without fear."
-Karin Bergquist/Linford Detweiler (www.overtherhine.com)

PreLaunch

Thu Apr 01, 2004 2:10 pm

#2

Currently there is no real reason which is why for the most part the inactivity rule means most cities are fighting a losing battle.

The hard part is getting people to move from one area to another, once you have them then it becomes much easier to keep them because it then works in your favour because people then dont want to pick everything up to move out.

If there is a city still out there that doesnt off a free house to the people moving in then thats a massive mistake on their part. You simply have no choice on this matter in my option. At least if you give them a house they then can just move stuff from the old house to the new one in your city but if you expect them to also pay for a house I dont see any reason for them to bother.

If any GCW zone of control things get implemented into cities then it will be a boost for us. For the most part though most cities a leaking a lot more players than they are getting and you cant atract new people if the game itself isnt gaining as many new players every 7 days.

For my city to gain a citizen that we lose we have to hope that.

1: Someone buys the game that week/changes server

2: They join Valcyn Server

3: They want to be Imperial

4: They want to live on Naboo

5: They want to join our city out of the 10 available

You could say that I could just grab someone from another city but that is just moving people around. "Cities" dont get stronger doing that they simply change the numbers in a specific city but the total amount of citizensliving in cities will not change unless those 5 things happen.

Hvzeda

Thu Apr 01, 2004 3:03 pm

#3

I have talked about this issue with a few of the hardcore players in the city, but we come up with the same answer - there isn't much to attract people to player cities. Research center will attract artisans but I've found I don't have artisans begging to move in. In fact, I have been able to recruit non-artisans than artisans. As it was pointed out to me, some artisans may not know the benefits of a Research Center for their crafting, thus meaning we need to educate them on the benefits.

We have offered small houses for new residents, but this has had minimal success. For every 5 that move in, 3 will decay when the mainteance runs out (we provide 5k in the maintenace of each small house).

Many people don't want to move in because they are creatures of habit. They have lived in a specific area for so long, that they can't seen themselves uprooting and moving to a new location. Some will it more as a hassle to move. The are use to the surroundings that they reside at and moving upsets their predictable world.

Others are loners. They don't want to be part of any community. They may use the game to escape for the RL and want to limit their interaction with people in the game.

Until the devs create something that make player cities desirable, we as mayors will have that problem of recruiting. And we as mayors, are limited by what we can do within the game itself. Currently, we are looking at establishing a roleplaying city, but even if we are successful to get half of the citizens to engage in roleplay (this in itself is much harder than recruiting new citizens), I have reservations that it will make any significant impact in recruitment, but I going to give it a try and hope that I was wrong.

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.

Chibi-Bar

Thu Apr 01, 2004 3:18 pm

#4

I know how that is.. we offer small homes and small supplies to start off.. some move in for like a week and pack up and take everything with them... can't stop them of that..

Sasheria Windsong

Master Artisian and Master Architect
Drop off Vendor Cynthia: -4752 -4341
Architect Shop Vendor Sasha:-4756 -4341
Citizen of Blood Gulch, Dantooine

Mortious

Fri Apr 02, 2004 3:33 pm

#5

Not knowing the size of each of your cities I can't help, but I can ask the question, how does a Level 3 city grow when the caps have been set preventing them from growing.

The one thing most people have wanted is a shuttle port. Without one most level 3 cities are destine to die, and its not because they didn't try. We hit beforethey put the cap in, but since the cap hit mid week, and elections were not till Friday (back then) we got locked into a L3 position. Since that time player after player have left for larger cities. This last week it was decided by most of the citizens that they would all move to a large city thus leaving the city we worked hard to get up and running looking at the delete button.

I don't have a problem preventing the number of cities on a planet from growing, believe me I came from UO and saw the urban sprawl, but capping city sizes, especially those allowing a prime item (shuttles) is the death of small cities. They no longer are viable places for people to live, but nothing but credit sinks.

The one thing I really enjoyed in this game has been slowly decaying due to the caps placed.

Mortious
~~~~~~~
The Hunters Network
www.hunters-network.com

Xyrdre

Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:15 am

#6

Well, on the topic of shuttleports, what's the potential problem with permitting shuttleports at say, city level 2 instead? Longer destination lists at ticket terminals? If even level 2 (or 3) cities could have shuttleports, many more player cities would have an easier time survivng. Otherwise, we see a situation where everything congregates to a few locations, rather than providing a richer environment across the planets. Been to the cantina at Coronet lately?

I am not a mayor, but I've been asactive as I can beassisting the mayor of mycity, Twin Rivers, Talus, Ahazi,for a bit now. We too provide free small houses to new residents, as well as a landspeeder if a.) we can do it at the time and b.) the player needs transportation. We're level 3 now, and since there's still no shuttleport the speeder is just necessary for new players to get to and from town.

What benefits are there in a city? I think it's a sense of community. There can be a sense of pride in what a group of players have built together, though admittedly this is stronger with the original founders than with new 'recruits' later on. Most of the citizens of Twin Rivers have at least some sense of communtiy; when we see each other out and about, we acknowledge each other as neighbors, and there's a kind of bonding with that. There are also the roleplaying aspects, especially if multiple cities are involved. Be it competition, coordination or whatnot, stories can evolve a great deal in a setting as potentially rich as a player city.

Just a few ideas and comments for your consideration. My 2.5 credits worth.

Deila Karlossi , Blue Glowie of Dancers, and become more powerful than you could possibly imagine...

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Thread: Attracting new citizens