You might notice that shortly after a player logs on, they log off. Although we cant account for all of the reasons we, at least, try and fix the more common ones. One reason players leave (especially new groups of players) is the cost for a new faction. A 750r price tag can be intimidating to new players, who upon seeing the hefty price tag either abandon the server or reluctantly join a faction. What am I proposing? MicroFactions What is a microfaction? A micro faction is (as per the name a small faction) in which there are regulations and limits on what can be achieved through them: -free to create -limited to only a one chunk claim -maximum member cap of 5 players (The leader and 4 others) -two weeks of inactivity leads to disbandment -limited permissions options (to be balanced but perhaps make them less secure than a normal faction would be) Possible rules concerning microfactions -No alt microfactions allowed -Darkrooms may not be claimed with microfactions Pros of Microfactions -New players have the option to band together to form their own, small factions -Increased player base -smaller, builds occupy wilderness hopefully making it a more interesting place to travel through Cons of Microfactions -possible rise in claim abuse -Roleplayers ditch large factions to have their own 1 chunk storage -possible large array of ugly one chunk claims everywhere as no one really cares about what their chunk looks like because its temporary anyway -tech staff work would be required
What would be the impact of just reducing the cost of a faction to begin with? Recalling the early factions after the reset, inactive ones disbanded two weeks after release, leaving active ones to keep on going. Some of these factions were a few claims large, but nothing that would limit land on the map. From a personal stance, I won't play on a factions server where it forces me to join an existing faction. It forces you to join people you hardly know, in the hopes that they won't inside you and loot your stuff. Not the best atmosphere for starting out, to the point where I'd rather try my luck at making an unclaimed base, or simply not playing in survival except to get resources. I'd rather see the cost of a faction drop to 100-200r. It's a number that requires some initial investment, but not intimidating. To balance the claim issue that may occur, perhaps limit the power per player or have rules on alt/buffer claims. I'm in favor of having an easier time starting up, but I don't think time making a 'microfaction' system is the best use of resources.
When I first joined the server back in 2011, you received enough silver when you joined that it required 3 other players to put their money together to create a faction... Currently it is extremely hard to create a faction and this makes new players not want to play. I suggest giving new players say 50 regals through a quest or some sort that introducing them to the server and lowering faction costs to 200 regals.
Alt abuse can easily be tracked when it comes to quests. Which is how I would implement giving new players starting regals. I don't believe that we should harm new players chances of succeeding on the server because a few people alt abuse. If what I suggest does get approved, I'd be more than willing to code the tracking system to catch those who abuse.
Per my understanding, the high creation cost is to encourage new players to join preexisting factions rather than going off and forming their own 3-man facs. This idea of microfactions, while definitely interesting and creative, would likely reverse that. I definitely like this idea, I just would rather it not be implemented as I feel it would hurt the pre established factions and their recruitment. Also, I would agree that it would likely result in some roleplayers abandoning their facs in favor of a one chunk storage. I guess the creation cost could be lowered, maybe to like 500r or so? I would say that for new players, a nice round number like 500 is good, because it seems more attainable than 1000 and yet is not too easy to grind out(remember, these are newbies we're talking about, so ofc they won't make 500 in a week). And believe me, if I could make a faction for free and claim one chunk for storage, I'd do it. As someone who ends up facless pretty frequently, the idea does appeal to me, but I can't dodge the feeling that this would create more problems than it solves... food for thought.
